I've smoked cigarettes, cigars, pipes (the regular kind) and chewed tobacco. Never really did any of them that much except chewing. Then I got my life insurance bill and it was higher than my 60 year old business partners because I chewed tobacco! That was a year and a half ago and I haven't touched the stuff since!
i quit about a year ago i was working out real hard at the time and i used to "reward" myself with one after the workout. i woke up one morning to go work out and i didnt have any in my bag so i decided id quit. i havent had one since despite my lady still smoking. im still on my workouts but my endurance has shot thru the roof. pretty soon ima join the Y so i can add swimming to my workouts.
never smoke tobacco I used to find it amusing when I was younger whipping the butt of those several grades above me, because they physically appeared to be stronger, but cos of smoking they were actually weaker, and slower
Lol! Exactly what i do! And can happily say i dont find smoking effects my training in any way! Apart from when i suddenly loose all interest after training long hours without one and start getting haunted by the crave!!!! :bang:
thats good to hear, I didn't think people smoked after a workout, always used to think it was kind of counterproductive as it restricts the blood flow to your blood vessels, and as a result stumps growth. Everyone at school always used to say "but I'm tall enough already" I think they need to emphasive it stumps all growth, including muscle growth, therefore that lovely workout will have been wasted, as your body can't build up the muscle to compensate for all the exercise. You can probably get away with it in your teens, as your body grows back quickly, but after that you'll notice the difference as it slows your metabolism.
I started at like 12/13. I didn't smoke much back then, but now a lot. The weird thing: I decided to quit about 20 minutes ago, and I came on here and saw this post haha. Anyway, I started Muay Thai about 1 month ago and I'm determined to train as hard as I can and because of that I decided to quit. I have smoked a lot, got caught by parents, heard all the crap they say about how bad it is for you and never cared enough to even cut down. I pretty much though oh well I'll die at 40, that isn't a bad age. After starting classes though I am determined to quit. Not because I want to live long or anything, just because I don't want to restrict my potential with anything. I guess ma can be a real good influence on someone. Is it true that it stunts growth? I'm a few inches shorter than I'd like to be and a few inches shorter than most people my age so if that's true I hope I still have time to grow.
It stunts all growth, so depending on how much you'd smoked through your teens it could have affected your height. My physiotherapist was telling me how it can seriously affect the rate at which your muscles repair themselves when you have had an injury. The same applies to any other muscle growth
I'm a Smoker, Life is Gay(There I said it, didn't wanna look like a drama Queen, but yea ) When i was in My Jr high Days, i never Drinked nor smoked or did Drugs i was in my prime when i was 12-14, i did like 3-5 hours of Boxing,judo and ju-jitsu everyday, and was willing to ask for more, i could run a mile too, I could last without water for 1 or 2 hours straight just pure TRAINING now(since i smoke from age 15-18) i can only handle 2 hours and BARELY handle 3 hours of training and working out, I can't run AT ALL, infact I HATE RUNNING NOW(maybe i can run 1 block of the neighborhood), I need Water EVERY TIME when the Round Ends(3-5mins) I can and want to quit, but i just look out my window or watch the news, i realize "boy oh boy, life sure is gay" and i just light and puff that cigarette Fighting is Fun and it can Take my mind off smoking, but not life and yes, I'm a VERY VERY pessimistic(Negative thinking) Person(There I said that too) MY advice if you LOVE MARTIAL ARTS DON'T SMOKE! but then again Do whatcha Like, and do Whatcha Want(Assuming you don't hurt anybody(except your Sparring Partner and/or opponent)
Started for about a month in the holidays before i came to uni, but stopped as i couldn't afford to smoke and drink in the amounts i used to. I smokeed just enough to feel it affect my cardio and am glad i stopped. Now if only i could give up the booze as well.
i gave up about 7 or 8 months ago, my endurance is better now, it was a choice between smoking an jujutsu, i chose jujutsu. i did some ground fighting with a smoker last week, he was so out of breath and easy to defeat, that was me when i was smoking.
