Want To Burn Fat & Gain Muscle? Avoid Alcohol, Here's Why

People who are learning how to build muscle mass at the gym approach me all the time with all kinds of questions. One of the things I am asked most is - does alcohol drinking have any affect on gaining muscle. Well if you had that question in mind than I'm sorry to disappoint you, but yes, consuming alcohol has a very direct, and negative effect on the results you will get with your burn fat gain muscle efforts.
The damages that alcohol causes the human body are far worse than most people tend to think. Because of that, you should get a clearer understanding of how it effects your muscle building efforts. Understand that alcohol is basically a drug. And while we are not trying to preach here, you, as a person who wants to develop your body and keep healthy, should be aware of the effects that alcohol has on your health in general, and on muscle building specifically.

1) Alcohol has a negative affect on protein synthesis.
Protein synthesis is the process that takes place in your body, in which amino acids are joined into whole proteins. Too much alcohol slows this process down by twenty percent or more. Because building muscle uses proteins in the process, you can see the problem we have right here.

2)It's also known that alcohol lowers the testosterone levels in your body while pusing the estrogen level up. If you have a low level of testosterone flowing through your body, than your ability to build muscle decreases, as this is a hormone essential to building muscle.

3) Alcohol promotes dehydration. Alcohol in your system means the body invests huge effort in clearing it out. This pulls water resources from the body. As you may guess, this is very bad for the muscle building process that requires a lot of water. It can also be very dangerous.

4)It's a well known fact the drinking forces minerals and vitamins out of your body. Vitamins A, C, all the B's, zinc, calcium and phosphorus are being drained at a rapid pace from your body, as soon as alcohol hits the system. Quite a few vitamins are involved in the muscle building process, so losing them it not good for the process.

5) Alcohols makes it harder to rid of fat. Alcohol is 7 calories per gram, and that's a lot. Fat storage is no good for anyone who considers himeslf a muscle builder.

Alcohol is in no doubt an ingredient in many people's lifestyle and recreation. Having fun is good, but if you over do it with alcohol consumption that all your muscle building efforts will suffer. Of course, moderate drinking here and there is fine. Just keep it under control. If you do find yourself drinking too much, at least make sure you drink a lot of water and take some vitamins, as well as a protein rich meal. Next time you ask how to burn fat and build muscle you will know that drinking in a part of the solution. Being aware of the risk and damages that are caused by drinking to your body are half the battle. If you take care to keep the damage to a minimum than your building muscle efforts will not be effected too much.