Vaping and Physical Fitness

[bilbobaggins30]

I wish our run was 1.5mi (Army)

Ours is 1.5, but we have less time to do it than you. If you really, really average it out, all branches require the same fitness. Ours just uses the smaller 1.5, since science can gauge if we are fit or not from a 1.5. Our minimum for a 1.5 is 13:36, and yours is something like 15:54. Really, you have 2 more minutes or so to do .5 more miles. Easily done. And you don't have the annoying waist measurement like we do. We have 1 minute to do 33 pushups, another minute for 42 situps, and 13:36 for a 1.5. You have to be a lean machine to do quite well.

 

[Treetie]

Yep, it's amazing what you get back physically when you vape instead of smoking. No more smokers hack or that irritating tickle in the throat that takes 15 minutes to go away. My husband and I started going to the gym 5 days a week and we're able to kill it even in our 50's, where anything strenuous before was a chore.

 

[Xobeloot]

Bilbo: another thing that helps w/ running is gas mask training. I signed out a mask from the cbrn room and once a week i go jogging wearing it. The mask forces you to control/maintain your respiratory rate. Then when you run without it, it's like your lungs work that much better.

6 months ago i ran a 17:30 2-mile which is barely passing for my age (34). Last week I ran a 13:55 2-mile. Im sure a lot of that was being off smokes for a month, but i'll swear by the gas mask training as well.

Just for reference, I'm 5'11" and 210lbs at roughly 21% body fat... No spring chicken to say the least!

 

[ScottP]

Heh as a desk jokey my normal exercise was climbing a flight of stairs a few times a day and pushing a mouse around. After just 15 years smoking I could get winded running to the mailbox. Now after about 5.5 months of not smoking I also notice a huge difference is what I can do before I start sucking wind. I am considering getting back into some exercise routine now that I can breathe again. I would have had no chance a few months ago.

EDIT: I don't know about you other guys, but not getting out of breath so easily has improved "bedroom" performance as well. If that isn't reason enough to switch to vaping then nothing is.

 

[Xobeloot]

I just started back on my video game workout.

Example: I am currently playing Defiance (substitute any other game here)

After each co-op map (approx 15-20 min), I do 20 push-ups and 20 situps. After every 4th round, i add in a lap around the block (about a half-mile).

3 hours of gaming just turned into a pretty decent workout!

 

[Xobeloot]

I don't know about you other guys, but not getting out of breath so easily has improved "bedroom" performance as well. If that isn't reason enough to switch to vaping then nothing is.

YES! And being able to grab my PV and stay in bed is great too. No more post-nookie back-porch time!

 

[jb1984]

My bike commute to/from work is exponentially easier after just a couple of weeks.

 

[JJOOHHNN]

As hard as it is to believe you can be in way above average shape as a smoker. It is just harder. My lungs feel much better but I cannot do much more yet. 10 mile runs and 30 hour bike rides were doable as a smoker.

 

[bilbobaggins30]

Bilbo: another thing that helps w/ running is gas mask training. I signed out a mask from the cbrn room and once a week i go jogging wearing it. The mask forces you to control/maintain your respiratory rate. Then when you run without it, it's like your lungs work that much better.

6 months ago i ran a 17:30 2-mile which is barely passing for my age (34). Last week I ran a 13:55 2-mile. Im sure a lot of that was being off smokes for a month, but i'll swear by the gas mask training as well.

Just for reference, I'm 5'11" and 210lbs at roughly 21% body fat... No spring chicken to say the least!

Guess who got issued one of them? I have one in my car, never gets used. Good to know....

 

[boomhower1820]

HELL NO I AM NOT A STINKIN COP! Thank heavens too. I am just a maintainer of sorts.

Have some issues?

 

[bilbobaggins30]

Issues? Being a cop in Tue USAF has got to he one of the worst, most deameaning jobs ever! I would hate to sit on site for 16 hours a day doing nothing but "guarding" it. Screw that!

 

[Hotwire]

Any doctor will tell you stopping smoking is the number one best thing you can do for your fitness.

I don't even work out with weights as much now I've stopped because as soon as I stopped and started vaping, all the working out over the years to fight the cigarette induced fatigue and weakness now shows. I've injured my rotator cuff so can't work out anyway and was really bummed out and then stopped smoking and every morning I see myself in the mirror and feel like 'hey I look much fitter now, not so bummed out about not being able to work out!

