Previous Story
Beer and the lowdown on muscle soreness
|
Posted on Dec 07 2020
I’d wager most of us can probably agree the biggest takeaway of this year is, you can’t argue with the incompetent. Or as Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump would say, “Stupid is as stupid does.”
In my seven years of professional coaching, it’s still kind of perplexing how the simple concepts are the ones most difficult to employ. Hit the gym minimum 2-4 times a week consistently, reasonably high activity level throughout the day, quality nutrition habits, plenty of good sleep, and all that jazz.
It has never been my intention to shame people into adopting an entirely different lifestyle. We all have different circumstances. Still, you have to admit it does make you wonder why we continue to get suckered into silly methods when the proof is in the pudding. Hacks are utterly pointless if you’re deviating from the big rocks.
That’s all I have to say about that.
Q: How much of an impact does alcohol have on fat loss and muscle growth?
A: Fortunately, there isn’t a huge dampening effect in low-to-moderate doses. And this is particularly noteworthy because most nights I will have a glass or two of Merlot anyway.
Now, where it becomes problematic is in larger doses because it does affect muscle protein synthesis and impair the quality of your sleep. Both of which are huge contributors for body composition improvements. So, much like a piss-poor diet you’re essentially undoing the work you put in the gym. Taking both sides into consideration, you should try to find a happy medium.
For goals beyond general health and fitness, obviously you’re going to have to limit your consumption to the best of your ability.
Q: If I’m not getting sore from my workouts, does that mean I’m not progressing?
A: It’s a huge mistake to think that chasing crippling muscle soreness and fatigue will accelerate your gains. Using it as a barometer to gauge if you had a good workout or not is a lousy reference point. You certainly want to feel like you’ve trained the targeted muscle groups, but not to the point where it’s going to hamstring your subsequent workouts. Think about it, if you were sore after every workout that would clearly impact the following sessions later in the week.
Soreness is simply an acute response.
