How much alcohol can you drink before it affects your fitness?

How much alcohol can you drink before it affects your fitness?

If you think that all gym goers only occasionally drink a glass of red wine or vodka with a squeeze of lime, you're sorely mistaken. According to a University of Miami study, gym-goers as a group drink more than non-gym-goers. And the trend of combining alcohol with exercise goes far beyond the occasional happy hour. Studios offer a post-barre wine bar, obstacle courses congratulate finishers with a cold brew, and at wine yoga you don't even wait to finish your workout before pouring the booze.

So does this mean that alcohol and exercise go together as well as vodka and soda? And how much can you drink before your fitness suffers? We spoke to two pros to find out

How alcohol affects your body

To understand how alcohol affects your fitness, you must first understand how alcohol affects your body in general. Just one sip of beer, wine, or whiskey will hang in your body for about two hours, and your liver will do most of the work breaking down the alcohol into acetic acid, he says Kim Larson, RDN, owner of Total Health and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics. But once alcohol enters the bloodstream through the stomach, it travels to almost every organ in your body.

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Within minutes, alcohol reaches your brain, where it impairs judgment, slows cognitive function and affects mood, explains Paul Hokemeyer, Ph.D., a Colorado-based addiction psychologist. Not to mention, it affects motor function and changes the way you respond to stimuli, says Hokemeyer.

And you don't have to drink to the point of fatty liver disease (a condition developed over time from too much alcohol consumption) for all those barre-to-bar nights to start taking a toll on your health.

What happens if you drink after training

Hit that boot camp class as hard as you want, but if you hit the bar right after, your fitness goals may be harder to achieve. Alcohol messes with your hormones and your inflammatory response to exercise, making it harder for your body to repair and recover from the micromuscle tears that occur during exercise, says Hokemeyer. In order to see these gains, your body needs to repair these tears and grow back stronger. But when alcohol is involved, your body is too busy metabolizing the alcohol instead of recovering from that workout, Larson says.

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Lo and behold, a study from Northwestern Medicine found that people may drink more on the days they exercise. Plus, alcohol's negative effects on muscle repair and development are doubled if you choose a beer instead of proper post-workout fuel like protein, carbs, and fats, says Larson. (If you're not sure what you should eat, check out our guide to the best post-workout snacks for every workout.)

Hard training depletes the glycogen (read: energy) stores in your body, and drinking hinders this recovery and recharging process. Science has shown that athletes who consume alcohol at least once a week are more than twice as likely to be injured as non-drinkers, with researchers pointing the finger at the "hangover effect" of alcohol reducing athletic performance.

Alcohol & Dehydration

You already know that when you exercise, you lose water and electrolytes through sweat, which can lead to dizziness and dehydration. But nothing screams dehydration like the combination of exercise and alcohol, both of which have been shown to increase fluid loss, says Hokemeyer.

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Alcohol consumption delays recovery after exercise, in part by delaying rehydration, which can affect performance, says Larson. However, not all experts agree on this point. In fact, research has found that drinking a beer after a hard workout is enough of a dehydration agent, or at least drinking it after a workout doesn't have the same diuretic response as it would on any given evening.

Regardless, if rehydration is delayed after exercise, muscles will recover more slowly and glycogen will be restored more slowly, both of which can impact performance in general and particularly on consecutive training days, says Larson.

Alcohol dehydration is not only a problem after a workout, but it also puts a significant strain on your fitness plan if you had a late night the day before your workout. Alcohol-induced dehydration can reduce performance by 10 percent or more, she says. That's because exercising while hungover also reduces the availability of glucose fuel during exercise, meaning you're likely to be thirsty and have less energy. Conclusion: Whether it's duration, speed or intensity, your fitness will suffer.

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Calories in alcohol

If you're into fitness, you're probably into healthy food. Although there's no rule that says you have to count your macros when lifting weights, you probably don't want to waste your daily calories on nutrient-poor foods or drinks. And alcohol is full of empty calories. That's because alcohol really doesn't contain any beneficial nutrients, and even just one drink can pile up unnecessary calories (and sugar), says Larson. (Go Grocery Shopping: The High-Calorie Foods to Pick and Skip)

While some athletes might try to get around this rule by drinking a lower-calorie drink like tequila, the effects of alcohol on athletic recovery are the same, says Hokemeyer. “Alcohol is alcohol,” he says.

What is your tolerance?

Apparently, according to research, there is a threshold for every athlete at which alcohol impairs aerobic performance (e.g., it makes HIIT class feel inhumane and cycling feels torturous). Not surprisingly, this threshold is different for everyone, says Hokemeyer.

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To figure out how much alcohol you can drink (not just in one sitting, but in general) before it starts messing with your fitness goals, it's as easy as he says to track your progress. "If you're not meeting your goals in a given period of time, you need to look at your lifestyle habits (and alcohol consumption should be at the top of that list)," he says. If you'd rather not learn through trial and error, a rule of thumb for moderate alcohol consumption is one glass per day for women, says Larson. Also, keep in mind that alcohol affects women differently than men, meaning you process alcohol differently and become intoxicated more quickly, even if you drink the same amount, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

The end result on schnapps

Does serious training mean you have to give up alcohol completely? Going dry helps you stay on track and in peak performance shape, but it's not preferred by most everyday athletes. Some pointers to limiting both the hangover and the effects of a night out on your fitness include choosing drinks with lower alcohol content, drinking fewer drinks in a row, and making sure you drink plenty of water during and after a night out.

An occasional post-workout drink or two can be a fun way to indulge after a grueling burpee-filled Tabata, and it won't completely derail your progress unless you're participating in a specifically designed training program for a race or strength competition. If you fall into the latter category, apologies, but you're better off skipping drinks until you achieve this goal. And remember, if you're sipping, pay even closer attention to your diet and include plenty of nutritious fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, whole-grain carbohydrates, and healthy fats for balance.