5 Things to Learn Before Working Out With CBD Oil

Reading time - 5 minutes

Whether you’re a fitness buff or professional athlete, the chances are that you’re constantly seeking out ways to supercharge your workouts. In your search for healthy performance-enhancing supplements, you might have stumbled upon numerous publications touting CBD for its ability to optimize workouts.

But what is CBD, and can it improve workouts?

Cannabidiol, commonly abbreviated as CBD, is a cannabis extract that medical researchers believe might help treat various diseases. CBD is generally recommended for illnesses whose main symptoms are pain, stress, inflammation, and sleep.

Cannabidiol’s incredible health benefits are the reason medical marijuana doctors recommend the compound as a potential workout optimizer. In fact, many fitness supplements now have CBD as one of the primary bioactive compounds.

But despite CBD’s immense therapeutic properties, it’s essential to find out more about the compound before integrating it into your fitness routine. In this post, we highlight the five crucial things to learn before working out with CBD.

1. CBD Offers Numerous Health Benefits

The following are the primary health benefits of CBD for workouts;

How does CBD alleviate pain?

Pain is the leading cause of workout downtimes. That is especially true for people who engage in energy-intensive workouts, such as high-intensity interval training (HIIT).

Energy-intensive workouts generally result in delayed onset of muscle soreness (DOMS). DOMS is a medical term for the pain and soreness experienced in muscles between 24 and 72 hours following rigorous workouts.

Fortunately, pain also happens to be one of the primary wellness issues that cannabidiol is generally prescribed for. CBD treats pain the same way it relieves most other conditions – by impacting the performance of your endocannabinoid system.

When consumed, cannabidiol enters the body via the endocannabinoid system and interacts with several endocannabinoid receptors involved in pain mediation, such as vanilloid receptors.

CBD can also treat workout-induced pain by increasing anandamide levels. Anandamide is an endocannabinoid involved in the body’s pain-signaling processes. CBD can increase anandamide levels by inhibiting the enzymes that escalate anandamide’s degradation, such as fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH).

Due to its powerful analgesic effects, CBD can help relieve DOMS and various forms of workout-induced pain.

How does CBD alleviate inflammation?

Workouts-induced pain and inflammation usually occur side by side.

Now, inflammation is one of the body’s natural reactions to the presence of foreign substances. But it can also result from microscopic muscle injuries, as is the case when working out.

Cannabidiol is just as effective against inflammation as it is on pain. CBD alleviates workout-induced inflammation in various ways.

First, the compound inhibits the body’s inflammatory messenger activity by preventing certain inflammatory markers, such as cytokines, from expressing.

Cannabidiol also attenuates inflammation through its vasodilating properties. CBD can dilate constricted arteries. Therefore, the compound ensures more oxygenated blood and nutrients travel to inflamed sites while helping get rid of inflammation by-products, such as lactic acid. This phenomenon is crucial in relieving inflammation.

Besides pain and inflammation, the following are additional workout-related health benefits of CBD;

• CBD can relieve stress and elevate mood, thereby enhancing mental focus and reducing risks of workout-related accidents
• CBD may help combat sleep issues, ensuring you get adequate sleep in readiness for the day ahead.
• CBD can relieve fatigue and boost your energy.

2. CBD Won’t Get You High

Cannabidiol is a cannabis extract, and cannabis is famous for its psychoactive properties. So, it’s intuitive to think that CBD also produces mind-altering effects.

However, pure CBD is non-psychoactive. So, you can use the compound to optimize your workouts without worrying about becoming intoxicated in the process.

THC is the primary compound in weed that gives the plant most of its psychoactive properties.

3. There Are Several Delivery Methods

There are five popular ways to administer cannabidiol, including;

• Smoking dried hemp buds
• Vaping CBD vape juice
• Oral administration of CBD tinctures or CBD oil drops
• Topical application of CBD-enriched ointments
• CBD edibles
• Other - find out more

The delivery method you choose depends on the specific condition you’re trying to relieve.

For instance, you can consider CBD edibles or oral tinctures if you’re trying to combat performance anxiety. CBD topicals would be ideal for localized pain and inflammation.

4. Keep Your Doses Down

CBD has no ideal dose. The servings depend on several factors. Examples include your age, gender, sensitivity or tolerance to CBD, the strength of CBD in a product, and the severity of the medical issue you’re trying to resolve.

Even so, it’s recommended to start low and slow to find your optimum dose. CBD side effects are normally very mild, such as nausea, drowsiness, and dry mouth.

Also, ensure to consult your physician before using CBD, especially if you’re already on other prescription medications.

5. CBD Is Not Legal Worldwide

Despite its numerous health benefits, it’s sad to observe that CBD laws vary from one country to another.

In the United Kingdom and United States, you can access CBD-infused workout supplements. In the US CBD is available in all 50 states if such products contain below maximum THC potency of 0.3%. In the UK the maximum THC potency is even lower at 0.2%. However, this may not necessarily be the case in your jurisdiction. So, remember to establish your local cannabidiol laws before using CBD-based performance-enhancing supplements.

For professional athletes, it’s reassuring to note that CBD doesn’t appear in the world anti-doping agency (WADA)’s list of banned substances.

The Bottom Line

CBD is a potential performance-enhancing substance. However, always establish your local cannabidiol laws before purchasing CBD-infused supplement products. Also, choose a suitable delivery method and go slow on the compound to avoid experiencing any unwanted side effects.