Athletes + CBD – A love story
AN EDITED EXCERPT of an ARTICLE ORIGINALLY WRITTEN by JB & LG
Why Do Athletes Love CBD?
Athletes are under a lot of pressure to perform their best under extremely stressful circumstances. Only about 30% of an athlete’s success happens at games, matches, or competition, the rest of the work happens in their strenuous training routines and daily lifestyle habits.
CBD oil is a naturally-derived compound from cannabis plants that isn’t on the list of banned substances according to the World Anti Doping Agency, and many professional athletes claim the benefits of CBD help them to perform their best.
1. Supports Healthy Stress Levels
It’s no secret that athletes undergo situations of immense stress, being under constant pressure to perform at their peak and improve.
To support healthy stress levels, many athletes take CBD in order to relax and alleviate their mental health. In fact, early-stage clinical studies have indicated that CBD may act as an anxiolytic within stress-inducing circumstances, helping athletes deal with their everyday stress and anxiety levels.
2. Support Focus & Flow State
If there’s one thing that’s a must to reach elite athlete status, it’s consistency.
Athletes have to remain consistent, whether it’s with their fitness routines or maintaining their body weight, and CBD has been said to help athletes get in the right mindset.
This ‘right mindset’ sought by athletes is known as the flow state—a mental state of being that harnesses energized focus and full involvement in an activity. The flow state allows certain parts of the brain to switch off, making way for a focus on the task at hand, and facilitating athletes in their workout routine and sport.
According to researcher Steven Kotler, there are five neurotransmitters related to the flow state, two of which—anandamide and serotonin—are greatly impacted by the presence of CBD.
With CBD in the endocannabinoid system, enzymes responsible breaking down of anandamide (aka the ‘bliss molecule’) are blocked, increasing its levels. CBD’s interaction with serotonin results in it acting as an agonist, allowing CBD to mimic serotonin’s calming effect. Hence, the calm needed for the flow state is achieved with CBD ingestion.
3. Support Muscle Recovery & Mobility
Professional athletes need to undergo serious muscle recovery to avoid exercise-induced muscle damage.
It’s no surprise then that the fitness world has started to take notice of CBD—including big names like Nate Diaz and Lolo Jones—both of whom use CBD to relax and help their bodies recover from hours of strenuous exercise.
Delayed onset muscle soreness is not only uncomfortable, but it puts a lot of strain on your mental and physical activity, and can keep you away from the gym. CBD oil is often used to reduce inflammation and ease post workout pain, allowing for a faster recovery of muscle fibers.
And since 2017, after the world anti-doping agency lifted the CBD ban, hemp-derived CBD appears to be a go to choice for most athletes due to its seemingly many benefits such as relieving pain levels.
How Athletes Use CBD For Muscle Recovery
CBD is a versatile ingredient—you can find it as sublingual CBD oil, hemp tea, vapes, gummies, capsules, and lotions that can all help to support muscle recovery in their own unique ways.
The best way to use CBD for muscle recovery will come down to personal preference. Let’s outline the most popular methods below.
Well, here are your options:
Ingestion (oils, capsules, edibles)
One way to take CBD is by ingesting it, that is, by letting it enter your system orally. You can take CBD in the form of capsules, CBD oil, gummies, or even in tea.
Edible CBD is the most accessible, smoke-free option, but it has a downside called the first-pass effect. It’s when the digestive system and liver break down 30–50% of the active compound before it reaches the bloodstream to exert its effects.
It’s not the most bioavailable option, which means you may need higher doses of CBD when eating it (compared to smoking it) to reach the desired effects. When shopping for CBD edibles, make sure there’s an adequate amount of CBD. Most of the studies investigating the anti-inflammatory support use higher doses of CBD (40 MG+), so make sure the product you’re looking at can reach these doses.
topicals
And of course, there’s the good old CBD topicals that can be applied straight to the skin in the form of lotions, topical cream, balms, transdermal patches, and salves.
The main reason why topicals are a hit is their ability for location-based treatment. Sore calf muscles? Apply a CBD topical to your calves and the work will start, and since topicals are not subject to the first pass effect, users will not miss out on the results.
However, skin permeability to CBD topicals is relatively poor, which makes using topicals of a high potency and in high doses almost a necessity.
To sum it all up
So, there you have it, the low down on using CBD products for muscle recovery and pain alleviation.
And yes, although clinical trials are still underway to determine the exact beneficial effects of CBD, it’s highly believed that CBD works.
Not only does it have a positive impact on pain due to exercise, but it also has beneficial psychological effects that allow athletes to center themselves and focus on the workout and game.
So give CBD a go, it’s sure to be an experience that’s worth it!
Bobby Rapscallion’s CBD Products
At Bobby Rapscallion, honesty and integrity are values put into everything. Our hemp is farmed on American soil using organic practices. Our extracts are meticulously tested by our team and a third-party lab to ensure the highest quality standards. Since we stand firmly behind the profound effects of the entourage effect, you won’t find CBD isolate products in our catalog—but we understand that full-spectrum products aren’t ideal for everyone, which is why most of our products are also available in a THC-free broad-spectrum option.
Our high-potency oils start at a Potency Level 1 for those that are wanting to ease into CBD but need a higher dose. Keeping to this focus, we’ll be releasing Potency Levels 2 & 3 in the future. This is to make sure that all of our customers have the option to get high-quality CBD at a potency level that works best for them.
Our CBD Oil
CBD oils are a product staple for a CBD brand. We’ve carefully crafted our CBD oils to keep our high-quality hemp crops the star of the show. CBD oil also provides a wide range of versatility as you can take them sublingual (under the tongue) for fast-acting effects, or mix our flavored options into your favorite foods and drinks for wellness with a unique twist. CBD oils are a favorite for beginners and experts alike for their versatility and because you can customize your doses drop by drop.
our CBD Gummies
For another way to enjoy the benefits of the whole plant, our CBD gummies might be a better solution for you. Allowing the edible to ease into your system.
We create selectively-crafted gummies at a cGMP facility and make them fresh to order. These also come in assorted flavors to mask the hempy taste and potencies start at 45MG per gummy.
Always remember that the ingestion process is different between oils and edibles like gummies. So we provide products that allow you to decide what works best for you and how you want to experience CBD.
Resources:
- Nagarkatti, P., Pandey, R., Rieder, S. A., Hegde, V. L., & Nagarkatti, M. (2009). Cannabinoids as novel anti-inflammatory drugs. Future medicinal chemistry, 1(7), 1333-1349.
- McCartney, D., Benson, M. J., Desbrow, B., Irwin, C., Suraev, A., & McGregor, I. S. (2020). Cannabidiol and sports performance: a narrative review of relevant evidence and recommendations for future research. Sports Medicine-Open, 6(1), 1-18.
- Haj-Dahmane, S., & Shen, R. Y. (2011). Modulation of the serotonin system by endocannabinoid signaling. Neuropharmacology, 61(3), 414-420.
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