What are the effects of alcohol on sports performance

Alcohol often plays a part in sports culture, particularly in team sports. However, recent research highlights its detrimental effects on muscle recovery. An innovative study reveals how consuming alcohol after exercise can undermine your gains, even with optimal protein intake.

What to remember Alcohol is the number one enemy of your muscle gains: it reduces protein synthesis by up to 37%, disrupts your restorative sleep and drastically slows down your recovery by increasing cortisol levels and dehydrating you. There is no "safe" threshold for athletes: even moderate consumption negatively impacts your performance (-10 to 15%), your coordination, and your endurance, with some particularly devastating effects in the 3-4 hours post-workout. Quitting alcohol turns your body into a muscle machine: optimised protein synthesis, restored deep sleep, accelerated recovery and perfect hydration. If you want to be at the peak of your performance, BE A 10: forget about alcohol.

How is alcohol metabolised in our bodies?

Alcohol is mainly broken down by the liver through a process involving several enzymes. This transformation has a major impact on the general functioning of your body, particularly in energy production and protein manufacture.

Biological reactions when drinking alcohol

Think of your body as a well-oiled factory. When alcohol enters the picture, it's a bit like a grain of sand slipping through the gears. Your liver, like a zealous worker, immediately goes to work to eliminate it. This cleansing process engages a significant portion of your body's resourcesIt's as if the whole factory were shut down to deal with this small problem.

The body prioritises eliminating alcohol, which means it pays less attention to other processes.

The liver uses two main enzymes to do the housework. The first, thealcohol dehydrogenase (ADH)transforms alcohol into a substance called acetaldehyde. But there's more to come! Acetaldehyde is then converted into acetate by a second enzymealdehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH). It's a bit like alcohol going through two recycling stages before being completely eliminated. All this effort for just a glass!

The Alcohol Journey

Discover how alcohol travels through your body and sabotages your muscle gains.

Click "Next" to continue your journey

🍺 Step 1: Alcohol enters the body

When you consume alcohol, it immediately begins its journey through your body. The breakdown process will draw on significant resources from your system.

💡 The body prioritises processing alcohol above all else, sidelining other processes such as muscle building.

Step 1: Alcohol enters the body When you consume alcohol, it immediately begins its journey through your body. The breakdown process will draw on significant resources from your system. 💡 The body prioritises processing alcohol above all else, sidelining other processes such as muscle building. Step 2: Journey through the stomach Approximately 20% of alcohol is absorbed directly in the stomach. The remainder continues its journey to the intestines. ⚡ Absorption is quicker on an empty stomach. Eating before drinking slows down the process. Step 3: Absorption into the bloodstream The remaining 80% of alcohol enters the intestine and then directly into the bloodstream. It spreads throughout your body. 🚨 Alcohol affects all your organs within minutes through the bloodstream. Step 4: Circulation Throughout the Body Alcohol is now circulating everywhere: brain, muscles, liver, heart... It impacts the functioning of every cell. ⚠️ Your reaction time is decreasing, and your coordination is off. Step 5: Impact on Muscles Alcohol disrupts the mTOR pathway, which is crucial for muscle growth. Muscle protein synthesis drops by 24 to 37%. 📉 It's as if 3 to 4 of your 10 repetitions are doing nothing! Step 6: The Liver at Work Your liver uses two enzymes (ADH and ALDH) to break down alcohol: Ethanol → Acetaldehyde (toxic) → Acetate. This process results in an excess of NADH. ⏱️ The liver can only process 0.15g of alcohol per hour per litre of blood. Step 7: Metabolic Disruptions Excess NADH disrupts energy balance: glucose production is blocked, fat utilisation is reduced, and recovery is slowed down. 🚫 Your body is becoming an inefficient machine, unable to repair itself properly. See the results Next

💪 Impact on Protein Synthesis

-24 to -37%

Alcohol drastically reduces your ability to build muscle. It's as if 3 to 4 of your 10 repetitions don't even count!

⏱️ Elimination Time

≈ 7 hours

For 1 standard glass. All the while, your liver is working overtime instead of supporting your muscle recovery.

⚠️ Disrupted Processes

Energy production (excess NADH)
Using fats as fuel
Glucose synthesis by the liver
mTOR Signal (muscle growth)
Recovery and tissue repair

📊 Comparison

With alcohol 63%

Alcohol-free 100%

You might be wondering what impact all this has on your athletic body? Well, it turns out that this process changes a lot of things! It produces an excess ofa molecule called NADH, who disturbs the energy balance in your cells. The result? Your body struggles to produce sugar and use fat as fuel. (Not ideal when you want to perform, I'm sure you'll agree!) What's more, to break down the alcohol, your liver uses an enzyme called cytochrome P450. The problem is that this enzyme is normally responsible for managing other substances. Result: she is no longer available to deal with certain medicines or supplements you may be taking.

