Today I want to discuss the issue of alcohol and exercise. I’ve noticed that there have been a lot of news reports over the last couple of years that claim that recent studies show small amounts of alcohol can reduce your risk of heart attack and improve your circulation. There are some things you need to be aware of before you run out and start including alcohol as part of your health program.



Studies that claim to show a connection between alcohol better health are viewing the body in a compartmentalized fashion. What this means is that they are simply correlating the statistical relationship between people who drink alcohol and the corresponding rate of heart attack and stroke. While it’s possible that these studies are conducted with the best of intentions, it’s important to point out that you can be in a statistical group with a very low risk of heart attack and still be the first one to drop over dead. The body is not a combination of numerous isolated systems that can be examined individually and categorized by statistics. It’s a whole system that works as a unit and when one area weakens, eventually it will compromise the entire system.

What this means in terms of alcohol consumption is that it must be assessed on the basis of its impact on the entire body, not on any singular organ or part of it and especially not on the basis of developing or not developing one specific disease. So let’s take a look at it from that perspective and then decide if it’s something that fits well into your health program.

What do we know about the relationship between alcohol consumption and the human body? Well, we know that it causes the cells to become inflamed and eventually results in cellular death. The way you’ll feel this, as a person who exercises, is that you will have muscle soreness after workouts in addition to cramps and very long recovery times. Alcohol also causes a reduction of heat in the muscles because of the fact that it dilates the blood vessels. This reduces the efficiency and timing of muscle contraction and makes your workout counter-productive, by over-stressing the muscles in their compromised state.

Recent research has also indicated that small amounts of alcohol will result in short term improvement in muscle endurance and strength output. While this is true, those benefits are very short-lived and will play out in less than twenty minutes. The long term results are a loss of strength and the gradual breakdown of the central nervous system.

I recommend a workout program for my Christian clients called the Body Gospel workout. As you might guess from the name of it, it is designed specifically for Christians, and it keeps you on track in terms of how what you do when you’re not exercising will affect you when you do exercise. I like it because it helps you incorporate your faith into your workout program. You can easily find a variety of detailed Body Gospel Reviews online.

Wishing you the best in your journey to fitness.