How do people smoke and stay fit? I don’t understand how the two are compatible.

Individual variation. Some people just aren't affected. Including me.

Smoking has performance enhancing benefits as well.

Ive seen people say that a few times (about it having performance enhancing properties) but I just cant see that being the case in any shape or form. I always assumed these people were trolls. If we were talking about smoking pure marijuana (in vape form so no carcinogenics) and it’s ability to relax the chest muscles, deeper breathing, etc then I could see how that makes sense but cigarettes have been proven over 2000 chemicals (probably more) most of which are known for its cardiorespiratory weakining effects.

Health and fitness are not synonymous. The effects are going to catch up to them

Nobody smokes and stays fit. Your experience is what really happens. Stop kidding yourself into thinking you can pull it off.

PS, quit smoking, it's for losers. Vaping is, too.

I've known a few people who smoked and and played on local sport teams, BUT it was typically stuff requiring short anaerobic bursts and I seriously doubt any of them could have maintained an effort for 20mins.

I used to smoke one Gudang Garam a day (which are seriously heavy cigarettes, but only one a day) and I'd get sweats walking up one flight of stairs.

Now I know running, I'd choose running over cigarettes every time.

Idk. I was really surprised at how many people on the Appalachian Trail smoked. They were everywhere. You'd think people hiking 15-20 miles/day wouldn't do that lol.

Ivo Van Damme was a smoker and it only killed him because he was reaching for the lighter while driving.

Worth noting that cigarette tobacco varies greatly depending on additives.

nobody does this wrote:

PS, quit smoking, it's for losers. Vaping is, too.

That sums it up. Olds get a pass, but if you were born after 1960 and smoke you're a loser

All PRSs from smoking era wrote:

Individual variation. Some people just aren't affected. Including me.

Smoking has performance enhancing benefits as well.

I've played pickup b-ball at an inner city Y, and a few of the African-Americans would take smoke breaks (likely weed) and not be affected at all.

The reason is the pathophysiological effects aren't seen overnight. It will catch up with the smokers sooner or later. Not worth it.

"Healthy habits/lifestyle" is overrated. I've known people who eat very healthy and exercise everyday, to die in their 50s/60s. And I've known people who smoked and drink everyday, eat the standard American diet and never exercise, to live till their 80s/90s.

Oybe. I would way that smoking some braha ain't gonna hurt you. I think it's helped me a lot. I've been crushing my times and went from a d1 hopeful to a def D-oner. I'm getting emails from tons of D1 now that they finally woke TF up. Drop your times bra.

Click To Continue wrote:

The reason is the pathophysiological effects aren't seen overnight. It will catch up with the smokers sooner or later. Not worth it.

Just like running.

Living healthy is overrated wrote:

"Healthy habits/lifestyle" is overrated. I've known people who eat very healthy and exercise everyday, to die in their 50s/60s. And I've known people who smoked and drink everyday, eat the standard American diet and never exercise, to live till their 80s/90s.

This is everybody’s answer to everything. Yes, it is possible to live until 90+ whilst being unhealthy AF because of being dosed up on prescription medications, dependant, largely immobile, depressed and in pain every day but doesn’t anybody actually consider actual “Quality of life”?

I know what it feels like to be in excellent shape and I also know what it feels like to be grossly out of shape and my quality of life whilst being out of shape is basically non-existant, and I’m not talking about “out of shape” as in “off season” - I literally mean crippled, tense, limited range of movement and difficulty breathing.

For most people, they feel fit and amazing until their 20s, then they quot sport, start partying and making stupid eating habits and while you can get away with this and still feel relatively fit into their 30s but after that, the depression starts, and then the bowel issues, then the sleeping issues and then inevitably the heart disease, arthritis and cancer which in most cases could be prevented. People just neglect themselves and they end up suffering psychologically for it. Take a person who was fit in their youth, could run like the wind etc and they take up smoking for 15 years and put a bunch of weight on, and 15 years of smoking will never be fully reversed and they will never again in their life feel as fit as they once did because they did their bodies in. It catches up. And the depression that comes with damaging your body at a young age because of bad habits and knowing that you will never have the same level of health and energy ever again as long as you are alive can be soul crushing. The damage happens and the years pass faster than you think.

I damaged my body with smoking for year upon year and it has taken me 6 years to get relatively fit again (6 minute mile). Had I never smoked, I could have probably achieved this goal within 1-2 years of taking up running again.

Don't wonder about it. Just stop and do it now. I did 30 years ago. 2 years prior to that when I had a physical and chest x-ray the doctor told me I had the beginning stages of emphysema. I was stupid back then and smoked for another 2 years! The day I stopped smoking was also the day I got smart. Lost of good things happened to me from that day on.

TAA wrote:

Idk. I was really surprised at how many people on the Appalachian Trail smoked. They were everywhere. You'd think people hiking 15-20 miles/day wouldn't do that lol.

How far did you go!? That's a great trail.

Smokey Bear wrote:

I used to smoke one Gudang Garam a day

Sweet Jesus those things are good... takes me back.

But seriously I think there’s as much tar in one of them as there are in 4 or 5 marlboros....

I smoked a pack and a half a day when I started running, kept doing it for 5 years and got my times down to 38 for 10k and 1:25 for the half off 40mpw. The thing is I didn't know the difference between not smoking and smoking when it came to training, I didn't know any better. I've gave them up for 3 weeks and oh my god, the difference was huge in that short period of time, easy runs dropped 30 seconds per mile in two weeks and my muscle strength felt like it doubled. I always thought the way I felt during runs was just the way it felt to run.

But it wasn't, the key difference I felt wasn't in the pain in my lungs like I thought it would be. The big difference was the feeling in my legs, when I was smoking and running, my muscles felt much more dead and fatigued all the time. Within a few days of stopping, my muscles felt supercharged and like I could train more often and faster. I'm guessing that's what it feels like to take EPO in that time to exhaustion is dramatically increased so enables you to train harder and have more energy.

The answer to your question is that you can get fit while being a smoker or even heavy smoker but it's severly impacting your potential. The guys who are running those times while smoking are much more talented than you simply put.

As for the second poster on this thread who said there is evidence that smoking can improve performance, they are talking about this study

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3001541/

This study fools a lot of people as that was the goal of it. It was actually devised to show how studies can be abused with selective thinking to create convincing arguments for a faulty hypothesis. Don't believe everything you read.

Apper wrote:

[quote]TAA wrote:

Idk. I was really surprised at how many people on the Appalachian Trail smoked. They were everywhere. You'd think people hiking 15-20 miles/day wouldn't do that lol.

Its not the thru-hikers smokin', its the hillbillies that live along the trail, like the morans in West Virginia, which has the highest rate of smoking in the country @ 30%.