As an athlete, your body and mind are your greatest assets. Can CBD enhance the health of both your body and mind?
Some of the popular athletes in CBD include Gabby Douglas, Megan Rapinoe, and Kerri Walsh Jennings.
As an athlete, you’re in constant need of energy, both physically and mentally, and CBD seems to help fulfill this.
The full extent of CBD benefits for athletes isn’t documented but preliminary research has been super encouraging.
As an athlete, CBD can supercharge your life!
Are Athletes Banned From Using CBD?
We have already mentioned some athletes that use CBD, so it can’t be that the product is banned.
However, it wasn’t always like that. Hemp-derived CBD became legal in America in 2018 when congress passed the Farmer’s Bill.
CBD is federally legal, but many other cannabinoids, including THC, are not yet legal.
Full-spectrum CBD contains a wide range of cannabinoids, stick to quality brands to ensure you’re not on the wrong side of the law.
America’s anti-doping agency has a hard-line stance on cannabinoids like THC and failing the test can have your license withdrawn.
To be on the safe side, just consume pure CBD concentrates that don’t contain other cannabinoids like THC.
How CBD Helps Athletes
These are some of the ways that CBD helps athletes to deliver better performance.
1. Increases energy
Whether you be a soccer or basketball player, you need tremendous physical stamina. Some games can be so grueling that your energy gets depleted. Ingesting CBD supercharges your muscles and enables you to outlast the competition.
2. Promotes pain relief
During games, you can easily pick up an injury, and depending on the damage extent, the pain is inescapable.
But CBD is excellent at eliminating pain. Cannabinoids interact with ECS receptors throughout your body to cancel out the pain.
CBD helps eliminate pain whether it be caused by injuries in contact sports or pre-existing health problems like chronic pain.
3. Promotes mental calm
Besides preparation, an essential aspect of victory is having the winner’s mindset, but this mindset can only exist when you are free of anxiety.
Anxiety is a crippling force, and no matter how greatly talented you be, anxiety can have you put in a dim performance.
But constant CBD use helps fight away anxiety. The cannabinoids interact with your brain to restore chemical balance and promote mental health.
If you use CBD constantly, it helps you become confident in your skills, which is extremely critical in winning championships.
Should Athletes Take CBD Before or After Working Out?
Whether an athlete takes CBD before or after working out, there are benefits to be had either way.
But for the best results, an athlete should take CBD before working out.
When CBD molecules are coasting in your body, and you start working out, it boosts the positive impacts of CBD.
Also, considering that cannabidiol is an excellent energy booster, taking CBD before working out ensures that you work extremely hard.
For maximum effect, you may take CBD two hours before the workout.
What’s the Best Method of Ingesting CBD for an Athlete?
Athletes typically require a high CBD bioavailability, and so, they should go for an ingestion method that promises high bioavailability.
Oral ingestion results in CBD getting metabolized, and this kind of waters down the rate of bioavailability.
Topical CBD ingestion may not have the highest bioavailability, but it is excellent for supercharging recovery and eliminating pain.
The two ingestion methods that make for high bioavailability are vaping and sublingual administration. Vaping CBD also speeds up the elimination of CBD molecules.
Administering CBD sublingually entails placing CBD product (drops, tablets, slips, etc.) underneath your tongue and letting CBD gets absorbed via sublingual blood vessels.