Good news! Beer and fitness DO mix!
- Details
- Created on Wednesday, 22 June 2011 18:32
- Written by Dena Rosenberry
By Dave Philipps, The Gazette
Consider this odd fact: If you drink alcohol, you are more likely to exercise. And if you exercise, you are more likely to drink.
It is a conclusion found in plenty of scientific studies that seems to contradict the image of the athlete as a teetotaling health freak.
A 1996 survey of runners competing in a 20-mile race reported they had an average of 14 drinks every two weeks as opposed to about five drinks for a nonrunning control population.
You have only to hang out at a busy trailhead or the end of a big race to confirm the findings. There are even local outdoors clubs — biking, running, hiking — that combine a workout with happy hour.
“It is just part of the culture,” said Colorado Springs mountain biker and hiker Steve Hitchcock, who started a club and accompanying website called Upadowna.com (as in “up a peak, down a beer”). “I have a lot of friends who consider Pabst to be a sports drink. It complements what we do. It is the high five at the end of a hard ride or a race.” (That's Steve and the UpaDowna crew, above. Andrew Wineke, The Gazette)
But it is a bit counterintuitive.
“In spite of scientific evidence that alcohol use is, in general, detrimental (or of no benefit) to sport (exercise) performance, alcohol continues to be used by athletes,” Margaret Gutgesell and colleagues wrote in the 1999 study titled “Alcohol Usage in Sport and Exercise.”
Duane and Jacklyn Roberson have a beer with their baby, Aspen, in tow after all went running with the running club that leaves from TRiniTY Brewing Co. on Monday evenings. Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette
Many researchers have puzzled over this odd relationship, noting that while drinking can hurt athletic performance, alcohol and sport have gone together since ancient times, when alcohol was known as “the elixir of life.”
No study has ever offered a definitive “why,” but it is easy to speculate.
“There is a social component to athletics and training,” said Jim Rutberg, a coach at Carmichael Training Systems, a Colorado Springs-based company that coaches high-level amateur athletes around the country. “Active people tend to be more social, more engaged. Sport becomes a gathering point for like-minded people. So it’s very common after a long bike ride or workout to have a beer with your friends.”
Rutberg tells most of his athletes there is nothing wrong with having a drink or two, as long as they are not overweight.
“If your workout habits are good, if you are rehydrated, if you are eating well, then having a beer or a glass of wine in the evening is not going to harm your performance,” he said.
Check out the Facebook page of a local weekly cruiser bike ride based out of McCabe's downtown.
In fact, moderate alcohol consumption has been shown to be beneficial, but athletes, even amateur athletes, need to follow simple rules to get the most benefit while side-stepping the negatives.
First, binge drinking or heavy drinking is terrible for your health. It wallops almost every part of the body, slaughtering brain cells, weakening the heart, hindering the immune system and starving muscle tissue. Long-term abuse can cripple the liver, which, in turn, weakens the heart and muscles, drastically reducing exercise performance.
Drinking to intoxication the night before skiing or cycling hobbles coordination and significantly increases the chances of injury the next day.
But a beer here and there can be a good thing.
Runners join a jaunt with the Jack Quinn's Running Club on a Tuesday evening in August 2009. Kirk Speer, The Gazette file
Andrea Giancoli, a dietitian with the American Dietetic Association, calls it “a beverage with benefits.”
“Beer helps lower the risk of heart disease when consumed in moderation,” she stated in a press release this spring marking the American Heart Association’s Heart Month. “Beer also reduces blood clots and it has been shown to improve mental function in women as well as increasing bone density.”
Moderate alcohol consumption increases good cholesterol levels, and drinking beer has been shown to reduce the risk of kidney stones.
When and how that beer is consumed, though, makes a difference in athletic performance.
Booze before or during a workout is always a bad strategy.
“It makes absolutely no sense,” Rutberg said.
Alcohol is a well-known diuretic and can cause dehydration. It also dilates blood vessels on the skin, leading to more fluid loss and problems regulating the body’s core temperature.
Alcohol also interferes with muscles’ ability to absorb fuel from the blood, sapping legs and arms of energy.
So before or during a workout, stay away.
Right after a race or hard ride is not the best time to down a beer, either. The body needs to rehydrate and refuel, and adding alcohol to the mix hinders recovery. Alcohol interrupts the synthesis of proteins needed to repair muscles damaged in workouts. A 2008 study that asked participants to do strenuous leg exercises and then drink a set amount of vodka and orange juice (equivalent of about four beers for the average-size man) found that the loss of peak strength was almost three times greater in those who drank alcohol after exercising, versus those who did not. The increased weakness was pronounced even after 2 1/2 days.
It is better to eat and drink at least 20 ounces of something with a mix of protein and carbohydrates right after a workout to replenish what was lost during exercise, Rutberg said. Some studies have suggested low-fat chocolate milk is an especially good and affordable recovery drink.
Wait a few hours before switching to beer or wine. Try to drink it with food.
Racers ride down the final set of switchbacks in the Firecracker 50 in Breckenridge on July 4, 2010. Christian Murdock, The Gazette
If you do crack a beer right after a workout, make it a 3.2 percent brew. A 1996 study showed that guzzling drinks that contain more than 4 percent alcohol right after a workout delay rehydration. A typical beer has about 4.5 percent alcohol.
Don’t drink to ease the pain after tripping on a trail run, going over your handlebars or otherwise beating yourself up on the trail. Alcohol’s tendency to dilate blood vessels can increase swelling, delaying recovery. It is best to stay away from alcohol for 48 hours after an injury.
Exhausted from a big race? Beer may help you relax, but it may not help you get a good night’s sleep.
Studies suggest that alcohol diminishes the length and quality of sleep, which may leave you tired in the morning.
If you already exercise, there is no need to start drinking to improve heart health. A British study showed that while “couch potatoes” stood to benefit from light drinking, “health freaks” who already ate fruits and vegetables and worked out at least three hours per week saw no additional health benefit from a few drinks.
But if you already drink, a regular workout regimen might be a good idea. Studies suggest that exercise counteracts some of the damage alcohol does to the liver, heart, muscles and brain.
The takeaway message: There is no harm in having a beer, maybe two. Especially if it gets you out and active.
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Contact the writer: 636-0223
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