Biggest Disruptions to Gaining/Keeping Muscle?

airforlife

airforlife

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I have some general questions, as I've been trying to maintain a disciplined workout regimen but have hit a few distractions.

How badly would the following things throw off a workout routine (i.e. ruin or seriously slow down all the hard work I've been putting in).

Heavy Night of Drinking (or a whole weekend)

Moderate e usage (once every two months)

A week of poor diet

Three weeks to a month of not working out



So taken individually how bad would these things mess me up?



As a side question, if I've hit a plateau at about 180 lbs (I used to be real skinny, it's very hard to put on weight) for about a couple months, what are my options? I'm only taking protein as a supplement, so should I hit up some other supplements hard or starting researching the roids?

thanks for your input
 
Heavy drinking + months out of the gym + poor diet = no AAS.

Protein sups are good, but not an ideal replacement for food. IMHO, get your diet back in order, cut the drinking, and get back in the gym. As far as other sups, I'd concentrate on eating wholesome healthy food until you are back on track. Basically, try and up your caloric intake if you want to add more weight.

BTW, please read the rules pertaining to asking for AAS advice. Good luck.

/V
 
• Age - 22
• Weight 180
• AAS experience (have you used AAS before, what doses, results?) - none
• Goals (what are you trying to achieve with AAS?) - aesthetic, staying at around 200 lbs with lean muscle
• BF% - I think around 11%?
• Diet - Varies, probably enough grams of protein and carbs but not the best quality foods coming in
• Work out schedule - 4-5 days a week

To clarify I didn't mean what would happen if everything I mentioned happened (If that was the case I wouldn't be seeing any gains), I meant how bad would each affect putting on muscle if they happen individually.

I ask because I'm always trying to keep strict but one of these things eventually ends up popping up and messing me up for a bit.
 
Alcohol acts directly on cell membranes and intracellular metabolism. It serves as a preferred metabolic fuel and depending on the frequency and amount consumed, alcohol can suppress the utilization of fat.

Alcohol provides 7 calories per gram. So you're getting a lot of empty calories that just are not used for building muscle mass. These calories can promote fat storage as well as reduce your consumption of high-quality, high- protein nutrients essential for building muscle mass.

For those reasons, if you're trying to shed fat and get cut, you should greatly limit your consumption of alcohol.

Not only that, when you drink, there are hormonal changes that occur within your body that could have a direct impact on building muscle mass. One is the reduction of testosterone in your blood and another is the increased conversion of testosterone to estrogen -- resulting in the elevation of estrogen that leads to increased fat depositing, gynecomastia, and fluid retention.

Over the short term, alcohol acts as a diuretic and it can impair protein synthesis as well as your immune function.

Another negative effect alcohol has on building muscle is that it can deplete minerals that are critical to muscle growth. This includes the depletion of magnesium, potassium, and calcium.

Alcohol also depresses the central nervous system, impairing strength and mental capacities. It can bring on mood swings and other behavioral problems that go way beyond the realm of gaining muscle.

Long term alcohol abuse can lead to such drastic problems as addiction, loss of sex drive, impotence, and severe liver toxicity.

An ocassional beer or glass of wine will not produce these problems. It's the person that drinks heavily and wants to still get in great shape that is fooling himself/herself. Avoid alcohol consumption as much as you can and you'll be building muscle mass a lot faster for it.

Your e use. I can't see it doing any damage to your muscle gains if you are using it once every two months. I honestly can't say, but would wager it wouldn't matter.

Not working out for a month may not show a huge loss in muscle, but your body will be all out of sink. May take a few weeks for your muscles to get back on track.

Diet. If your diet is poor, your gains will be as well.

/V
 
Wow I didn't realize alcohol was such a bummer, that sucks lol.

So for a college student trying to put on some muscle mass that's quite a conundrum, I guess I'm going to have to sacrifice some.
 
Just take GHB once a week instead of alcohol and you shouldn't have any worries then! Just don't get addicted <3
 
working out on and off will effect glycogen stores in your muscles...your muscles will literally shrink in between the on and off switches...your body only stores a lot of sugar in your muscles (inflating the individual fibers) if you're routinely using it.

Don't use it...you lose it (hehe).

Ecstasy curtails my appetite for a good 24 hours after...that will affect your recovery. It could also affect your mood. Once every month is what I would consider moderate to moderately heavy usage. More than once a month is just a sure-fire path to depression in all but the most obstinately brutish.
 
overtraining = undereating?
Click to expand...

Although there's some truth to that (diet is as important as training), you can definitely exceed your body's ability to heal itself, no matter how much you eat. Even if your cells are swimming in all the raw materials they can use, there are still limits on how quickly tissues can be rebuilt, how quickly new satellite cells can mature, etc.
 
Victor, though I agree with your general sentiments on alcohol, it seems to be filled with a lot of hearsay and broscience. Yes getting drunk everyday is going to severly impact any possible gains, but if it's only a weekend thing etc. it's not a big deal. To simply claim that alcohol drops T levels is reaching into that bag of workout myths. I'm not one to only take snippets from research studies, but in terms of what we're discussing it works in this case:

"RESULTS: In the i.g. model, the T response to hCG was blunted for 12 hours following alcohol injection, but showed a rebound at 48 hours"

"By 48 hours, StAR, PBR, and P450scc levels had increased above control values. Both StAR and PBR levels showed correlations with plasma T levels."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...nel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

To say drinking alcohol drops T levels is true to some extent, but if you're going to say that you need to also mention the inevitable rebound that produced T levels higher than said person's normal, physiologic levels. The only reason I found this study is because I was/am convinced of this rebound because of all of the great workouts I've had after a night out. I've had multiple occasions of setting 5-rep PR's or whatever the next workout.

Honestly the biggest problem with normal "american drinking" (assuming you're getting pretty drunk Friday and Saturday) is the crap food that you eat the night of, and the meals you typically skip the next day. Yes there's 7 useless calories per gram of alcohol, but if you're drinking from say 7pm-2am, maybe you grab 1 meal in there otherwise it's just liquor. It comes down to BMR and each person's individual caloric needs and goals.

I typically drink quite a bit on the weekends and I'm managed to reach 241 lbs and still had a 6-pack (i'm 6'3" btw), alcohol gets a much worse rap than it should. Fit it into your daily nutriton plan and move on, being a diet nazi is only going to drive you to eventually lose it and give up.
 
This debate is a double-edged sword....in my case, the shitty food consumed the night of and entire day after of drinking is what curtails my progess in the gym....of course a few wont hurt but I'm known to go all out.
 
indeed, and like i said it's really ENTIRELY about BMR and each individual's caloric needs and goals. I'm 22 with a crazy fast metabolism as well as about 205-210 pounds of lean mass so I burn up calories so fast that a night boozing and a 2am stop at wendys isn't going to add an ounce; plus I'm bulking anyway so I don't really care as long as I'm breaking maintanance calories for the day. For somebody who's 160 lbs, a bit older, and trying to cut that night out could hinder their progress to some extent.
 
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