We all deserve a celebratory beer or two every now and then. But it’s important to keep your drinking to just that frequency… every now and then. Why? Because allowing too much booze into your diet will significantly reduce the effectiveness of your workouts, preventing you from making gains no matter how hard you push yourself. Here’s some critical information to keep in mind when you’re thinking about hitting the bar after a workout.

How Alcohol Can Affect Your Physical Fitness

Several studies have shown that the consumption of alcohol will cause slower movements and poor coordination – as many of us are unfortunately familiar with. This can be particularly dangerous for your workouts, as it puts you at risk of dropping weights or otherwise mishandling equipment. Proper coordination is CRITICAL to many different types of exercise regimens, balance training especially. Balance training is a HIGHLY important facet of your overall fitness routine. When you throw alcohol into the mix, though, you are actively keeping yourself from experiencing the possible benefits, such as increased joint stability.

It doesn’t take much to get to this point, either. It only takes 2 drinks (a blood-alcohol content, or BAC, or 0.02%) to impair your visual and multi-tasking capabilities. Throw one more drink down the hatch and you'll be guaranteed to reduce your coordination as well.

Remember that the effects of alcohol consumption are not always short-term. This can have long-term effects on your body’s aerobic performance and motor skills. It will also impair your ability to recover post-workout, as the alcohol will remain in your system for several hours, continuing to impair the rehydration process. Drinks containing 4% alcohol were associated with this impairment more than others, leaving athletes EXTREMELY dehydrated post-workout.

A study showed that the consumption of beverages with 4% alcohol content resulted in lower levels of blood and plasma volume in the hours following a workout. The diuretic effects of alcohol consumption also need to be taken into account, as this can severely impact your body’s ability to retain electrolytes.

Researchers also found, after observing cyclists post-drinking, that the presence of alcohol in the body will also SEVERELY impact your power output during exercise. You know what that means: Less power = Fewer gains.

Best Practices for Drinking and Working Out

None of this is to say that you should cut booze out of your life completely. What it DOES mean is that you need to be mindful of how and when you consume it. To practice safe drinking in consideration of your workouts, follow these guidelines:

• After one drink, wait AT LEAST 2 hours between drinking and exercising.
• Eat a full meal before drinking.
• Drink LOTS of fluids (no, not more beer – water and other fluids packed with electrolytes).
• Keep your workout SHORT and LIGHT. Crazy HIIT sessions are not ideal after a trip to the pub.

As long as you are careful about your alcohol consumption, you can stay safe during workouts and continue to reap the benefits of your hard work.