Smoking and drinking as an athlete?

thehighking

thehighking

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Does anyone here who competes in sport drink or smoke regularly? I've heard it can be detrimental but how badly can it actually affect you? Does anyone have personal experiences or links to scientific studies?
 
I drink pretty routinely. Once a week. It hasn't affected me much. Of course, compared to a full blown alcoholic, its nothing.

I do have a high metabolsim, so even with the alochol (500-700 calories worth), I have enough carbs and macros compared to most folks, so I get away with it. I actually drink vodka on cut week. Its hard to make up 3100 calories of low carbs, low sodium. So I use vodka as empty calories. Some here will be against that idea, but its fine for me.
 
it does happen honestly....some athletes get so bad with drinking though they end up having to go to rehab i forget that nba player a few years ago had to do that....when i was playing basketball in school i blew indo but no way would i smoke ciggerettes even though there actually are endurance athletes who do smoke tobacco..its rare and those guys are crazy IMO
 
the chaos&pain guy (jamie lewis?) has a longer blog article about strength athletes who did smoke and drink a fair bit. the info is good, i think, if you can bare his nsfw thing.
 
I know a gent who absolutely slays it in the gym (cardio).. I'm talking tabata sprints, prowler, rows for days. No rest, just balls deep high intensity carnage for an hour..
And he drinks every single night. Not just a few pints but shots, wine, hard liquor.. every bloody night.

I genuinely believe that if he stopped drinking he'd probably die. His body is conditioned to run off alcohol. It's madness.
 
Ricardo-Mayorga.jpg

It never stopped Ricardo Mayorga becoming a multiple time boxing champion.... was well known for his drinking and smoking habits out of the ring
 
rikwebb said:
Ricardo-Mayorga.jpg

It never stopped Ricardo Mayorga becoming a multiple time boxing champion.... was well known for his drinking and smoking habits out of the ring
Click to expand...

In the old days I think a lot of boxers smoked. Niccolino Locche who some say is on of the best defensive fighters of all time was rumored to have his cornermen cover his head with a towel in between rounds so that he could smoke during fights. Not sur ehow legit that info is though.

In MMA Rampage smokes and didn't Pacquiao smoke and drink before he became religious?

Then there are boxers or MMA fighters though who were simply alcoholics and who did function for a while but whose athletic prime was possibly cut short because of it. Guys like Kelly Pavlik who has real issues and now experiences seizures whether it's because of boxing, genetics or a combination of his lfiestyle and those things.

And Chris Leben who tbf probably would be done anyway with the amount of punbishment he has taken throughout his career.

Oh and Mike Tyson smokes and said on Howard Stern that he has been smoking pretty much since he was young
 
Flash_Monsta said:
I know a gent who absolutely slays it in the gym (cardio).. I'm talking tabata sprints, prowler, rows for days. No rest, just balls deep high intensity carnage for an hour..
And he drinks every single night. Not just a few pints but shots, wine, hard liquor.. every bloody night.

I genuinely believe that if he stopped drinking he'd probably die. His body is conditioned to run off alcohol. It's madness.
Click to expand...
Is he also taking steroids?
 
I drink and train mma on a regular basis , once i got wasted night before the fight , the referee even asked me what was i drinking because i still stank of booze :D The fight was a draw though
 
It's certainly not going to make your performance better. If competing at a high level or living to an old age is important to you, then smoking is a bad idea.

Alcohol consumption in moderation is a different story than heavy drinking.
 
Smoking is just altitude training and drink masks the pain and keeps me supple..
 
Phlog said:
Smoking is just altitude training and drink masks the pain and keeps me supple..
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This, its resistance training for your head.

You need a decent progressive overload with smoking and drinking to be the GOAT in all sports. Being a dominant "clean athlete" is like getting silver in a 2 person bracket BJJ tournament.
 
j123 said:
This, its resistance training for your head.

You need a decent progressive overload with smoking and drinking to be the GOAT in all sports. Being a dominant "clean athlete" is like getting silver in a 2 person bracket BJJ tournament.
Click to expand...

Also when I fight or play football after working the night before, or drinking etc and still do well it helps breed mental toughness. I know I'm better at a deficit.

My sparring partner/mentor is mid 40's, he was known to have drunk over 30 pints in a night. Used to turn up to training after a hard day of manual labour shovelling tons of tar. He tore his Bicep completely in the second round and finished the fight in the third. The man was iron, toughness personified. I ain't met a clean athlete like that. If you're that clean you're looking for every edge possible because you think you need it, ie you are not confident in yourself.
 
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Phlog said:
Also when I fight or play football after working the night before, or drinking etc and still do well it helps breed mental toughness. I know I'm better at a deficit.

My sparring partner/mentor is mid 40's, he was known to have drunk over 30 pints in a night. Used to turn up to training after a hard day of manual labour shovelling tons of tar. He tore his Bicep completely in the second round and finished the fight in the third. The man was iron, toughness personified. I ain't met a clean athlete like that. If you're that clean you're looking for every edge possible because you think you need it, ie you are not confident in yourself.
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Damn, that sounds like one of those old school bare knuckle era boxers.. finishing a 13h shift at the docks before their fight.

Really confidence is what it comes down to most of the time.
Guys who are confident, pushes forward and imposes their will all the time. Fighters who aren't, shut down early after being overwhelmed, then slow down overthink things, and end up losing to someone pressing forward (who's now even more confident that his/her opponent is worried/scared).

Some folks don't perform their 100% due to not being able to handle their nerves and wahtnaught on the day of.
 
j123 said:
Damn, that sounds like one of those old school bare knuckle era boxers.. finishing a 13h shift at the docks before their fight.

Really confidence is what it comes down to most of the time.
Guys who are confident, pushes forward and imposes their will all the time. Fighters who aren't, shut down early after being overwhelmed, then slow down overthink things, and end up losing to someone pressing forward (who's now even more confident that his/her opponent is worried/scared).
Click to expand...

He's a traveller so definitely old school! Did the bare knuckle thing but kickboxing was his thing, could hold his leg straight in the air for ages. Surname was Small.

Had a boxing coach that was a bare knuckle champion. Had 60,000 pounds bet on one fight in the 60's which is ridiculous money now.
 
I'm an alcoholic who smokes between bjj tourney matches. I'm 5-5 with 4 sub victory and 4 defeats by sub. I'm flashy.
 
I believe Saku and Joe Schilling smoke in preparation for their fights. I guess it doesn't appear to be too much of an issue if you train hard enough, but one has to wonder how good those guys could be without the cigs.

As a dude who gasses bad after 2 rounds of rolling, smoking is the last thing I'd want to do.
 
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