Men Should Never Drink Alcohol After An Intense Workout, Here's Why

A new research claimed that drinking after an intense work out may not be very beneficial, at least for men that is. Livescience.com recently reported that in a study where men drank alcohol after doing an intense training in the weights room, researchers discovered reduced levels of chemical signals that stimulate muscle growth and repair than those men who did not drink.

According to the study which will be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, Jakob Vingren, a biology and kinesiology professor at the University of North Texas in Denton said: "A little bit of alcohol is probably not a problem, but if you're doing heavy resistance training, if you're going to go out drinking that night, don't go to the gym right before. It's possible the next day you're going to be worse off than if you hadn't gone to the gym."

There have also been other studies stating that people who exercise more also drink more not knowing how the booze can affect how their bodies recover. For example, college athletes are known to binge drink during the on and off seasons more than their other peers, reported wsmv.com. A 2012 survey by the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) showed that a large number of athletes don't really believe that drinking could affect their body and performance. That is the reason why they combine past time into their regular routines.

The new study involved 10 men and 9 women who do strength training. They were asked to do six sets of 10 squats with weight. They were then given water or vodka diluted in water after the workout. Researchers observed that the group that was given alcohol drank four to eight drinks in 10 minutes. Muscle biopsies before the workout as well as three and five hours after the workout were collected. Findings revealed that in men, drinking decreases the chemical signaling pathway known as Mtorc1 which helps muscles grow and recover after a workout. However, the results were different in women who drank alcohol.

According to wafb.com, one possible explanation for the effects of drinking in men is that the muscle growth pathway is triggered by a huge increase in testosterone, and alcohol can greatly reduce the testosterone as a result of exercise. Vingren also said that the big differences in men and women are usually a result of testosterone levels. Though drinking alcohol after a hard workout is common for people to do, experts say it shouldn't be consumed in large amounts by males who train regularly with the plan to build muscle mass.