Training and smoking?

[Tim huges]

Appreciate all replies, its been a bit of a reality check for me. I had hoped the prospect of better PB's would be a motivation...i see that was a little silly now and on reflection there are far more important factors regardless of better times...which i was aware of but perhaps an element of self delusion.

Ive given up for periods of time so i know i am capable of the initial week, which from my experience is the period of time it takes for cravings to start to subside. My only hangup is the weight gain, i have been on a weightloss kick for some time now and id hate to undo any progress. Im a little over 20lbs shy of my target weight, so in the meantime i will cut down smoking until i hit my weight target and then go cold turkey. Hopefully the increase in calories once im at target weight to maintainence calorie levels will ease the food cravings.

Hoping to be on 5 cigarettes a day for when i go cold turkey, will try to break an old habit each week...for example not smoking after a meal, not smoking with a coffee and not smoking after the gym etc.

Thanks again for all replies, it all helped in my decision making. Would love to say i quit yesterday but im afraid my weightloss would nosedive and ive worked far to hard to throw that away.

[Anth_F]

Appreciate all replies, its been a bit of a reality check for me. I had hoped the prospect of better PB's would be a motivation...i see that was a little silly now and on reflection there are far more important factors regardless of better times...which i was aware of but perhaps an element of self delusion.

Ive given up for periods of time so i know i am capable of the initial week, which from my experience is the period of time it takes for cravings to start to subside. My only hangup is the weight gain, i have been on a weightloss kick for some time now and id hate to undo any progress. Im a little over 20lbs shy of my target weight, so in the meantime i will cut down smoking until i hit my weight target and then go cold turkey. Hopefully the increase in calories once im at target weight to maintainence calorie levels will ease the food cravings.

Hoping to be on 5 cigarettes a day for when i go cold turkey, will try to break an old habit each week...for example not smoking after a meal, not smoking with a coffee and not smoking after the gym etc.

Thanks again for all replies, it all helped in my decision making. Would love to say i quit yesterday but im afraid my weightloss would nosedive and ive worked far to hard to throw that away.

Why not just row more meters to counteract the weight gainz

[Tim huges]

Why not just row more meters to counteract the weight gainz

Im already at 15k 6 days a week, aswell as some other training commitments/work/homelife id struggle to find the time to get in the gym...not an excuse but its the reality. Im sure i'll squeeze extra in where i can if the weight climbs up...an extra 5k somedays wouldnt kill me. If i had an erg at home it would be a different story.

I'll play it by ear...if the cutting down goes well i may jump the gun a little. If its all way too much and im in over my head then theres always vaping which ive had the most success with.

[Rowan McSheen]

Plenty of folk here saying the nicotine patches don't work, but they did for me.

[Anth_F]

Why not just row more meters to counteract the weight gainz

Im already at 15k 6 days a week, aswell as some other training commitments/work/homelife id struggle to find the time to get in the gym...not an excuse but its the reality. Im sure i'll squeeze extra in where i can if the weight climbs up...an extra 5k somedays wouldnt kill me. If i had an erg at home it would be a different story.

I'll play it by ear...if the cutting down goes well i may jump the gun a little. If its all way too much and im in over my head then theres always vaping which ive had the most success with.

Just think of all the money you'd save, you could buy your own erg with it

[Tim huges]

Ah mate...id be like a pig in s*** !

[RayOfSunshine]

My quit date was 12/12/17. I was 230-235lbs and started rowing. I realized i needed to eat better to achieve my goals, so I started making small changes to my diet along with quitting tobacco.

Around my birthday, 1/27/18, I was still 230-235lbs and started the BPP. As I went along, I kept making small changes to my diet. I have a long term goal to row a sub7 2k as a LWT after age 50 (2021)... so, i wanted to get to 165lbs by the end of 2020. Well, I weighed in this morning at 165.0 pounds. I'm way ahead of schedule.

You don't have to gain weight. You don't have to supplement food. It's an excuse... and, if you need one to make it through the 1st 3 weeks... consider gaining the weight.. it's better for you in the long run.

