Krasnayafleur, females still produce testosterone, although a small amount, and so I would think it may still effect protein synthesis this way. Can anyone advance on this? Caffeine can increase heart rate and blood pressure but I have not read about caffeine related to platelet aggregation.
yeah… its tough being in college and trying to stay away from all the stuff that goes on… Im not a drug user, never have or will… but I do drink, mostly on weekends… I always say Im gonna cut back, but once again… its tough when ur in college… haha… but in season Im gonna try to stay away from it.
Booze is BAD NEWS for training- full stop! More booze = more bad news. The effects of a night on the town are seldom felt the next day. It’s usually the sniffles a few days on- then full blown sick and training is trashed.
And remember, nothing good (for an athlete) ever happens after midnight!
Funny I stumbled upon this discussion after I’ve just come home from a high school party in which there was a lot of drinking going on. I started to drink a little because the peer pressure was weighing down on me, but I decided to stop after two drinks and go home because I realized, THIS JUST ISN’T ME. I find it more fun to train and discuss ideas with other highly motivated athletes than to get wasted. Unfortunately, among my high school peers, I am philosophically alone, and while I have this board to discuss, I have nobody to train with 
I don’t think it’s a coincidence either that all of my relationships with girls have lasted less than a week long. Too many girls mistake the athletic body with a party-first mentality…
schnig man I feel your pain. Its same here, my friends always say, “oh dude c’mon one night on the piss won’t do anything to training” or stuff like “you can still drink and train well”. I don’t know, I’ve never been drunk and I drink alcohol so rarely and so little when I do that I’ve never tested this theory.
But I’ll take my advice from Dr Evil himself…My problem is that my training group - all twenty-somethings drink regularly and so does my recently retired coach who’s 30. I’m 18 and I feel like I should be the one doing the drinking, but its JUST NOT ME! I’d rather train up than drink up. I have more fun at the track then at drunk parties anyway. I also wish I trained with people who were a bit more highly motivated, but you get what you can. And about the girls, man don’t even get me started…
Isn’t this just like all other forms of “Delayed Gratification”? Wouldn’t you have more fun going to a bar than studying- more fun drinking than training- more fun sleeping in than going to work?
Now let’s see who’s having fun at the end of the day! The people who actually accomplish something or those who piss their lives away?
especially dangerous for those of us who get to college, get drunk, and like it a little TOO much, and then don’t get hangovers in the morning!
charlie is right though, I got sick at least four times in my first 3 months of school, and I never used to get sick in high school. The drinking is usually limited to once a week now, sometimes even less, and once comp season starts I will put it on hold.
it was actually kind of scary one evening to realize that I was sitting alone in my room taking shots because I was bored :eek: You would be hard-pressed to find an athlete more dedicated than I am, which just proves the power of alcohol. stay away!
I only drink alcohol one day per year…my birthday (which is only a month away, February 19 :)).
Good date- same as Ange’s!
THis topic has posed one interesting debate. All in all I do not consider myself a drinker or drug user at all. Drinking is one day of the year which was eluded to earlier. I do not picture this to be a bad thing at all. To indulge once in a while is never a bad thing.
In saying that whomever does not choose to drink at all, more the power to them, if they do not need alcohol to have fun that is great however some people do because of there self esteem or personality but that should not be looked down upon. It is when it gets to carried away that things should changed not for a once in a while.
I do believe it is possible not to drink even while attending cool----ege or University.
As for the Coke idea, I know it is probably bad for you but it is the only thing that I drink that is probably bad and I only do it when I am studying for an exam. Instead of coffee since I have never touched it. I guess that is the only downfall I have but since I only drink it three to 4 times every six weeks I do not think it is that bad.
Interesting poll.
I haven’t touched alcohol in 2 years and it’s one of the best lifestyle changes I have made. I used to be a piss tank in college and it really just screwed me over. Every morning after a night of drinking was a nightmare, it was pretty much a wasted day for training or studying. I still go out to clubs and bars with my friends(i’m 24), I just drink water instead of the double rum & cokes that they’re having. I pick-up ladies for thrills instead of seeing how drunk I can get by the end of the night. It all works out…
I have to admit though that there is definitely a trade-off. I don’t see anything wrong with having 1 or 2 drinks on the weekend.
Okay, I know this idea is completely retarded, but:
Ever think of alcohol like a training tool? Alcohol lowers the body’s ability to carry oxygen around to the muscles doesn’t it? So say you wanted to improve your aerobic ability, go try to do a run while drunk. It would definately be very hard, but perhaps your body would supercompensate some how?
Question here now that this thread is back:
What’s with everyone saying beer & sex increase natural testosterone levels? I thought beer decreased testosterone levels.
for anyone who votes “drinks like a fish” technically, and biologically, you have to say “drinks like a fresh water fish” b/c fish in the sea dont drink water… 
i think they diffuse water (by osmosis) across their body surface due to the saline environment…or somthing like that. andrea can check her notes and correct me.
im really suprised there are so many ppl who dont drink? somthing seems…fishy? lol.
i am the kind of the guy in my school who doesn’t drink, but also don’t get pressured into it. i will admitt, i have drank before, and i have been drunk before. and the only time i drank to get drunk was on my 18th birthday party. other than that, drank to be social.
but i choose not to drink, there are alot of parties around my area (in the town where i go to school) and i get asked to go to alot of em, but i just go ‘nah, ill be right’ and they are like ‘ok cool dude, catch later’ so u see my friends respect it.
but i do enjoy a occasional outing or a couple drinks. like one time when me and two mats went out clubbing, we all drank to just build our confidence up a little bit to dance, we were never drinking to get drunk. and when me and the same two mates went out in another town, i only had a couple, literally a couple. and that was fine with them.
and me and a couple other mates are planning to go out clubbing soon, and i will drink, just not to get drunk, only to ge me dancing.
i haven’t had any bad experience personally with alcohol cos i dont drink that often. and ive had a couple good ones such as just having fun wiht my mates.
so thats my story about me and alcohol. one thing remains the same, you don’t need alcohol in life to enjoy it.
I grew up in a baptist family where it was evil to drink, all the way through school i never even tasted a beer or smoked a cigerett. I joined the army from school and had my first ever beer with my mates. I drank so frequently that i was feeling crap all of the time. it wasnt until I met a good friend of mine that got me interested in track and lifting weights that i stopped, atleast for a little while. when i turned about 23 i guess I grew out of it, now my main beverage of choice is water. I cant even stand the smell of alcohol now.
Alcohol causes more problems then good. When I was 16 used to get drunk every weekend. Lol was a joke. Since I’ve been training I drink maybe once every two months and never get drunk.
Athletes who drink are only hurting themselves.
LOL, thats liquid confidence at it’s best :D. One of the only times I will drink now is because of this.
This is old but I stumbled on it when I was looking up coffee, so…
are there some drinks that are worse than others?
Like, having a beer rather than having whiskey, or wine instead of rum?
Obviously the liquor will get you drunker more quickly, but I’m talking about drinking either slowly and over a relatively long span of time. I’m guessing the liquor has a higher sugar content but I’m not sure what that entails.
I never drank in high school and only really hit the bottle from ages 21-23 (I’m 24 now).
I got MUCH bigger and softer when I did. The effect, regardless of diet, was really obvious.
I now will have a 1-2 beers or glasses of wine maybe once a week, never more. Not great on the body but not like what I was doing to it. I’m unable to train now because of injuries. If I ever am able to get back to training hard, I’ll probably drop alcohol entirely.