DRUGS AND BODYBUILDING: MARIJUANA
SOooo if you are new around here, or haven’t seen much of my content, this is probably going to be even more interesting for you! Otherwise many of you know that I recruit psychedelics as a tool for my life. I am *currently what you would consider a “Stoner” which means that I smoke and consume Marijuana. My usage would be described as medicinal/fun as I use it to hone in my senses and achieve new goals as well as enjoy my life more when other less appropriate substances are around. I am not a huge fan of alcohol mainly for its ability to stop muscle protein synthesis and the way it makes my body feel after… not to mention the dryness of joints already under lots of stress from daily weight training it just takes me too long to fully recover!
So today ill talk about Marijuana and on my next drug post which will be scheduled for next Friday I will go over Magic Mushrooms!
Marijuana is a “magical” plant that has many beneficial properties that have very noticeable implementations into many different lifestyles. The main compound that gets you “high” in Marijuana is called Delta-9 thc with other compounds that have caught mainstream notice like CBD, CBG, CBN and Delta - 8 thc. I believe all of these would be great compounds to go over on there own and I’ll be sure to do that in the future!
Today i’m going to talk about all of the ways I personally use it, the advantages and disadvantages of overall usage, when its becoming a bad habit vs a medicine and some of the psychology behind using vs abusing it.
How I use it and how long i’ve been doing so..
So I started consuming cannabis in my second semester of my freshman year at FSU! I had smoked it once or twice before and I had also tried weed cookies before but it was not my cup of tea and I enjoyed drinking and partying with my friends at the time!
I had gotten into bodybuilding and did not like how much it effected my gains and my ability to keep my metabolism firing! I remember going out and not being able to drink because I was prepping for a bodybuilding show and wasn’t allowing myself to drink… being at FSU sober was such a buzzkill…. it is what it is haha. So anyways i’m prepping for this show and I end up getting injured. But its an injury of the nerve tissue around my brain. the friggin Meninges. Google exertion headaches… fucking scary… it gives you migraines so strong that it feels like someone started punching you in the head whenever your heart rate elevates… not fun! Long story long my training partner at the time, total stoner, convinced me to try smoking a bowl to get my appetite up and help with the pain and anxiety of it. Boy… what an experience! I needed to eat to maintain muscle since I couldn’t work out and I got them munchies sonnnn it was game on. I immediately saw the benefit behind this new drug and being an avid supplement user, I treated it as such and never really looked back!
What were the main functional benefits I used it?
To make it easy ill just make a list and then go back through it with details!
-increased appetite - as someone who struggles to eat or at least eat clean food, this is a huge plus for a bodybuilder that is concerned with eating an above average amount of food on a consistent daily basis. It becomes harder than the training and cardio sometimes just getting that last dry ass chicken and rice meal. Not with some giggle bush in a slugger though… that’ll make your chicken and rice taste like it was made by a five star chef.
-increased sleep quality - this is something you have to be careful with as its been shown to reduce the amount of time users spend in REM sleep which is where a lot of the most important aspects of sleep recovery happens. However if you are smart with you usage and do not abuse the doses you take or smoke, you can achieve maximum results with minimum side effects. basically just don’t get so fucking high you sleep like a rock, just get your self to a point of relaxation and use it as a tool to help attain your goal. For me personally I get blasted into space most nights but I am a unique case and it took me a few years to start getting into REM sleep when sleeping. I honestly don’t recommend this and it can lead to side effects like waking up tired, waking up nauseous, depressed, anxious or absolutely 100% refreshed haha it really takes time to dial in your dosing. Start low and taper up as needed and make sure to take breaks so you don’t have to continuously up your dosage.
-anti-inflammatory - Ganja is banging for inflammation and the amount of injuries and stupid shit i’ve done to my body, I was an Advil addict. From a young age I was susceptible to migraines and body aches and having an alternative to Advil was super exciting for me. Research Advil and stomach lining, theres evidence it is not great for long term use and if you are the kinda person that uses bandaid solutions instead of actually solving the problem *cough* like me *cough* then a healthier alternative should be sought out! CBD and CBD are also some of my favorite anti-inflammatorys and work great for nausea
-Tummy pain - As someone who has always had a binge eating problem smoking weed did not necessarily fix that, but it allowed me to be content with less normally satisfying foods. It just takes willpower to not give in to the deadly munchies all the way. Keep clean food only in your house and you’ll be way better off. If however you still eat like shit anyways or you just eat a lot like most bodybuilders do, a couple puffs from a joint will relax your body and muscles and you’ll notice a pretty immediate release in the pain! It is so cool and you DO NOT have to get high to use and get the benefits of Weed. Just don’t smoke the whole thing and you’ll be good or find some edibles you can easily break into controlled doses!
