# Smoking



## rabbit (Oct 6, 2006)

I have seen studies on how alcohol affects athletes and how one or two drinks isn;t going to hurt you or hinder you athletic ability (correct me if i am wrong) but I don't drink I smoke ciggarettes. Like 10 a day. I run a mile or two a day and lift wieghts. What does the smoking do you my training? Do i need to cut back or quit completly? One or two cigarettes wont hurt me too bad will it?


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## SFC JeffJ (Oct 6, 2006)

rabbit said:


> I have seen studies on how alcohol affects athletes and how one or two drinks isn;t going to hurt you or hinder you athletic ability (correct me if i am wrong) but I don't drink I smoke ciggarettes. Like 10 a day. I run a mile or two a day and lift wieghts. What does the smoking do you my training? Do i need to cut back or quit completly? One or two cigarettes wont hurt me too bad will it?


I was a smoker 'til about a year ago.  I used to smoke about 1 and 1/2 to 2 packs a day and was doing a pretty heavy cardio workout every day.  When I cut back to 'bout 1/2 a pack a day there was a difference.  When I completely quit, it was like night and day.  Within a month, my endurance became incredible compared to what it was, and it didn't suck before.

Jeff


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## Drac (Oct 6, 2006)

Recently took the heart stress test..You know the one where they wire you up like the Bionic Man and put you on a treadmill...My doctor couldn't believe that I smoke because I beat out younger guys who didn't...WHen I decided to quit I gained 50 lbs that I am still fighting to take off...Everone will have their own opinion///


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## rabbit (Oct 6, 2006)

Drac said:


> Recently took the heart stress test..You know the one where they wire you up like the Bionic Man and put you on a treadmill...My doctor couldn't believe that I smoke because I beat out younger guys who didn't...WHen I decided to quit I gained 50 lbs that I am still fighting to take off...Everone will have their own opinion///


Good luck to you, sir


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## exile (Oct 6, 2006)

rabbit said:


> I have seen studies on how alcohol affects athletes and how one or two drinks isn;t going to hurt you or hinder you athletic ability (correct me if i am wrong) but I don't drink I smoke ciggarettes. Like 10 a day. I run a mile or two a day and lift wieghts. What does the smoking do you my training? Do i need to cut back or quit completly? One or two cigarettes wont hurt me too bad will it?



Rabbit---you _don't_ want to smoke. Cigarette smoke contains carcinogens, and there's no such thing as a `minimum safe threshhold' for carcinogens---response varies from individual to individual, and if you're in the wrong part of the gene pool, you're outta luck. And ten cigarettes is a _lot_ of junk you don't need getting into your throat, lungs and circulatory system... if you can cut back to one or two, good, do it. But if you're only smoking one or two a day, you should have no trouble ditching them completely, eh?

You should have a chat about this with your MD. Pretty soon, it's going to be very difficult to afford health insurance if you smoke _any_ amount, another good reason to quit asap. And given the cost of cigarettes these days, who can even afford the habit??


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## Flying Crane (Oct 6, 2006)

Excellent post, Exile.  Good points raised.  If you KNOW it is carcinogenic, why willingly expose yourself to it, when you don't have to?

Another thought to consider:  cardio is all about breathing.  You breath hard as you work hard, the O2 gets taken into the blood and all around your body and this plays a huge role in how well your body performs.  If this was cut off for even a few minutes, irreversible damage and even death can occur.

When you smoke, you directly interfere with this systsm.  Read that again: YOU DIRECTLY INTERFERE WITH THIS SYSTEM.  Your body's ability to breathe deeply, absorb the O2 into the blood, and your different body organ's ability take the O2 and use it is greatly diminished.  If your smoking level is low enough you may not think you will notice a difference, but the truth is, you are interfereing with a crucial bodily function.  All performance will suffer because of this.


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## CoryKS (Oct 6, 2006)

rabbit said:


> I have seen studies on how alcohol affects athletes and how one or two drinks isn;t going to hurt you or hinder you athletic ability (correct me if i am wrong) but I don't drink I smoke ciggarettes. Like 10 a day. I run a mile or two a day and lift wieghts. What does the smoking do you my training? Do i need to cut back or quit completly? One or two cigarettes wont hurt me too bad will it?


 
I'm more of a "try it and see" kind of guy.  If you really want to know, kick the cigs for a while and test whether it affects your training.  If you feel that the tradeoff isn't worth it to you, you can always start smoking again (And yes, people, I know I'm not supposed to say that.  But it's his choice).


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## Bigshadow (Oct 6, 2006)

Life is a series of choices and consequences...  The consequences of some choices may not be visible for decades.  Just remember, once a choice is made, we must live with the related consequences.


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## MA-Caver (Oct 6, 2006)

rabbit said:


> I have seen studies on how alcohol affects athletes and how one or two drinks isn;t going to hurt you or hinder you athletic ability (correct me if i am wrong) but I don't drink I smoke ciggarettes. Like 10 a day. I run a mile or two a day and lift wieghts. What does the smoking do you my training? Do i need to cut back or quit completly? One or two cigarettes wont hurt me too bad will it?



I'm in a long drawn out battle to quit smoking myself. It's bad for you ... *PERIOD!* So one or two will just bring you back up to three or four and five and six and eventually a whole pack.


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## Drac (Oct 6, 2006)

MA-Caver said:


> I'm in a long drawn out battle to quit smoking myself. It's bad for you ... *PERIOD!* So one or two will just bring you back up to three or four and five and six and eventually a whole pack.


 
Been there, done that...I quit for 2 years gained all that weight I spoke of earlier and was in the process of dieting when after a bad night on duty I bummed a smoke and I started right up again...I wish I had *NEVER started.. *if I could go back in time and find myself as a 17 year old I'd kick the **** outta me for even thinking of starting...


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