Can CBD Help Your Muscles Recover From Workouts?

Maintaining a regular exercise routine can be very difficult for many people. You may be able to keep up a routine for a short while, but there are good reasons why it’s very difficult to keep it up for the long-term. One of the main biggest hurdles that people face early on is the recovery period for their muscles.

When you get started on a new workout routine, you may feel a lot more pain and soreness in your muscles and joints. As a result, you may delay your next workout. However, the longer you go without regular exercise, the more difficult it will be to establish a routine.

This is why people look for methods to shorten their recovery period. Protein smoothies, icy hot patches, fish oil, and other kinds of supplements are common tips you’ve likely heard about before. However, a newer supplement that more people are trying out now is CBD. According to research pulled together by AlcHempist, it can be very beneficial to people in this situation.

What Is Cannabidiol (CBD)?

Cannabidiol or CBD for short, is a natural chemical compound that is found in hemp. It comes from a family of cannabis-based chemicals called cannabinoids, which also includes THC. THC is the compound in cannabis that is psychoactive, but CBD on its own has no psychoactive properties so it won’t make you high at all. This is why it is completely legal to buy and consume, unlike THC.

CBD comes in a variety of forms, such as CBD oil and edibles, and is starting to be used more and more as a health supplement to help people with a variety of health related concerns. One of those potential uses is to help people speed up their recovery period after a workout. It all comes back to how CBD interacts with your nervous system.

What Is the Endocannabinoid System (ECS)?

The endocannabinoid system in your body runs throughout your nervous system. It is a biological system that controls a number of bodily functions, mainly by controlling the various neurotransmitters used to influence how you feel and your body acts. For example, one of the main things it has been found to perform is sending out pain signals, or to send signals for an inflammation response when you are injured.

This is the main way that CBD has been found to help people with their muscular recovery after a workout. First, it reduces any pain and soreness you may feel. Second, it also reduces inflammation your muscles and joints experience, so you don’t feel as stiff or sore. This also helps you feel fully recovered at a faster rate, so you are ready for another workout earlier than you would be otherwise.

What Are Omega Fatty Acids?

The other way that CBD helps with your recovery period is by helping your body produce new, healthy muscle to replace what was damaged by your workout. This is actually how you gain more muscle. Lifting weights and using resistance exercise causes micro-trauma to your muscle fibers, and your body produces new and healthy muscle to replace it. In fact, it usually produces a bit extra, which is how you get stronger to lift slightly more weight or run a bit farther and faster.

One great supplement to help your body produce more healthy muscle fibers is omega-3 fatty acid. It is mainly found in fish, but CBD also comes loaded with omega-3, 6, and 9 fatty acids. This helps your body stimulate the production of muscle cells to replace those that are damaged by a workout, so you can recover faster and be at full strength in time for your next session. The way it works is by increasing the protein synthesis. Protein synthesis is the biological process that turns protein you consume into chemical components your body needs to maintain and increase muscle mass.

It’s worth noting, however, that CBD is just a supplement. It can give you some help for your workouts, but it is not a miracle drug. It will help you with your workouts by reducing the pain, inflammation, and recovery period for your muscles by shortening the time it takes you to be ready to exercise again. It can help you with slow, marginal gains, not with sudden and dramatic results.

The best way to use CBD to help your workout recovery is to take some just before you start, so it kicks in by the time you’re really into the exercises. That way, it is already helping to reduce the pain and inflammation, and help your body produce and maintain your muscles. You can see how you feel after taking it the first few workouts, and figure out how much more you can push yourself. That can include working out more frequently, or working out a bit more intensely.