alcohol and training

[commonerg]

Today, I Learned first hand about the effect of alcohol on lactic acid build up. After a very nice date and a night of partying I woke up with a nice hangover. Normally, I try to avoid drinking more than 2 drinks in an evening and rarely drink more than 2-3 times a month. However, girls seem to have a very deleterious effect on my descision making. In anycase, I really cramped up today while I was running.

I do love freediving and have made a lot of sacrifices for performance. However, my economics training compels me to think that the most efficient solution to this problem is continuing to find the most appropriate tradeoff between performance and 'social time'. Right now, giving up my few social drinks a month is not in the cards. I would like to increase my knowledge of the affects of alcohol so that my trade-off descision is the most efficient for me.

What are the effects of alcohol on the muscles?
Any tips on cleansing and removing toxins after a few drinks?
Anyone else dealing with the same problems?
Any other bits of insight?

 

[commonerg]

Found this, mostly experiences.
[ame="http://forums.deeperblue.net/showthread.php?t=58936"]Alcohol and freediving?[/ame]

 

[perow1]

I think that for most people the really bad effect is that you "loose the next day" you do not have the same energy to go at it with quality. If your not really hung over you are at least a bit tired. The training effect will not be as good. If it is only "a few social drinks" it may be put just before a planned rest day or something to get rid of this effect.

The other part of this that comes from heavy drinking is that your liver will be busy from dealing with the alcohol (roughly speaking). With a busy liver you will not be able to "build" as much as with a rested body and liver. A big part of training is done to "break and rebuild stronger". The rebuilding part will be hard when you have treated your body with alcohol. After this your training will be just "breaking" hence your muscles will not benefit, but suffer from the training. To me that is another reason to rest after drinking. Or at least train very moderately. Actually just moving around like taking a long walk or something may be a good way to deal with the toxins. This and proper nutrition and hydration. This sound really stiff and boring.

In the end if you are a moderate drinker i think the worst thing that will happen is that you are not fit for training close to your drinking and your progress will be delayed. For some people it is hard to really get the proper rest so sometimes drinking can "force you to rest" which may be only positive in the end.

 

[Bill McIntyre]

I can't imagine that it would be necessary to give up a few social drinks in order to perform well. Of course I wouldn't have a basis for comparison since I drink wine and/or beer every evening with dinner, but it never caused me to cramp up running or cycling, and I don't notice any effect on my diving.

But you said you woke up with a hangover, so it sounds like you had more than a few social drinks.

I recall reading that Frank Shorter drank a quart of good German beer the night before he won the gold medal at the 1972 Olympics in Munich. It must not have hurt his performance much. A few years after that, my wife and I were overnight guests with Frank and his wife at the home of a mutual friend in San Diego, where he had just won an indoor two-mile race that evening. The next day we went for a 15 mile run around Mission Bay with him, and when we got back to the house he said something like "where's the beer, that's what we run for."

A Kenyan who's name I have have forgotten held multiple world records in the 5000 meters and 10000 meters, and then was revealed to be an alcoholic.

I suppose any alcohol consumption might theoretically impede performance at the limits of human capability, but unless you are trying to push those limits, I doubt that moderate consumption will be a problem. Getting drunk and having a hangover definitely will though.

 

[commonerg]

Well, the light social drinking (1-2) doesn't hurt me. It's the few nights I do go a little overboard that sap me.

 

[Ron S]

Waaay back when I was a wannabe bicycle racer my doctor told me that "a few too many" in one night also has two other negative effects. First, it dehydrates your body. Second, it depletes the body of potassium. Both of these adversly effect any real excersise the following day.

I like Bill's beer analogy though, and now I realize why he's such an avid cyclist...
Ron.

 

[Jorg]

When I go out, maybe once a month, I really go all out... hehe. Drinking quite a lot. But my trick is to switch the last hour that the club is open (4:00-5:00) to red bull, and drinking lots of them. Then I get in bed around 5:30 and I wake up by myself, because of the red bull around 8:00 and start working again. Not a day for sports but just doing some stuff. Works for me, everytime! It's not the best solution, but you've got to do something.

Oh and when you've got a headache, then try 100% oxygen for 10 minutes and the headache is over. You didn't get that one from me...

