Looking to take your bodybuilding endeavors to the next
level by finally putting down those nasty cigarettes but need the motivation and some
information to give you that push you need to quit? Well then, dear smoker, you
are at the right place!
We all know that smoking is bad for you, and that it hampers
your training progression. Here is a list of reasons why quitting smoking will help
you to get bigger, stronger and fitter.
Smoking Harms Blood Sugar Levels
Nicotine causes a quick, short-term release of blood sugar.
This is one of the reasons why smoking often leads to diabetes. It also lowers
insulin sensitivity, which means that your body is less able to handle sugar
and energy production. The less your body is able to create and utilize energy,
the less energy you have during workouts and you get tired quicker. Your
strength is also hampered, which means that if you didn’t smoke, you would
probably be able to lift heavier weights, for more reps, for a longer period of
time, causing a greater stimulus leading to greater muscle gains. Insulin helps
to regulate sugar and therefore energy. Because your body is less able to
regulate energy, it is less able to perform other functions that require energy
that it needs to do to adapt and grow muscle, such as filling muscles with
glycogen (the energy in the muscle that enables it to work). Because energy is
already lowered in smokers, their bodies take longer to change from a
stress-induced state that exercise causes to the anabolic, repairing state that
grows muscle and strength. When the body stays longer in this stress-induced
state, it will start breaking down muscle as a survival mechanism for energy
and nutrients.
Smoking affects Your Breathing and Oxygen Levels
One of the most important roles of the lungs is to take in
oxygen from the surrounding air and expel carbon dioxide out. Smoking
physically damages the lungs, and also progressively smothers the lungs with
tar. Additionally, the lungs are also too busy trying to heal and clean themselves
out to function optimally. This greatly reduces the amount of oxygen that the
body has at its disposal and the amount of carbon dioxide it can get rid of.
This leads to decreased energy and strength, lengthened recovery times needed
between workouts and a lowered ability for muscle to grow and adapt from
stimulus.
Carbon Monoxide and other Toxins
Smoking increases the amount of carbon monoxide in the
blood, along with other toxins. The naked eye can see the different between the
blood of a smoker and that of a non-smoker. The blood of smokers is thicker and
darker than that of non-smokers. If you think about blood and veins as a road
which acts as the body’s delivery system, then the carbon monoxide and other
toxins can be seen as elephants in the road that take up a space that is not
designed to accommodate them. They get in the way of the other vehicles and
stop them from doing their job properly, turning an efficient road into peak
traffic on damaged roads. The body is also less able to respond the way we want
it to with weight training because it is busy fighting off and trying to cope
with these harmful chemicals. For example, these chemicals place an unnecessary
burden on the liver and kidneys which are metabolizing and eliminating these
chemicals, on top of regulating and creating chemicals needed for growth.
Smokers Get More Sick
Smokers get sick more often than non-smokers, and when they
fall ill, they are sick for longer and experience worse symptoms. We all know
about the terror of falling sick and being unable to gym, as well as feeling
like we are losing all the strength and size gains we have worked so hard to
get. Getting sick more often means that your body spends less time in the gym,
and less time growing from strength to strength and the worse symptoms mean that
you suffer greater setbacks every time you get sick.
Smoking Disrupts Eating and Diet Habits
Eating the amounts of food you need in order to gain mass
can sometimes be challenging. The increased appetite from quitting smoking is a
great chance to stock up on the extra calories that you need to increase muscle
growth. In the long term, smoking will no longer interfere with your appetite
and blood sugar levels.
Sleep
Smokers not only need more hours of sleep than non-smokers, but
their sleep is of less quality. One reason for this is because their bodies
spend a lot of time trying to cope with the demands placed on it from smoking.
Another reason is because of the nicotine withdrawal they go through while
sleep. Getting better quality sleep as a non-smoker means that your body is
better able to recover and grow muscle every night you sleep.
Recovering From Smoking Instead of Growing
As mentioned earlier, smoking placed a big burden on the
body and the body is in a constant battle to deal with its harmful effects and
survive. This energy that the body spends counteracting the negative effects of
smoking would be much better spent building muscle.
Smoking and Focus during Workouts
Smokers are less able to concentrate because they are in
constant withdrawal from nicotine. This withdrawal starts a few minutes after
their last cigarette and builds up as time goes by. Withdrawals usually get to
a point where people start craving another cigarette after 30 minutes, which is
why the average person smokes a box (20 cigarettes) a day. As time drags on,
withdrawals intensify, leading to symptoms like thirst, moodiness, dropped
sugar levels, lack of concentration etc. These withdrawals mean that smokers
are generally not as able as non-smokers to focus 100% on their entire workout
program.
Smokers Take Longer to Build Muscle and Reach Greater Levels of Fitness than Non-smokers
Can you grow muscle if you smoke? Yes. Can you get bigger
muscles than most people who go to the gym if you smoke? Yes. Can you compete in bodybuilding
competitions and have a successful bodybuilding career as a smoker? Yes. Can
you do all these things with the same amount of time and energy compared to if
you didn’t smoke? No. You can still get there, but the road will be longer and tougher.
Rather quit smoking and give your body every fighting chance
that you can to reach your goals as quick as possible. STAY STRONG!
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