Anyone work out and smoke?

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Replies

  • deapeasea
    deapeasea Posts: 1 Member
    I used to love smoking after a run. Sounds crazy but it was my favourite time to smoke.

    Glad I'm off them now. I hope you can be too, Tanny.
  • comptonelizabeth
    comptonelizabeth Posts: 1,701 Member
    As long as you don't do both at the same time!
    Seriously- I stopped smoking 15 years ago (and to all those saying ,just quit,let me tell you it's not that easy) What smoking does is deplete your oxygen levels so if you stop or at least cut down, you'll probably find you can do more. It actually only takes hours for carbon monoxide levels to go down after a cigarette so maybe don't smoke before you exercise/workout?
    I did start vaping a couple of years ago (stupidly,as I'd already quit smoking years before and I'm now hooked on vaping) I actually find it has almost the same effect on my breathing plus it still contains nicotine so raises your heart rate.
  • dancing_daisy
    dancing_daisy Posts: 162 Member
    Smoker for 15 years, currently in cycle of on/off smoking whilst trying to quit. I notice my cardio is harder work when I have been smoking but my weight lifting is unaffected. My balancing poses in yoga and holding poses like planks seems shaker when I've been smoking too.
    I hope this is helpful, I find it really unhelpful when people just advise you to quit.
  • comptonelizabeth
    comptonelizabeth Posts: 1,701 Member
    dancing_daisy wrote: »
    Smoker for 15 years, currently in cycle of on/off smoking whilst trying to quit. I notice my cardio is harder work when I have been smoking but my weight lifting is unaffected. My balancing poses in yoga and holding poses like planks seems shaker when I've been smoking too.
    I hope this is helpful, I find it really unhelpful when people just advise you to quit.

    What causes this shaking? It happens when I'm planking but never any other time!
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    k9education wrote: »
    I have never seen the point in working out at all if you are a smoker. The two simply don't mix.

    FWIW, I quit 8.5 years ago at the same time that I started my health and fitness journey.

    - um the two aren't necessarily related- plenty of top level runners are smokers- you're going to tell them to quit running because they smoke? That's absurd.


    I smoke hookah.

    I am a professional bellydancer and that means I spend about 3/4 of my gig night in the back... so if I'm working- frequently I am smoking while I do nothing.

    I do not smoke at home. I do not smoke cigarettes (like it matters that much what you smoke). So I consider myself a social smoker- so 3 times a month maybe?

    I haven't found it to impact my cardio at all- I know I shouldn't smoke- but quite frankly I don't care. #judgemeifyouwant

    I tend to consider social smoking different to those who are full time smokers and addicted. I would encourage people who are addicted to work on that- social smoking- well that's simply a choice you make- "do I want to make a bad decision tonight or not" vs someone who HAS to smoke all the time.

    Right or wrong in my head those aren't the same things.
  • Michael190lbs
    Michael190lbs Posts: 1,510 Member
    You will smell better if you quit
  • vikinglander
    vikinglander Posts: 1,547 Member
    I was a pack+/day smoker up until this past September. I used Chantix and a device called QuitKey. During the week that I was ramping up the dosage of Chantix, I was tracking all of my normal smoking on the QuitKey. Beginning on Day 8, on a full dose of Chantix, the QuitKey began telling ME when to smoke, and gave me 27 days to wean off the cigarettes. I only stumbled about three times, that is, I smoked before the device told me to, which caused it to repeat a day; so it took me 30 days to get down to my last cigarette.

    I highly recommend this protocol. I never thought I would be able to do it, but I am so glad I did.
  • Fatguy2Fitguy
    Fatguy2Fitguy Posts: 129 Member
    I won't state the obvious... you know what's better!

    But... while you try giving up... You can work out fine and smoke, I played rugby as smoker for years. But as others have said, you will feel the difference after quitting and how much further/faster etc you can go.

    Good luck though, you've done brilliantly so far, which shows that you are strong in mind which will help if you're giving up!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    edited November 2016
    k9education wrote: »
    I have never seen the point in working out at all if you are a smoker. The two simply don't mix.

    FWIW, I quit 8.5 years ago at the same time that I started my health and fitness journey.

    That's a pretty short sited and very narrow point of view...

    I'm a reformed cigarette smoker...I was much better off working out as a smoker than I was as a sedentary smoker...of course, I'm much better off now as a non-smoker, but telling someone they shouldn't workout just because they smoke and that there would be no benefit is ignorant.

    I still smoke the occasional cigar...maybe I should just quit riding 1/2 centuries and kicking *kitten* on my time trial races because I enjoy a cigar now and then...

  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    You can improve your fitness if you work out while still smoking, but you won't achieve the level you would as a nonsmoker.
  • moesis
    moesis Posts: 874 Member
    You should quit, but it is possible.

    When I was in the military I was a 2 pack a day smoker, heavy drinker and consistently ran between 12:50 - 13:20 on the PT test (2 miles). Keep in mind that I ran 5 miles a day 5 days a week, was very active outside of work, and was in my early 20's.

    When I quit (cold turkey), running got very hard and I found it very hard to breath while exercising. That took about a year to go away.
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