Former smokers who worked out- question

scrapperdog · #1 04-20-2007, 10:14 AM

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.

maniacut · #2 04-20-2007, 01:31 PM

I smoked for 2 years and quit and started working out and eating properly. The biggest difference was my new found ability to follow a healthy diet as my workouts were far from ideal. I'm 5'8 and was about 125 wet, I went to 145 ish in about 6 months and my body looked awesome.

Come on though, do you really think quitting is NOT going to help you?

scrapperdog · #3 04-20-2007, 02:34 PM

Naa I know it will heip a little but I kinda wanna know how much it helped other people.

JaviSRK · #4 04-20-2007, 02:46 PM

When you quit smoking, there will be some sort of weight gain. How much you gain is dependent on your level of exercise.

One benefit you will eventually see is your endurance levels rising as you do high reps or cardio.

edfurlong · #5 04-20-2007, 03:11 PM

I smoked back when I was "in good shape". Which meant I looked really good and put up big lifts, but ten minutes on an elliptical killed me.

Jetboy2 · #6 04-20-2007, 03:28 PM

The "results" are that your cardio-respiratory system becomes much more efficient pretty soon after you quit smoking.

At 20 minutes after quitting:

* blood pressure decreases
* pulse rate drops
* body temperature of hands and feet increases.

I'm not sure exactly how the results of muscle building pan out, but I figure it's good, since muscles tend to like oxygen and want to discard CO2.

Your cardio results should be quite good however! Your heart and lungs will definitely improve in function. You may have some damage in this area, but the body does a pretty good job at healing once it's stimulated to do so.

Oh, I smoked from age 17 til 25. I'm now 47, 5'10", 162lbs, 11% body fat, low LDL, good HDL, low BP, resting HR=58, etc.

There are very few guys my age who can keep up with me.