Maybe a strange question to you guys, but I have a question. Last week I've started to think and came up with the idea of starting my stretching routine by having a few glasses of alcohol first. This idea came to my mind, because (if I understand correctly) it's a well-known fact that your muscles become more supple after using alcohol.. - Well, I'm trying this since a few days now, and indeed I'm starting to realise that I have a higher pain-barriere (after drinking some glasses of alcohol), resulting in higher levels of stretching-performance... limits which I normally can't reach. Now my question is... what kind of influence does this have on my "overall performance", keeping in mind that (starting Friday next week) I will continue to stretch without alcohol again? Will I have an advantage because of the fact that I DID use alcohol this week (and my limit was higher because of this)?? Are there any people around here who have any experience with the use of alcohol, prior to starting their stretching routine? Yes, I know... it's not an average question.
And why would that be? Stretching is stretching... with or without help. Anabolic stuff would realy damage your body more, if you ask me?
OK so you say that by drinking alcohol you have a higher pain tolerance. Well, you should never feel pain while stretching and if alcohol impedes that then you are doing your body a disservice.... because we all know that you should not stretch to the point where you feel pain. Alcohol also increases lactic acid production. So you may not feel the pain while youo are stretching but by morning. you are not only going to have a headache but you will have a more severe DOMS than if you hadn't consumed. Consuming alcohol before an activity leads to dehydration. Alcohol also dilates blood vessels and diverts circulation to the skin. In hot climates, it can increase sweating and leading to further dehydration. I'd say SUI (Stretching Under the Influence) just isn't the brightest of ideas
Well with out even starting on muscles. Alcohol is poison. It damages your body, so if you were to do this often you would feel the effects. You also could risk becoming an alcoholic. You would risk damaging things like your liver. As for the muscles. You shouldn't be streching if it hurts anyway. So using alcohol to take away the pain could cause you to go to far and pull something. These are just a few things, i am sure somone will think of many more.
You said you're pain barrier would be higher, well for one when you stretch you shouldn't be stretching so much that it hurts, because that really is bad for you!
Isn't 1 glass of red wine a day now supposed to be benifical to health now http://www.ynhh.org/online/nutrition/advisor/red_wine.html
Wouldn't advocate stretching under the influence, but saying wine is poison and you shouldn't drink is an overreaction. After all grapes make up some of my five a day
We all feel a little pain when doing developmental stretches, it's unavoidable as we stretch fibres past normal limits and condition the body to allowing us to go further. However using tha pain numbing and muscle relaxing influence of alcohol tos tretch further may develop your felxibility a little quicker than doing it naturally but you run the risk of losing functional strength, and damaging joints, because effectively you aremimicking the muscle damage down by stretching cold. Stretching cold causes increased tearingof muscle fibres and therefore you lose the pliability and dtrength of the muscle. Best just to warm up hard athen do your developmental stretches (take your time with them) then train then do cool down strethces. this will increase your range of motion without adding unnecessary strain to the joints or tearing the muscles too much.
The problems with using alcohol as a means for better stretching are myriad. The first one that I can think of would be impaired judgement. Drinking alcohol definitely effects your ability to make sound decisions. So why risk you tendons and ligaments when there are already effective and proven methods for increasing flexibility? Alcohol effects your reaction time. This is why they don't recommend that people get lubricated before operating heavy equipment and tools like chainsaws and the like. What appears to be good timing and coordination to you really is almost never the case. Try it sometime - watch the cooridination of people who've had a few drinks compared to those who haven't. The more alcohol the more the timing is off. Way off. Watch people throwing punches when drunk - their coordination and balance is severly impaired. Trying to achieve better stretching by drinking alcohol before hand is really silly.
Canabis would be better than alcohol. If its legal in your country. Drink it with hot water instead of smoking it to help your lungs.
LOL! God forbid anyone actually learn how and when to stretch properly and improve their flexibility. What is wrong with you people. Get off your lazy asses and learn proper stretching techniques give up the whole rubbish of the magic pill concept. :bang:
yay lets all take drugs and get ****ed all in the interest of health... because that makes so much sense
1. Pain is desigened so that when your body is being damaged, you feel pain. 2. Alcohol to the extent where you dont feel pain means your drinking too much too regularly (once in a while is ok but not everyday.) 3. Wheres the fun in stretching if it doesn't hurt? ^^
Erm...there isn't any?? Stretching is not supposed to be painful, you push yourself untill you are slightly uncomfortable, not untill it hurts. You do more bad than good if you stretch untill it hurts, trust me! This is coming from a former dancer.
