I don’t think it takes a genius to realize that drinking is not going to benefit athletic performance. I know when I hit it a bit hard it impacts my training, sometimes for a few days (age may be a factor here - I’m 46). This morning I had a poor swim practice. I jokingly mentioned to a fellow swimmer that I must still be feeling the effects of my home football team’s semi-final win this past Sunday. He mentioned that every 2 drinks costs one training day and that the impact for additional drinks is not additive, it’s logarithmic. If that’s true, then I might as well pack it in until Christmas. Can anybody direct me to scientific studies which have looked at the impact of alcohol consumption on athletic performance. I would like to read up on this myself.
Pack it in until Christmas. Tis the season for craft beers and vino. Happy Holidays!
I’m doomed.
If you are generally drinking only in moderation I wouldn’t worry about it. I typically have 1 beer a night with dinner/while making dinner/etc.
Logerithmic means the difference between 100 and 10 drinks is the same as 10 and 1 drinks. Largest impact early on
I have heard statements like this for years…I’m not saying it absolutely isn’t true, but did he provide you with any basis for this statement?
I don’t think it takes a genius to realize that drinking is not going to benefit athletic performance. I know when I hit it a bit hard it impacts my training, sometimes for a few days (age may be a factor here - I’m 46). This morning I had a poor swim practice. I jokingly mentioned to a fellow swimmer that I must still be feeling the effects of my home football team’s semi-final win this past Sunday. He mentioned that every 2 drinks costs one training day and that the impact for additional drinks is not additive, it’s logarithmic. If that’s true, then I might as well pack it in until Christmas. Can anybody direct me to scientific studies which have looked at the impact of alcohol consumption on athletic performance. I would like to read up on this myself.
This sounds like utter bullshit he just made up on the spot.
If you drink enough (whatever that means) that you can’t get out of bed for your morning workout (with regularity), you have bigger problems than losing a day of training. Otherwise I can’t see what harm a couple of drinks over the course of an evening would have in the slightest.
Or lets put it this way. If that were true at all, I would have won Kona this year. Frodo wouldn’t have been able to come close to me. 
I am doing pretty well for having effectively negative training days leading up to an event.
You actually believed that?
I don’t think it takes a genius to realize that drinking is not going to benefit athletic performance. I know when I hit it a bit hard it impacts my training, sometimes for a few days (age may be a factor here - I’m 46). This morning I had a poor swim practice. I jokingly mentioned to a fellow swimmer that I must still be feeling the effects of my home football team’s semi-final win this past Sunday. He mentioned that every 2 drinks costs one training day and that the impact for additional drinks is not additive, it’s logarithmic. If that’s true, then I might as well pack it in until Christmas. Can anybody direct me to scientific studies which have looked at the impact of alcohol consumption on athletic performance. I would like to read up on this myself.
You can be pretty sure that statements like this, which sound beautifully exact and convenient, have little basis in fact. I suspect they are typically the result of people either just making something up or extracting a sound byte from a study or comment with some merit and spewing it out of context as a new rule of thumb.
You can be sure there’s no way that “rule” will hold up to much scrutiny without first qualifying it to death. What shape is the athlete/drinker in? What age/sex are they? Is this specific to swimming or asserted as true for all disciplines? What sort of training session is it - speed work, strength work, endurance, recovery session? Do 2 drinks cost one training day if it’s adjacent to the drinks and as a result of training while still effected or is it that the physiological harm caused by 2 drinks is supposed is simply equivalent to the benefit of one “training day”. Is this two drinks back to back or any two drinks even if consumed half a drink at a time over a four week period?
As you’ve posted the statement, presumably as this guy related it, it’s pretty meaningless.
Whether or not it’s derived from a study with some validity is another matter entirely but you’d need to know the details for it to have any meaning to you.
P.S.
Alcohol definitely impacts your CV system and I’ve occasionally gone for a run or cycle the morning after several drinks and noticed an increase in HR for a given effort of 5-10bpm. As I understand it alcohol causes blood vessels to constrict temporarily. But attempting to quantifying the impact with a general catch all statement like this is bull.
