Why Are Some Athletes Smoking Weed Before a Workout Session?
The general assumption around people who smoke weed is that they’re just lazy couch potatoes. A few years back, nobody would’ve guessed that weed is actually beneficial for your body’s health. With more and more countries legalizing marijuana, the social stigma and myths surrounding weed have started to debunk. Today, weed has become a popular pre-workout booster amongst athletes around the world. While you certainly won’t become superman after smoking weed, you’d want to after reading all the advantages it brings to your workout session. KingPalm brings you everything you’ll need to roll the perfect blunt in one place.
What is Weed?
For starters, if you’re unsure of what weed exactly is you’ll need to start from there. Weed, also named as marijuana in formal terms, is a Cannabis plant. For this reason, weed is used to make a psychoactive drug that is used both for medicinal and recreational purposes. Marijuana contains more than a hundred different components out of which the major two are known as tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). For decades weed has been used solely as a drug due to its psychoactive properties. However, with more and more research being conducted on it, weed is now being used in several medicines for anorexia, epilepsy, Alzheimer’s, Multiple Sclerosis, etc.
Advantages of Weed for Athletes
Weed has taken over the athletic industry as a major energy booster to enhance athletes’ workout sessions. Numerous studies have shown that athletes perform better and are increasingly motivated for their daily workouts if they smoke weed through a pipe, vape, or just the good old blunt. But if you’re wondering how smoking weed benefits athletes, here are a few reasons.
Helps Reduce Inflammation
Inflammation is a common problem amongst athletes that usually hinders their performance since regular workout can be a chore if your joints and muscles are inflamed. Marijuana is shown to help reduce inflammation due to the anti-inflammatory agents present in it. Marijuana decreases the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines that are responsible for the body’s tendency for inflammation. For this reason, smoking weed can help heal sore muscles and joint pains for athletes suffering from chronic inflammation as well as post-exercise injuries.
Aids in Muscle-Related Injuries
Athletes often have to go through muscle-related injuries due to rigorous workout sessions. These result in muscle spasms, pain, stiffness, and fatigue that might last for days and affect their athletic performance. Marijuana contains the properties to alleviate pain as well which helps the stressed-out muscles relax after a long workout. Moreover, muscles also suffer from workout injuries after an exercise which is why the muscles need a few days to recover before you can fully get back to your workout without any soreness and/or pain. For this aspect, smoking weed can also help muscles recover faster and speed up the recovery period.
Better Sleep Routine
Sleep is crucial for an athlete, if you’re not getting enough sleep your athletic performance is bound to suffer. The body needs adequate time to relax during which the muscles recover after a tiring workout session. If you’re not getting enough sleep, the disrupted sleep routine will lead to your body not getting enough time for its recovery period which will result in a continuous feeling of being tired. Marijuana comes with the property to induce sleep due to its ability to relax and calm down the individual due to its sedative nature which can help an athlete move into REM sleep, or deep sleep, much more quickly. Alongside helping with insomnia, marijuana can also help suppress nightmares, a common symptom of those who have PTSD.
Reduces Depression and Anxiety
Athletes live an active lifestyle with a high-stress daily routine. This makes them prone to mental health problems such as depression and anxiety due to balancing a stressful life alongside. The induced stress in their daily lives can have adverse effects on their performance and motivation levels. Simultaneously, they can also result in problems such as low-energy and self-esteem issues which further become an obstacle to the athlete’s routine. Neuroprotective abilities are one of the many beneficial properties of smoking marijuana. Additionally, marijuana also increases the cognitive abilities of an individual. Both these benefits go hand in hand to reduce depression and anxiety in athletes and also help athletes become more focused on their workout sessions.
Conclusion
If you’re an athlete who wants to level up their athletic game, marijuana might just be the solution you’ve been looking for. Now that smoking weed has become the new trend in athletics, try adding it to your daily routine gradually with small amounts if you’re new to it and see the improvements yourself.