 

[kmo]

I vomitted into my snorkel on Saturday, so I can safely say that a hangover has a negative effect on my diving. :friday :yack

 

[fcallagy]

words of wisdom from my Da when I started drinking,
one is enough
two is too many
and three isn't half enough.
I agree with what was already said a glass or two of wine with a meal and no problems for me but if I,m out drinking for the night I usually find its two days later before I could do any serious training but instead of pushing on these days maybe try and work on technique instead.

 

[island_sands]

Today, I Learned first hand about the effect of alcohol on lactic acid build up. After a very nice date and a night of partying I woke up with a nice hangover.

However, girls seem to have a very deleterious effect on my descision making. In anycase, I really cramped up today while I was running.

REALLY NOW.. DO TELL MORE.... rofl rofl

 

[kmo]

"However, girls seem to have a very deleterious effect on my descision making. "

I always found that alcohol had a worse effect on my decision making when it came to girls than girls had on my decision making regarding alcohol

 

[adolphin]

Hmmmm! .. I don't know guys and gals if my comment is welcome, it would look like something from some other galaxy other than the Milkyway ..
but yes, there are people on this planet who don't drink alcohol! .. for me being a muslim, I don't drink it at all, now, my question is: with all the negativities of drinking alcohol (too many to count, starting with personal health issues to impact on fertality and you all know what else, to effect on an infant if her mother drinks alcohol while pregnant or lactating, to the huge effect on economy through the national outcome, to making too many doctors busy with alcoholics or elder patients suffering from liver peroblems due to drinking all thier lifes,those same many doctors could have been freed from this to face other illness, to effect on performance at work or on training... etc) .. with all these and much more, why would people drink alcohol, and what makes it so important to drink instead of not to drink? .. I just can't understand it and want to hear an explanation if any ofcourse!
Take Bill's comment for example:

I can't imagine that it would be necessary to give up a few social drinks in order to perform well. Of course I wouldn't have a basis for comparison since I drink wine and/or beer every evening with dinner, but it never caused me to cramp up running or cycling, and I don't notice any effect on my diving.

It's a Give up matter, which means a lot, isn't it .. can't a social drink be something other than alcohol ? (which is toxic if not poisoning substance so forein to our bodies!) something like a soft drink instead.
I my self don't even drink soft drinks, nor cofee or tea, I stopped it about 14 years back, and still I can make a very social days out with no problem ..
I talked alot didn't I .. so I'm handeling the mic to the next participant ..
and Bill, my freind, it's just that your words rang a bell, nothing against you personaly for sure, so, no offense I hope .. :inlove

 

[Bill McIntyre]

No offense taken. If you don't want to drink, fine. But good food is very important to me, and wine with good food is part of the experience.

Of course if I didn't drink, I might live 10 more years. Or at least it might seem that way.

 

[SanderP]

Did you know, adolphin, that alcohol can be good for your health if you drink it moderately? A cup of beer or a glass of wine every day can actually be healthy.
An old man, who is over 100 years, said that he has drank every day one cup of beer. And well... he's still standing.

 

[sickbugs]

ive heard of people who have smoked every day for their whole life also, who have lived to be over 100, yet we know that smoking is bad for health.

in my opinion, drinking is pointless.. its proven to be bad for your health, many people say that drinking in moderation isnt bad, but then, what is moderation? if i drink 5 or 6 rum and cokes in a night, i dont feel a thing, yet some people will be drunk and sleeping it off in the street, doesnt that show that there is no set moderate ammount to drink? its proven to slow your reaction times, impair your reasoning, so, why drink? apart from the fact that you can?

 

[Bill McIntyre]

Its not just "many people" who say moderate drinking is good for your health. Many medical studies have said so. In fact I've read studies that say that teetotalers are at greater risk of death than moderate drinkers.

But in answer to your question, "why drink," I'll respond with "why dive?" After all, you would be safer if you didn't dive, but I am guessing that you still do it because it enhances your enjoyment of life. Drinking enhances my enjoyment of life too, and I have no apologies for saying so. Who knows, it may end up being bad for me, but at age 67 my liver function tests show no problem, so I'll keep on enjoying both diving and drinking.

By the way, stay out of the sun. It increases the risk of skin cancer.

 

[DeepThought]

I think many humans (and animals) tend to like altered states of mind.
Drugs can alter your state of mind.
Alcohol is a drug and a relatively available one with no real negative image (when used moderately).
People do alcohol because it makes them feel good (at some point).
I used to HAVE to drink when I went clubbing because otherwise I wasn't able to dance.
There are PLENTY of other reasons why people do things that are potentially harmful, many of them are stupid (the reasons and the people).

