Submitted by Yasha K. from New York City

I am 41 from NYC. I’ve been healthy my whole life, and Cannabis has made me healthier.

When fitness started fighting back

Loss of appetite and inability to sleep after heavy workouts, which delayed recovery, at times leading to injury.

Years ago, I was a competitive athlete. When Cannabis became an active part of my routine, I was competing in weightlifting.

In training, we break down our bodies. To recover, we need sleep, nutrition, hydration, and active recovery. If you want to improve in a sport, you have to train. If you want to improve faster than others, you have to train more than others. However, there's a limit to how much you should train that is set by the amount you can recover.

If you train more than the amount of training you can recover from, you won't improve. This is when you get into the realm of overtraining. The symptoms of overtraining include loss of appetite and inability to sleep - two of the main components needed for recovery and not overtraining.

Finding Cannabis as my recovery tool

For years, I was casually smoking Cannabis, as were my friends. We all knew about munches and Cannabis putting us to sleep, but typically avoided consuming Cannabis too much.

I don't remember the exact circumstances of any decision to make Cannabis a part of my routine.
Before it was a part of my routine, I would spiral into overtraining every year or two, which would get worse over time. Train too hard → lose sleep and appetite → keep training → lose sleep and appetite further. You keep investing effort into training but not only do your results not improve, they get worse. This cycle typically ends with a pause in training for a few weeks, either by choice or due to injury.

Cannabis (fresh flower for me) increased my appetite when I didn't want to eat, and helped me fall asleep when I couldn't. Nothing groundbreaking, but these simple things are what my body needed to recover and Cannabis helped.

Trial and Error: what works and what doesn't

When Cannabis became a part of the routine, it wasn't 'smoke every day', as there are negative effects we need to avoid.

The negative: I noticed a significant decrease in rigidity when smoking the previous day. In weightlifting, when lifting heavy weights, the lifter needs to be able to stop the weight from falling/moving after lifting it. If the catch is soft, this could lead to an inability to finish the lift, or even worse - to injury.

When not to use: during the training cycle when the volume is lower (fewer reps) but the intensity is higher (heavier weight), typically closer to a competition.

When to use: loss of appetite and inability to sleep? Smoke some weed.

Learning to navigate solo

No one helped me or taught me.
There was never any real stigma in my surroundings. I did share with others. Some said they did the same, others were interested and excited to try, and some were uninterested.

Why fresh flower works for me

My preference is for fresh (cured and tested within the last few weeks) flower, with relatively low THC (12-18%) and a strong scent.

My simple Cannabis toolkit

It’s a tool I use for the most essential needs: sleep, stress reduction, relaxation, and appetite regulation. It works. It doesn’t work when I consume too much/often. 

This is Yasha’s personal story and not meant to be medical advice. It is for informational purposes.

To work with a medical Cannabis professional, please visit our directory of coaches, educators, and medical professionals. Everyone's Endocannabinoid System (ECS) is different; good results start with the right approach. You don't have to figure it out on your own.

If you need help with any terminology in this article, you may find some answers in our glossary.