This week is a subject that has an impact on tons of people who train nowadays. Especially among young people, partying and drinking are a huge part of their lives. Many young adults make it a weekly routine to go out with friends to a bar, or club, have some drinks and maybe smoke weed. Often, these people also workout at a gym regularly, and try to balance the two lifestyles. Is it possible? Well, today we’ll be telling you what you might be able to get away with and what might have a much larger impact on your body and training.
First of all, if partying, drinking, and doing any kind of illegal substances can be avoided, that is 110% what we recommend. Marc never drinks, or smokes, and doesn’t believe in doing so.
So let’s start with the most common one; drinking. It was proven by the US Department of Justice; quite a bit over 50% of 21 year olds drink alcohol. Obviously, this is something the majority of people do. We’ve all heard the “a drink a day is good for you, and your body line” but if that is the case, not drinking at all is probably even better.
Let’s say you had a fair amount to drink at a party the night before a workout. First of all, your energy levels, and strength would be nowhere near what they would be if you hadn’t drank any alcohol at all. This could possibly be a result of the lack of water in your system. Water is a super important ingredient in the mix of things you need to be a successful bodybuilder. Second, even your mental state wouldn’t be at its usual place, which affects your focus, which in turn affects the way you lift. If you successfully complete your workout, which probably wasn’t as good as it would have been minus the alcohol, it’s now time to begin the recovery process. Alcohol hurts the absorption of everything that enters your body. Among those; protein. Your recovery wont be full, and complete, as the protein wont be able to do the job it’s supposed to thanks to the alcohol. Also, since your body is having absorption problems, instead of foods you eat being used as energy, they are stored in fat.
The next most common thing we hear is about marijuana. Though there aren’t many studies identifying a direct impact on working out, there are some things that it hinders, which can be extremely important when lifting weights. First off, it negatively impacts your concentration. Concentration and focus, as mentioned above, are very important when working out. Marc often stresses the mental aspect as being the most important, so without that, your chances of success are quickly diminished. Also, another commonality amount marijuana users is the inability to turn down an opportunity to smoke. Often the result will be people skipping gym sessions, or going to gym sessions high, and lowering the effectiveness of your workouts because they were offered a chance to get high with friends, and couldn’t turn it down. To summarize this point, just don’t do drugs. None at all!
Going out to parties often consists of the two thins mentioned above. One thing it also means is lack of sleep. Even though you may not drink, you usually stay out very late, and if you have other commitments such as work, you may not end up getting the 8 hours your body needs to help complete the recovery process properly. The importance of sleep was the first article we posted here, so definitely go check that out, so you can understand how big of an impact it actually has on the results you get.
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