Dreaming of having big muscle lumps on your biceps? How about the six-pack abs? If you aim to become a bodybuilder, the first thing you want to do is improve your lifestyle. And that includes quitting smoking today or never trying it.
Bodybuilding is never just about lifting weights and gaining pounds of muscles. To achieve good results quicker, you need to make sure your body is in good shape – in and out. If you are a smoker, you are putting a huge barre between you and your goal. Here are the reasons why:
1. Smoking affects your metabolic rate.
Fast metabolism is essential to gain more muscles. And when you have lean muscles, you metabolize faster. The two goes hand in hand. Metabolism is an essential biological process that aids in the distribution of energy all throughout the body.
2. Smoking affects your bodybuilding performance.
Because smoking affects metabolism by lowering it down, you are less likely to utilize all the energy you have when doing workouts. You get easily tired that an hour extended to the gym makes you feel you’re in hell. And because you underperform, you do not get the results the way you expected.
3. Nicotine affects weight management.
Smoking is known to decrease weight while withdrawal period is linked to weight gain. Nicotine, a popular component of tobacco affects how the body regulates its weight. Diet is a crucial factor in bodybuilding. But no matter how you care about your diet, you are less likely to manage your weight if you are a smoker.
4. It weakens your heart.
Our body organs are all connected to each other that damage in one could affect the function of all others. Smoking is a known risk factor of heart disease. If you want to be a bodybuilder, you must make sure your heart is strong enough to carry the strain brought by severe workout sessions.
5. Smoking disrupts blood flow.
Did you know that the heart rate of a smoker is faster than that of a non-smoker by 30%? This significant increase causes a reduced flow of blood in veins, affecting your performance.
6. It makes breathing hard.
Smoking reduces lung function so breathing becomes a difficult process. We all know that weight lifting, high-intensity training workouts, and other forms of exercises require proper breathing to reap their benefits. Smoking also
7. It makes you SICK.
Smoking is linked to a wide range of diseases. It also prevents you from gaining muscles. When you are physically unfit, weight training becomes nearly impossible.
8. Smoking reduces strength, energy and flexibility.
Well there’s no point explaining how this in turn affects your performance in the gym. For sure, you know the answer.
9. The toxins in tobacco take away the nourishment you get from your diet.
You are wasting money buying protein-rich foods and supplements if you are a bodybuilder who smokes. It’s because the 4000+ chemicals in tobacco prevent your body from absorbing the nutrients from your diet.
10. It lowers down your testosterone.
Smoking reduces the maximum oxygen intake of your body by 10% which in turn damage your testes cells.