I can definitely relate guys (esp. badger). I'm off them about 14 months now (and I don't count, I rarely ever think about them anymore :Angel: ). My previous best was 9 months. All I can say is to keep trying to give them up and beware of the traps; 1]Walking past a shop with money in your pocket and you think.... will I?....NO!!!! 2]Out with a group of friends who all smoke (especially if your drinking) and you think.....will I scab just one off of them?.....NO!!! 3]Been off them all week and you think you should reward yourself with just one?.....NO!!! 4]Think you're over the addiction, you don't need them and your just having a few when your out, like once a month?.......NO!!! Once a month becomes once a week becomes every day. Might seem like I'm spouting the obvious here but these are the basic pitfalls that I've fallen into trying to give up. You really have to go cold turkey IMO, no weening, no patches, and definitely no cigarettes again ever. Remember if you don't want to be a smoker the rest of your life then you can't smoke. This is hardest during the first three days or so of giving up so there's no point re-living that bit again and again. If you're off them a week and you feel like a smoke, just remember that you don't want it as bad as you did 5 days ago, and you don't want to go through that again. As for smoking for 17 yrs, I was only smoking for 7 so maybe the mental habit wasn't as ingrained. Anyway, for what it's worth, when I gave up I simultaneously started off a new healthier lifestyle (broke all ties kind of) so my routine all changed anyway, not just the smoking aspect of it. It made it harder that I got a chest infection for about 2 weeks after giving up but I just kept at it.... that way I could see the benefits of stopping in my cardio training and just everyday getting around. Last but not least, once your off them a considerable amount of time, there will always be occasions where you want one again for some reason... thankfully these occasions are few and far between for me. So never forget to appreciate your new found ease of breathing, and remember what it was like before, and remember what the early stages of giving up are like... hopefully this will keep you off them for good. . Dfilson: keep positive, if I said not to eat pizza you'ld probably say o.k. If I said not to eat it again ever, for the rest of your life, you'ld probably feel a burning desire to eat pizza (know what I'm getting at?). Looking at negatives or saying the addiction is equal to this or that isn't helpful. Just get on with it and keep positive. As of your last drag on a cigarette you're a non-smoker (ooooooh.... buzz phrases - I should work for Alan Carr).
Never had the urge to try smoking, and was too bloody-minded at school to be 'talked into it' by my peers. Worked many years behind bars (no... as a barman you fool ), and had a great deal of 2nd hand smoke that has done my asthma no good at all. I feel sorry for those with the addiction to the chemicals - and I don't think there are any easy answers unless they can find a better reason for NOT lighting up than for smoking that next cig. Those that are in the process of quitting - congratulations and continued good luck. Cannot remember the source (no doubt someone will help), but one quote comes to mind "Quitting is easy - I've done it dozens of times" As a teenager (a long time ago) I really fancied this girl - then I saw her with a cig in her mouth, and she went way down in my estimation. (I thought she was intelligent as well as beautiful, and I didn't see smoking as making any sense).
Smoke a few a day. No ill effects. Smoking stunts growth? What on earth will they come up with next.... As for smoking not making sense, well, not everybody is addicted to it. They obviously have some pleasurable effects, otherwise they wouldn't be sold.
Ciggarettes always bring back one very clear memory to me. Picture a boy about five years old watching his dad mow the lawn. The father threw down the butt of his ciggarette but didn't stomp it out. The boy watched him drift around the house out of sight and reached for it. He took one quick drag, coughed, and immediately detested it. That boy was me. I believe that particular moment conditioned my deep hate of ciggarattes. And yes, I too thank the Gods for the recent smoking ban!
I smoked a cigar only once when I was about 15 at a woman's house. I remember waking up to the smell and asking her for a try, felt kinda warm and figured I'd smoke the whole thing. Haven't smoked since, didnt really find anything going for it.
Everybody quits smoking eventually. My father quit at the young age of 66, after suffering a slow and agonizing death from lung cancer. I smoked for 15 years. I was a terrible chain-smoker, easily burning between two and three packs a day. If anybody was ever addicted to cigarettes, it was me. When I woke up, I had to chain-smoke two or three cigarettes just to get the nicotine back in my bloodstream to an acceptable level. Smoking ruled my life. I couldn't sit through a movie without taking at least one cigarette break and missing part of the film. My time was ruled by when I could have my next cigarette. Does this sound familiar to anyone? For those who have never been addicted to anything more insidious than caffeine, you cannot understand the power of nicotine. It is harder to quit smoking than it is to recover from a heroine addiction. There is no rationality to this kind of addiction. No matter how strong you think you are, nicotine is stronger. Besides this powerful, physical addiction, there is an even more powerful psychological aspect to cigarette smoking. Being a smoker is a lifestyle which permeates every aspect of life. You finish a meal, you light a cigarette. You answer the phone, you light a cigarette. You get in the car, you light a cigarette. You have a drink, you light a cigarette. If anything gets in the way of lighting up a "ritual" cigarette, you become agitated. If you are prevented from smoking for a long time, you become irrational. When nicotine withdrawal sets in, you will do practically anything to get a "fix." Here's the good news. It IS possible to beat this terrible addiction. Most people will not succeed without help of some kind. Some people will make it on force of will, alone. All