Has anyone here ever completely quit alcohol for a certain period of time?

[manlymatt83]

I'm thinking about knocking out alcohol for about 6 months. The workouts will be much more beneficial, and I think I'll be able to focus more by spending less money on booze and more time catching up on work, focusing on health, etc.

Has anyone ever quit alcohol? How did it work out for you? Did you notice any improvements? Any problems?

 

[Chrono]

Works wonders. I used to drink all the time when I was 27-29 LOL. I hardly drink now but my workouts are always way better when I don't drink anyway. Also, you'll save the $ and not have that awful feeling when you wake up when you drink too much.

 

[manlymatt83]

Define wonders. What did it improve? I've read in places that it can actually hurt your sex life.

 

[ManBearPig]

If you have to "quit alcohol," you may have a problem with alcohol. Shouldn't be hard to stop for any period of time and it certainly shouldn't influence your life (i.e., focus, work, health, etc). I don't mean this in jest; I'm not trying to be a dick (though it sounds like it lol) but the way the question is worded strikes me as odd. Good luck man.

 

[highland145]

How much are you talking about?


When I was younger, the weekend drinking warrior, right here. Decided to quite for a while because of the choices I was making while drunk. Bad ones. Met my wife and I got married. Do you want to be married? True story.

Edit: Yes, Monday workouts sucked after the weekend of drinking.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Define wonders. What did it improve? I've read in places that it can actually hurt your sex life.

I've never really heard that. Alcohol itself is known to negatively affect sexual function as well so if you're alright in the bedroom while drinking quite a bit, you're likely going to be ok without drinking. If anything occurs, it'll likely be a temporary thing.

 

[SaurusX]

As it is I hardly ever drink. Maybe a beer/glass of wine every two weeks. It's not that big of a deal.

 

[Saint Nick]

I was never at a point where I need to "quit" alcohol. MJ might be another story...

Drinking was never big with me, even between age 20-25. I think I had my first drink at age 20. Had a few good drunk times between 21-23, but now alcohol/beer is honestly the last thing I want each day.

Anyways, I think stopping alcohol use would do more good than not, so go for it. I think you'll find yourself feeling better and easier to keep your body fat down (if you drink in excess often) considering they are very empty calories.

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

i think you'd save a lot of money. I was at vail/beaver creek this past weekend and there was a noticeable difference between the days that we would drink and the non drinking days.

even worse was when we'd take a few shots during lunch and head for the back bowls. I do think one shot might have been ok to loosen some people up because they were moving kind of stiff in the am.

 

[shadow9d9]

I've never had alcohol in my life...it really isn't that hard.

 

[Kyle]

I went from a few drinks most nights to zero for the last couple months - workouts are much better- I'm thinking more clearly and just in general feel better. There's been a couple days where I had a few drinks out w/ friends and was surprised how shitty I felt compared to the days I didn't drink.

I've also lost a decent amount of weight and am sleeping much better.

Also- as for saving $$- I find now I'm spending more on better foods/eating healthier so that kind of came out as a wash

 

[manlymatt83]

I was never at a point where I need to "quit" alcohol. MJ might be another story...

Drinking was never big with me, even between age 20-25. I think I had my first drink at age 20. Had a few good drunk times between 21-23, but now alcohol/beer is honestly the last thing I want each day.

Anyways, I think stopping alcohol use would do more good than not, so go for it. I think you'll find yourself feeling better and easier to keep your body fat down (if you drink in excess often) considering they are very empty calories.

I don't drink much, actually.

For an FYI, here's what I'm trying to do:

http://www.halfyearwithoutbeer.com

(through that together a few nights ago).

A friend of mine *is* an alcoholic and is joining me. But I drink maybe 5-6 beers a week... but that still adds up to 1 per day, which is bad for workouts in general.

 

[shortylickens]

Yup, about 8 years.
But I was never an alcoholic, so thats not really fair.

My dad was though, and since everyone says you have your parents addictions, I think that counts.

