How Smoking and Vaping Impact Cardiovascular Fitness

Just because we all know a guy who smokes like a chimney but can run for an entire rec league basketball game, doesn't mean smoking is harmless. He'd likely be a lot faster if he quit.

Smoking drags down your VO2 max and makes it harder for your heart to keep up with demand. It also impedes how well your muscles use oxygen. Vaping isn't any better. If you're thinking of quitting, know that your cardio can bounce back surprisingly fast. Staying active regardless of whether you smoke pays off big time, even before you're ready to quit.

Does Smoking Ruin Stamina?

Smoking does a real number on your stamina, starting with your VO2 max, which is the most oxygen your body can take in and use during hard exercise and the best indicator of your cardio fitness. Smokers have lower VO2 max on average than ex-smokers and people who've never smoked. The more and longer you smoke, the worse the damage gets.

Being fit doesn't make you immune as a smoker. Even Olympic-level athletes who smoke have lower VO2 max, weaker lung function, and lower exercise thresholds than athletes who don't. And that research also didn't find a single smoker among endurance athletes at the Olympic level, so that tells you something about cardio and smoking. Smokers also get slower sooner when doing repeated sprints.

Read More: Ultimate Guide to VO2 Max

How Smoking Messes With Your Cardio

Carbon Monoxide Steals Oxygen's Seat

Cigarette smoke is loaded with carbon monoxide (CO), a gas that latches onto hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. Every one CO that attaches to hemoglobin displaces one oxygen, and any oxygen that does attach has a harder time detaching once it reaches your muscles.

Your body tries to compensate by making more hemoglobin and blood, but smokers still run slower than non-smokers with the same fitness level. Weirdly, the fitter you are, the more it affects you, because having extra CO in the blood decreases performance the most in well trained people.

Your Heart Works Harder for Less

Nicotine and CO keep your heart rate elevated at rest and make it harder for it to calm down after you exert yourself. Athletes who smoke tend to have higher resting heart rates and slower recovery after exercise. Lighting up in the hours before a workout lowers your VO2 max and anaerobic threshold (the point where you can't hold your pace) even more, while increasing your heart rate.

Your Muscles Get Worse at Using Oxygen

Long-term smoking also hurts your mitochondria, the tiny power plants inside muscle cells that turn oxygen into energy. Weaker mitochondria in regular smokers seems to be an even bigger reason why muscles tire out early than CO, which negatively impacts your stamina.

Does Vaping Affect Cardio?

Vaping may not have the CO and tar, but your cardio still takes a hit. Young, healthy people who vape regularly have lower peak aerobic fitness, and their muscles also pull less oxygen from blood during exercise. Vapers also have the same drops in exercise capacity and blood vessel function as cigarette smokers and get more breathless at the same workload, even when their lung tests look normal at rest.

If you're already a smoker, switching completely to a vape might improve your VO2 max after a month, but vaping is still much worse for you than abstaining and has zero benefits for performance.

Does Chewing Tobacco Affect Oxygen Levels?

Chew, dip, and snus don't involve smoke, so there's no CO hogging your hemoglobin and your blood's oxygen-carrying capacity stays mostly intact. Using smokeless tobacco products long term doesn't seem to affect VO2 max levels any more than not using it at all.

Nicotine does increase your heart rate and blood pressure at rest and during moderate exercise, though, and it doesn't increase performance.

Smokers Who Exercise Regularly Still Come Out Ahead

Quitting is, no doubt about it, the best thing you can do. But if you're working on quitting, don't wait to start exercising. Smokers who exercise have about a 30% lower risk of dying from any cause, heart disease, or cancer than smokers who don't. If you meet both the cardio and strength training guidelines, you'll just about cut your risk of dying from heart disease in half.

Exercising can also help you smoke less by reducing cravings for a while afterward, which helps with quitting. The harder your training, the better it helps blunt cravings.

How Fast Does Your Cardio Improve After You Quit?

Your cardio will recover faster than you might expect after you quit. Carbon monoxide only hangs around in your system for a few hours, so your blood can carry a lot more oxygen within a day of your last cigarette. VO2 max can improve noticeably within four weeks of quitting, and eventually, ex-smokers can achieve similar VO2 max to people who never smoked.

Quitting is also easier and faster when you train, especially vigorous training. Research shows training while on a quit program helps people stay smoke free longer and gain less weight.

How to Build Cardio as a Smoker or New Quitter

Don't Smoke Around Your Workouts

If you're not ready to quit, at least don't smoke in the hours (or as long as you can manage) before or after your workout. CO from a pre-workout cigarette takes hours to clear and after your workout, your cravings will be at their lowest, so push to ride them out as long as you can so you can recover better.

Build Your Base With Zone 2

Your heart, lungs, and muscles need time to rebuild their oxygen delivery system, and easy Zone 2 training is the most efficient way to do it. Train at a conversational pace for 30 to 60 minutes, two to four times a week.

Read More: How To Build Stamina and Endurance

Add Intervals When Your Lungs Are Ready

After a few weeks of building your base, add one or two HIIT sessions a week to push your VO2 max higher. The REP® Strive™ Air Bike lets you change the fan blade angle, so you can cruise at levels 1 to 3 on Zone 2 days and crank it to 7 or 8 for intervals. Start with short bursts like 20 seconds hard and 100 seconds easy, and add rounds as your recovery improves. If bikes aren't your thing, any cardio machine you prefer (or at least tolerate) will work.

Takeaway

Smoking chips away at your VO2 max from several directions and vaping does a lot of the same damage. While chewing tobacco spares your oxygen levels, it artificially increases your heart rate. You can get your cardiovascular health back on track pretty quickly after you quit, but start training now to get the benefits and quitting support that exercise brings. Plus, getting out of breath on purpose feels a whole lot better.

FAQs

Can you be an athletic smoker?

Smokers can stay fit, but smoking still limits how good your cardio can get. Even Olympic-level athletes who smoke have lower VO2 max and weaker lungs than athletes who don't.

Is vaping bad for running?

Regular vaping is linked to lower fitness and more breathlessness during exercise. Runners who vape will likely feel winded sooner than runners who don't.

How long after quitting smoking does stamina improve?

Carbon monoxide clears out of your blood within about a day of your last cigarette. Many people see a real jump in VO2 max within about four weeks.

Does smoking before a workout hurt performance?

Yes, smoking before exercise lowers your VO2 max and makes your heart work harder during that session. The carbon monoxide takes hours to clear, so the longer you wait, the better.