-increased muscle recovery- again, an anti inflammatory and natural muscle relaxer it has been used by athletes for years and years there is so much peer reviewed research its insane. Not to mention Cannabis is one of the most researched drugs in American history theres tons of data you can look through yourself!
-reduced anxiety - everyone could use this every now and then. Don’t increase your anxiety by getting too high, keep it manageable!
-replacement for even unhealthier habits - Like I said before, I loved alcohol and have an addictive personality. As much as I keep that in control it is honestly nice to have a habit that is not nearly as deteriorating as so many other available options.
-mind muscle connection in the gym - Training while stoned and on stimulants created a Poor Mans 8 Ball. You really wanna be cracked out and focused and stoked to be somewhere, drink some pre workout and smoke half a joint. Tell me you don’t feel every repetition deeper, when you flex and squeeze your muscles its a whole new experience. Its actually so beautiful and unique that it has been my specific drug of choice - A pump and being stoned fuck me nothings better. Especially if you like to pose and create art with your body! you can take this into any form of self expression, you engage with a deeper more concentrated version of your soul… can’t speak highly enough about it, no pun intended ;)
-increased happiness and desire to interact with new people - The amount of connections i’ve made while stoned is literally insane. Every day I make a new friend and I have learned so many valuable life lessons from absolute strangers. as someone who is super motivated to excel in every aspect of my being. this goes pretty far and has taken me through many amazing and also insane experiences.
What are the negatives and what should I look out for if I am just starting or have been using for a long time?
For every action there is an equal reaction and everything comes with a price! You have to stay in constant control of what goes on around you and what goes inside you! You only get one life and one vessel. So here we go and yes it might get deep:)
bandaid solutions are bad - unless your telling me weed is fixing your problems to the point where you don’t need it anymore, then you probably could be using it better than you are currently.
Heres the thing, if you are using this plant to ignore your emotions and you do it for too long, you will eventually forget things, become confused, and rely on emotional memories rather than real ones to guide you and it makes life sloppy and fucks your head up. There’s nothing wrong with smoking a joint to relax after a stressful situation but it’s when you start ignoring traumatic things by sending your brain into a psychedelic state that things get unhealthy. Trust me! Always fix the root cause of any issue or ailment, don’t just treat the symptoms and expect your issue to change. This goes for people on three different blood pressure medications that still have high blood pressure, to sad stoners like I’ve been referencing.
confusion and altered states- in general good weed is gonna have you in an altered state of being. It separates your physical being from your conscious being and opens your spirit up to outside influence. Look into your Ego and how it defines you and how that can be manipulated subconsciously. An easy example would be a kid with minimal overall stresses but smokes and listens to music about being in pain and misery. What would you expect to happen to this kid if he did this for a year straight? High and trying to figure himself out in a world full of negativity and his favorite artist is constantly in pain! That kids gonna adopt these emotions and look for reasons to justify it. That is very hard to undo and it is unfair to anyone-adolescent or adult. Protect your Reality
raises estrogen - interestingly enough there’s a correlation to higher estrogen levels and marijuana consumption, this is something to think about and research!
Binge Eating - The true killer of Gainz, it can be impossible to ignore the urge to completely clean out your pantry of all snacks and cereals, when you are trying to lose weight or maintain a balance or just not sit on a toilet for an hour in the morning trying to remember everything you ate and wondering how it’s even physically possible to mix all of that in one human…. well yea that about covers it. Gotta keep yourself in check and keep them healthy meals prepped and snacks gotta be clean or not in the house, otherwise, good luck soldier, I don’t think those Oreos will last till morning.
Morning sickness - I’ve seen this and experienced this a few times there’s definitely a correlation to morning sickness and smoking, if anything this is for newer users who are smoking more than normal! It seems to eventually subside but it’s worth noting!
Skipping REM sleep and waking up tired/not dreaming - there was a time when I stopped hitting rem and was not getting good sleep from smoking too much and I had to get it under control. I did not realize it was responsible for my lack of dreaming but over time I realized it was and it took about a year for me to start dreaming again while still continuing to smoke! I would dream on THC breaks no problem so if that is happening just check your usage and try to adjust so you stay as happy as possible! Dreaming is very important to me and it scared me to think it wouldn’t be part of my life again. For others it may not matter but I like to bring it up!:)
Okay guys that’s all I for you this time! I hoped I provided some interesting perspectives for what is seemingly a simple subject! As someone who has been on both sides of the use \abuse coin it’s fun to play with the thought process of both perspectives to see and understand more!
