UKC

As I sit here nursing a substantial hangover, i cant help feel what a waste it was. I trained really hard this week, some how my hang over makes it feel like i've undone my hard work. My muscles feel a little bit sorer and i've certainly had some wasted calories.

Pros:
1. Dont poison my body
2. Save money (to spend on climbing!)

Cons:
1. Less fun; i'm good at drinking, i dont get angry or emotional, i just giggle and fall over.

I have a trip to yosemite in May and would really like to make the most out of it. Not drinking between now and then would certainly benefit my body. Is it a reasonable choice or is it sucking too much of the joy out of life and focusing only on masochistic goals? Anyone gone teetotal for performance reasons? no sex jokes ... get your mind out of the gutter :P

In reply to Kemics:

I'm not teetotal but I barely drink. I've never really understood why people have to drink to have a good time. When I was bike racing and training hard for it, I could feel the difference for sure if I'd had a drink or two the night before. We're all different though, in mentality, physiology and outlook.

In reply to Kemics:

One of life's great Dilemmas!! Worth abstaining for a while if you need to perform well somewhere like Yosemite but hard to do still. I'm trying a drink only when in the pub approach rather than at home also....hard going as I love a cold one when I get in from work! Good luck!

In reply to Kemics:

Yes, gave up drinking for 11 weeks.

Combined with training hard I went from punting 7B max to on sighting them for warm ups and sending 8A.
I am big and heavy (90kg), ditching the drink and eating right dropped me to 83kg with 9% body fat.

I can't do it all the time, but having a goal you really want keeps you focused. Keep telling yourself that the cheap side of you wants instant gratification (booze, fags, salty, sugary, fatty foods, long lie ins for no reason, not to try hard at anything, not sticking to the plan...), the stronger side of you knows that the bigger picture is to climb x in May and that you need to take thousands of small positive steps in that direction to get to where you want to be. Eating and drinking crap, poor nights sleep, bad routine, not training enough, being stressed at work or home doesn't fit with bigger picture.

In reply to Kemics:

I admit to being a heavy boozer most of my life, developing a powerful immunity to large volume, and integrating it as a reward mechanism.
A few things made me stop. Firstly middle age spread which I wasn't able to shift just through food dieting and training. Also I wasn't sleeping well.
After stopping regular consumption, the benefit to my sleep patterns was miraculous, and I'm back campusing moves like I did in my 20s. Like giving up smoking, I couldn't see what the value of life without alcohol would be, but now can't imagine why I ever caned it so hard. I've found stopping has added joy to my life, give it a whirl if it seems the right thing.

In reply to Kemics:
I'd want some training before yosemite. The beer is really good in california

In reply to Kemics:

Or quit climbing to drink harder?

In reply to Kemics:

Drinking is great, thankfully it makes me really ill now.

In reply to Orgsm:

I like your style

In reply to Kemics:
Climbing is supposed to be fun Drinking is fun; combine the two, ecstasy ?!

In reply to Kemics:



Train your weaknesses.

In reply to Kemics:

This isn't being brought on by the latest diktat from the nanny state I hope.

In reply to Kemics:

I'm currently off the beer for Jan and I can't say it's making a great deal of difference Having said that it's only been 9 days. I found that towards the back end of last year I gained about half a stone of chub - now I'm an old boy and eat all manner of shite (and have done all my life) but I'm starting to think that I've just gotta start to look after myself a little better as I start the inevitable slide into age related physical decay.
When I started thinking about how much I was drinking I realised why I had gained weight - even approx 1-3 pints maybe 5 out of the 7 days of the week (maybe sometimes more or less) say 250 cals per pint (real ale) = 250 x3x5 = 3750 per week x 4 = 15,000 per month. so a pound of fat is 3500 so 4 pounds a month is a conservative estimate, so it's easy to see why I've packed it on over the last 4 months.
And although I love beer I don't actually need it - although at the moment I could murder one !!!!!!!!
So even if I carry on eating badly and cut out/down on the beer it's gotta be a winner - there are also a couple of routes on my wish/dream list for this year - and the beer will taste a whole lot sweeter if I can cruise them.
Although at the moment I 'm not sure it's gonna happen

In reply to Kemics:

When you go to yosemiti will there be drinking? If so then stopping prior will reduce your tolerance and make getting piddled cheaper and you can spend the money you save - and yup, I expect you'd train harder.

