Saturday, May 26, 2018
Crossfit & Alcohol
Hey guys, a few of you asked me to cut and paste the article from last Saturday as the link wasn't working.here you go:
Down the HATCH.. Miss a SNATCH
A few years ago I stopped drinking alcohol Sunday throughThursday.I’ve never been a heavy drinker, so it wasn’t a difficult transition.For me, two drinks is letting loose and three is really getting wild,but a few nights a week I’d have a beer or glass of wine whilemaking dinner. Once I started CrossFit, I wondered about theimpact of those five or six drinks per week on my health andperformance in the gym.CrossFit was hard enough, I figured, so why make it even moredifficult by adding alcohol to the mix? I was so careful about ev-ery aspect of my diet, and I worried alcohol was sabotaging thoseefforts. So I ditched the alcohol in favor of sparkling water andkombucha and saved the drinks for Friday and Saturday nights.It turns out my years of partial abstinence may have beenpointless. More and more studies suggest moderate alcoholconsumption can improve cardiovascular health, and recentresearch suggests a few drinks have no negative impact onathletic performance. Still, alcohol has significant effects on thebody, especially when consumed in excess.Alcohol and the BodyLet’s take a quick look at what happens to the body when wedrink—even moderately.Alcohol results from fermenting starches and sugars. It containsabout seven calories per gram and has no vitamins or minerals.When we talk about “one drink,” that means either a 12-ouncebeer, a 5-ounce glass of wine or a 1.5-ounce shot of liquor. Allcontain the same amount of alcohol and have about 95 to 165calories—as long as you aren’t mixing the liquor with anything.Once you take a drink, the alcohol is absorbed into the blood—about 20 percent through the stomach and 80 percent throughthe small intestine. Most people typically feel the effects withinfive to 10 minutes of drinking, and blood alcohol content peaksafter 30 to 90 minutes.You may have heard the alcohol you drink turns into fat. Thisisn’t exactly true, but it’s not entirely off base. When you drinkalcohol, your liver recognizes alcohol’s byproducts as toxins. Thebody wants to get rid of these toxins, so they are processed beforemore nutrient-rich food. The toxins skip to the front of thedigestion line, in a sense.If you happen to be eating while you’re drinking, instead offocusing all efforts on burning the calories from food, your bodyfirst has to burn the empty calories from alcohol. By the timeyour body finishes with the alcohol and goes to work on thefood, you might not need the energy. The extra calories arestored as fat.As bad as this sounds, a 2010 study tracking over 19,000women for 13 years showed the risk of becoming overweightwas almost 30 percent lower for moderate drinkers—those whoconsumed one or two alcoholic drinks a day—compared withnondrinkers. Researchers aren’t sure why, but they have a fewtheories.To start, the women who drank alcohol consumed less food,especially carbohydrates. Women might also metabolize alcoholdifferently than men. Drinking doesn’t seem to change a man’smetabolism, but it might actually slightly speed up a woman’smetabolism. Finally, it’s thought resveratrol, which is found ingrapes and red wine, might inhibit the development of fat cells.Moderate drinking does not seem to have a positive impact onmen’s weight.“A 2003 study of British men showed that regular drinkersgained more weight than nondrinkers,” The New York Timesreported. One theory suggests this discrepancy exists becausemen typically add alcohol on top of their normal caloric intake,while women are more likely to eat less when drinking.Alcohol is often blamed for negatively impacting sleep quality byaffecting the deeper REM sleep. Recent research shows drink-ing—both heavy and moderate—actually increases slow-wavesleep, which happens during the first part of the night. This stageof sleep is associated with maintaining a strong immune systemand healing muscles, bones and tissues. Too many drinks willnegatively impact your deeper REM sleep, when memories arestored and whatever you learned during the day is committedto long-term memory. One or two drinks do not seem to have anegative effect on either type of sleep.While moderate alcohol consumption does not appear to havesignificant negative health consequences—and might even havesome benefit—it bears repeating that excessive drinking isextremely unhealthy and potentially deadly. Consistently drinkingtoo much can lead to alcoholic hepatitis and a fatty liver, whichcan progress to cirrhosis of the liver. Too much alcohol over along period of time can also increase the risk of developing certaincancers and can damage the lining of the small intestineand the stomach.Even if you are a moderate drinker, be careful of mixed drinks,which often contain significant amounts of added sugar fromjuice or soda. Wine and distilled spirits have very little to nosugar, though beer does have carbohydrates—as much as 18grams per beer. Liqueurs, such as Kahlua or Baileys, contain asurprising amount of sugar. One fluid ounce of Kahlua containsmore than 14 grams of sugar—so no matter how much youadmire The Dude from “The Big Lebowski,” watch those whiteRussians.
