Is It Ok To Drink Beer After a Workout? The Good and Bad

It's not the best idea to drink beer after your workout. Drinking beer after a workout is bad because it dehydrates you, ruins your meal plan, leads to more injuries, and impairs your sleep.

After an afternoon at the gym with friends, a long bike ride, or a community run, it's common to go out for a drink at the local bar. You might have a beer or another form of alcohol. Drinking beer after exercising is so popular that races like 5Ks and marathons often have beer for purchase near the finish line. However, drinking beer after a workout can affect your post-workout recovery.

According to experts, it's not the best idea to drink beer after your workout. The negative effects of drinking alcohol after working out increase the more you drink. So, having one beer might not be the worst but the more you have, and the more regularly you do it, the more your recovery and overall fitness level may be affected.

Dehydration

After working out, you need to rehydrate yourself. Drinking alcohol dries you out even more. It is a diuretic and causes you to urinate more fluids than usual. In some cases, you may need to drink twice as much water after just one alcoholic drink to get fully rehydrated. That doesn't count the hydration you need to replace from your workout. 

One study showed that people urinate more than usual after drinking a 4% alcoholic drink post-workout, which may contribute to dehydration. It's unlikely that one beer after a workout will cause a harmful level of dehydration, but it may affect your recovery.

To minimize the dehydrating effects of beer after working out, choose something with lower alcohol content, and be sure to drink plenty of water.

Ruins your meal plan

Alcohol itself has more calories than carbs or protein per gram. Many beers have around 150 calories in them. If you are following a strict eating regimen to go with your gym routine, having a few beers can throw you off. 

Additionally, alcohol lowers your inhibitions, which may cause you to desire unhealthy foods for your post-workout meal, further setting you off of your plan.

More injuries

One study showed that athletes who drink alcohol are around twice as likely to get injured as those who don't drink. Some experts believe this is because alcohol slows down muscle recovery times by decreasing testosterone and growth hormone levels. Drinking alcohol regularly can also affect your balance and reaction times, which may lead to more injuries.

Impairs your sleep

Sleep is an important part of the workout recovery process. Studies show that getting enough sleep after working out strengthens your muscles and helps to prevent exercise-related injuries. However, drinking alcohol can affect your sleep negatively. 

One study showed that even a small amount of alcohol can negatively impact your sleep. After drinking, you spend less time in certain important stages of the sleep cycle, meaning your sleep has more disruptions, and you may sleep for less time than usual. Studies show that people who drink alcohol regularly over a long period of time are more likely to have sleep issues.

While drinking one beer after working out once in a while won't affect your workout recovery, most experts wouldn't recommend it. There are plenty of alternatives that won't have as much of a harmful effect, and some that could even help your recovery process.

Non-alcoholic beer

Some fitness experts recommend trying a non-alcoholic beer after working out to enjoy the social aspects of drinking without any of the harmful effects of drinking alcohol. The stereotypes about non-alcoholic beers having little to no taste are no longer true. There are even craft breweries that have created non-alcoholic beers of all varieties. 

One brewery, Athletic Brewing, focuses on non-alcoholic beer and sparkling water made specifically for athletes. In recent years, Olympians have been drinking non-alcoholic beers after workouts and competitions.

A mocktail

Mocktails can be a great post-workout option. They often contain fruit juices, sparkling water, and other non-alcoholic ingredients, which can help you get the carbs you need for your recovery. A mocktail can be as simple as sparkling water with bitters or more complex. 

If you're heading to a bar after your workout, some places have a specific menu for mocktails, while others will ask you about your tastes and create one just for you. When ordering mocktails, watch out for potential ingredients that may have added sugar, like pre-made drink mixes.

A recovery drink

While some might not consider this to be as socially fun as a beer, a recovery drink will be the most optimal for your recovery process after a workout. Recovery drinks contain a good amount of protein, carbohydrates, and electrolytes. The amount of these nutrients depends on how hard you work out. 

For example, after an average workout, you might require between 25 and 40 grams of carbs. But after going on an endurance run over a long distance, you might need as much as 80 grams. A recovery drink should have at least 20 grams of protein.

Suggestions include a smoothie with foods like bananas, berries, and milk. If you don't have time to make something yourself, experts say even a glass of chocolate milk can be a great recovery drink. You should drink a recovery beverage between 20 and 30 minutes after a workout, especially if it's been around 3 or 4 hours since your last meal.

According to sports experts, drinking one or two beers after working out won't harm you, but it won't make for the best recovery. You should also skip other types of alcoholic beverages, including wine, liquor, and cocktails. 

If you're serious about fitness and want to make the most of your workouts, skip the post-workout beer and consider trying a non-alcoholic beer, a mocktail, or a recovery drink instead. 

In addition to skipping alcohol, make sure to get enough sleep and rehydrate after every workout. This may result in better muscle recovery and, over time, better performance in the gym.