CBD is an excellent tool for those looking to enhance their physical health and has a wide range of beneficial effects that make managing certain conditions and pain easier. However, there is yet more for us to learn about the amazing benefits this compound offers. As CBD has risen in popularity amongst Americans and worldwide, its uses have expanded to several facets of the human experience beyond those that made it popular. For example, one demographic that has begun to take an interest in the benefits of CBD is athletes who exercise regularly.
While athletes are more than able to take advantage of the effects of CBD, there is a question of timing. Specifically, many athletes are curious whether they should take their CBD supplement before their workout or after. Because CBD is absorbed in a particular way, timing is extremely important when trying to take a supplement to benefit from its effects.
Add to that the fact that our bodies undergo a great deal of strain when we work out, and the timing of your CBD supplement becomes doubly important. Hopefully, this article will help to clarify when the best time to take your CBD supplement is on a day when exercise is inevitable.
Is CBD Best Used Before or After Workouts?
The chief question that all athletes have about CBD supplements is whether to take them before or after a workout. Most people do not realize that, while timing is critical for effectively using CBD, it does not directly affect your workout. CBD does not necessarily affect how your body can function, nor will it compromise your faculties regardless of whether or not you take it before your workout.
Rather, the only reason it could matter is based entirely on why you are taking the CBD. CBD does not affect the way your body develops muscle or how it develops during a workout. For that reason, taking CBD before or after the workout itself will not affect your exercise results.
This does raise the question of why athletes are worried about the use of CBD concerning their workouts. You are probably trying to manage other concerns that affect how you work out or the workout’s aftermath. CBD’s primary uses as a health supplement relate to issues that might arise before the workout or after, depending on the individual.
Working out can be exhausting both physically and mentally and can even be a workout meant to accomplish some greater goal that has high stakes. Regardless, the time you take your CBD supplement in relation to the time allotted to your workout will depend on this underlying issue.
If you are worried about the CBD supplement causing you to fail a drug test for an athletic event, allow us to clear your concern. The psychoactive compound in cannabis, THC, is only allowed to be at a maximum concentration of 0.3% in any CBD product. So, you need only purchase from a reputable vendor to avoid this.
In some cases, you will want to take your CBD before the workout, whereas others will mandate a post-workout dose. Ultimately, the timing of your daily dose of CBD will have little to do with the workout itself. The only question is what you are taking the CBD for.
Are You Anxious About the Workout?
One of the most significant issues faced by the average American is anxiety. It is a mental affliction that can range from moderate to severe and is often accompanied by other mental health issues. When you are about to do something stressful and suffer from anxiety, it is extremely common for the symptoms to rear their ugly heads and disrupt your dedication to the workout itself.
Episodes of anxiety are not something to be ashamed of but allowing it to control your life is the last thing you ever want to happen. This is especially true since untreated anxiety can lead to the development of more severe mental health conditions. Fortunately, options do exist to help you ease the effects of anxiety.
While there is no substitute for proper psychological treatment when suffering from mental health issues, CBD has its place in treating anxiety. Ordinarily, the effects of anxiety are treated with prescribed pharmaceuticals that, while effective, come with a series of risks.
In some cases, the medications prescribed for anxiety can cause dependencies that leave you worse off than you were. However, CBD has become a well-known tool in combatting anxiety less synthetically. While it might seem like a bold claim that CBD can ease anxiety, scientific evidence supports it.
A study conducted in Brazil gathered a sample pool of 57 men divided into a control group and a test group. The test group was given a 300 mg dose of CBD, and the researchers provided the control group a placebo right before a simulated public speaking session. The results found that those given the CBD dose had significantly less anxiety during the address than those in the control group.
The same study noted that dosages of 150 mg or 600 mg of CBD were ineffective in controlling anxiety levels in the subjects. A similar study conducted in 2019 also discovered that a dosage of CBD effectively controlled the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD is known to cause severe spikes of anxiety stemming from preexisting traumas that could relate to your workout.
Because working out involves a great deal of strain and risk of injury, you might be anxious about the workout ahead, especially if this particular workout or physical activity has slightly more significance. This could be something significant like a competition or something simple like trying out a new exercise. Either way, anxiety is known to spike in such circumstances. If you are nervous about the workout ahead, it would be ideal to take your CBD supplement before the workout rather than after.
Anxiety is the issue that strikes before you do something and tends to fade after you have completed the task you set out to do. However, several other factors could affect when you take your CBD supplement when working out.
Are You Trying to Manage Post-Workout Soreness?
