Exactly how catabolic is alcohol?

[IronFist]

I've always heard that alcohol is catabolic and therefore shouldn't be drunk by bodybuilders... however we (for the most part) are not bodybuilders. How damaging to muscle strength (including the nervous system's ability to contract muscles hard) is alcohol?

If anyone knows, I'd like info on getting wasted versus just having a beer with a meal. Will the latter be detrimental to strength gains? I've heard that the old time strongmen used to drink alcohol often, and they were very strong.

However, I guess that's not to say that they couldn't have been stronger had they NOT drunk alcohol.

Iron

[Paul]

alcohol abuse (http://www.physsportsmed.com/issues/2000/12_00/alcohol.htm)

Here's a handy cut and paste job from that website:

Alcohol abuse can provoke a catabolic hormonal environment that precipitates muscle atrophy and weakness. Myopathy, often present with neuropathy, can occur in various skeletal muscles and the myocardium.

I've always heard the so called experts say that 1 or 2 drinks a day is actually good for you.

How many drinks a day is considered bad?

[Sam Wiley]

It is severely damaging. But a beer or two will probably not cause that much damage. For me, it took about 4 beers, 5 shots of Mezcal and eating the worm, 7 double shots of Jagermeister, one double shot of Canadian Mist over a couple of hours. I say "about" because I lost count after that. That was one time. The next time I drank about half a bottle of Mezcal and ate the worm, and that was all. Both times, I was in agony for days afterward with little muscle control and nervous ticks and shakes, even going into convulsions, headaches, vomiting, you name it.

Moderation is the key. Stick to a beer at dinner.

And leave Mezcal alone. Please. That's some really nasty stuff.

[SifuAbel]

"How many drinks a day is considered bad?"

That's the issue, Do you drink every single day?

If you do, then a couple of fingers of wine is enough.

Drinking on occasion isn't as bad and drinking once a blue moon is even better.

Paul,

How many did we have at the pool hall?

[red_fists]

These days I stick to Beer.

But there was a time when the "Stalingrads" (smell the German and the Russian sneaks up from behind an wallops you/ most pubs refused to sell them) flowed freely and were followed by toxic slimers and their like.

If you drink every day a little your body will be able to cope better with the ocassional havey drinking.

Said that if you get really drunk it will take your Body about 5 weeks to cleanse the system, provided no new alcohol is taken in.

[IronFist]

Dude I drink like once a month, and I've only been "wasted" once or twice in my life (read: in my 5 semesters of college so far).

So I guess a beer here and there won't mess me up. I'm such an ectomorph that I would like to not take any chances with my hard-earned strength.

5 weeks to cleanse? Dámn!!

Iron

[red_fists]

Hey Iron.

Try a "stalingrad":

1 Highball Glass.

2 Shots of Schnapps
2 shots of Vodka
Fill up with lemonade
lime juice to taste.

My Record is at 8 and some other drinks.
Even won a Laser-battle the next day.

Heck it was my Birthday. now was that 23 or 25. :confused:

[Ish]

So if i drink between 5 and 8 cans of bud or stella every day its really damaging my muscles. Would it be better to only drink that much a few days a week or still drink every day just not quite as much?

[red_fists]

Hi Ish.

Best if every day a little. Bud is weak ****, so maybe 2 small cans max.

These way your Body can build up a mechanism to cope with it.

ANYTHING in excess will damage your Body, yep, vitamins included.

Besides the damage to the muscles it also affects your brain.

The elecric receptor inside the Brain start to move more than normal and thus signals get lost or misread, and hence loss of motor skills, etc when drunk.

Alcohol intake also affects the Body differently depending on what else is consumed.

[xiong]

I don't know much about the catabolic effects of alcohol, but I do know that ethanol is a toxin. Take that statement for what you will, but it is a fact.

That being said, I am a brewer by trade and drink just about every day. Of course I drank every day before I was a brewer. One thing to keep in mind is that everything is leathal, some things take larger doeses than others to kill you.

Two drinks a day (1 drink=12oz. of Beer, 8 oz. of wine, 1.25 oz of Liquor) have been proven to be beneficial to health in several studies, the most recent was in the news this morning that it reduced strokes and dementia in older people due to a blood thinning effect. By the way I'm not 100% sure about the shot size and the alcohol content of all the drinks plays a factor in how much you can drink, as implied by the decreasing amonuts allowed for hard liquor.

In my nutrition courses it was pointed out that after more than two drinks the negatives to liver function and the highjacking of your metabolism to break down the alcohol outweighed the positive benefits. I find that training curbs my desire to drink more than anything.