 

[Pantlegz]

every time I completely cut alcohol I see huge improvement lifting and in BJJ. I recover quicker and have more endurance. I sleep much better. I can look over my logs and see the difference in gains over periods which I wasn't drinking vs those I was. I'm also able to keep my weight in check much easier but this may be fairly unique to me. I put on weight like it's nobody's business and have to be really strict to cut anything. And keep in mind, when I do drink it's not often. I don't keep track but on average I might drink 2-3 nights a month and get really drunk every 3-6 months.

 

[hans007]

I used to drink a lot more and now I probably drink twice a month instead of twice a week. Quickly lost about ten pounds.

I think for me a lot of it was I lived in the bay area and all we did was bar hop. And now I live in LA and there's just more non drinking activities to do. But yeah can be done. And youll. Feel better for sure

 

[Koing]

I go months without drinking. I rarely drink.

My bro squats better after 3-4pints in him...but not actual OLifting. He says he has no fear when squatting after 3-4pints.

Another mate says he is okay as long as he doesn't get tanked but we shall see. He is on the 3rd week and 3rd session of smolov prep cycle. I think he has 135kg for 5reps and 7sets today! LOL.

Only a few weeks ago a mate was tanked over the weekend and had a terrible Sunday session.

Koing

 

[TwiceOver]

I'm coming up on my first year. I don't know if it really helped anything, but I know I had somewhat of a problem. It's just better that I don't drink at all rather than make a stupid attempt at limiting my drinking somehow.

It's like those idiots that "don't smoke" but smoke on the weekends or whatever.

 

[surfsatwerk]

I'm coming up on my first year. I don't know if it really helped anything, but I know I had somewhat of a problem. It's just better that I don't drink at all rather than make a stupid attempt at limiting my drinking somehow.

It's like those idiots that "don't smoke" but smoke on the weekends or whatever.

I only smoke when I'm drinking.

Well how often is that?

Every frickin day!

 

[homebrew2ny]

I quit drinking any alcohol 10 years ago, and I was as much a drinker as anyone.

 

[TallBill]

I was forced to not drink multiple times for military deployments. Workouts were pretty great. I've recently gone from binge drinking daily to barely at all and I feel good.

 

[Pantlegz]

I go months without drinking. I rarely drink.

My bro squats better after 3-4pints in him...but not actual OLifting. He says he has no fear when squatting after 3-4pints.

Another mate says he is okay as long as he doesn't get tanked but we shall see. He is on the 3rd week and 3rd session of smolov prep cycle. I think he has 135kg for 5reps and 7sets today! LOL.

Only a few weeks ago a mate was tanked over the weekend and had a terrible Sunday session.

Koing

Completely OT but what do you think of Smolov? I was thinking of doing a cycle after my PL meet. Would it help someone like me? It's been said to add 100lbs to your squat... Or should I stick to some form of periodization, which I would revert back to after Smolov anyway?

 

[Wyndru]

Up until this past new years, I regularly had weekend nights (usually about 2 weekend nights a month) where I would get really drunk. Both going out to bars as well as just sitting home playing video games or writing code by myself. I would easily finish off at least 18 beers, some nights over a case. And if I was drinking liquor I would basically get black out drunk and forget what happened on some nights. I also smoked cigs when I drank (but I never smoke when I'm sober).

I recently told my doctor about it, he basically yelled at me and told me to cut it out, telling me that I was killing myself. He said that even though it was only a couple times a month, I would have liver problems when I got older (and quite possibly have already done a lot of irreversible damage). I had never really thought about it, since I have a few family members and friends that do the same thing. I figured at 35 it's time to stop acting like a college kid and give it up. I've only drank 3 beers since the new year, and the beers I drank were because I was out and it was what everyone else was drinking. Hopefully I can stick with it. I occasionally get the urge to drink, but I just ignore it now. I probably need to sell my kegerator next haha.

Anyhow, my workouts gains are a lot more consistent in the past 2 months (other than a 1 week stall where I got sick). I don't know if quitting drinking was the reason, or the fact that I'm not smoking cigs anymore, or if I'm just trying harder now but whatever it is has been good.