Snus and Stamina

[xnocturnalsoulx]

Gentlemen,
I'm a young aspiring athlete. The sport I wish to dominate in my weight division is mixed martial arts, which has a dire dependence on stamina.

One thing I love is tobacco. I quit smoking a couple of years ago and dipped American tobacco once in a while - maybe once a week. I quit that for months at a time due to reading documents of the terrible qualities of American smokeless tobacco and its effect on long term heart rate.

I picked up snus recently and I love it, I'm doing it much more than I ever did American chewing tobacco. However, I have not been able to find any study on Snus having an effect or no effect on an athlete's stamina. Does a study out there exist? I am willing to quit for my dream - or at least taper it down to once a week :P

I know that nicotine has negative short term effects on stamina (heart rate, blood pressure) - but is there any empirical study of its long term negative cardiovascular risks? Particularly for an athlete who's stamina is a huge variable on their performance in the sport (sorry but, to me this excludes baseball or football).

Thank you all in advanced.

[Frosted]

I can't help you with studies but I can help you with experience.

I was in the Army for 12 years and obviously went through some extreme physical fitness. I smoked for those 12 years and it had absoloutely no effect on me whatsoever.
As far as snus is concerned, I think the effects would be almost zero due to no affect on the lungs. I say almost because nicotine obvioulsy has some effect in that if you snus immediately before an event, it might impair your performance rather than improve it.
Personally, if I was into serious physical events now, I wouldn't snus about two hours before physical exertion. The reason being, from personal experience, after two hours without nicotine (no more) I've got a bit more get up and go. Snus tends to make me want to sit in a chair and chill out.

Maybe somebody else can help you with the clinical studies but I don't think any have been carried out in respect to your question but with regard to cardiovascular effects, if they really exist, these would only be felt over a lifetime of snussing.

[Ansel]

Just my opinion but i think snus would help with stamina...

[Darwin]

I've noticed that while strong snus has a slight energizing effect regular strength (8mg) portions have more of a calming effect. This varies by individuals no question but it should not be much trouble to find out what strength has a more or less neutral effect on a particular person's athletic endurance. As Frosted indicated it might be best to forego snus for a couple of hours before serious activity but it seems to me that this might cause a bit of distracting jitteryness for an athlete.

What is certain is that snus is vanishingly unlikely to cause any sort of major cardiovascular problems in the long run. It's a thousand times better in this regard than smoking is of course and considerably better than dip regarding potential oral damage. A couple of caveats would be chain snusing where one keeps a portion in for most of a day, which could cause simple oral wear problems and continuous use of extra-strong snus that loads one's system up with nicotine for extended periods. A savvy athlete is unlikely to purposely encounter these situations. Nicotine in isolation is fairly harmless when divorced from the harm caused by the smoking delivery system but like any psychotropic chemical there is always the problem of too much of a good thing.

[Frosted]

http://rodutobaccotruth.blogspot.com...ng-agency.html

[snusgetter]

http://rodutobaccotruth.blogspot.com...ng-agency.html

I knew I had seen this recently but a brain-fart had me wasting time trying to google it.

To make matters even more embarrassing, Brad Rodu's Tobacco Truth is in my signature!!

[Frosted]

I knew I had seen this recently but a brain-fart had me wasting time trying to google it.

To make matters even more embarrassing, Brad Rodu's Tobacco Truth is in my signature!!

That's where I got it from LOL!!!

[snusgetter]

That's where I got it from LOL!!!

LMAO... I believe I am surely afflicted with CRS!!!
The Senior Moments have done and gone!

[EricHill78]

This video should help. This is my buddy who is a snuser. Look at all the different things he can do while using snus.. This should put your mind at ease. Welcome to the board by the way!

[kevs]

This video should help. This is my buddy who is a snuser. Look at all the different things he can do while using snus.. This should put your mind at ease. Welcome to the board by the way!

This speaks better than any kind of scientific research. Lol

But I have to say that cross-country skiers from my country are using snus, including olympic games multiple gold medal winner and 3rd place winner (both have retired now). So I think that snus wouldn't affect your stamina badly. Also I know lot of pro basketball players here who use snus, even in half-times and straight after game.

And the former F1 driver Kimi Räikkonen has been spotted with a snus tin.

[Ansel]

And the former F1 driver Kimi Räikkonen has been spotted with a snus tin.

no way

[kevs]

no way

Yes way, I'll check if I can find the pic!

[Ansel]

that's really cool - i will show my Dad!

[Mikko]

As you can see by my avatar, I'm big into motorsport. Man that's awesome to know that Räikkonen uses snus! He's my favourite F1 Driver

[Darwin]

F1 fan here too Mikko. Among current drivers my sentimental favorite is Nico Rosberg because I watched his father KeKe win a thermonuclear hot Dallas Grand Prix 30 years ago by pushing his car across the line on the final lap. The course for the event had to be the worst in the history of the sport but the race itself was superb. The race organizers were simply delusional. Dallas in August?