[gregsmith01748]

Appreciate all replies, its been a bit of a reality check for me. I had hoped the prospect of better PB's would be a motivation...i see that was a little silly now and on reflection there are far more important factors regardless of better times...which i was aware of but perhaps an element of self delusion.

While agree that living a longer and better life is a more important reason to quit smoking than faster PBs, I am not sure it is more motivating. I was overweight all of my adult life and I would periodically get motivated enough to diet and exercise. The weight would come off, and then I’d gain it back again. Starting row competitively turned out to be the right immediate motivator so I would do the right long term thing. trying to climb the rankings, or beat someone in a race was a much more powerful immediate force to keep me exercising and out of the fridge.

You’ve seen stories here about how people haven’t been slowed down much by smoking, all anecdotes. Just think, graham benton might have been even faster than he was, that’s amazing! Rowing is an aerobic sport, performance is limited by you vO2max, which is measured in liters of oxygen per minute. The better your lungs work, the better your blood takes up oxygen.

I don’t have proof, but I bet quitting smoking would chop 10 seconds off a 2k, and who here doesn’t want to take 10 seconds off their 2k?

[hjs]

Appreciate all replies, its been a bit of a reality check for me. I had hoped the prospect of better PB's would be a motivation...i see that was a little silly now and on reflection there are far more important factors regardless of better times...which i was aware of but perhaps an element of self delusion.

While agree that living a longer and better life is a more important reason to quit smoking than faster PBs, I am not sure it is more motivating. I was overweight all of my adult life and I would periodically get motivated enough to diet and exercise. The weight would come off, and then I’d gain it back again. Starting row competitively turned out to be the right immediate motivator so I would do the right long term thing. trying to climb the rankings, or beat someone in a race was a much more powerful immediate force to keep me exercising and out of the fridge.

You’ve seen stories here about how people haven’t been slowed down much by smoking, all anecdotes. Just think, graham benton might have been even faster than he was, that’s amazing! Rowing is an aerobic sport, performance is limited by you vO2max, which is measured in liters of oxygen per minute. The better your lungs work, the better your blood takes up oxygen.

I don’t have proof, but I bet quitting smoking would chop 10 seconds off a 2k, and who here doesn’t want to take 10 seconds off their 2k?

Benton ofcourse was, he pulled sub 6 his first year, a few year later 5.42.

Don,t think in any aerobic sport the very best do smoke. Jumpers sometimes do. Highjumpers for certain.

Alcohol, Henry Rono, big time alcoholic, ran world records in his prime, with inbetween zero food, over a 5 day timespan. Again, very wrong, but strange things happen.

[gregsmith01748]

I found an interesting study.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl ... po=50.0000

Comparison of young smokers and non-smokers. Lung capacity was about 10% higher for the non smoking group.

I just plugged a 6:40 2k into the concept 2 vO2max calculator with 200lbs (not highly trained) and it spit out a vO2max of 51.6. Less than a 5% change in vO2max, to 53.3 is a 6:30 2k.

A change in lung volume doesn’t translate into better vO2max directly, but it sure doesn’t hurt.

[mitchel674]

I found an interesting study.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl ... po=50.0000

Comparison of young smokers and non-smokers. Lung capacity was about 10% higher for the non smoking group.

I just plugged a 6:40 2k into the concept 2 vO2max calculator with 200lbs (not highly trained) and it spit out a vO2max of 51.6. Less than a 5% change in vO2max, to 53.3 is a 6:30 2k.

A change in lung volume doesn’t translate into better vO2max directly, but it sure doesn’t hurt.

Greg, lung capacity tells only part of the story. Smokers inhale quite a bit of carbon monoxide (CO) with each puff. CO permanently binds to the hemoglobin molecule in your red blood cells. This prevents those same hemoglobin molecules from binding with oxygen in your lungs and transporting it to the working cells of your body. This has a direct effect on your oxygen transport system and your aerobic capacity.