My muscles are larger at rest than when I smoked, better tone and I know I could do more cardio, even though I was a cadio beast even when I smoked (used to run up mountains when I lived in Korea.)

 

[Sm0kyBlue]

Much easier than you would think.

Check out the 'couch to 10k' workout online. It is what I used before shipping off 3 years ago.

I joined the ymca with my 13 yr old, got a complete checkup and I am getting better.. I have zero patience tho

but I am having fun and meeting others, just like me! That is the best, as well as sharing tips. they do have that program, but it won't start till the fall.. by then I hope to do very well with it.. Meantime, putting time in with the Less Mills class and the weights in the gym.. Lots of walks with my son, looking for good fishing spots at our state park.. I love summer!!

 

[stormwench]

My experience after years and years of smoking and having health issue that all might/could/would have a relationship to smoking disappeared pretty quickly after I took up vaping. I had no 'directly' caused health problem except for cloudier and cloudier chest xrays that were always pointed out as 'common to smokers'. In the past 18 months I have not only lost a great deal of weight without actually trying (probably due to other changes due to vaping like I could breathe better to exercise more), my diabetes went from 2 injections and day to no longer using meds at all and an AC1 of 5.5 - which is a number associated with a non-diabetic. I still check my blood sugar and actually had to adjust my diet to keep from hitting issues with low blood sugar because I was still following a strict diabetic diet.

Those lung x-rays are much clearer, improved over the ones 10 years ago, and my skin is certainly healthier. I actually cross country skied last winter for the first time in years without having to take long breaks after short periods of skiing.

I had years of problems with indigestion and heartburn and took medication daily for that - that subsided quickly once I abandoned analogs. I had also developed some nodules on my vocal cords and had my ENT pushing to biopsy and possibly remove them that have since disappeared (thank goodness it was obviously only at the irritation stage).

Few other smaller things but the above is certainly proof to me that while I may still have a risk for stroke and high blood pressure from nicotine I am certainly shedding some of the really bad side effects of analogs. They say you can never quit too late to reverse the effects of smoking and I sure feel like proof of that. I certainly feel better then I have in years, actually did not know how bad I was feeling until I started vaping and abandoned the analog.

Really glad to hear that vaping is making differences in the health status of others - you can test a lot of things in the lab but the proof is told when you see people either get sick or get better.

 

[fogmachineroy]

I used to be a PAD smoker for 18 years, I started Vaping last August, got back into the gym in October started cardio training which I have never really done since high school (dreaded 1 mile run on Fridays). I stopped cardio training in January and got into crossfit, which is kicking my .... btw, but since I have stopped smoking I've shed 40 pounds and dropped 2 pants sizes... feel great! to vaping, my little man, who is now gonna be 11 months in 2 weeks, and to all ECF members that have gotten me into vaping

 

[zapped]

Ex 2 pack a day smoker for 25 years. I tried jogging at first but it was too hard on my knees and just too difficult to stick to a regimen because of the weather.

I got a free Elliptical off of craigslist thats in great shape and its been AMAZING. That and my Tai Chi classes will hopefully yield some pretty decent results.

 

[Hotwire]

^^

Ellipticals rock.

Ever tried hiit on it. 5 min warm up on a level you 'percieve' as a 4 out of ten and then 10 - 15 minutes (depending on fitness levels) doing 15 seconds on a level 'precieved' as a 7 or 8 and then 45 seconds back at 4, then 15 seconds back up to 7-8 then 45 secs on 4 etc and then a 5 min warm down on a 3 or 4.

Best free workout you can do at home with zero equipment for overall conditioning -

go to

one hundred push ups - welcome

do that programme and the 200 sit ups and the 200 squats as a circuit mon / wed / fri and you'll get in great shape within a month.

 

[ScottP]

one hundred push ups - welcome

Nice program. I may have to give that a try.

 

[Hotwire]

You saw the 200 squats and sit ups links by the side right?

Get a pull up bar for your doorway and do the 50 push up program (linked to on above site) on alternate days and you'll be a mean machine!

honestly try the squats, even though they're just bodyweight after around 30 your heart is beating like a jackhammer

 

[Steemax]

I've been weight lifting for 3 years consistently while I had been smoking a pack a day. Only since the last three months I had stopped completely I can already see a night and day difference in stamina. I'd be on the floor with heart palpitations after just 30 minutes, and that wasn't even during cardio lol. Now Im able to run further and faster considering I was only able to run for only 5 minutes before lol