CBD offers a wide range of benefits to many people. It can reduce stress, improve mobility by keeping chronic pain at bay, and help improve skin health. How can it help your body after an intense workout? It may help in numerous ways.
Studies published by the National Library of Medicine show that CBD may help with biochemical, physiological, and psychological effects especially for an athlete completing a hard workout. Used properly, it can help a positive effect on your overall wellness, recovery, and fitness.
What can it do? Some studies indicate it may help with:
- Delaying muscle soreness onset after a workout
- Reducing exercise-induced muscle damage
- Reduce inflammation throughout
- Aid in improving muscle pain & body aches common after a workout
Just a few drops of high-quality CBD could help to make any workout easier. This is a natural relief, too, not a chemical-based product that you are adding to your body.
Consider the Fitness Benefits of CBD Oil – Does It Live Up to the Hype?
Consider, first, what CBD oil is. Cannabidiol, or CBD, is one of the compounds from cannabis. The compounds that make up cannabis are called cannabinoids, and each has slightly different benefits and risks. Many people recognize the cannabinoid THC, which is what produces the high or psychoactive effects from cannabis. CBD doesn’t do this – you cannot get high from using CBD products. CBD oils are extractions of cannabidiol from the plant.
Take a look at some of the ways CBD can help with fitness-specific benefits.
Reducing pain and inflammation
One of the best benefits of using CBD products after a workout is the pain reduction it offers. Many athletes are taught that the burn they feel in muscles after a workout is a sign of success. In fact, it is a sign that the muscles and other tissues are under a lot of strain from inflammation. Good or bad, it’s hard to get through the rest of the day when this pain intensifies.
The use of CBD may offer some relief. It’s recognized as a way to reduce pain signals throughout the body. It works to alter the brain’s perception of pain. Additionally, CBD works to alleviate inflammation, which is the body’s reaction to injury to the muscle tissue. By reducing inflammation, it helps to encourage the natural healing process, reducing the cause of the pain as well.
Aiding in muscle recovery
As it works to reduce inflammation of the muscle, CBD is also aiding in speeding up the recovery process. It’s common and necessary to have small tears in muscles during a workout. The muscle tears help to encourage the growth of the tissues, building bigger and stronger muscles. The sooner those tears heal, the better. CBD seems to offer some support in that way.
Once the inflammation has reduced, the body’s natural healing process can begin to heal those tears. When this doesn’t happen, and a person continues to work those muscles, injury can occur. It can also lead to a loss of fitness gains. By incorporating CBD to reduce inflammation faster, that may be less likely to occur.
Reducing stress
Workouts are, in themselves, a tool for reducing stress and anxiety because it helps to burn stress hormones in the bloodstream. Athletes are under more pressure today than ever, even if they are not in a competitive sport at the moment. Stress and anxiety are worrisome during a workout, though. When present, they increase the risk of injury and may even hold the athlete back from workouts well as they could have. The body is expending energy on stress instead of weights, for example.
Those feelings may be improved with the use of CBD. It may help to control anxiety disorders a bit better. Some people use CBD oils as a way to reduce the feeling of built-up stress and tension in their muscles. CBD may also help to improve cognitive function during a workout, allowing a person to focus more effectively on their workout and reducing the worries they have.
Improving sleep quality
To aid in the recovery of muscle tissue, the body needs sleep. That’s when the body can heal the most after a workout. Yet, many athletes don’t get enough or enough quality sleep. That may be obvious when there are aches, pains, and a general feeling of tiredness the day after a workout.
Cannabinoids may help to improve sleep quality. While there is still more science needed to better understand the connection between CBD and sleep, many people who struggle with sleep disorders see benefits from using it.
Should You Take CBD Oil Before or After a Workout?
Workouts a lot of strain on the body. Athletes typically want to create that strain to develop stronger and more lean muscle mass through the workout, however, exercise alone doesn’t do this as effectively as providing the body with the nutrients and resources it needs to heal after a workout.
There are potential benefits to taking CBD before or after a workout. Taking it before a workout may be best for those who have:
- Low levels of energy before a workout though it doesn’t contain caffeine, it may give you a bit of a boost
- Difficulty warming up and stretching prior to a workout since it may help to reduce tensions in muscles
- Pre-workout jitters, especially prior to a big performance or event
However, using it after may improve fitness the best and give the body the ability to heal and recover faster. After exercise, it may help with:
- Reducing workout-induced inflammation – that’s what causes the pain & soreness felt after a good workout
- Tension – including reducing muscle tension and soothing muscles, which in turn reduces tension and enables better relaxation and recovery for the whole body
- Sleep – Enabling better sleep encourages better performance by the body to overcome & heal from the workout allowing the next day to be more successful
What Type of CBD Can Help After a Workout?
One of the best after-workout CBD products is Deer Antler Velvet. It’s a blend that’s unlike any other and offers specific, tailored benefits to those who are looking for a product to aid in recovery. There’s no other product like it in terms of ingredients and benefits.
Deer Antler Velvet Extract continues to be researched to better understand what it can do for the body but has been used in Chinese medicine for hundreds of years. It’s a potent source of growth hormones, and as such, it can help to improve cell production in the musculoskeletal system including those muscles burning after a workout.
Deer antler itself aids in recovery time and may help in reducing pain associated with damage to the muscles. It’s also been shown to help improve physical fitness and encourage healing when a person goes too far in a workout. Combining this with CBD, which has many properties to support after workout improvement, provides an excellent opportunity for healing.
Some of the benefits of using CBD and Deer Antler Velvet Extract may include:
- Reduction of free radicals in the body because of the high potency of antioxidants present, which helps to stimulate overall health and health in the body
- Mood enhancement as CBD works to change the pain signals in the brain and also offers anxiety and stress relief
- Improve recovery by promoting good overall cell production to heal damaged and torn muscles after a workout while also reducing inflammation to speed the body’s natural healing process
There’s also evidence that deer antler extract may help with burning fat, promoting overall muscle growth, and promoting healthy skin.
These products aim to promote overall good health. For those who are looking to make the most out of every workout but need help with the recovery process, CBD products coupled with deer antler extract may provide the right combination of support.
