You’re probably already familiar with some of CBD’s lauded properties, from helping to improve sleep quality to relieving stress. But did you know that CBD can also help you maximize gym time and get more out of your workouts?
Don’t know when to take CBD for working out? Many people use CBD topicals and other CBD products to help reduce post-exercise inflammation after they hit the gym or attend their favorite fitness class. However, CBD is also a great addition to your pre-workout routine!
In fact, making CBD a part of your daily lifestyle can help you find the energy and stamina you need to make every exercise routine count. In this short guide, we’ll explain the relationship between CBD and exercise, then we’ll provide recommendations for ways to hack your workout routine to improve muscle recovery and pain relief.
Key Takeaways:
- CBD can help focus and energize you before a workout, and then soothe exercise-induced inflammation.
- By coupling CBD with other facets of your fitness routine, you can help improve your performance.
- There are multiple ways to integrate CBD into your workout regimen, and they’re all dependent on your fitness goals.
The Perks of Pre-Workout CBD
Do you ever have difficulty motivating yourself to finish a workout? Maybe you’re ready to wrap up after twenty minutes on the elliptical rather than thirty—or maybe you’re guilty of skipping your HIIT class more often than you mean to!
Whether you’re a ballerina or a bodybuilder, achieving your personal best requires consistency and dedication to whatever physical activity you dedicate yourself to. If there’s something standing in the way of achieving your fitness goals, there’s a chance that CBD for your pre-workout could help.
But how? CBD has the following potential benefits on your exercise routine:
- Find more energy – CBD is thought to help the body return to its baseline state (homeostasis). When your body returns to equilibrium more quickly, it helps ensure you have a good level of energy throughout the day—including before and during your workout. CBD for energy is not only good for your workouts, but can also benefit your daily life as well!
- Warm up muscles – Do you have difficulty making time to stretch before a workout? Unfortunately, working out cold can have negative effects, leading to discomfort or even injury. Because CBD helps reduce tension, you’ll have a leg up when it’s time to hit the mat and get mobilized.
- Delay the burn – Sometimes, you want to keep going, but your muscles or joints have started to protest long before you’ve hit your goal for time or reps. Besides relieving tension and helping with warmups, CBD can help you manage physical discomfort. That means you may be able to keep at it for a little longer before your body tells you that it’s time to stop.
- Reduce stress – Some people feel a little bit of nerves before their starting physical activity at a gym. If you exercise in a public gym, you may be worried about how others perceive you. Or perhaps you work out at home, but still dread falling short of your goal. Either way, CBD’s potential stress-busting properties can help you feel more confident as you get ready to sweat.
Creating a Pre-Gym Routine
How can you implement CBD for athletes into your pre-workout routine? Next, we’ll go over the four essential steps for how to get the most out of the gym.
#1 Choose Your CBD
If you want to feel the effects of CBD as you start your workout, you’ll need to time it properly.
- CBD Gummies and CBD capsules should be taken two hours before your workout. This ensures they’ve had time to work their way through your digestive system and into your bloodstream to start working their magic before you get going.
- Forgot to take your gummies in time? Not to worry! Use CBD oil sublingually (by placing it under your tongue). CBD can be absorbed more quickly than through digestion.
It can help to have both products ready to go in your gym bag. That way, you’ll have options.
#2 Hydrate
Once you start your workout, your body will need to deliver oxygen and precious nutrients to the joints and muscles that are working overtime.
The key to healthy physical function as you get your heartrate up? Good old H2O. Of course, some people prefer to do double-duty with a beverage choice like one of the following:
- Coconut water
- Aloe water
- Electrolyte-enriched sports drink
- Smoothie with CBD oil
#3 Create a Plan and Get Pumped Up
Now that your body’s ready, it’s time to get in the right state of mind to work out. Thanks to your CBD, you’re likely feeling focused and energized. Now, turn it up a notch by envisioning the workout ahead. What will you do? In what order? And for how long?
Make a plan for the following:
- Warming up
- Stretching
- Goals and routine
- Cooling down
Once you have a clear plan, start listening to the music that gets you energetic and enthusiastic to complete your workout, whether it involves weight training, intervals, belly dancing, or all-out cardio.
CBD For Post-Exercise Inflammation
Once you’ve finished your workout, it’s important to care for your body. That way, you’re ready to hit the gym on your next scheduled workout day. After all, excessive muscle soreness and burning can discourage you from completing your next routine. And no matter how hard you worked out last time, the key is consistency and regularity!
