smoking cigarettes affect muscle growth??

***perfectbeast2001*** · 04-25-2005, 02:25 PM

I eat a healthy diet and excercise every day. I am bulking at the moment which is going well (first week). I am using Test E, Dbol and deca . My only vice is that i smoke about 10-15 cigarettes a day. I know smoking is harmful but I was wondering if it affects muscle growth or the bodies ability to take in protein. vitamins and minerals ect.

**stocky121** · 04-25-2005, 02:33 PM

it will decrease oxygen getting to your muscle's. Don't know about protein vitamins

***perfectbeast2001*** · 04-25-2005, 02:36 PM

Hmm Im gonna give up soon If I find out its impeding muscle growth that will give me more reson to stop.

**stocky121** · 04-25-2005, 02:39 PM

ha ha it will be better if you give it up mate. I used to smoke and feel much better for it. I can run for longer feel more energetic when i wake up in the morning. also i get less cold's since i've given up. hope this in some way help's you to give it up

**smegs** · 04-25-2005, 02:51 PM

ive actually read that it does affect muscle growth...
cant back that up though

**BigJames** · 04-25-2005, 02:57 PM

Originally Posted by perfectbeast2001

Hmm Im gonna give up soon If I find out its impeding muscle growth that will give me more reson to stop.

If that is what you need to hear to quit, then yes, it does affect muscle growth, but I am only saying that because it is soo nad for you bro. Seriously though, if it limits O2 to the muscles, then it cannot be helping.

Quit for your own health man...good luck.

**Hans** · 04-25-2005, 05:11 PM

Nicoderm CQ patch worked for me. Just understand within yourself that you want to live without stinking and coughing, don't want to suffer lung cancer which has no cure and want to grow big muscles with all the oxygen you can get. Nicoderm CQ, start with the 21mg patch, the tan color sticks better to the bicep, same price as smokes now and saves $10,000's in medical bills/funeral costs later. Good luck!

**lzicc** · 04-25-2005, 06:13 PM

I smoked for about 20 years. I quit about 5 years ago and I feel great. Best thing that I ever did. I can't stress that enough.

If you want to bulk, quit smoking. You'll eat everything in site right off the bat and food will taste like food again. You will actually enjoy eating again.

You'll be able to breath alot better and your workouts in turn will be more intense.

**Hans** · 04-25-2005, 09:16 PM

Originally Posted by lzicc

I smoked for about 20 years. I quit about 5 years ago and I feel great. Best thing that I ever did. I can't stress that enough.

If you want to bulk, quit smoking. You'll eat everything in site right off the bat and food will taste like food again. You will actually enjoy eating again.

You'll be able to breath alot better and your workouts in turn will be more intense.

Very true!!!

**V5RED** · 04-25-2005, 09:21 PM

well, ruhl smokes and hes pretty big...

**getbig888** · 04-25-2005, 09:25 PM

Originally Posted by V5RED

well, ruhl smokes and hes pretty big...

well, ronnie don't and he is bigger

**lucabratzi** · 04-26-2005, 05:38 PM

i know that if ur smokin for a while and u quit u will put on 10 pounds real quick, if ur bulkin it will only help.

**mark956101957** · 04-26-2005, 06:04 PM

When I stopped smoking the energy I had when not smoking was at least 3X's more than while smoking. Amazing!

**brew035** · 04-27-2005, 12:54 PM

Alcohol and Smoking
One topic that I put under nutrition is alcohol consumption and smoking. If you smoke then your gains will be limited, same thing applies if you drink on a regular basis. I had a good friend who smoked and drank, not heavily, and he wanted to gain some size. I told him if he would quit those two things he would be amazed at the difference. Well after 4 months of training and eating with very poor results he quit the two and gained over thirty pounds over the next 3 months. Drinking and smoking really toxify your body and it's hard on your body to recover from those two plus trying to rebuild broken down muscles.

This is by todd blue. I got it off of bodybuilding.com.

**brew035** · 04-27-2005, 01:03 PM

Here is some more. Just quit bro you know its not good or you wouldn't have asked. right?Right. I used to smoke then my paw paw dies of lung cancer. That day I told my self I would never smoke again. Noone should have to watch anyone die like that. He suffered so badly before he passed away. It was no good bro. Give it up, if not for your own sake, then for the ones who love you.

Good luck bro.

Smoking reduces fitness levels through irreversible respiratory-system damage: This means that one cannot train as long, and the quality of training they do engage in is compromised. Smoking has an immediate effect on respiration, increasing airway resistance and therefore reducing the amount of oxygen absorbed into the blood.

* Often the determining factor, that allows one to succeed in bodybuilding, is whether they can complete that all important final rep, or that extra half-an-hour of cardio. Smoking significantly reduces the likelihood of either of these things. Smoking slows down lung function and reduces lung growth, leaving the smoker literally gasping for air when they need it most.

