1. Bigger Ain't Always Better
There are certain times in life when bigger doesn't necessarily mean better. Guys in the gym want bigger "pumps" when they do bicep curls, so they take L Arginine, or as it is commonly called "NO2." NO2 is a vaso-dilator which means that it makes your veins and arteries really big, thus lowering your blood pressure and filling your muscles with blood, making them appear bigger. Alcohol is also a vaso-dilator. While there is nothing inherently dangerous with vaso-dilators, as a whole, when two kinds are mixed, the results can be dangerous. Taking L Arginine with alcohol can dilate your veins so much that your blood pressure bottoms out to a dangerous level.
2. Strokes and You
Because L Arginine is a vaso dilator, and more blood can flow, this puts an increased amount of blood going to your brain. On its own, it's not too bad, but the occasional headaches can be bad. Mix this with alcohol, which does the same thing, now you have double the dose, double the effect. Intra cranial pressure can result in much more than a headache--the next time, it could be a stroke.
3. Negligible Benefits
The benefits of L Arginine in the gym are negligible. The "official" or marketing benefit is that it rushes more blood to the muscles where more nutrients can find their way in. Muscles have a limited amount of "space" to uptake nutrients and Arginine can't improve this. Alcohol exasperates the negative aspects, and you shouldn't be drinking while working out anyway.
4. Impairs Judgment
Alcohol impairs your judgments. Add this with the "pump" effect that L-Arginine gives when working out and the results can be very painful. The alcohol can easily lead to over training as the numbing effect and the impaired judgment can cause the weight lifter to do too much and over train. This kind of injury is long lasting and can set back any gains you may have found in the gym.
5. Drug Interactions
The impaired judgment from the alcohol extends outside of the gym as well. Alcohol reduces inhibitions as well. This could lead to other drug use or abuse which can be quite lethal when the L-Arginine is increasing blood flow to the brain and decreasing blood pressure. If taken with a drug such as Viagra, there is a very good chance that the blood pressure will fall to zero, which is basically, death. If a patient is on L-Arginine, has been drinking and has a cardiac event, in many cases, the standard treatment is nitro glycerine, which again, will make the blood pressure bottom out and death is a very realistic outcome.
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