The good news? CBD is also a potential ally for your post-workout routine. If you took CBD before your workout, you gave your body a great head start towards recovery. You were warmed up and relaxed, which reduced your risk of injury.
Using CBD again after your workout could have further beneficial effects.
- CBD is thought to reduce post-exercise inflammation. In gym class, you might’ve been told that your burning muscles were due to the buildup of lactic acid. However, we now understand that this buildup only occurs because our bodies are reacting to the microscopic tears incurred by our muscles. To repair these tears, the body creates inflammation. CBD may help your body respond to and clear out inflammation.
- CBD can also help regulate our response to discomfort. If you’re feeling stiff, sore, or otherwise less-than-perfect, CBD can help your body deliver the resources it needs to start feeling better, faster.
How to Use CBD Post-Workout
Some people like to pop another gummy right after a workout to time it with the onset of soreness. Besides this technique, it can be incredibly helpful to use topical CBD. As we’ve noted, CBD can be absorbed through our mucous membranes and digestive systems. However, it can also be absorbed directly into the skin at the site of soreness.
If you just finished leg day, directly addressing your legs may reduce the recovery time for those burning hammies and quads. But sometimes, you target more than a single muscle group and end up with full-body soreness.
Depending on your needs, try out one of both of the following options:
- CBD Bath Bomb – After your workout, give your whole body a luxurious soak in a CBD bath. The combination of hot water, minerals, and CBD can help to unwind tension and reduce post-exercise inflammation. Taking a bath before bed can also raise the chances of a good night’s sleep.
- CBD Sports Cream – When combined with nourishing botanicals like rosemary and Eucalyptus, CBD can target soreness and post-exercise inflammation exactly where it occurs. Massage your cream into the affected area after you’ve showered or bathed.
A pro tip? It’s fine to combine both of these methods. Experiment to find the amount of CBD that works best for you.
To that end, CBD products are great for all athletes. The ideal CBD oil for bodybuilders and for ballerinas is exactly the same. However, the amount you need may vary depending based on the intensity of your workout and your personal response to CBD.
Why You Should Use CBD the Day Before and After a Workout
We’ve already gone over the ways that CBD can benefit you on the day you work out. However, adding CBD to your regular routine—even your rest days—can have additional positive results.
Your performance during your workout depends on so much more than what you’ve done on a single day. If you’ve been feeling tired and stressed thanks to a string of sleepless nights and difficult days, you’re likely to do the bare minimum.
Many people find that integrating CBD into their daily routine has added effects for their wellness, vitality, and workouts over time (thanks to its other potential benefits). These benefits include:
- Support for healthy sleep – Your energy levels rely on the quality and consistency of your sleep. If you’re feeling too tired to work out, no amount of coffee can help! Fight the problem at the root by taking a supplement with CBD and melatonin before bed.
- Mood and stress support – If you’re down in the dumps, the last thing you want to do is put your tennis shoes on. Likewise, it’s hard to get motivated to work out when your heart rate is already up due to nerves and stress. By supporting your mood, you’ll get in the right mindset to show up as your best self to each and every workout.
- Improved energy – It’s important to get pumped up right before your workout. As you continue to integrate CBD into your lifestyle, you might find that you have more energy every day. Maybe you’ll add another class to your workout routine, or perhaps you’ll be inspired to take a soul-nourishing hike on your rest day.
Resilience CBD for Athletes
Whether you’re training for a decathalon or you’re completing your first couch-to-5K, CBD can be an incredible ally. At Resilience CBD, we’ve formulated our products to support athletes’ rest and recovery.
We know that low energy and physical discomfort can get in the way of your goals. From improving your fitness to breaking personal bests, CBD can help to provide the support you need to reach them. Check out our lines of CBD oil and tablets for everyday vitality and our CBD topical for exercise recovery.
We formulate our CBD to be as resilient as you are.
Sources:
Bustle. Here’s What Happened When I Used CBD Before & After Working Out For A Month. https://www.bustle.com/p/how-does-cbd-affect-exercise-i-used-it-before-after-my-workouts-for-a-month-15654748
Scientific American. Why Does Lactic Acid Build Up in Muscles? https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-does-lactic-acid-buil/
