Yzabelle Bostyn
TOP athletes, including a Real Madrid star are drinking BEER following workouts to improve recovery- but why?
Maybe you’ve had a few pints after five-a-side or celebrated reaching a personal best with a drink, but now the ‘Beer Trick’ is sweeping through celebrity training circles.
Real Madrid midfielder, Luka Modric, has started drinking pints after working out on the recommendation of his trainer Vlatko Vucetic.
It has aroused much interest due to Modric’s physical fitness and high performance as part of the demanding club despite being 38-years old.
The beers, say Vucetic, act as a motivator and reward for the footballer during games, which can last up to two hours.
This, combined with the relaxing effect of the alcohol, positively affects the athlete’s mental health, an important part of professional football.
Modric is not the only one using beer as a post-workout beverage.
The doctor and Olympic basketball player, Juan Antonio Corbalan, once described beer as the ‘perfect isotonic drink’ in an interview with La Razon.
He said: “It has a little bit of alcohol, but the rest is the perfect isotonic drink. These are all copied from beer.
“I like it and it’s OK for me to drink a good beer and get the best sporting results.”
Like Corbalan, Vucetic also claims beer has important health properties such as:
- Rehydration: Research into sports medicine has shown that beer can outperform water in post-exercise hydration. It has plenty of water and calories, facilitating athlete recovery and effective rehydration. The carbonation, sugar and salt in beer also allows for faster absorption of the liquid into the body than water.
Manuel Castillo-Garzon, Professor of Medical Physiology at the University of Granada also claims that beer’s freshness and bubbles quench post-exercise thirst much better than water as water is flavourless.
- Muscle recovery: Beer is an effective antioxidant and therefore promotes the early metabolism recovery, preventing post-workout muscle soreness.
- Hormonal and immune metabolism recovery: Moderate beer consumption also helps to maintain higher blood glucose levels, reduce stress and prevent hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar levels) due to the maltodextrins and carbohydrates present in the beverage.
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