When you are working out, you are straining your body and causing it to damage and repair itself to build muscle. While soreness is a normal consequence of such actions, that does not make it any less unpleasant to handle. Pain after a workout has long been seen as an inescapable part of one’s fitness journey that you must take in stride. After all, no one wants to be strung out on painkillers because of your exercise, and aspirin can only help so much.
However, CBD can be just the alternative you need to enjoy a hearty workout while also finding a way to cope with the pain. One of the highlights of CBD among users is that it can serve as a pain management tool.
There has been a great deal of study on the effects of CBD on pain and how you can use it to manage it. CBD’s ability to help reduce pain has been tied to the endocannabinoid system, which sends signals throughout the body’s immune system and can be used to trigger certain physiological responses.
One of the key responses that CBD can trigger via the endocannabinoid system is stopping the body’s inflammation response and reducing the associated pain. CBD’s effects on pain management have been corroborated by research that linked CBD to minimizing back pain and even nerve pain. Both of which are extremely likely in those who exercise regularly.
Since working out tends to inflame the parts of your body you have exercised to build muscle, it could be beneficial to use CBD to manage the effects. If you intend to use CBD for its pain management effects to mitigate the negative effects of working out, it is best to wait until after the workout to take your supplement.
As you likely know, most workout pain only starts well after you have completed your daily routine. So, taking the CBD during or before the workout enhances the odds of the CBD having worn off before the pain becomes an issue and renders it unable to help minimize the pain.
There is still a major caveat to your CBD intake with all of this in mind. Timing is still critical whether you are taking it before or after your workout.
The Way You Take CBD Matters
While the timing of your CBD intake in relation to when your workout takes place is important, there is another major factor to when your supplement takes hold. CBD must be administered to your body as it is not a compound we naturally produce.
There are several ways you can introduce CBD to your system, and each method determines how long it takes for the CBD to affect you and how long it remains in effect. Each form of CBD is processed differently by your body and your metabolic rate. It is critical to know how long it takes for each type of CBD supplement to work and how long it remains in your system.
Currently, there are three major types of CBD intake that see use by those interested in its effects:
- CBD Edibles: Edible CBD supplements are some of the most enjoyable and most effective. What makes edibles such an interesting CBD form is that they need to be ingested for the effects to take hold. This means that edibles take the longest to absorb since they need to go through the digestive system. Therefore, the CBD will not offer any benefits for an hour at a minimum. However, once an edible is processed, the effects will last between 3-7 hours. Depending on why you are using them, it would help if you took your CBD edibles at least an hour before or an hour after your workout.
- CBD Vape Fluid: Another common method for introducing CBD to your system is using a vape device. Vaping has been a popular practice since 2011 and has shown no sign of slowing down. So, it was inevitable that the use of CBD would expand to incorporate this technology. Vaping CBD has the quickest results, making it a preferred choice for those looking for rapid pain management effects. Because the CBD is inhaled, it enters the bloodstream and takes effect within 30 seconds. However, this also means that it only lasts a couple of hours, and you will need to take several hits to maintain the effect. So, vaping CBD allows you to take it right before or right after the workout, but if you need it for anxiety, you might also need to take some extra hits.
- CBD Topicals: Topical CBD is one of the more experimental options. While this tends to apply to lip balms or skin creams, CBD has also been implemented into muscle lotions. However, the exact science behind the topicals is still unclear, so there is no concrete evidence of how long it takes to work or how long it lasts. However, if you are planning on using a CBD muscle rub, you will likely want to use it after the workout rather than before.
As you can see, there is a lot to consider when it comes to preparing your CBD supplement before or after a workout. If you are looking to get the best possible effects for pain management or anxiety, the use of edibles or topicals is your best bet. Vaping is best used for on-the-go use of CBD. With that said, we now come to the question of securing a quality product.
X-Perience CBD
CBD is an ever-evolving tool in the world of physical and mental health. It can be the ultimate weapon against pre-workout anxiety or post-workout pain for athletes, especially once you know how each CBD supplement works. As we have said, the only trick behind taking advantage of CBD for your needs is timing.
Take CBD too soon, and the effects will wear off before they can be of assistance. Take it too late, and the effects will not take hold until well after you need them. Once you have hammered out when to take your supplement, the only thing you need to do is find a reputable vendor for the supplement type of your choice.
For that, we at Neuro XPF are here to help. We offer an assortment of CBD supplements, including edibles, vape fluid, oil drops, and even topicals. The best thing about our supplements is that they are scientifically guaranteed to be safe and have no additional ingredients beyond what you need.
We can make this promise since every one of our products comes with a certificate of analysis, breaking down the concentration of every ingredient for your review. So, why let anything get in the way of your exercise regimen then? Visit our website today and review our catalog of products so you can x-perience the best CBD in the game and be the best in your game.