Cannabis use is becoming more popular by the minute as an increasing number of countries around the world are legalizing recreational marijuana use, and professional athletes are coming out about its healthful benefits. Even if you weren’t an avid gym goer or fitness enthusiast, you could benefit greatly from recreational marijuana use, especially when trying to battle the modern hectic lifestyle.
With marijuana becoming readily available across the globe, the time has come to openly discuss its healthful properties, and how it can help you take your fitness game to a whole new level. Here is how weed affects your fitness lifestyle and how you can use it to become a healthier, happier, and stronger earthling.
Marijuana comes in many forms and strains – 85 to be exact – and the most popular compounds revered for their health benefits are CBD and THC. Now, while THC is the most popular cannabinoid among recreational users due to its psychoactive properties – it gets you high – athletes prefer using its more stable counterpart, CBD.
This is simply because CBD offers all of the health benefits of THC, but without impeding your mental clarity, or putting you in a day-long haze. Yes, achieving an occasional high is fun, but if you’re looking to up your fitness game, you want to preserve mental clarity at all times. So, what are the benefits of marijuana use exactly?
Cannabis is a natural analgesic, meaning that it possesses potent pain-relieving properties that are highly valuable to people who train hard and lead an overall active lifestyle. Because regular exercise can take a toll on your body and cause muscle cramps and soreness, induce fatigue and the breakdown of your central nervous system, you need a natural remedy to help your body repair itself efficiently.
Along with its primary advantages, cannabis offers a myriad of other benefits too, helping in battling whole-body inflammation, supporting healthy sleep and relaxation, decreasing nausea, reducing muscle soreness and spasms, increasing appetite, and protecting your heart, lungs, and brain. With that in mind, is there a wrong way to consume marijuana?
Generally speaking, no, there is no wrong way to enjoy weed. However, if you are an active individual or an aspiring athlete, then you might find that some types of cannabis products, such as a vape marijuana cartridge or an edible compound, are better than traditional options. Smoking marijuana is generally not recommended for athletes as it might decrease their cardiovascular performance, but there is nothing wrong with vaping or eating weed.
This is because smoking weed can cause a slight decrease in cardiovascular endurance, and while that might not be a problem for sedentary individuals, an athlete like yourself cannot risk losing any of your cardiovascular strength. So be sure to stick to edibles and vaporizers to get the maximum effects.
Here’s the question everyone is confused about: does marijuana increase your performance in any way? Succinctly, no, it doesn’t. Cannabis is an amazing tool for maximizing your post-workout recovery and helping your body repair itself for the upcoming workout. And it’s great for building an overall healthy lifestyle.
But it’s not something you want to take immediately before, or during exercise. While there is no inherent danger in taking marijuana before working out, you might experience a drop in performance simply because of its analgesic properties. You want your mind to be sharp and ready, your body to be fired up, primed, and strong for the challenges ahead, so be sure to use weed for recovery purposes only.
So what is the ideal time to take cannabis? Generally speaking, it’s best to consume it after your workout, before turning in later in the evening, or at least several hours before your training session. If you do want to take cannabis before you get into the gym, be sure to listen to your body and find the routine that works for you.
Autoregulation will be the key here, and you want the relaxing effects of marijuana to wear off well before your training session in order to be at your readiest. If you do start your workout in a bit of a haze, be sure to take it slow, control your movements, and gradually increase the intensity.
Marijuana is becoming the most popular lifestyle supplement among recreational and professional athletes around the world. There is no denying that cannabis is a powerful remedy that boasts numerous health benefits, which is why it should find its place in every gym goer’s recovery arsenal.