The Effects Of Marijuana On Bodybuilding

Before we start talking about the main purpose of this article, the first thing we have to mention is that marijuana is still illegal. This article is not intended to promote the use of any illegal or elicit substances.

 

Despite marijuana being illegal, many people still smoke it on a daily basis. Marijuana which is also known as cannabis, weed or pot, is mostly used by people who want to get high as a method of relaxation. While there certainly isn’t the stigma attached to it that there may be for class A drugs like heroin or cocaine, for instance, marijuana definitely still has side effects that will affect the way your body works.

 

Marijuana is a psychoactive drug which originally comes from the cannabis plant. There are nearly 500 different components in the cannabis plant, but only one of these components are an active ingredient – delta-9-THC, or THC for short, which affects your nerve receptors and brain cells. THC is most effectively absorbed when you smoke marijuana, and it has a fairly rapid effect on you. It circulates fairly quickly around the human body, but in most cases, it will simply leave your system within five days, depending on the amount you ingest. Although with chronic users, THC is more likely to be stored in the fat tissue around your body, in this circumstance, it can take anything from 10 to 20 days to leave your system.
 

People who ingest Marijuana become more focused on certain stimuli, which increases your appreciation and enjoyment of things like food, sex and music. It’s not unlike the feeling of being mildly drunk.

Weed has been associated with decreased reaction times, increasing feelings or paranoia and nervousness as well as impairing short term memory.

The effects of marijuana do vary greatly from person to person. One individual may experience that they get all the side effects of smoking weed to a very high degree and even become addicted to it, whereas someone else may find it does very little for them or that they can smoke it infrequently, and enjoy the experience and have a very relaxed attitude towards the drug, but not really feeling any reliance on it whatsoever.

Clearly, while these effects aren’t specific to bodybuilding, bodybuilders too function in the same way as those who do not train. A bodybuilder who regularly smokes pot will find themselves susceptible to the same affects as others, such as potential short term memory loss, decreased reaction times and a heightened sense of paranoia and anxiety, which will not only effect the bodybuilder's general health, but can also have a knock on effect to their performance too. If you become reliant on the drug, you are far more likely to skip your workout sessions and under-perform in the gym.

This isn't it, however.Tthere are way more serious side effects that can potentially interfere with your future in bodybuilding.

Testosterone is the main hormone involved in building your muscles and shredding fat. Bodybuilders always want to have relatively high levels of testosterone to maximize both their performance and aesthetics, hence why many bodybuilders are seen eating lots of red meat and eggs, which can naturally boost your testosterone levels, take testosterone boosting supplements, or rely on anabolic steroids, which artificially increase your levels of testosterone.

 

The results from studies done regarding marijuana use and testosterone levels are a little bit confusing and not exactly clear –  while some seem to show a correlation with the increased use of marijuana and decreased testosterone levels, some may show it has little effect, if any at all.

 

 

In animal studies, though, the results have been fairly clear – ingesting marijuana inhibits the production of testosterone  and has a negative impact on the Luteinizing hormone (LH) which is released by the pituitary gland and aids in synthesizing testosterone to help with building muscle tissue.

One study did show a negative effect on testosterone from smoking just one joint, however, participants’ hormone levels were back to normal within 24 hours, showing that infrequent consumption on Marijuana seems to have little to no effect on testosterone levels whatsoever.

Your metabolism relates to the speed at which your body digests and uses calories. A high metabolism means you digest food quickly and have a high rate of energy turnover from the food that you eat. In basic terms it means you can eat more calories and still maintain your weight. A slow metabolism often requires you to have to severely cut calories to burn fat.

Ideally, bodybuilders want a high metabolism, as this means when cutting for competitions they can eat more food and still lose fat quickly, and they can eat more still when building muscle in the off season.

Smoking marijuana has been shown to lower thyroid hormones in the blood, although no study has ever shown it to have an impact on thyroid function. This potentially means that your metabolism may be lowered slightly in the short term when using marijuana, but there are unlikely to be any long lasting ill effects.

Marijuana has, though, shown to impact your body’s production of growth hormone. Growth hormone has a similar significance as testosterone, and you want high levels of it to build muscle mass. Again, you can increase growth hormone through your diet and training, and also take supplements or ergogenic performance aids to get an increased growth hormone profile. Marijuana can lower your growth hormone levels, which will temporarily impact your muscle growth and recovery rate.

Weed doesn’t have calories, so in that respect, it doesn’t have a role in weight loss or weight gain. However, an extremely common side effect when smoking marijuana, even after just a few puffs on a joint is “The Munchies”. This relates back to the increased feelings of pleasure and relaxation that marijuana causes. Quite often you’ll find yourself starving hungry, and will eat literally anything – most likely junk food. Bodybuilders know that this has a massive impact on health, performance and body composition.

If you smoke weed regularly, and always end the night with a burger, some candy or fries, chances are you’ll massively over consume calories, which will have severely detrimental effects on your physique.

As discussed, pot will make you feel more relaxed. While you may think that this is a good thing, as it reduces your levels of stress and helps you chill out, it can have the opposite effect. To train hard, you need a certain amount of aggression every time you step in the gym. Many bodybuilders use training as an opportunity to let out some tension they might be feeling from work or family life, but if you’re always really chilled out, you’ll struggle to find that motivation to hit the weights.

This may be more of an issue for endurance athletes, but marijuana can impair your cardio-respiratory function, by slowing down your blood flow and heart rate, meaning it takes longer for oxygen to get round your body. Bodybuilders may not be particularly worried about this. But weight training does involve a cardio element. A really tough set of 20 back squats, or a set of rest-pause deadlifts will leave even the fittest bodybuilder gasping for air. If your cardio function is impaired, you won’t be able to train nearly as hard.

Marijuana may not have an all out disastrous effect on your bodybuilding progress, but it certainly won’t help you either. Refrain from smoking weed, and you’ll certainly feel the benefits in the gym and in your physique.