For many of us, there is little more enjoyable than a nice cold beer after a hard day of climbing.  While how enjoyable this beer is is not up for debate, climbers often like to justify their post climbing beverages by calling them a “recovery beer.”

The idea behind this nickname is that consuming a beer immediately after exercise will actually help you recover for your next session.  While this is definitely a nice idea, here’s an article by Elliott Natz of Climbing Magazine that examines the idea of the recovery beer by discussing the effects of alcohol on recovery.

“We all know that six beers isn’t going to help you send the next day and one beer shouldn’t hurt, but how exactly do those delicious brews affect the recovery process?” – Elliott Natz

Alcohol and Recovery

Unfortunately, for all us beer drinkers out there, the science is in and there is nothing to back up the claim that a beer immediately after exercise will help recovery.  In fact, the opposite is true and alcohol actually impedes the recovery process in several important ways.  According to Natz and the studies of researcher Dr. Matthew Barnes, they are:

• Alcohol negatively affects your body’s ability to absorb glycogen from carbohydrates and its ability to synthesize protein
• Muscle growth was impaired when alcohol was consumed with protein and carbohydrates compared to when carbohydrates and protein were consumed on their own.

Obviously, for climbers who have trained hard or climbed hard all day, these are serious negative effects that should be avoided.

Have Your Recovery Beer and Recover Too

However, while it’s clear alcohol isn’t helping your recovery, there is a silver lining.  According to Barnes’ research, you can mitigate most of the negative effects of alcohol on recovery by ensuring you are consuming an appropriate amount for you body weight, drinking an adequate amount of water between drinks, and consuming a carb- and protein-rich meal.  By following these guidelines, you may not be maximizing your recovery, but you will be able to enjoy a beer or two after climbing without totally sabotaging it.

Click through below to learn about alcohol and the recovery process in more detail.

Full Article: Fact or Fiction – The Recovery Beer

(photo courtesy of climbing.com)

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