Drinking and Fitness: A Practical Guide

To start this discussion, yes. I know. Drinking and Fitness don’t go together. Or so you have been led to believe. Accurately. I do not dispute this information. But since we’re going to drink anyway, how can we best compensate?

This discussion becomes particularly important as the GWOT era vets slip into their 30’s and 40’s. Drunk/hungover PT is not nearly as easy as it was when we were 19…er… um.. I mean 21.

First, hydrate. A large component of drinking is that it comes with dehydration; your body has to work hard to filter out your liquor of choice. Hydrating before, during, and after drinking will ease that burden and reduce hangovers and recovery time. 

Remember always that the water you drink today you’ll use tomorrow, so make sure there’s fuel in the tank. The same rule applies to the liquor you drink, but more on that later.

Next, choose your booze. Most hard alcohol contains sugars and carbs, so those macros need to be taken into account in your nutrition plan. Also, remember that even drinking it straight comes with calories. A single shot of whiskey contains around seventy calories, which can add up quickly.

Another important consideration is which drinks work for you. Does scotch keep you even while tequila makes you vomit like the girl in the exorcist? Your drink selection can make or break not only your workout itself, but also the desire to get to the gym the next day. 

Don’t set yourself up for failure and wake up wrecked, or those PRs are going to stay in the toilet… Much like your dinner.

Finally, give yourself recovery time. Lifting can be dangerous on its own, doing it while inebriated is a galaxy sized stepping on a rake kind of stupid. Not only can you injure yourself with the weights, or even injure someone else, you also severely limit your performance. Which, let’s face it, makes the whole trip to the gym a lost cause.

By all means, get your reps, and shoot your shots… just not at the same time.