July, 2023 - The Fit Ethos

3 Changes You Will Notice When You Quit Smoking Weed

Popular media has essentially cemented the idea that smoking weed is harmless to the human body and brain. While cannabis does not seem to be as harmful as other illicit drugs, this notion is spoken almost like fact when the body of evidence is scarce.

There is emerging evidence that suggests that there are plenty of detrimental effects of consuming marijuana, including some alarming findings about potential long-term effects on the brains of younger individuals who consume cannabis. The idea that weed cannot be addictive is a lie.

Many individuals will be able to recreationally consume cannabis with minimal effect, much like alcohol. However, chronic and dependent users won’t be so lucky.

If you can find it in yourself to stop, I encourage you to take a break from weed for a few weeks. If you frequently use or compulsively seek cannabis, here are 3 changes you will notice when you quit smoking weed.

Improved Motivation

It is well established that dopamine is the chemical of motivation. While evidence is mixed, marijuana use alters the physiology of dopamine in a way that blunts motivation.

Here’s the quick lowdown on dopamine. Dopamine is the chemical that motivates us towards action of seeking something outside of ourselves. This motivation can be purely for survival instincts such as seeking food, sex, and safety. In the modern world, this seeking behavior can be towards advancing careers, relationships, goals, and, yes, sex. When dopamine is naturally elevated, motivation is high. When dopamine levels are depressed, motivation is low. When dopamine levels suddenly spike to unusually high levels (due to various causes such as happy and exciting moments, large rewards, and, unfortunately, drugs) there will be an inevitable crash to very low levels.

Cannabis has been shown to spike dopamine levels during use. This will lead to the inevitable crash afterwards. Weed isn’t the only substance that does this. Alcohol and illicit drugs will do the same. Chronic use of cannabis has been shown to blunt dopamine activity, meaning long term use will cause reduced dopamine release. With less dopamine comes less motivation.

I don’t believe in the caricature of the lazy stoner, but I have seen many friends go through a noticeable transformation where they become more focused, motivation, and resilient to stress when they quit smoking weed. It’s hard to say if the cessation of cannabis alone directly caused these improvements or if it was a battery of behavioral changes, but if quitting was the impetus for self-improvement, I am fine with that. It’s also possible that these positive changes were due to improvements in other factors such as improved sleep, which brings me to my next point.

Improved Sleep

I have previous addressed the effects of cannabis on sleep in this article.

Many individuals use cannabis as a sleep aid. The ironic part is that weed actually hurts sleep quality.

Two ways that weed hurts your sleep are that it suppresses REM sleep and prevents normal sleep duration.

REM sleep is associated with dreaming and is important for learning, memory, creativity, and processing emotionally turbulent events from the previous day. Cannabis users will dream much less during use, even if it seems like the dreams are more vivid. Disrupting REM sleep will negatively impact our mental acuity and well being.

Cannabis will also prevent normal sleep durations. Adults typically need 7-9 hours of sleep. Cannabis users will typically diverge to sleeping less than 6 hours or more than 10, both of which are associated with poor health outcomes.

When you quit smoking cannabis, your sleep improves. When your sleep improves, everything improves. You will notice that you have more energy throughout the day, less brain fog, less anxiety, and are more adept at dealing with stress.

Less Anxiety

This is a tough one. Many individuals use weed to help with their anxiety. The evidence is hard to sift through, but the emerging picture is becoming more clear.

THC, which is the psychoactive component of cannabis that’s associate with getting high, seems to have an anxiogenic effect, meaning it increases and worsens anxiety, especially at higher doses.

CBD on the other hand, appears to have an anxiolytic effect at all doses, meaning it helps reduce anxiety.

Given that most recreational cannabis users tend to consume marijuana for THC and its psychoactive effects, it’s likely that they are doing no favors for their anxiety. This is in stark contrast with the general established notion that weed is an effective treatment for anxiety. The truth is more complicated than that.

If you are going to use cannabis for anxiety, CBD is the only one that has shown to be effective.

When you stop smoking THC, you will be surprised at how much better your anxiety is controlled. Give yourself a few weeks to get used to this, as the act of stopping may temporarily increase anxiety due to either withdrawal or fear of anxiety.

Give Yourself A Chance To Improve

I should state that I have nothing against cannabis use. I view it in similar light to alcohol as a recreational substance and find it ridiculous that it’s still a Schedule 1 drug. More research needs to be done on cannabis so we can fully understand its medical applications and effects of recreational use.

However, if you find yourself compulsively using or seeking cannabis on a frequent basis, I am going to encourage you to take a break and see what it can do for your physical and mental health. You will notice that you sleep better, are more focused, have less brain fog, and are more resilient to stress.

Runners Should Lift Weights Part 2

In part 1, we explored common technical faults and injuries of running that can be remedied with strength training.

As mentioned in the previous post, running is a strenuous activity. Proper technique requires a certain level of strength.

In this post, we will go over the various performance gains runners can expect from strength training.

Improved energy efficiency/running economy

Running economy is essentially how much energy a runner expends at a certain pace. Multiple studies have shown that running economy improves with strength training. While the exact mechanism isn’t fully understood, we can make a few intuitive leaps.

