Smoking?

[ChosenGenetics]

How bad is smoking cigarettes while training? I've started back up and am already ready to quit. I'm embarrassingly loud breathing especially while doing extra cardio.. I'm just curious on how bad it has been on my body since starting back up. With the taxing effects of repair from lifting and now cigarette smoke... No dumb responses. I've quit before and haven't smoked in a week. Quitting again now. I know it's bad.

[marcus300]

Its seriously bad for you if you aren't training so that kind of answers your question

[optionsdude]

I've had friends that quit with the help of Chantix. Or you could try the e-cigarette it's vapor and not smoke, and doesn't stink or get all over everything you own.

[bobtail]

My sympathy is with you. I have been on and off the things for years and years. Nobody can understand how hard it is to quit unless they have been a smoker.
I hate to admit it but I've competed in powerlifting while smoking a pack a day and did very well. It doesn't seem to bother strength but how would your really know?
Cardio? Forget it. The lungs give out way before the heart rate is up enough to matter. It just plain sucks!
However, I switched back over to e-cigs and that made all the difference. It's not the nicotine that hurts you. It's the smoke (tar, etc.). As a matter of fact, somebody wrote an article on using nicotine instead of clen for cutting. Google vapor talk. It's a great board for getting into e-cigs without getting ripped off.
Chantix put me in the nut ward, BTW. Serious mental meltdown and I had no history of mental illness before that or any in my family. I have security clearance and have had psych evals with nothing showing up.
I don't remember too much about it but it happened within the first 1-2 days on the stuff. It took almost a year to get back right again and even now I'm super scared it might re-occur. I was running a 500mg test cycle at the time so maybe that had something to do with it. The doctors said there is no way of knowing. Might not happen to you. Just giving you my experience.
But to answer you question: I can tell you from experience, it doesn't hurt you as much as people would like to think.
Good luck with quitting! If I can do it, anybody can! And if you backslide, just keep on trying.
Feel free to PM me about e-cigs, quitting, or just moral support. I'm here for you!

[pjliftsalot]

Sounds like you already know the answer to your question. I wish you the best with quitting.

[stpete]

Besides the obvious health risks, i believe it's also responsible for depleting oxygen in the bloodstream. Which would greatly reduce ability to build new muscle.

[Times Roman]

so many come there and look supps that will have good vasco dialator effects such as arginine. funny thing about nicotine is that it has the OPPOSITE effect, in that it is a vasco constrictor.

I guess smoking and working out is better than smoking and NOT working out. Seems kinda silly, addictions aside, to smoke if you want to try and get super healthy

[optionsdude]

Nicotine can help lower your blood sugar. My mom is overweight and was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes almost 2 year ago after having not smoked for 15 years. She could control the blood sugar at first with diet but kept binge eating and elevating her blood sugar even more. They put her on a few different meds but she had some horrible side effects one gave her the hershey squirts suddenly,and another made her joints ache and swell. So they tried insulin and that really made her lethargic and she gained even more weight. My aunt quit smoking around the same time my mom got diagnosed with diabetes and went to the dr for a check up and she had high blood sugar and is not overweight. Nerves got the best of her she started smoking again and her blood sugar went down. She told my mom and the last thing my mom wanted to do was start smoking again so she tried a patch. It worked her blood sugar got down to a manageable level and she's been using it ever since. I finally got her to exercise though and that has helped even more. She has tried to stop using the patch a few times now but her blood sugar went right back up. Didn't mean to hijack your thread just wanted to share the info and I wish you all the best in quitting.

[tankerlife4ever]

I've quit, started again, quit again...now i've quit just because why not spend the money on something else that you'll enjoy more...like a trip, or a collection of whatever. It will kill you early, but like smokers know, we smoke cause we like it. So find a reason to not smoke or just accept the fact that your a smoker and live with it and the possible consequences. Feel free to message me I did use champex once, but quit cold turkey after weaning myself down to about 3 a day.

[ironbeck]

I smoke and can run 5 miles , but I wish I didn't its a nasty filthy habit.

[jseek]

Congrats on planning to quit
Ur lungs will take 5-10 years to return to normal lungs and after that time (and u r still healthy) u can once again say u r a "nonsmoker". May as well start that transformation today!!
Good idea to quit while starting to ramp up weights...turn a craving for a smoke into a workout or run..., turn the potential weight gain from nicotine loss to muscle gain via improved diet...
As an aside...cigarettes can impair healing..and cause excellerated tissue damage...and is one reason surgeons can refuse procedures based on risk of poor outcomes due to impaired healing. If u r going to work out...give ur body s fighting chance to grow and heal properly. That's what most of us are here for...to live better!
And remember...few of us exit this world due to weightlifting / or missing a cigarette/ or from too many awesome workouts/or from looking too good... All of us will exit when our heart & lungs stop. After a few years of cigarette free training...I'm sure u won't miss them a bit!
Good luck!

[GirlyGymRat]

you can quit, just have to make some changes....where you go, who you go with....it's a lifestyle change and there are alot of helpers to get you through it.

I wish you the best of luck and your lungs will thank you!!!

[Zodiac82]

How bad is smoking cigarettes while training? I've started back up and am already ready to quit. I'm embarrassingly loud breathing especially while doing extra cardio.. I'm just curious on how bad it has been on my body since starting back up. With the taxing effects of repair from lifting and now cigarette smoke... No dumb responses. I've quit before and haven't smoked in a week. Quitting again now. I know it's bad.

it definitely kills ur cardio....I used to smoke at least 3-4 packs a week....once id stopped about two weeks later I noticed a major difference. in conditioning....first time I quit I did it for 6months then started up again the it quit 4 yrs ago and havent touched them since....overall health benifits from stopping....like GGR said its a lifestyle change

[Zodiac82]

I smoke and can run 5 miles , but I wish I didn't its a nasty filthy habit.

think about how much u could run if u didnt : )

[calstate23]

Stress and cortisol Levels.............