In reply to Kemics:

Quite completely u til you finish climbing in yosemity. The fact you are thinking about it suggests you should.

In reply to Kemics:

If you can't give up, cut down. The easiest way is to go for low strength drinks. Jarl at 3.8% is a great tasting beer.

In reply to Kemics:

If the amount you drink is affecting your climbing, you must either be climbing or drinking pretty damn hard!

In reply to rocksol:


Combining the two with ecstasy is going to end in tears.

Hmm seems like I know what to do. Also, I like the idea of saying the next beer i'm going to drink is on the top of el cap... would be a pretty sweet moment.

In reply to Kemics:

I tend to do a dry January and July. It's a) good to know you can actually stop b)good to give your liver a break and c) i do notice improved performance, sleep etc. Yosemite sounds like a good goal to be fit for. Maybe just limit booze until the end of the month.

In reply to Kemics: what if you bail though... Could be even longer then...

In reply to Kemics:


I did exactly what you're talking about this time last year. It wasn't quite as big a 'quick win' as I had naively hoped and expected but over the long term it's been a pretty major benefit across a number of different fronts. I also notice on the very rare occasions that I do now have a drink that I feel pretty crap the next day after even a small amount of alcohol, which suggests that it's a pretty potent poison.

In reply to Kemics:

Bravo - do it. Any risk to climbing satisfaction is not worthwhile. Consider in retrospect - which do you treasure most - evenings of drunken stupor (ok - over indulgence) and subsequent hangover - OR new levels attained and great days out on the crag / in the mountains ??

Apart from weight gain there is another reason to abstain, or moderate: injury and recovery. Alcohol consumption relates to inflammation - and you would do well to abstain / reduce whenever there is a risk of aggravating stress/strain on tendons after those big dynos ...

In reply to Kemics:

I'm having similar thoughts at the moment. I'm off on a 3 month climbing trip round spain, france and italy in April. I'd like to up my grade average a bit having been stuck at 6b for years.

I gave up drinking last week and have already lost a couple of pounds which is encouraging (im also eating a bit better). Last nights sleep was fantastic too, best ive had in ages. I had massive cravings for booze on saturday night though, which was slightly worrying!

Im going skiing next week, which is always a fairly boozey affair, so i think i'll let myself indulge in booze. But after that i'd like to continue no/minimal drinking. The weightloss alone should hopefully lead to positive results.

Good luck with your preparations and trip, sounds amazing!

In reply to Kemics:

I really don't get this social idea that people who don't drink are 'less fun'.

As someone who drank a lot as a teenager/young adult (thought I was an alcoholic at one point!) and hardly ever drink now, I enjoy hanging out with my friends fare more now than I ever did when I was plastered off my face. Seeing how people act when they are pissed when you are the sober one is enlightening.

In reply to Kemics:

I would be aware of subtleties of alcoholism. I have several friends I'd consider to be alcoholic. By that I mean they have an addiction to alcohol, not that they're pissed 24/7. They are in some way dependent upon it, like a type of medication. Some may need to drink most days, after work, and they are not quite in control of their drinking (though I suspect they convince themselves they are). They know its not doing them any good and know they'd climb better if they stopped but don't seem able to. But because it doesn't interfere too much with their normal lives its not viewed as a problem - if its considered at all.

The addiction seems to creep up slowly on people over months or years. First, for instance, you might like to drink only at social occasions. But over time this changes so that you like to go to social occasions because of the chance to drink. And of course for most won't even notice this change in motivation. All they know is they just feel like going out.

In reply to Kemics:

ha, I thought someone was spoofing me for a sec! I'm off to Yosemite in May and am trying to give up drinking until then.
Not sure if it will last but didn't drink on the weekend and trained Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, which wouldn't have happened if I had gone out on the lash.

I see your in Bristol too, if your looking anyone to practice aid climbing with then pm me as I my climbing partner lives in Europe so I'm not gonna get much time to train with him.

cheers
nick