* The heart-beat of a smoker is 30% faster, on average, than that of a non-smoker: This forces the body of the smoker to expend more energy (in the form of heart-beats) to keep up with their non-smoking counterparts. This faster heart-beat is due to the stimulating effect of nicotine. The resulting increase in heart-rate, and blood pressure, paradoxically, decreases the flow of blood through the blood vessels, and this, in turn, reduces performance.

* Those who smoke produce phlegm more than twice as often as non-smokers: Phlegm builds up in the airway and prohibits correct respiration (breathing). This is because smoking causes chronic swelling of the mucus membranes.

* Tobacco significantly reduces oxygen availability to the muscles during exercise: Carbon monoxide in tobacco smoke has a higher affinity to haemoglobin (an oxygen carrying molecule in the blood) than does oxygen. Smoking, therefore, encourages the replacement of oxygen with carbon monoxide and, resultantly, causes oxygen depletion and a corresponding reduction in performance.

Carbon monoxide has a two-fold negative effect, in that it reduces the amount of oxygen absorbed into the blood from the lungs, and the amount that is absorbed into the muscles from the blood. Oxygen is important for the functioning of all energy systems in the body, so any mechanism which interferes with oxygen transport and uptake interferes with energy production, and therefore, athletic performance.

* The tar in cigarette smoke adds to airways resistance. This tar coats the lungs, reducing the elasticity of the air sacs and resulting in the absorption of less oxygen into the bloodstream.

* Tar also affects the cleansing mechanism of the lungs, allowing pollutants to remain in the bronchial tubes and lungs. Increased phlegm and coughing, and damage to the cilia (the hair-like projections which "sweep" pollutants out of the airways) are the result.

* Decrease in maximal oxygen intake... Although exercising can increase maximal oxygen uptake by up to 20%, smoking can reduce this effect by up to 10%.

* Research also shows that cigarette smoking probably damages cells in the testes - the cells that synthesize testosterone . Testosterone levels within the body govern the muscle growth process from training. Thus, smoking may well hinder optimal testosterone production and interfere with the body’s capacity to build muscle.

* Another recent study examined the effects of smoking on exercise recovery. Chronic exposure to the nicotine in cigarettes leads to insulin resistance, making nutrient transport into muscles and other tissues more difficult. This study demonstrated that the muscles of young men who smoked, recovered a lot slower from exercise compared to non-smokers. Results showed that smoker’s muscle glycogen replenishment rates were much slower compared to non-smokers. This means that smoking directly interferes with insulin/glucose metabolism in muscle. The bottom like here is that smokers do not recover efficiently from exercise.

To Conclude: Smoking is linked to cancer, cardiovascular disease, heart damage, inadequate testosterone levels and poor insulin metabolism; these factors must equate to poor results from bodybuilding.

**brew035** · 04-27-2005, 01:13 PM

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articl...18/ai_93009064

read this article too.

***perfectbeast2001*** · 05-11-2005, 08:07 AM

I have given up smoking as of today. I refuse to be beaten!!

**SwoleCat** · 05-11-2005, 09:15 AM

I can't believe a thread like this even has to be started.

I mean, common sense is common sense, right?

~SC~

***perfectbeast2001*** · 05-11-2005, 10:02 AM

Originally Posted by SwoleCat

I can't believe a thread like this even has to be started.

I mean, common sense is common sense, right?

~SC~

Thanks for the helpful input, obviously you dont or never have smoked. To all other replies thankyou you have been very helpful.

**clhp20** · 05-11-2005, 10:11 AM

Originally Posted by perfectbeast2001

Thanks for the helpful input, obviously you dont or never have smoked. To all other replies thankyou you have been very helpful.

AHHHH SHIIIIIIT It's on now!!!

**ReX357** · 05-11-2005, 10:38 AM

Originally Posted by perfectbeast2001

Thanks for the helpful input, obviously you dont or never have smoked. To all other replies thankyou you have been very helpful.

You're wrong, he stated somewhere else he smoked for years and stopped 5 years ago. Or something like that. While being blunt, is point is true: How could you even think one second smoking would not affect your training? It was obvious.

**SwoleCat** · 05-11-2005, 10:58 AM

Originally Posted by perfectbeast2001

Thanks for the helpful input, obviously you dont or never have smoked. To all other replies thankyou you have been very helpful.

Wow, you get your panties in a bunch quite easily!

Actually, I used to smoke, yes, until my Uncle died then I was just lucky enough to be able to say, "no way, no more"..........and I quit. This was about 5 years ago. After I quit, is when I really changed. Not only physique wise in the initial 6 months after quitting, but also in my outlook towards fitness. I realized this was going to be what I do for a living, so cigarettes could never be a part of my life anyhow. So for me and in my current career, it's a must to not smoke.

