Cannabis & Fitness Top Benefits

Cannabis & Fitness-The popularity of cannabidiol (CBD) has been on an upward trend ever since the first evidence on its medicinal properties were documented.

But CBD is not only popular in the health and wellness sector. The sports and fitness sector is among the long list of industries that can also benefit from the medicinal properties of this cannabis extract. Professional athletes and workout freaks can add CBD into their exercise routines for enhanced performance.

To achieve optimal results in the gym or on the tracks, you’ll need to integrate CBD into your workout routine carefully. Read on for an in-depth guide on how to go about that.

Bottles of CBD oil

CBD & Working Out

CBD And Fitness: Combining the Two for the Ultimate Workout

1. CBD Relieves Pain

CBD treats pain by interacting with the pain receptors in your endocannabinoid system, particularly the CB2 receptors. The substance alters the chemical formula of CB2 receptors, allowing your endogenous cannabinoids to bind more effectively to these receptors. The end result is a faster relief from pain.

If you frequently engage in energy-intensive workouts, you might consider using CBD alongside performance enhancing drugs. That way, you can synergize the pain-relieving properties of the two substances.

2. CBD Relieves Anxiety

Most of us have found ourselves working out under highly-stressful situations at some point. Perhaps you’ve been hit by a piece of unpleasant news while you were training for your next soccer match. Or, you just can’t seem to shake off racing thoughts while lifting weights at the gym.

Regardless of the nature or degree of stress, anxiety is the last thing you want to deal with while working out. Anxiety impairs your focus, making you unable to follow through with your reps. Worse yet, it might lead to tragic accidents.

Thankfully, adding CBD to your fitness routine helps to banish anxiety, allowing you to focus on your training. CBD has been shown to treat various anxiety disorders, including Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

3. CBD Enhances Muscle Recovery

After working out, you’re bound to face inflammation and muscle soreness for some time. Without the right remedy, post-workout pain and inflammation can severely set you back with your workouts. You don’t need to fret though, as CBD can help to accelerate muscle recovery and eliminate workout downtimes.

CBD boasts anti-inflammatory properties that work on inflammatory messengers. Additionally, CBD can help to prevent or reduce the severity of Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness (DOMS). This is the muscle soreness that you experience between 24 and 72 hours after engaging in a strenuous activity.

Lastly, CBD oil is a potent vasodilator. As such, it relaxes your blood vessels, allowing oxygen and nutrients to flow to the sites where muscle tears may have occurred as a result of intensive workouts. That helps with the whole process of muscle recovery.

But CBD does not just accelerate muscle recovery, it also ensures your whole body recovers and heals itself by promoting sleep quality and duration.

Incorporating CBD into Your Workout

1. Start with Breakfast

You probably already know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It’s from breakfast that your body synthesizes most of the energy required to perform various tasks throughout the day. Therefore, you’ll need to ensure that your breakfast features more energy-giving and body-building foods.

Once you’ve taken care of that, you can now go ahead and integrate CBD into your breakfast. There are numerous ways to go about that. But the most recommended method is to incorporate CBD edibles like CBD-infused chocolates, cookies, and smoothies.

You can also consider swallowing CBD-infused pills or dripping CBD tinctures underneath your tongue. However, if you go the pills or tinctures way, ensure you consume CBD before taking your breakfast to counteract the bitter hemp aftertaste.

2. The Building Up Period

The period leading up to your workouts is just as important as the workout itself. You want to get your body ready for the task ahead, both psychologically and physiologically. Remember, you’re going to experience a lot of pain, fatigue (and possibly also stress) while working out. But you need not to, as you can avert all that by consuming a dose of CBD.

If possible, experiment with a full-spectrum CBD product at this stage. Full-spectrum CBD refers to a product that has been formulated to include CBD and other cannabis compounds, including the euphoria-inducing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Now, this sounds contradictory – why would anyone use a mind-altering substance when the goal is to stay alert?

Well, forget what you’ve read about THC and its psychoactive effects. When used in small quantities, the substance works as a stimulant and not a sedative. By consuming a full-spectrum CBD, the THC in the product stimulates your body, giving you bursts of energy required to carry through with your workouts. On the other hand, the CBD in the product modulates the effects of THC, ensuring you don’t lose your focus.

3. During Workouts

If you consumed CBD before your workouts, you don’t need another dose during your workouts unless your reps last for several hours. That’s because the effects of CBD can last between 2 to 8 hours, depending on the dose consumed and method of administration.

For longer workouts (above 5 hours), you can consider consuming your favorite CBD-enriched sports drink. You should still insist on full-spectrum CBD as you’ll require both the energy-boosting and pain-relieving effects of the cannabinoids in the drink.

4. After Your Workouts

Technically, this is your recovery period. So, you don’t need a full-spectrum CBD in this case. Instead, you can opt for CBD isolates (products that contain only CBD as the ingredient) or broad-spectrum CBD (products that are formulated to include other cannabinoids but THC).

Your main focus is muscle and full-body recovery. Immediately after your workouts, proceed to take a shower using CBD-enriched detergents and when you’re done, you can apply CBD-infused ointments on your inflamed muscles.

Then, complete the cycle at night by incorporating CBD into your dinner.