Alcohol for Athletes

Sorry about the long times between posts, I don't plan to be like this for a while, but I am on vacation. I'm still hoping to get 2-3 posts per week.

Because it's Summer vacation let's talk relaxing and having fun! Let's talk alcohol!

Alcohol is a very prevalent part of the athlete's social network. When most athletes are in their prime, it is also at a time when alcohol not only becomes legal, but when athletes are experimenting with different alcohols in different amounts. There are a few tips to understand in order to not damage all the hard work but still enjoy a nice beer.

First, because we are athletes, we will have a lower tolerance towards alcohol, this is mainly because of how dehydrated we can be and how empty our stomach is (usually due to high metabolism). It's important to know  your limits and at what time things start going overboard. I'm not saying you can't go overboard, but being in control of your situation is crucial. In order to recognize when this limit is, take a look at alcoholic content in your drinks. Servings are as follows:

• Beer - 12 oz, or one bottle
• Wine - 5 oz, or a little less than the size of one yogurt
• Liquor (~35%) - 1.5 oz, or one standard shot glass

So just find your number of drinks and what drinks you like and you'll be fine. Understand that you should measure out mixed drinks and check alcohol content on beers (the higher the percent, the less beer per serving). Remember, the classic red solo cups? 2 servings of beer can go in there, and a whopping 4 servings of wine could fit in there.

You guys and gals in chairs? We will be sitting down when we drink most likely. This causes the body to be able to drink more just because you aren't moving. The scary part about this is you won't realize how much you've drank, and it will hit you like a brick wall. To answer this, make sure to move around a bit, get out of your chair, dance, etc.

My next tip is to re-hydrate. For athletes, this is the biggest problem (usually occurring the next day) regarding performance. A good tip to follow is to drink about one water bottle/pint glass of water per serving of alcohol. I know a lot of you are thinking that this would kill the vibe and the buzz, but this will stop hangovers and will keep you hydrated. Alternating the water and booze is the most efficient way of doing this, but if that's not in the game plan, drink as much water as possible before going to bed or moving on to other activities. Before practices later, drink some Gatorade too.

My final tip is to never drink on an empty stomach. This will get you uncomfortable intoxicated sooner than normal and can also get you very sick. A lot of you have probably already heard this tip. If you are to throw up at any point in the night, drink as much water or Gatorade as possible, and drink as much Gatorade over the next 24 hours as you can. This goes for anytime you yak.

So enjoy yourself! Go out and have fun, understand your limits, and enjoy the best of both worlds! It's completely possible to perform at a high level and also have a thriving social life/night life.