Sometimes we can’t avoid them. We scream and shout and gnash our teeth but boozing is such a deep-rooted part of our culture that on such momentous occasions as “Stag doos” or “21st Birthdays” we just HAVE to do it.
But we can minimize the risks and disruption to our otherwise healthy body building lifestyle

Quick tip for a boozy weekend is most importantly keep the hydration levels real high!
So drink lots of fluids. Try making something like the WHO oral re-hydration sachet formula with a half litre of water add about 200ml orange juice then add a quarter teaspoon of salt and about 5 tablespoons of sugar!

This gives about the same salt and potassium and sugars as the stuff given to kids in third world countries to replace water lost with diarrhea. It may be a bit too salty to taste nice so you can always make it weaker by making it up to a litre volume with more water and then just swigging it over longer time.
Or if you don’t like the taste then just get lucozade sport (not the dreadful “lucozade energy “which is all glucose and caffeine and sunset yellow colouring and will kill you if you’ve got a hangover). Try mixing in half a teaspoon of glycerin as well to the 1000ml to make you hold more of the water.

A friend of mine who was a medic in the Israeli army would sleep with a drip in to rehydrate and a catheter bag so they didn’t have to keep nipping to the loo! Not recommended even if you are Ronnie Coleman.

Stopping headaches
I prefer Neurophen Plus as the ibuprofen is best for headaches as it helps reduce the swelling of the meninge membranes around the brain which get annoyed with all the nasty booze you batter Mr Brain with. Ibuprofen is better than aspirin as an anti-inflammatory and headache cure. One study said its up to 200 times more effective for pain relief. Don’t exceed recommended dosages.
Don’t take Solpadine or anything with Caffeine in it if your hung over as you will get more dehydrated. (So drinking black coffee the morning after will seem pleasant at the time but 30 mins later you will be much worse). If you’re taking almost any steroids anyway you will be holding a bit more body water than usual. (Unless your taking diuretics as well. In which case stop taking them immediately if you’re going to be boozing).

As you retain more sodium when on most steroids you shouldn’t get hang-overs quite as bad as other people anyway. Hurrah for steroids! But don’t drink too often when on steroids as its added stress to the system. Besides which Alcohol can cause estrogen levels to rocket. NOT what you want if you’re a Body builder and just one of many good reasons to cut out drinking all together.
Oh and if you’ve still got some alcohol in your blood when you wake up and take the Neurophen Plus the codeine in it will make your head swim and go “ hhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmm”
So you have been warned but it will help take the pain away.

What’s next?
Oh yeah liver protection.
I wouldn’t drink ANY booze if taking any oral 17c alkylated orals like D-Bol anyway. If your taking Parabolan or Tren be even more careful as they stress the kidneys. Double your water intake straight away. If taking any other steroids just go easy on your liver as well and don’t be a booze hero.

You should be taking Milk Thistle and EPO anyway. Increase dosages. Get some Choline (in egg yolks!) also to help your liver. You can get plain choline tablets for hardly anything nowadays.
A great tip is to drink loads of fructose before and after boozing (either get the powder from your chemist or drink plenty of apple juice as it’s the fruit with highest fructose content anyway). This helps the liver with its energy stores. Oh but word of warning, Don’t just eat a load of fructose if you have never taken it before as you may get the shits. Build up to it for a few days.

Lots of vit C (of course) and take lots and lots and lots of whey protein at every opportunity (with plenty of liquids so you don’t get dehydrated)
One reason why people say greasy full English breakfast in the morning is a cure for hangover isn’t so much the grease I suspect but the protein will contain an amino acid called “Methionine” which gets given some stick in your liver when you booze. (And lots of salt!) So take extra to replace it. In OZ you could get Methionine powder on its own from Musahi. It’s worth investing in a tub for liver maintenance if you really really have to give the booze some stick. Oh and taking paracetamol lowers Methionine (and can raise estrogen) so that’s another reason why I am more in favor of Ibuprofen preparations after boozing rather than paracetamol tablets.
If you have money to spare you can take NAC capsules but taking whey protein and the high amount of Methionine it contains will do you just as good and its a lot cheaper. There isn’t much Methionine in Soya so don’t use that and use more whey instead

Things to do while boozing to limit damage?.
When you’re boozing eat salty stuff and also keep drinking water as well. Sneak to the bar and ask for a pint of water every so often and drink that quickly when your tough mates aren’t looking. Or even wander to the bogs with your pint in your hand, poor it away and fill it up with water and drink it quick before they spot what you’re doing. Also if it’s dark, pints of shandy look uncannily like pints of beer to the untrained eye.
Drink glasses of orange juice and add a load of ice cubes at the bar and tell everyone its full of vodka? (Grimace a lot while drinking and saw “Wow that’s strong!” and they may believe you…..)

Don’t worry too much about a few days of missing protein intake and proper nutrition, you will bounce back.

Good luck if you do have the severe misfortune of simply HAVING to go on a boozy weekend when you’re training hard. Just survive it and get back on track as quickly as possible.

Oh, and have some fun as well! : )