First, an improvement in strength will decrease the perceived difficulty of all tasks. A stronger individual will find a given task easier than an individual who is weaker.

Second, an improvement in muscular strength and conditioning will improve energy use and efficiency. With decreased strain will come decreased energy usage. If the overall task of running becomes easier to perform, the overall energy expenditure is lowered.

Third, an improvement in strength will improve technical efficiency. Deviations in running technique caused by weakness will worsen running economy. Good technique exists for a reason: It is the intersection of optimal performance, energy efficiency, and injury prevention. As we deviate further from good technique, energy efficiency will plummet and injury risk rise.

To be sure, a systematic review and meta analysis (one of the highest levels of evidence) in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research confirms that strength training will greatly benefit running economy.

Improved Propulsion and Take Off

Running can be crudely described as your legs continuously pulling and launching you forward. The moment that your foot leaves the ground is the take off phase of running. The ability to propel your body forward takes tremendous strength and power.

Lifting weights will improve propulsion — *Now, no one actually runs like this but this image illustrates the importance of strong glutes and hammies for running. Do you think he would be able to do that with a pancake butt?*

If we improve the force output and power of the legs, we can vastly improve the take off phase of the running cycle. The glutes and hamstrings are the primary muscles responsible for forward propulsion. A program with a good variety of squats, deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts, hip thrusts, good mornings, hamstring curls, split squats, and box squats will be very beneficial here. In addition, a good mix of plyometrics will help with improving power.

Improved Management of Ground Reaction Forces

For every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction. When your foot strikes the ground, the ground needs to push back up into the foot. Think about running on solid ground versus running on a soft mattress. The mattress will push back with less force than the solid ground. This is called the ground reaction force.

Running produces tremendous amounts of ground reaction forces, 250% of bodyweight by certain measurements. Needless to say, if you don’t have the eccentric strength and tendon strength to manage this, then you are working much harder than you should and will likely get injured at some point.

Over striding technical fault — *The heel strike produces large amounts of ground reaction forces.*

The usual suspects for a good lower body strength program (squats, deadlifts, lunges, etc) will work well but if bounding, reaction, and eccentric strength are a problem, you should also do include a variety of plyometric exercises like skipping, broad jumps, jump roping, box jumps, and (for more advanced trainees) depth jumps.

One simple way to figure out if you need some help with managing and absorbing the ground reaction forces, perform the single leg hop test.

Hop forward as far as you can with one leg and land on the same foot. Do the same on the other side. If you can stick the landing without wobbling too much or losing your footing, you have good control and strength to manage the eccentric forces. If you are very wobbly, lose your footing, or there is a large discrepancy between your two legs, then you should probably spend some time lifting weights and jumping.

Lifting weights will improve all aspects of sports

As you can tell, lifting weights is not just for the meatheads and body builders. The myth that lifting weights will make you inflexible and slow needs to go the way of the dinosaurs. There is ample evidence to suggest that lifting weights will improve almost every aspect of athletics.

Remember this: A stronger human is harder to kill, harder to injure, and will outlast others who are weaker.

3 Common Running Injuries and Faults Lifting Weights Can Fix

Runners don’t lift. Lifters don’t run. I’m sure many of us have heard this dichotomy before, along with many other silly myths like lifting weights will make runners slower or inflexible.

This is silly nonsense.

Runners are missing out on a lot of potential gains in performance if strength training is neglected. This is because running is a relatively strenuous activity that requires a certain level of strength to tolerate.

Simply put, most people are not strong enough to effectively run with good technique.

The Serratus Anterior: The Forgotten Muscle of the Shoulder

The shoulder is a complicated region of the body. It contains the most mobile joint in the body (the glenohumeral joint, or the ball and socket we all associate with the shoulder) that must also be strong and stable or else risk injury during heavy movements and exercise.

The fitness and sports industry has come up with many ways to strengthen, rehab, and prehab the shoulder, and for good reason. There are many muscles to address and if injured, shoulder rehab can potentially become a lengthy and complex process.

2 Detrimental Ways Weed Affects Your Sleep

People often use cannabis as a sleep aid, saying that it allows them to fall asleep faster. Until recently, we didn’t have a good understanding of how weed affects sleep. However, emerging evidence shows that using cannabis as a sleep aid could be detrimental to sleep.

Former pot heads always tell me about how much better their sleep is after they abstain from weed for at least 2 weeks or quit completely. They also say that their brain fog disappears, their anxiety is better, and their memory improves significantly. Funny enough, all of these can be tied to the improvement in sleep quality.

Chronic use of cannabis has two distinct effects on your sleep.

The Best Cardio Exercise For Weight Loss

If you’re looking for exercises to lose weight, you’ve probably heard from somewhere that you need to do cardio. Go out and run, jog on a treadmill, hop on an elliptical, or ride a stationary bike for an hour. Do that everyday for weight loss.

Nope.

That sounds like hell to me. Boring, time consuming, and probably ineffective hell.

Here’s the first thing you need to know about cardiovascular exercise for fat loss: medium does not exist.

Exercising for weight loss/fat loss needs to be intense.

Medium intensity, long duration exercise like jogging is not conducive for fat loss, athletic performance, or calorie burn. The science is clear. Jogging only results in disappointment.

Month: July 2023