I don’t think it takes a genius to realize that drinking is not going to benefit athletic performance. I know when I hit it a bit hard it impacts my training, sometimes for a few days (age may be a factor here - I’m 46). This morning I had a poor swim practice. I jokingly mentioned to a fellow swimmer that I must still be feeling the effects of my home football team’s semi-final win this past Sunday. He mentioned that every 2 drinks costs one training day and that the impact for additional drinks is not additive, it’s logarithmic. If that’s true, then I might as well pack it in until Christmas. Can anybody direct me to scientific studies which have looked at the impact of alcohol consumption on athletic performance. I would like to read up on this myself.
No way. No way at all. People will respond to alcohol differently, but that’s bogus.
I don’t think that I would have been able to complete a sprint triathlon if that was the case.
Not from my experience. A couple of drinks has no impact that I notice on my next day’s training. Once I get past 4 drinks, then I can feel it, but I normally still man up and get the work done.
Oh thank sweet Jesus.
IMO, a few drinks a week isn’t going to have much, if any, impact - you’ll start to see the negative effects when you’re having 2+ drinks daily, or having benders on certain days.
Side comment: in my n=1 study, I have found that a run is a good hangover treatment
I think that he meant to say exponential, but that’s not the main point. You should have told him that too much water isn’t good for you either. Actually, there was a study a little while ago from Granada University that concluded that beer is marginally better than water after exercise. It has to do with the influx of sugars and carbs. Now, with alcohol ultimately being a diuretic you’d have muscle cramps if you didn’t eventually follow up with water, but saying that having a drink or 2 is a guaranteed setback is funny.
Alcohol definitely effects sleep quality, impairs ability to get to deeper stages. But it IS the off season, at least here in the northern hemisphere. Ask yourself why you do this, and if you really enjoy a beer here and there, is it worth giving up for what really equates to a hobby? Enjoy the holidays, drink what you want, and be merry !!!
I don’t think it takes a genius to realize that drinking is not going to benefit athletic performance. I know when I hit it a bit hard it impacts my training, sometimes for a few days (age may be a factor here - I’m 46). This morning I had a poor swim practice. I jokingly mentioned to a fellow swimmer that I must still be feeling the effects of my home football team’s semi-final win this past Sunday. He mentioned that every 2 drinks costs one training day and that the impact for additional drinks is not additive, it’s logarithmic. If that’s true, then I might as well pack it in until Christmas. Can anybody direct me to scientific studies which have looked at the impact of alcohol consumption on athletic performance. I would like to read up on this myself.
This reminds me of the study I read that said 78.8% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
Is he saying that drinking keeps you from training? Or is he saying 2 drinks negates the physiologically changes that would normally take place due to yesterday’s track workout?
If it’s the former my n=1 from last Sunday says I had no trouble getting in my scheduled easy 8-miler after overdoing it at a winery tour the day before. In fact, it was nice to sweat out some of that Chardonnay.
If it’s the latter, the science should be easy to source.
The above notwithstanding, all males in the 40-44 AG should feel free to drink to excess prior to any race I am participating in.
I think that he meant to say exponential, but that’s not the main point. You should have told him that too much water isn’t good for you either. Actually, there was a study a little while ago from Granada University that concluded that beer is marginally better than water after exercise. It has to do with the influx of sugars and carbs. Now, with alcohol ultimately being a diuretic you’d have muscle cramps if you didn’t eventually follow up with water, but saying that having a drink or 2 is a guaranteed setback is funny.
Yes, exponential. I rarely have a drink during the week. On the weekend, it is typically one evening where I might have 4 drinks. Then, there are those occasional benders which I really should cut back on.
Or is he saying 2 drinks negates the physiologically changes that would normally take place due to yesterday’s track workout?
The above. If true, there must be scientific evidence which I would like to study for myself.
I’m not sure about that. I know a Kona qualifier who drinks beer by the keg.
For what its worth my hangover routine nowadays is as follows: 1 liter of water, 1 cup of strong coffee, 2 ibuprofen – 30 mins lying in bed – 1 hour on trainer @ 70% = Feel amazing!