I know I like the freediving induced altered state of mind.

 

[sickbugs]

lol, good points bill


i make a lot of comments without thinking, like the "drinking is pointless" one, guess its cuz i dont like seeing drunk people all over the place, but anyways, ive been known to have a few drinks every now an then, i jus never made it a habbit, i enjoy the feeling that im totally in control of my body (one of the reasons i freedive) and i find it kinda sad the ammount of people out there that use the excuse, i didnt mean it, i was drunk

 

[adolphin]

ive heard of people who have smoked every day for their whole life also, who have lived to be over 100, yet we know that smoking is bad for health.

in my opinion, drinking is pointless.. its proven to be bad for your health, many people say that drinking in moderation isnt bad, but then, what is moderation? if i drink 5 or 6 rum and cokes in a night, i dont feel a thing, yet some people will be drunk and sleeping it off in the street, doesnt that show that there is no set moderate ammount to drink? its proven to slow your reaction times, impair your reasoning, so, why drink? apart from the fact that you can?

I agree with sickbugs on that.

Its not just "many people" who say moderate drinking is good for your health. Many medical studies have said so.

How many of those studies Bill ? and have you compared them with studies saying No No No ? is it a 1:1 ratio or maybe 1:1000 ? by the way, most studies that say it's good they say it's good (period), while there are thousand of studies that each talk about one BIG don't regarding drinking while doing something or how it's bad for a certain part or organ of the body, which one of the two do you believe is more scintific, more objective? there was once one, ONLY ONE study that stated that drinking alcohol is one of the most serious dangers to human life, in all it's aspects (a meaning which I imposed in my comment here), such a study actually did a statistical gathering of all studies that was done on alcohol plus statistics on it's actual effects on life (from hospital records, police cases, economic bodies analysis .. etc) and made one multi thousand page report made by a group of elite doctors and researchers (best of the best) who are known of thier honestness and devotion to socity, that was done sometime in the 70s in the US, the report was given officially to the authorities in the US government with an official request to Bann alcohol drinking in the hole country !!! .. alot of inside discussions and negotiations was done (that was known because of the strong and continues follow up from that group) but the file was closed eventually with a comment that this is impossible and that those concerned doctors and researchers should do their best to inform the scocity and then each person will decide what he/she should do !! .. it was clearly understood that this has something to do with anti- actions taken by the giant alcohol products companies which paid alot to stop this project. I got this infos directly from one of the doctors who was involved into this report making, I don't recall the details now (that conversation took place about 14 years back) but I can try reaching to him and get refreshed with some refrenses as well. by the way, a similar study was done about music as well !!

But in answer to your question, "why drink," I'll respond with "why dive?" After all, you would be safer if you didn't dive, but I am guessing that you still do it because it enhances your enjoyment of life. Drinking enhances my enjoyment of life too, and I have no apologies for saying so. Who knows, it may end up being bad for me, but at age 67 my liver function tests show no problem, so I'll keep on enjoying both diving and drinking.

Well Bill, I may disapoint you by saying that I don't do dangerous acts only for fun, although they are always joyful and fun to do, I always do it to elaborate in my physical and mental efficiency, if you convince me that free diving is bad for health then I surely quit, it's not about risks involved in practising it as there are risks in using the oven at homes and in driving cars .. etc, risks that are fully or partially elliminated by following best practises. No, we are talking about health problems, economic, social, crime .. many other impact, one is enough for me to stop my activity if any, because I'm doing it for my good and goodness of the scocity. And yes, I see it one of the worst things to loose my mind even for minutes, even partially, unless I'm obliged to ! which is not the case in consuming alcohol.. .. again my :inlove to all.

 

[fcallagy]

Hi adolphin,
I see where your coming from but imho life is to be lived I don,t believe in abusing myself to the extent that i harm myself or others ( and i think the jury is still out on whether freediving is good for you ) but do what you enjoy and enrich your life rather than keeping to all ideals all the time. For some people this may be enjoyable I like wine with a meal and drink if I go out but with family commitments thats not all that often. Beacuse I,m doing some heavier training ( for me ) now I,m not taking any for the next 6-8 weeks and I haven,t had any for 4- 5 anyway so its not a big deal to me but I don,t think I am harming myself too much in either case.