Why is alcohol bad for sport?

Alcohol is a real saboteur of your sporting performance, negatively impacting nearly every aspect of your fitness condition. It reduces your endurance, slows your reflexes and disrupts your coordination, potentially turning your athletic body into a much less efficient machine.

You’ve worked hard to reach your current level, haven’t you? You train hard, eat well, sleep properly, and take high-quality muscle-building supplements. Well, let us tell you that alcohol might just be undermining all your efforts.

Let's explore together why this drink is so detrimental to your athletic performance.

🚫 The 3 major impacts of alcohol on your performance

Alcohol undermines your performance on multiple levels. Discover how it concretely affects your athlete's body.

📉 CRITICAL IMPACT

Negative effects on performance

Alcohol is a bit like putting low-quality fuel (see bad fuel) into the tank of your sports car. Your overall performance takes a serious hit! Studies have shown that even moderate alcohol consumption can reduce performance by 10 to 15%

Measured impact: Reduction of 10 to 15% in performance with moderate consumption

Mechanism: Alcohol disrupts your energy metabolism and interferes with glucose production in your liver, leaving you short on fuel during exercise.

💧 HIGH IMPACT

Impact on hydration and endurance

Alcohol is a real hydration vampire. It increases urine production, which can quickly lead to dehydration. However, even mild dehydration can impair your performance. Alcohol dilates your blood vessels, which can increase blood flow to your skin and reduce it to your working muscles.

Consequence: Your ability to dissipate heat is compromised, causing you to overheat more quickly during exercise

Comparison: Like a poorly maintained engine, your body becomes a less efficient machine

⚡ HIGH IMPACT

Effects on reaction time and coordination

If you engage in a sport that requires precision or quick reflexes, alcohol is your worst enemy. Even in small amounts, it slows down your reaction time and disrupts your hand-eye coordination. Alcohol also affects your balance and proprioception (the awareness of your body's position in space)

Risk: Significant increase in the risk of injuries, especially in sports involving complex movements or rapid changes of direction

Side effect: Alcohol affects your judgement, leading you to take risks you would normally avoid

What effects does alcohol have on your muscles?

Alcohol has a significant negative impact on your muscles, particularly on muscle protein synthesis and recovery. It can seriously hinder your progress in weight training by slowing down muscle growth and disrupting post-workout repair processes

You’ve just finished an intense workout session, and your friends are suggesting going for a drink to celebrate. Tempting, isn’t it? But before you say yes, let me explain what happens to your muscles when you consume alcohol after exercising.

💪 The 3 ways alcohol undermines your muscles

Alcohol after training directly undermines your muscle gains. Discover how it sabotages your progress.

🧬 CRITICAL IMPACT

Impact on Muscle Protein Synthesis

When you lift weights (heavy enough to make you grimace), you create micro-tears in your muscle fibres. This phenomenon, while perfectly normal, is also desirable, as it is through repairing these micro-injuries, along with responding to the metabolic stress generated, that your muscles become larger and stronger.

Measured impact: The consumption of alcohol can reduce muscle protein synthesis by up to 37%!

Analogy: You see your set of 10 repetitions? It's as if you're only doing 6 or 7, without increasing the weights!

Mechanism: Alcohol interferes with the mTOR pathway, which plays a crucial role in muscle growth (think of mTOR as the conductor of your gains, and alcohol as a noisy spectator disrupting the concert)

🔄 HIGH IMPACT

Effects on Muscle Recovery

After exertion, your body needs to recover. But alcohol, a true saboteur, disrupts this process. It increases the production of cortisol, the stress hormone, which can accelerate the breakdown of muscle proteins. As alcohol dehydrates your body, it also slows down tissue repair and increases muscle soreness.

Double impact: Increased cortisol (catabolic hormone) + dehydration = compromised recovery

Common misconception: No, alcohol does not help you sleep better. On the contrary, it disrupts restorative sleep. You might think it helps you fall asleep, but that's not the case. Sleep is crucial for the release of anabolic hormones (testosterone and growth hormone).

📈 HIGH IMPACT

Consequences for muscle hypertrophy

Muscle hypertrophy, meaning the increase in the size of your muscles, is likely one of your main goals in bodybuilding. Unfortunately, alcohol is a significant barrier to this process. By disrupting protein synthesis and slowing down recovery, it limits your ability to build muscle mass.

Global result: All the mechanisms mentioned above converge towards a single outcome → limitation of muscle growth

Key question: OK, so alcohol is bad for bodybuilders, but you may be wondering how much is really a problem...

⚠️ To remember: Alcohol after training creates a triple destructive effect: it blocks muscle building (-37% protein synthesis), slows down recovery (cortisol + dehydration), and disrupts your restorative sleep. It's the number one enemy of your gains!