Alcohol and Training
If moderate alcohol consumption doesn’t necessarily lead toweight gain or sleep disturbances, does a nightly beer have anynegative effect on athletic performance?In the April 2014 issue of Sports Medicine, Matthew J. Barnes,a senior lecturer and associate head of school at Massey Universityin New Zealand, published a review of the existing scienceon alcohol and sports performance and recovery in maleathletes.Barnes noted that because alcohol affects many hormones, itmight negatively impact mood, sleep, metabolism and more. Interms of sports, many fitness experts will tell you any amountof alcohol will hamper recovery and strength, but Barnes foundit’s not that straightforward.“If athletes are to consume alcohol after sport/exercise, a doseof approximately 0.5 g/kg body weight (about three drinks) isunlikely to impact most aspects of recovery and may thereforebe recommended if alcohol is to be consumed during this period,”Barnes wrote.As expected, Barnes found acute alcoholic consumption (morethan four to six drinks per day for men) can negatively affectathletic performance, impacting immunoendocrine function,blood flow and protein synthesis. Excessive alcohol use also affectsrehydration and glycogen resynthesis, elements related torecovery. This is not the case with moderate alcohol consumption—aboutthree drinks per day for a 180-lb. man.One of the common concerns about alcohol for strength athletesis the idea that consumption negatively affects testosteronelevels—a scary thought for anyone working hard in thegym to build muscles. Alcohol does decrease testosterone levels,but only with larger doses. A study published in 2003 inAlcoholism: Clinical Study and Research found an increase intestosterone in men who consumed two to three drinks per day.To measure the impact of alcohol on muscle function, Barnesdevised a diabolical study in which subjects completed 300 eccentriccontractions with one leg on an isokinetic dynamometer(basically a leg-extension machine). Thirty minutes later, theyput down about six screwdrivers (ethanol at 1 gram per kilogramof body weight in the form of vodka). Then, at 36 and 60hours later, Barnes measured the subjects’ dynamic and staticstrength. About two weeks later Barnes had the same groupperform identical exercise followed by an identical number ofcalories of orange juice only.It will probably not surprise you to learn that getting wastedon screwdrivers negatively affected muscle function, and thesubjects showed about a 15 to 20 percent drop in performancewhen compared to their post-exercise strength after consumingplain orange juice.A year later, Barnes repeated the study but cut the alcohol consumptionin half, to 0.5 grams per kilogram of body weight.This time, he found no difference between the two groups, concluding“consumption of a low dose of alcohol after damagingexercise appears to have no effect on the loss of force associatedwith strenuous eccentric exercise.”After analyzing the impact of alcohol on sports performance inmales, Barnes determined low doses of alcohol are “unlikely tobe detrimental,” but the effects of alcohol on athletic performanceare dependent on the timing of consumption, overall nutritionand recovery as a whole. The importance of moderation cannotbe overstated, and Barnes cautions, “It should be rememberedthat alcohol is a poison and as such should be treated as one.”
Everything in Moderation
Moderation can be difficult concept. It’s easy to put things in“bad” and “good” categories, but the truth is it’s all about theappropriate dosage. You can certainly drink too much.Moderate alcohol intake likely won’t make you fat or significantlyimpact your athletic performance, and it might even benefit yourcardiovascular health. That nightly beer or glass of wine probablyisn’t the one thing standing between you and athletic greatness.If a nightly drink doesn’t affect your life or your well-being,then carry on. If you feel better when you don’t drink, that’s agreat reason to abstain.It’s also important to remember that the calories in alcoholare empty—void of nutrients. If you build a small or moderateamount of alcohol intake into a sound diet plan, you can accountfor the calories, but you still won’t get the vitamins andminerals kale would have provided in place of a shot of vodka.As with any aspect of your diet, monitor intake, performanceand health markers carefully, making adjustments as needed tomaximize health and fitness.Above all, remember the science is unanimous on one point:Excessive alcohol intake will wreak havoc on your performanceand your health, so it’s important to be vigilant about the quantityof alcohol you habitually consume.About the Author: Hilary Achauer is a freelance writerand editor specializing in health and wellness content. In additionto writing articles, online content, blogs and newsletters,Hilary writes for the CrossFit Journal. To contact her, visit hilaryachauer.com.
Saturday, May 26, 2018
Coach Neal is at the helm today! Enjoy!.Check back each night at 8pm for the next days WOD.Contact us:Address: 200 Mountain Rd #3, Collingwood, ON L9Y 4V5Phone: (705) 444-0006Follow us: