Former smokers who worked out- question

[scrapperdog]

I smoked for 10 years and worked out for 4 when I was smoking. During those 4 years of working out my results were "ok" but not great (max bench press went from 135 to 225).

Now I have quit smoking and am thinking about starting the workouts again. My question is this... How big of an impact was the smoking on holding me back? I would like to hear from people who quit smoking and find out exactly how big or little of an impact it had on their results. Im not sure I want to work out for 4 years again just to have a slightly above average body for my age, which was the results the first time. If I can expect better results now that I have quit it would be a good motivation, but would like to hear the truth from former smokers good or bad.