📊 Alcohol and Sports Performance

See how alcohol affects your performance and muscle recovery.

Your weight (kg)

Number of glasses consumed

How long should they be taken?

Pre-workout time

Evolution over Time

Blood Alcohol Concentration

Cognitive abilities

Protein synthesis capacity

Overall recovery capacity

Your weight (kg) Number of glasses consumed How long should they be taken? Pre-workout time Calculate Evolution over Time Session Blood Alcohol Concentration Cognitive abilities Protein synthesis capacity Overall recovery capacity glass glasses Immediately (0h) hours later hour later Completely eliminated before the workout Alcohol eliminated {value} {unit} after the session Optimal performance Reduced performance by {value}% Optimal protein synthesis Reduced protein synthesis of {value}% Optimal Recovery Recovery affected (see chart) time hours

How many glasses of alcohol can you have while weight training and exercising?

Scientific research shows that there is no "safe" level of alcohol for athletes looking to optimise their muscle gains. Even moderate consumption can have negative effects on protein synthesis and muscle recovery, with impacts that intensify as the amount consumed increases

📊 What studies teach us

Scientific research (see below) in this area shows that alcohol interferes with muscle growth processeseven at relatively low doses. For example, some studies have observed a reduction in muscle protein synthesis of up to 30% after post-training alcohol consumption.

💡 Context of research: Most studies have focused on binge drinking equivalents among athletes, which is around 1 to 1.5g of alcohol per kg of body weight. To give you an idea, this would represent approximately 5 to 8 standard drinks for a man weighing 80kg.

📈 A dose-dependent relationship

The effects of alcohol on your muscles follow a dose-dependent relationship. In other words:

📊

Cumulative effect

The more you drink, the greater the negative effects accumulate.

🔬

Impact from small doses

Even small amounts can disrupt the cellular signals involved in muscle building

🚨

Binge drinking = disaster

Episodes of excessive consumption can be particularly detrimental to your gains

ℹ️ Important note: These effects can vary from person to person. Factors such as your genetics, gender, or individual tolerance to alcohol come into play

🎯 How to balance fitness and social life without sabotaging your gains?

To minimise the negative effects of alcohol on your athletic performance, Moderation and timing are crucial. Here are some practical tips to help you find a balance between your social life and your fitness goals:

1️⃣

Strict limit

Maximum 1 glass On training days, if you decide (even after reading this article) to drink.

⏱️

Crucial timing

Avoid alcohol in the 3-4 hours after your workout, this is the crucial time for recovery

💧

Hydration

If you drink, alternate with water to stay hydrated and slow down alcohol absorption

🍽️

Slow absorption

Eat before and during the consumption of alcohol to slow down its absorption

🍺

Strategic choice

Prioritise the low-alcohol drinks.

📅

Planning

Plan your evenings rest days or far from your important competitions.

🚫

Abstinence periods

Plan for periods of abstinence, especially before competitions or the phases of intense training.

🏆 Don't forget: If you want to be the best (BE A 10), forget about alcohol.

Will giving up alcohol help you put on muscle?

Stopping alcohol can indeed enhance your muscle gain and improve your performance. Not only do you optimise protein synthesis, but you also significantly enhance the quality of your sleep, a key factor in recovery and muscle growth

💪 The muscular benefits of sobriety

By saying goodbye to alcohol, you're giving your muscles the ideal environment in which to develop. Your body becomes a true muscle-building powerhousewithout the brakes imposed by ethanol. Here's what you can expect:

🧬

Top-notch protein synthesis

Without alcohol to muddle the signals, your muscles respond better to growth commands.

😴

Restorative Sleep

Alcohol disrupts the deep sleep phases, which are crucial for the secretion of growth hormone. By stopping, you’ll sleep better and grow more!

🥗

Optimised nutrients

No more waste, your protein really helps build muscle.

⚡ Champion-level performance and lightning-fast recovery

Giving up alcohol is like giving your entire body a boost. Expect:

🏃

Titan endurance

No more difficult mornings weighing down your performance.

🌅

Quality Sleep

You wake up feeling refreshed and ready to lift some weights!

💧

Perfect hydration

Essential for well-defined muscles and peak performance.

🔄

Accelerated recovery

Your muscles recover faster, and you'll be ready for your next session in no time.

⏳

Patience and perseverance

Remember, Rome wasn't built in a day! Your body will need a bit of time to "reprogram" itself without alcohol. Be patient, the results will come.

💡

Social tip

A little tip between us: if your mates tease you about your new sobriety, tell them you're in "experience" mode. It piques their curiosity and saves you from long explanations!

🔬 Now that you know how stopping alcohol can turn your body into a muscle-building machine, you might be wondering what exactly the white coats say about it…