So perhaps I am looking at the situation a bit more seriously than you in regards to fitness because it's my living and my life is based on how I look/feel basically. I assume it's not as serious for about 95% of the regular population, so I may be drawing a skewed outlook. It's just that seeing "smoking" in a diet section on a fitness board is like the one answer on a multiple choice question that you KNOW is the wrong answer and doesn't belong. Deductive reasoning to be exact.

Good luck on your quest to quit.

~SC~

**Rictor33** · 05-11-2005, 11:11 AM

I really don't smoke cigarettes on a normal, everyday basis. Unfortunatley, when I go out partying I always buy a party pack (70% of which I give away). I can't even finish a full parliament light without feeling gross when I am sober.

**SwoleCat** · 05-11-2005, 12:37 PM

I know many a bodybuilder who has an occassional party smoke or enjoys a good cigar every once in a while.

~SC~

**JiGGaMaN** · 05-16-2005, 05:45 PM

my training partner quit smoking about a year ago and i continued smoking, i consistantly lift heavier than he does, i think the difference is negligible, even for cardio, unless you're running at full intensity.

**SwoleCat** · 05-16-2005, 06:45 PM

Oooooookay, yeah, it's negligible until you develop cancer and die.

Then your partner will be sure to outlift you.

Just because you can outlift your partner, doesn't mean it doesn't affect you, nor does it mean you are a "monster". We also don't know who your training partner is, as if he lifted like Richard Simmons, then your ability to lift heavier than he is not that great of a feat.

Not flaming you, but those comparisons and conclusions are whacked!

~SC~

**AnabolicBoy1981** · 05-16-2005, 06:56 PM

Perfect beast, it's all true. Smoking CAN slow your gains.

Brew had a great post there. It's tru about the insulin and testosterone . Nicotine itself lowers tesosterone, and who knows what the 400 other carcinogens in that stick of death do to the levels.
Nicotine also reduces the cells receptors for insulin, not only making your nutrient delivery suffer, but also your wastline expand. Insulin resistence means MORE insulin must be produced to do the job. And more insulin means more fat.
Nicotine also lowers immune function and can disrupt sleep patterns. Sleep is obviosly immportant.
Nicotine also lowers growth hormone levels as well, especially if you smoke a butt before bed.
The hundreds of carcinongens in cigerrets make tons of free radicals. Free radicals damage cell structures in the body, including muscle tissue.

Plus, ciggarette smoking is may be the biggest factor in heart disease. Bigger than gentics, or diet, OR STEROIDS . A study was done on 4 guys. One, a fat guy who eats greasy processed food all the time, another guy who has heart disease in his family, an avid steroid user, and a smoker.
They did some tests on all 4 guys and the smoker was the most at risk fo hear attck or stroke.
So, dude, if your gonna get heart disease, get it doing steroids! ya know?lol. but seriously.

And as far as JiggaMAN's comment, realize that he's 19 and his body may not be affected by ciggarets. I knew several guys on my highschool wrestling team that would smoke DURING THE SEASON, and they had just as good endurance as the rest of us clean guys. Theres alot to be said for youth my friend. But a 30 year old might not have the same scenerio.
But it doesn't matter how old you are. Why chance it? It's like, you may have the recovery ability of a black guy, but your smoking may be lowering it to the ability of a chinese guy.

Anyway. good luck quitting!

**fballhoss51** · 05-16-2005, 07:16 PM

chewin tobacco?

**maxex** · 05-16-2005, 07:56 PM

I know some people who smoke and you could never tell, but other people ( like me for instance) hack up a lung for the first 15 min in the gym. But I became really sick this past winter and missed trainning all of feb and half of march because I continued to smoke while I had a sinus infection. Since then cigs dont taste as good and I only smoke on my breaks at work and at night before i go to bed and the difference just from cutting back is like night and day.

**maxex** · 05-16-2005, 07:59 PM

My father on the other hand smoked two packs of ewports a day and ran marathons, we have a picture of him lighting up a cig 5 ft from the boston marathon finish line. And that was all a between the ages of 48 and 52.

**AnabolicBoy1981** · 05-16-2005, 08:05 PM

Originally Posted by fballhoss51

chewin tobacco?

kills testosterone . while it doesnt have a 400 carcionogens it does have 23 and the nicotine jolt from jew is much bigger, so it evens out as bad as cigs. sorry.

**AnabolicBoy1981** · 05-16-2005, 08:06 PM

Originally Posted by maxex

My father on the other hand smoked two packs of ewports a day and ran marathons, we have a picture of him lighting up a cig 5 ft from the boston marathon finish line. And that was all a between the ages of 48 and 52.

Jesus Christ!