Workout of the Day:
Complete two power cleans on the minute, every minute, for 25 minutes. Record and report the total amount of weight you clean during the 25 minutes.
The challenge: Can you clean 10,000 lbs. in this workout?
Alcohol and Recovery
By Calvin Sun
The weekend is finally here. With another week of intense training under your belt, it’s probably time to have a hard-earned beer. Or not. Besides leaving you hungover, fat, and in a potentially regrettable sleeping arrangement with a complete stranger, alcohol can severely impact your body’s ability to recover from the beating you have dealt it during the week.
In addition to hindering your ability to make good decisions, alcohol can inhibit the repair processes that occur at the cellular level. Penn State’s College of Medicine conducted a study that found acute alcohol intoxication can severely inhibit protein synthesis in both muscle tissue and the liver. Protein synthesis is essential to biological functions and plays a critical role in the growth and repair of your muscles. Compared to a placebo, protein synthesis was decreased by 39% in skeletal muscle and in the liver it was decreased by 21%. They also found that alcohol consumption caused “myocyte degeneration, loss of striations, and myofilament dissolution.” In other words, it means alcohol causes muscles to deteriorate.
You don’t have to become intoxicated in order to achieve such results either. Researchers at Penn State also found that chronic consumption of alcohol can lead to decreased protein synthesis as well as a condition known as myopathy. Myopathy is a general term for a class of muscular disease which includes rhadomyolysis. Myopathy causes muscle tissue dysfunctions, common symptoms include cramps, stiffness, and weakness, none of which are beneficial to a serious athlete. There are actually case reports of people who have been admitted to hospitals for alcohol-induced rhabdo. I have seen several cases of localized rhabdo in experienced CrossFitters that consume alcohol during intense training cycles. If you are serious about your performance, I would not recommend consuming any alcohol. If you really must drink, consume in moderation and try limiting your alcohol consumption after workouts that involve high-volume rep schemes or heavy eccentric loads.
Tags: Nutrition
So all that wine I drank last night isn’t going to fuel my workout today?
Oh darn…
“Get it up anyway, anyhow you can”. Awesome clip from today’s affiliate blog:
http://www.vimeo.com/3564191
Bravo Sam! My cleans this morning looked EXACTLY like that. STELLAR Bee Charmer form (if there is such a thing).
With practice and hard work, someday I may be as good as little Sam!
LOL That clip is awesome!!
Definitely reminded me of you bro. Good job this morning. I cant wait for Nick to hit up the WODs with us next week, I’m sure coach CJ has another set of programs that will be perfect!
Challenging workout. Total weight 10,250lbs. Thanks for a great week of workouts.
Todays WOD was great. I was really intimidated going into it but CJ’s “it really isn’t that bad” kept me motivated…
As far as the drinking is concerned… That’s why we all can power lift like Calvin. I’m going to go have a beer.
[...] Stretch, rest, relax and repeat. Great week of work everybody. See you tomorrow! Oh, and if you plan on having a few spirits this weekend (or you already have, and you know who you are), check out the following: CrossFit Invictus talks about alcohol, working out, and recovery, Read. [...]
Calvin:
Excellent post on alcohol and athletic performance. I have been in the midst of deciding which is more baneficial for the peak performance I seek in every aspect of my life: the “unwind” that a beer or a glass of wind affords at the end of a day, or the improved performance in every facet of my life performance, not just the WOD, that results from complete abstention. It seems as though peak performance is winning as I find myself down to two drinks a week or so.
Alcohol-related Rhabdo is actually more common than exercise induce Rhabdo by about two orders of magnitude. While still rare, this is just one more important point when discussing the even more rare entity of CF-induced Rhabdo. Please note, however, that neither you nor anyone else has ever observed an episode of “localized Rhabdo” because the entity does not exist. Rhabdomyolysis is a systemic, total body illness that results in damage to non-skeletal muscle organs from myoglobin released from massive muscular damage from whatever cause. Without this organ damage Rhabdomyolysis (the disease) does not exist, no matter how high the CK might be.
What you have observed, and what may have an association with alcohol use (I do not know) is localized muscle trauma associated with overuse. Swelling, localized pain, and inability to use the affected muscle in the absence of systemic disease is NOT Rhabdomyolysis, no matter how high the CK might be. It IS painful and serious to be sure, should be taken seriously by trainers, and is not to be taken lightly.
But it is NOT Rhabdomyolysis. It is vitally important that Affiliates stop using the term “localized Rhabdo.”
–bingo
[...] “In addition to hindering your ability to make good decisions, alcohol can inhibit the repair processes that occur at the cellular level. Penn State’s College of Medicine conducted a study that found acute alcohol intoxication can severely inhibit protein synthesis in both muscle tissue and the liver. Protein synthesis is essential to biological functions and plays a critical role in the growth and repair of your muscles.” By Calvin Sun of CrossFit Invictus (Read more…) [...]
[...] Alcohol & Recovery [...]