People see the numbers- hours of cardio, regular strength sessions, higher resting-heart fitness- and still ask the same frantic question Ricky Gervais asked on X(previously Twitter): “I’m working out everyday now. Tennis, weights, running etc. My resting heart rate is really good and I train at quite a high rate too. So my question is, Why am I still fucking fat and exhausted all the c*****g time?”
That line landed because it names a feeling many of us know: you do the visible, measurable work and your body refuses to cooperate.
The missing piece is often something less glamorous than the gym: habits outside training that actively blunt how your body adapts. In Ricky’s case, commentators and clinicians quickly pointed to one obvious candidate, alcohol, and the scientific literature shows why that’s not just snark. One expert who goes by the name Dr Liver Doc, commented, "It’s the alcohol Ricky. It’s the alcohol. Alcohol use contributes to exercise effort intolerance by directly hindering cardiovascular and muscle function, and by interfering with recovery and energy production. These effects compound during physical activity, causing an individual to fatigue more quickly and perform less effectively than they normally would."
Why that tweet resonates: exercise is necessary, but not always sufficient
Training is what pushes the body, but the actual improvement happens in the time between workouts. If recovery, hormones, sleep, or cell repair are disturbed, the training won’t turn into lasting progress. Doctors often see athletes and regular gym-goers who train hard but don’t see results or feel tired all the time when they drink alcohol often, especially in binges.
A review of research on alcohol and recovery after strength training found that drinking right after exercise lowers muscle building in a way that depends on how much and when you drink. It also upsets the hormones and metabolism that help the body recover. This explains what Ricky describes—working out without proper recovery feels like going in circles.
Alcohol doesn’t just pack in empty calories- it also disrupts the body’s repair and energy systems. After strength or mixed workouts, muscles need a quick boost in protein building (called myofibrillar protein synthesis, or MPS) to heal and grow. A controlled study showed that drinking alcohol after doing both strength and endurance exercise lowered this muscle-building response compared to recovery with protein alone.
The drop was big enough for the researchers to say alcohol “suppresses the muscle’s growth response” and can slow training progress. In simple terms, the small tears you make in your muscles at the gym are less likely to rebuild into stronger muscle if alcohol is part of recovery.
Alcohol also affects how your body refuels after exercise. Research on muscle energy stores (glycogen) shows that alcohol can get in the way of proper recovery. Sometimes this happens indirectly, if drinking replaces the carbs your body needs, or directly, by slowing down how fast glycogen is restored after a tough workout. If glycogen doesn’t recover fully, your next session feels harder, your performance drops, and fatigue sets in sooner.
Further, repeated or heavy alcohol consumption is associated with lower testosterone and with dysregulation of the stress axis (higher cortisol), which tilts the body toward a more catabolic state. That hormonal imbalance makes it harder to build or preserve lean mass while making fat loss more stubborn.
That line landed because it names a feeling many of us know: you do the visible, measurable work and your body refuses to cooperate.
I’m working out everyday now. Tennis, weights, running etc. My resting heart rate is really good and I train at quite a high rate too. So my question is, Why am I still fucking fat and exhausted all the cunting time? pic.twitter.com/gwgzePYPaJ
— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) October 6, 2025
The missing piece is often something less glamorous than the gym: habits outside training that actively blunt how your body adapts. In Ricky’s case, commentators and clinicians quickly pointed to one obvious candidate, alcohol, and the scientific literature shows why that’s not just snark. One expert who goes by the name Dr Liver Doc, commented, "It’s the alcohol Ricky. It’s the alcohol. Alcohol use contributes to exercise effort intolerance by directly hindering cardiovascular and muscle function, and by interfering with recovery and energy production. These effects compound during physical activity, causing an individual to fatigue more quickly and perform less effectively than they normally would."
Why that tweet resonates: exercise is necessary, but not always sufficient
Training is what pushes the body, but the actual improvement happens in the time between workouts. If recovery, hormones, sleep, or cell repair are disturbed, the training won’t turn into lasting progress. Doctors often see athletes and regular gym-goers who train hard but don’t see results or feel tired all the time when they drink alcohol often, especially in binges.
A review of research on alcohol and recovery after strength training found that drinking right after exercise lowers muscle building in a way that depends on how much and when you drink. It also upsets the hormones and metabolism that help the body recover. This explains what Ricky describes—working out without proper recovery feels like going in circles.
Alcohol doesn’t just pack in empty calories- it also disrupts the body’s repair and energy systems. After strength or mixed workouts, muscles need a quick boost in protein building (called myofibrillar protein synthesis, or MPS) to heal and grow. A controlled study showed that drinking alcohol after doing both strength and endurance exercise lowered this muscle-building response compared to recovery with protein alone.
The drop was big enough for the researchers to say alcohol “suppresses the muscle’s growth response” and can slow training progress. In simple terms, the small tears you make in your muscles at the gym are less likely to rebuild into stronger muscle if alcohol is part of recovery.
Alcohol also affects how your body refuels after exercise. Research on muscle energy stores (glycogen) shows that alcohol can get in the way of proper recovery. Sometimes this happens indirectly, if drinking replaces the carbs your body needs, or directly, by slowing down how fast glycogen is restored after a tough workout. If glycogen doesn’t recover fully, your next session feels harder, your performance drops, and fatigue sets in sooner.
Further, repeated or heavy alcohol consumption is associated with lower testosterone and with dysregulation of the stress axis (higher cortisol), which tilts the body toward a more catabolic state. That hormonal imbalance makes it harder to build or preserve lean mass while making fat loss more stubborn.
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