If you read the news a bit or follow athletes on Instagram, chances are you’ve heard of CBD oil.
Strength athletes, bodybuilders and fitness enthusiasts are increasingly using CBD oil for muscle recovery and pain relief.
Given the hype surrounding CBD oil, it’s high time to find out if it belongs with the rest of your supplements in the kitchen cupboard.
Is CBD oil the new wonder drug for athletes? In this article, you’ll read all about how CBD oil works (spoiler: it won’t get you stoned).
What is cbd oil?
Cannabidiol, also known as CBD oil or hemp oil, is extracted from the CBD plant and in most cases diluted with hemp seed oil.
CBD is one of many substances belonging to the group of ‘cannabinoids’ found in the CBD plant.
The best known cannabinoid is Tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, a psychoactive substance in the CBD plant.
THC gives that stoned, high effect when you smoke a joint.
Using CBD oil does not give you a high, but it does relieve symptoms related to chronic pain, anxiety and depression. CBD oil can also be useful for strength athletes and bodybuilders. Why this is so I explain to you further on in the article.
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The Workings of CBD Oil
For decades, people have been consuming CBD as a way to treat health conditions ranging from headaches to epilepsy.
For many people with chronic conditions, CBD was a safe alternative to make pain more bearable. As it turned out, it was the CBD that helped most with health issues and the THC – which gets you stoned – was not necessarily needed.
Many people don’t know the difference between CBD and THC oil, which is not surprising given that there is so much misinformation on the Internet.
When you ingest THC the brain’s reward system is activated and happiness substances such as dopamine.
CBD works completely differently. It is not psychoactive, meaning it does not change your mood, but it influences the body to use its own endocannabinoids more effectively.
CBD oil is primarily derived from hemp plants that naturally contain a very small amount (<0.3%) of THC. This means that CBD oil has such a small amount of THC that it is considered negligible.
CBD oil is not smoked if you thought so. No, it is an oily liquid that is usually taken in pure oil form by placing drops under your tongue three times a day. Read more information on cbd oil uk at this link.
The effect of CBD oil in athletes and sportsmen
Is CBD oil good for fitness and strength training? Yes it is! It helps fight inflammation, contributes to muscle recovery and can relieve muscle pain.
The anti-inflammatory effects of CBD oil help your muscles recover faster (source). This benefits your muscle mass.
Because what happens during an intense workout is that microtrauma occurs to our body’s muscles and tissues.
These are tiny tears that are not visible to the naked eye. It is these micro tears that cause an inflammatory response.
In response to this damage, the body starts the repair process that allows muscle tissues to grow back stronger and larger.
This process is called hypertrophy, increasing the size of the cells that are already there. You can think of it as a thickening of muscle fibers, which occurs when your body has been under enough stress to indicate that it needs to create more muscle mass that can withstand this increased load.
