Cardio Benefit?

[Drew72]

I am an avid fitness buff and Just a very occasional pipe smoker (1-2 bowls per week).

Now, this could very well be spurious correlation, but I swear the day after I smoke a bowl, I have great jogs... lungs feel open and my legs feel light. Who knows, but at the very least, smoking a bowl certainly does not detract from my jogs. But honestly, I think there is some benefit—some way, somehow.

Has anyone else had any similar reaction?

I am not a doctor nor do I play one on TV. Please do not take this as advice that smoking is healthy.

Cheers
Drew

 

[virginialover]

I smoke a few hours after exercising and mostly not at all. I' m not a jogger but I lift weights and punch the heavy bag with an occasional intense run. Smoking a cigar or a pipe before my exercise is really bad for my breathing and I feel the body pushing harder as if I'm held back.

 

[italiansallion]

I always used to have a pipe when I would get back from my runs when working on losing weight. Never felt it detrimental and I would smoke from the minute I got back until I went to bed maybe 14-16 hours later.

 

[wordheavy]

I workout 5 days a week. I run at least 3, sometimes 4 days a week. I only smoke 1 maybe 2 times a week, and a lot of times not at all. I have never noticed any effect on my fitness. Breathing always seems the same, even if I recently smoked. Just my experience.

 

[seanv]

I smoke a few hours after exercising and mostly not at all. I' m not a jogger but I lift weights and punch the heavy bag with an occasional intense run. Smoking a cigar or a pipe before my exercise is really bad for my breathing and I feel the body pushing harder as if I'm held back.

I've has the same experience. I wait to enjoy a smoke until after physical activity is over

 

[workman]

Maybe the smoke makes you happy and gives you a mental edge to make you perform more easily.

 

[Fiddlepiper]

I am quite unfit, overweight and in no way into fitness type activities. However whilst out for a walk today, I really enjoyed smoking my new corn cob. Does that count as cardio benefit?

 

[BROBS]

Maybe the smoke makes you happy and gives you a mental edge to make you perform more easily.

That’s my thought... you’re just in a better mood?

 

[Drew72]

That’s my thought... you’re just in a better mood?

Could be, but it’s always the day after I smoke a bowl, it’s not like I’m going for a run right after a bowl (I definitely am in a good mood right after a pipe). Maybe the joy carries over to the next day! I don’t think that’s it, honestly. Dunno. I’m sure it’s coincidence, but happens frequently enough that I’m beginning to wonder that it’s not something physiological.

I’ll continue experimenting

 

[Country Bladesmith]

I can’t possibly conceive of a direct cardiopulmonary benefit when so much research is completely contradictory to that notion.

I do, however subscribe to the idea that pipe smoking, for most of us, is a huge stress reliever, and stress kills.

 

[didimauw]

Could be, but it’s always the day after I smoke a bowl, it’s not like I’m going for a run right after a bowl (I definitely am in a good mood right after a pipe). Maybe the joy carries over to the next day! I don’t think that’s it, honestly. Dunno. I’m sure it’s coincidence, but happens frequently enough that I’m beginning to wonder that it’s not something physiological.

I’ll continue experimenting

Did you recently quit smoking cigarettes?

 

[warren]

The pipe displaces oxygen in your blood. Unless you suck the smoke into your lungs there really shouldn't be any noticeable, deleterious effect on your lungs for quite a while. If your genes aren't all that great you really won't pay the price until your later years. So, don't raise your fist in celebration yet, way too soon to declare victory.

 

[danimalia]

Hmmm... Interesting. I quit the cigarettes for pipes (and cigars) full-time last July. Started dieting and working out in late October. My capacity for cardio has definitely improved but I still feel a limited lung capacity holding me back. Whether that's mostly residual from about 25 years of cigarettes or a continuing issue from pipes, I don't know. Of course, losing nearly 100 pounds in 7 months has to have had an effect on my ability to run for longer periods as well, so it's hard to separate everything. Even though i don't inhale when smoking the pipe, it's inevutable that some will get into your lungs. I suspect the pipes have some negative effects on my cardio, but less than cigarettes. I also suspect that continuing to exercise will mitigate some of the damage to cardio capability, and the long period of inactivity I went through really boned me and my stamina. It sucks! So keep on running!

I guess this is a long-ass way of saying, "Hell if I know!" Just my own 2 cents and YMMV, of course.