people who succeed in quitting have one thing in common, however. They all have the desire and determination to wrestle their lives back from the clutches of cigarettes. It has been about two and a half years since I quit smoking. It took me exactly two seconds to quit. Two seconds was how long it took for me to get angry enough, furious enough at being a slave to this substance that, in a moment of passionate resolve, I shouted out to the universe, "I QUIT!" From that moment, I was no longer trying to quit. It was something I had already done. There was no turning back. I had resolved not only to change my life, but to live with the consequences of my decision. Consequences of NOT smoking? Most people only think of the consequences of smoking. It is important to realize that quitting also carries consequences, consequences which often spell failure for those who try to quit unaware. Just like being a smoker is a lifestyle, suddenly being a non-smoker (or more accurately, an ex-smoker which is not exactly the same thing) is also a lifestyle, one which smokers may find foreign and uncomfortable at first. What do you do if you don't smoke? In most instances, the answer seems to be "nothing," and this is a great frustration for new non-smokers. Quitting smoking is not simply knocking a bad habit, it is redefining your very identity. Think that's easy? Think again. That's why the most important thing a smoker must have when quitting is ACCEPTANCE. When you resolve that you WILL accept this new lifestyle, no matter what it entails, you will be far less likely to backpeddle at the first unexpected obstacle. You must ACCEPT that you will be very uncomfortable for awhile (even miserable) as the chemical withdrawal takes its course. You must ACCEPT that your whole life will feel upside down for awhile as you adjust to the world as a non-smoker. You must ACCEPT that you may have to redefine a very core part of your personal identity. These negative consequences can be offset, somewhat, by the knowledge that there are many more POSITIVE consequences from quitting smoking. Feeling better may seem like the number one thing to the casual observer, but that really won't happen right away and besides, the new non-smoker will be too busy feeling miserable to notice how much better they feel. Feeling better comes later (anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, depending on the individual). No, the very first positive thing most people will notice from quitting is the extra money they suddenly find every day in their purses. Where'd that come from? Well, cigarettes are darned expensive. In the (approximately) two and a half years since I quit smoking, I have saved nearly six-thousand dollars. That's $6000.00 for those who want to see all the zeros. Can you imagine? Granted, I was a horrendous chain-smoker, so that may be a high estimate for most. Nevertheless, can you imagine having "only" an extra $2000 or so lying around in about a year? Personally, I decided to take the money I was saving on cigarettes and reinvest it back in myself. I took away one part of my identity (smoking), and replaced it with a much better, fulfilling, and life-enhancing activity...martial arts. I had not been taking formal training for a long time. I decided that, since I was feeling so much better, and since I had all this extra money, I would dive back into the one thing that played such a major defining role in my life besides smoking. It was the best thing I could have done. I hardly ever think about smoking any more. I am a musician by trade, so I spend a great deal of time in bars and nightclubs where both drinking and smoking are done in abundance. I don't partake in either. Once in awhile, I may be near somebody who is smoking and suddenly feel a twinge. It is a memory, more than anything, but the thought crosses my mind. I may remember how enjoyable smoking was and think, "I could smoke one if I really wanted." Even thinking about it right this minute, I can almost feel the smoke enter my lungs, and the heavy buzz that the first one would undoubtedly give me. That realization, however--the knowledge that I could so easily fall back into that habit that stole so much of my life--only serves to strengthen my resolve never to put another cigarette to my lips ever again. While I may speak about quitting as if it were easy for me, it was anything but. I made the decision with the resolve I needed to kick cigarettes forever, but that does NOT mean it was "easy." Far from it. I was heavily addicted, and it was a long hard road away from that addiction. I pressed forward on that road and didn't look back, and that is why I succeeded. I hope my experiences may serve as insight to those who have never battled addiction, as a warning to those who are tempted, and as testimony to those who are already addicted that you CAN succeed in reclaiming your life from cigarettes. Remember: Everybody quits smoking...eventually.
Good article ZenPolice. Maverick I took a guess from looking at this post, before I looked up your profile, that you were born in 1985 or later. Nuff said.
Yeah Im a smoker. Me and my mates used to get smokes off our parents and sneak down the road for a smoke. We didnt realise for about 6months that we were bum puffing them. After I took my first real drag i coughed and spluttered and vowed to never try it again. About 2 years later my mates had all started smoking properly and i went along just to give them company. Any way they started asking me to take a puff, then it was have a whole one which stupidly I did. We started just smoking at school, but built up to buying it from this newsagency down the street from me. I thought i was really cool smoking my 8 cigarettes a day. You slowly get more and more addicted and you dont know untill your caught at a moment where you cant smoke. You start going hmm i think i might have another smoke cause im so bored, who cares if its only been an hour since my last one. You keep doing that every hour, and you get dependant on that. Then you smoke more and more. I now smoke a pack a day at it is starting to affect my training. I would love to quit but i dont have the will power at the moment thanks to all my exams. God willing one day i will not let leaves rolled up in paper dictate my life.
