Should You Smoke Weed Before Working Out?

May 2024 · 5 minute read

We Asked Regular Guys Why They Get Stoned Before Workouts

October 1, 2017

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For over a year and seven months, Desmond McLaurin has been training 2-5 days per week, and in that time he's impressively put on 40 pounds of muscle mass and his max on bench and deadlifts has “gone through the roof.”

The 27-year-old’s secret weapon? He always smokes a joint before lifting.

“It helps keep stuff off your mind and makes you focus harder on what you’re doing,” McLaurin said.

Surely, you’ve heard of the benefits of smoking weed after a workout. Athletes such as ex-NFLers Reggie Williams and Eugene Monroe, wrestling star Rob Van Dam and Arnold Schwarzenegger have all preached the painkilling properties of weed after exercise (the ex-Governator famously in the movie Pumping Iron).
 

But what about smoking before training?

Dr. Cedric Bryant, Chief Science Officer for the American Council on Exercise, says pot can help your focus while training.

“The ability to block out the monotony of a long-duration event may be just as important as physical ability in some cases,” he said.

Dr. Bryant also said smoking can give athletes an extra good-feeling boost.

“The part of the brain that responds with a pleasant buzz when exposed to the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in marijuana is that same part that fires when athletes feel a ‘runner’s high,’” he said.

McLaurin said he's felt this kind of boost, and it's a big benefit to his workout. “For me, it’s always kinda acted like a stimulant, too, as I get kind of an energy burst like pre-workout would give. And I find it not only eases the aches one may feel while working out, but that it also works very well for post-workout aches and pains.”

Kevin C. (not his real name), a personal trainer in San Francisco, said he not only likes to smoke and train when he's working out, he goes so far as to recommend marijuana to his clients -- but only when they’re doing a monotonous training session like powering out 45 minutes on the elliptical

“I would never suggest getting super-stoned before working out unless you are doing something completely brainless,” he said.

Kevin cautions that he'd never recommend weed to a client who is a beginner weightlifter -- form is too important. Same goes for a beginner pot-smoker.

“I assume they have some level of tolerance with THC before [recommending weed] — I wouldn't want them to turn into an idiot and get thrown out of a gym.”

These days, with weed legalized in California, Kevin says he usually recommends edibles or vaping to his clients due to concerns about what the smoke is doing to your lungs. And always a sativa, never an indica, unless you want to fall asleep on the bike.

"Frying your lungs with smoke before you need oxygen absorption is never wise," he said. "You are literally covering your alveoli with tar."

But that theory is actually contentious. A 2006 article in the British Journal of Sports Medicine claimed that inhaling marijuana can have “detrimental effects on the lungs, oral cavity and upper respiratory tract.” Yet, a 2012 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found no evidence of marijuana affecting lung capacity for your average user. In fact, the 2012 study said smoking might increase lung capacity for average users because of how users inhale deeply and hold their breath. So the jury is still out on that one.

Another athlete I spoke to, Corey B., is a 30-year-old competitive Brazilian jiu-jitsu grappler and owner of a gym in Montreal. While the personal trainer we talked to would never recommend competing high, Corey says he has actually won matches stoned. Lately, though, he's cooled it on the pre-match smokes as he finds his cardio suffers when he smokes more than half a gram in a day.

"Cardiovascular performance can suffer slightly when I’m smoking a lot. If I smoke a little bit I don’t have that problem at all," he said.

Corey added: "Sometimes [smoking] can make you a little lazy but I think that’s something you can get over just by focusing on being present during your training."

Jason Diener, a 28-year-old cyclist in Ottawa who powers out 200 to 300 kilometers per week (125 to 186 miles), also said he's stopped smoking so much lately. But when he was, he'd comfortably do 30 km bike rides without feeling the desire to quit.

“There is this big assumption that smoking weed Cheetos and melting into a couch, but it's amazing for workouts,” Diener said. “You think less, focus on what you're doing, have more stamina to push your limits and recover so quickly. I also find it calms your breathing.”

These guys believe cannabis has helped their training, so should you start adding (legal) weed to your workouts? Err, maybe not. You could be doing more harm than good, according to Dr. Bryant.

“Stated simply, marijuana is not something anyone should add to their routine in the hopes that it will enhance physical performance,” the doctor said. “There are simply too many risks and unknowns associated with regular use, not the least of which is the building up a tolerance that requires heavier usage to achieve the same results.”

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