The effect of smoking on a person’s health, and the health of those around them, is well documented in most countries and many people are aware of at least a few of the toxic substances that are used as ingredients in cigarettes.
How does smoking impact on body building training, does it really matter what you take in to your lungs if you are just trying to build muscle? Read on and find out.
Smoking reduces overall fitness levels by causing irreversible damage to the respiratory system. In short this means that length and quality of any workouts you attempt if you are a smoker will be shorter and poorer compared to that of a person who does not smoke.
Smoking immediately impacts negatively on respiration and reduces the amount of oxygen absorbed into the blood.
It is common for someone to be successful in bodybuilding that they need to complete that final rep, or put in an extra half an hour of cardio, but by smoking the chance of either of these happening is severely reduced as smoking slows lunch growth and function leaving a smoking body builder literally gasping for air when they need it the most.
If that wasn’t enough to make up your mind you should know that the heartbeat of a smoker is, on average, 30% faster than that of a non-smoker. This means the body needs to expend more energy, in the form of heart beats, just to keep pace with non-smoking competitors.
This faster heart beat is due to the stimulating effect of nicotine which causes the heart rate to rise and also blood pressure. Ironically, however this decreases blood flow through blood vessels and reduces performance.
If you are a smoker and also a body builder, or you are thinking about becoming a body builder and smoke you should seriously try to quit now.
If you want to be successful you need to kick the habit right away as you are already behind the competition just because you have smoked at all. If you need to get something to replace the feel of a cigarette in your hand you should try Ecigarette Directand use on of their vapour cigarettes to help fight cravings.
Finally, if you need just a little bit more information to help convince you that you need to stop slowly killing yourself you should know that smokers produce twice as much phlegm compared to non-smokers, which limits breathing, leading to a lack of oxygen availability in the muscles during exercise.
The tar in cigarettes also adds airway resistance and coats the lungs stopping the natural cleansing mechanisms of the lungs and allowing pollutants and viruses to remain in the bronchial tubes and the lungs themselves. Nasty stuff.
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