Let’s look back and think about all the times we’ve heard smokers say that this is their last cigarette, or, after this, they will never touch a cigarette again. Let’s be honest, nobody believes that and there’s a reason for it… it’s a load of sh*t. Anyone who is a smoker has at some point been through this scenario: You give up smoking for a number of weeks or months, then a stressful life event occurs and you pick up those little cancer sticks and start puffing away.
Why is quitting so difficult? Well, nicotine is highly-addictive. It makes you feel calm and at ease, yet alert and focused at the same time. That doesn’t sound bad at all does it? It’s not just the addiction part that makes it difficult to quit but it’s also a process that you add into your daily habits. Think about it, holding a cigarette to your lips, blowing smoke out and repeating – this is a major habitual sequence that kills time when you’re stressed, bored, sad, angry or all of the above.
We’ve all heard our elders tell us how bad smoking is, seen those ‘Refrain from Smoking” ads and seen pictures in middle school about oral diseases caused by smoking tobacco. The bottom-line is: smoking hampers many aspects of good health and hygiene. According to the National Institute of Health, smoking harms nearly every organ in your body, causes 87% of lung cancer deaths and contributes to lung disease, stroke, heart and blood vessel disease, cataract and other types of cancer.
Smoking and Bodybuilding – Replacing a Bad Habit with a Good One.
The overall lifestyle that you get into once you start bodybuilding helps fuel your desire to quit smoking and for overall success. Bodybuilding helps you manage your cravings… for example you refrain from eating all that junk food people are eating around you because you have control of your diet and keep a check on what goes in your body. The same way, you can control the craving of having a cigarette or that desire to hold a cigarette and get in that puff-puff habit.
Once you quit smoking, you go through what it’s called a withdrawal. They usually fluctuate between, depression, inability to sleep, feeling cranky or anxious, lack of focus or just being frustrated. Am I right? Well, working out can really change that. Body building makes you feel good, it makes you feel fresh and it releases ‘feel good’ endorphins in our body, plus, you feel a lot better about your overall appearance and become slightly conscious (only because you work so hard on your appearance). It can help you if you are frustrated or anxious or can’t sleep? Go rip out an intense work out and you’ll feel relaxed and tired enough to be able to come back get in bed and perish.
Bodybuilding is a challenging sport; it gives you perseverance and the burning desire to succeed. You may not be able to hit your goal today, but you will try again tomorrow and so on. The ability to persevere, even when you hit a setback is what you need to constantly try to quit smoking.
Inevitably a smoker will pick up a cigarette on the journey to quit, as a bodybuilder, you are more likely to hop right back onto the fitness train after a slip up. Give this a try, see if it works for you because it really worked for me.