How bad is a beer after competition?

Alcohol Post Exercise

You have all most probably been told throughout your careers that drinking after heavy training and certainly games is not good. Well I thought this week I would provide you with the proven evidence of exactly what it does and how that affects your recovery.

Positives

A recent study (Shirreffs & Maughan 1997) looked at beer as a post exercise rehydrater! Lots of athletes and weekend warriors especially like to have a drink after good performances and so the study looked for the best way for them to do that. The study concluded that if players are drinking alcohol post exercise then it must be less than 4% alcohol and at best 2% alcohol. This is best achieved by having lager diluted with lemonade (shandies) to lower alcohol concentration and this is not detrimental to rehydration. Of course this is within reason and doesn’t mean you can drink 10 pints of it!

Negatives

Even with weakened down beer/lager, studies show alcohol slows down your replenishment of glycogen (energy in your muscles), due to having poor nutrition whilst ‘bingeing’ and also the next day when sleeping off hangovers causes poor nutrition choices. This is one area people don't appreciate in professional sportsmen and women. It is critical to replenish the bodies energy sources and hydration status after consuming high levels of alcohol.

During contact sports such as rugby your muscles get damaged, that’s why you get so sore after matches but not as much after training. Best practice is to use vasoconstrictive techniques (ice, compression etc) with these soft tissue ‘injuries’ to reduce swelling. Alcohol though is a strong vasodilator (blood vessels expand) and this brings with it undesirable swelling and slows your recovery from these injuries.

Facts:

Alcohol is not essential in any way to the athletic diet. It is a personal choice or sacrifice.

Moderate alcohol use has not been shown to impair health or performance when used sensibly.

Alcohol is a high calorie and low nutrient fluid and so anyone with high bodyfat is kidding themselves by drinking a lot.

Alcohol will definitely slow down recovery post exercise if consumed in large amounts and in high concentrations (greater than 2%).

If you are going to drink then you can significantly reduce alcohol’s negative effects by rehydrating first.