Fitness Tip – Know How Smoking Can Affect Your Fitness Training

Hello Everyone. Today’s article is a guest post from Freshcig.

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We all know that smoking is bad for you. Countless studies and years of research have demonstrated that inhaling tar and around 4,000 chemicals into your lungs with toxins swimming around your blood stream is, well… not good. There is no logical reason or benefit to using tobacco products, they aren’t even considered cool any more. In some instances people train and exercise yet still smoke, two very contradictory acts, but how does this specifically affect your body when you’re trying to improve your fitness or training? This article has a look at some of the main points and adds further weight to why you should kick the habit.

Lung Function

Your lung function will be reduced, mainly by the tar that paralyses tiny hair-like elements within the lungs called Cilia which clear out dust and other unwanted particles. When Cilia aren’t working properly, this means that the lungs can be congested, you’re putting unnecessary pressure on them and you won’t see as much of the gains in fitness that you would like. You can also dislodge some of the mucus that congests your organs and give you a ‘smoker’s cough’; not something that looks particularly healthy, or attractive.

Increased Heart Rate

Your heart will be working harder from the increased amounts of toxins and levels of Carbon Monoxide in your blood stream, with some studies showing this to be around 30% more. This means that your body requires more energy and it’s not focussed on your active muscles – where it’s needed most.

A Few Other Things

Studies have shown that Testosterone levels are reduced significantly by smoking, this will mean that your muscle development and overall strength is lowered.
The amount of oxygen is reduced in the blood which means that less is sent to your muscles where they are needed during a workout.
It’s not only your energy levels that can become depleted. A separate study found that just one cigarette takes about 25mg of vitamin C from the body (the equivalent of a tangerine) and reduces the vitamin D absorption.

So there you are, smoking is still just as bad for you as we already knew but now you know how it affects your training. If you smoke then you have to put in extra hours at the gym to achieve the same development as a non-smoker. Added incentive to put down those filthy fags.

Ways To Kick The Habit

If you’re a smoker who has just found the urge to kick the habit then there are a range of methods to try. Nicotine patches, nicotine mouth spray and nicotine gum are all available and many people around the world have turned to electronic cigarettes such as those by Freshcig. They don’t contain tar or any of the 4,000 chemicals that traditional tobacco products have in them and the UK has around 1.5 million ‘vapers’ alone.