 

[Eaglesgift]

Hmmm... Interesting. I quit the cigarettes for pipes (and cigars) full-time last July. Started dieting and working out in late October. My capacity for cardio has definitely improved but I still feel a limited lung capacity holding me back. Whether that's mostly residual from about 25 years of cigarettes or a continuing issue from pipes, I don't know. Of course, losing nearly 100 pounds in 7 months has to have had an effect on my ability to run for longer periods as well, so it's hard to separate everything. Even though i don't inhale when smoking the pipe, it's inevutable that some will get into your lungs. I suspect the pipes have some negative effects on my cardio, but less than cigarettes. I also suspect that continuing to exercise will mitigate some of the damage to cardio capability, and the long period of inactivity I went through really boned me and my stamina. It sucks! So keep on running!

I guess this is a long-ass way of saying, "Hell if I know!" Just my own 2 cents and YMMV, of course.

Massive respect to you for losing 100 pounds, that's a great achievement. I started working out again a week ago - if I have half your success I'll be happy.

 

[Drew72]

Hmmm... Interesting. I quit the cigarettes for pipes (and cigars) full-time last July. Started dieting and working out in late October. My capacity for cardio has definitely improved but I still feel a limited lung capacity holding me back. Whether that's mostly residual from about 25 years of cigarettes or a continuing issue from pipes, I don't know. Of course, losing nearly 100 pounds in 7 months has to have had an effect on my ability to run for longer periods as well, so it's hard to separate everything. Even though i don't inhale when smoking the pipe, it's inevutable that some will get into your lungs. I suspect the pipes have some negative effects on my cardio, but less than cigarettes. I also suspect that continuing to exercise will mitigate some of the damage to cardio capability, and the long period of inactivity I went through really boned me and my stamina. It sucks! So keep on running!

I guess this is a long-ass way of saying, "Hell if I know!" Just my own 2 cents and YMMV, of course.

Congrats man! Those are all amazing accomplishments. I have never smoked cigarettes, cigars, anything... I have no history with any of that. I just smoked my first pipe 6-7 months ago, and only do so 1-2x per week. I would say I live a healthy lifestyle, save the occasional pipe.

I’ve always been pretty fit, working out consistently for 30 years (I’m 47 now).

I don’t pretend to understand nicotine addiction. I know quitting cigs and losing all that weight are heroic accomplishments. Keep it up, stay disciplined.

Cheers

 

[danimalia]

Massive respect to you for losing 100 pounds, that's a great achievement. I started working out again a week ago - if I have half your success I'll be happy.

Right on! Best wishes to you on your journey. It really feels amazing when you start noticing your body changing. Because the ill-effects of being obese came on slowly, I don't think I realized just how bad I felt until I started losing the weight and the improvements in my physical and mental health made things very clear. I'll also say that I owe a lot of success to the low-carb diet I've been on. It is really the only diet I've been able to stick with, probably because I'm rarely feeling hungry while on it.

While I'm threadjacking, any runners have any advice on dealing with ankle pain after running? They just feel tore up and weak after running and it's a problem that keeps me from being able to run every day.

 

[mso489]

Like caffeine, nicotine is bioactive. I used to work with a scientist who did neuroscience of the brain and focussed some of his work on nicotine, which apparently is active in the hippocampus of the brain (a specific anatomical part). Lots of good work, but not categorical answers, which is how science proceeds, with "breakthroughs" coming after years of work by many individuals and teams, not so many ah-ha quick-and-easy answers. With the Covid-19 virus, some researchers have noticed that fewer smokers seem to get diagnosed, though this could be that smokers don't want to admit they smoke when they show up sick. But there could be something there. Statistics alone aren't the answer. Scientifically, nicotine is interesting "stuff," no question about that. What you notice with working out may be a morale boost, a metabolic boost, or something as yet unidentified. Interestingly, the scientist I knew who worked on nicotine was a Native American, the group who introduced the rest of the world to nicotine, though his interest was purely neuroscience, not cultural.

 

[shikano53]

I run 5km every day and smoke 2 bowls a day. I can't really say I have ever noticed any difference either way.

 

[Country Bladesmith]

I’m jealous of all you guys that are still able to run long distances. I used to run 4 miles every day and would sometimes do 9 or 10 miles on weekends if I felt like it. Now my knees cuss me out if I run even 1 mile. I do miss it.

 

[Drew72]

I’m jealous of all you guys that are still able to run long distances. I used to run 4 miles every day and would sometimes do 9 or 10 miles on weekends if I felt like it. Now my knees cuss me out if I run even 1 mile. I do miss it.

I've run a marathon and several half marathons in my day, when I was a bit younger. Now, I just keep it to 3-4 runs per week, usually just around 3 miles at a good pace for me (8:00-8:30 min miles.) In large part, I am done with longer runs in hopes that I can keep my joints healthy as I get older. I am only 47 years old, but my approach to fitness/diet is evolving with my years.

cheers