Any smoker, or former smoker?

[5.0 TopDog]

Have you ever smoke (cigarette) and play tennis?...How did it affected your game and if you had quit, how did your game improved if any....

I quitted smoking a month ago and this happened...

mind is clearer and reaction on court is sharper.
much easier to catch my breath.
whole boy coordination is smoother.

give it a try, its your choice

[Bungalo Bill]

I dont smoke, but I have had players that did. Some did it during social drinking events and others did it because it was a habit.

The ones that did it for social stuff, usually paid the price the next day. The carbon monoxide that is brought into the brain, made them foggy in the head during match play. They also had a hard time breathing and getting oxygen to their muscles during longer points. Although you can attribute some of this to alcohol, most of them said it was the smoking more then anything else that inhibited their play.

Some of the ones that did it for habit simply suffered as the sets went on. Not only did cigarettes help them age quicker they just didnt have the lungs to play good tennis for any extended periods of time. THey usually played good the first set but as time went on they paid the price.

Some of them quit. One guy told me he quit because he started to workout doing more aerobics. Short distance running, spinning classes, etc. helped him kick the habit because it made him feel like NOT smoking. Others taught their senses to hate the smell. One actually tried to make himself throwup thinking of smoking. Obviously, he didnt throw-up ut just the thought and the feeling of being sick of the smell and sluggish feeling after "a smoke" helped him to cut down and eventually quit.

I also had an impact on them quitting. My tennis workouts include the legs. They are not stand there and hit. so much of tennis is coordinating the legs and your swing while your moving, so from the get-go, beginner or not, my students run.

You will feel much better and much more confident in your game if you quit. I hope you do, and my hat is off to you when you finally quit.

[fastdunn]

Ha ha ha. I knew this topic would come up someday...

I smoke. I somehow picked this bad habit about 7 years
ago. At the time, I started learning tennis from my friends
who are smokers (they would smoke after a set and then
go back to tennis !....)

Anyway, in early days of my career as a smoker, smoking
did not seem to affect my fitness. Even after 1 year of fogginess (my sweetest time in smoking, I did enjoy nicotine
addition at the time), my fitness did not seem to get affected
at all.

Then, after couple of years later, I started to understand this
thing is slowly damaging my body. One day after 7 years, I realized my
fitness level went to considerably and made me sluggish.
Probably some of this slow damages made over the years are
permanant. I think that's the danger of it.
You feel like you might be OK because1 day or 1 month of
smoking seemed OK. But I realized it will kill you slowly.

I have tried to quit once and failed. I made 3 weeks of smoke
free on patches. I definitely feel much more lively during exercise
and I won a double's 4.0 tornament with my friend
at the end of that 3rd week (which triggered my urge and
I went to smoking after trophy ceremony. :->
My patch disappeared during the final and got panicked !).

Anyway, that was my story about smoking and playing tennis.
I'll make another attempt to quit and I know it will improve
my rating at least a notch or two !
Good luck !

[@wright]

I'm glad you made the clarification of smoking cigarettes. So I guess hash doesn't count?

[Robert Jones]

I play with my nephew who is 20 and does smoke. It drives me nutts when he is warming up with a cig in his mouth.

He did not play all winter of 2002-2003. In the spring he was so out of shape, could not last 3 games in a set. I'm 43 and when I was 20 I never got tired. I'm running circles around him, faster, less fatigue etc.

It has taken him from sept 2003 to just last week to get in shape enough to last 3 sets. Pathetic for a 20 year old. He was playing 2 times per week. He still smokes but has finally overcome his lack of wind. He is not overweight at all either. He says it feels like he is breathing through a straw at times.

I would say it causes you to get out of shape faster and makes it a much slower process getting back in shape.

[Tomek]

I used to smoke. Now I'm free and I'm not going to make that mistake again. It really hurt my game badly!

[Kirko]

I smoke hate to say it smoke abt. a pack & 1/2 a day it does not affect my tennis I can play & still run 5 to 8 miles everyother day . This is not a boast I'm 51 yr. & wonder when things might turn on me. I think Marlboro has my # though .

[5.0 TopDog]

Thanks for the input guys..I have recently cut down significantly on my smoking from a pack a day to about 5-6 a day and my game have improve. I can see the ball clearer and response much faster. I last longer on the court also.

[C_Urala]

- Smoking is slow death.
- I'm not in a hurry.

Nonsmokers enjoy a whole new dimention of life. They can feel scents. It's like the difference between black&white and color TV.
Quit smoking and you'll see.

[irishbanger]

I smoked two packs a day for 18 years. 4 years ago on my birthday my wife came home and threw a tennis racket at me (literally) and said, "Happy Birthday. Now get off your fat *** and get some exercise." I took a lesson and really enjoyed it, quit smoking, lost 35 lbs. and now feel great. I knew I was killing myself but it was a hard habit to break without the right motivation. Getting your butt kicked 6-0. 6-0 because you can't get your breath is good motivation.

[Phil]

Some of the ones that did it for habit simply suffered as the sets went on. Not only did cigarettes help them age quicker they just didnt have the lungs to play good tennis for any extended periods of time. THey usually played good the first set but as time went on they paid the price.

So Bill, what you're advocating here, is for heavy smokers to develop a big serve and return game so they don't have to play long points, and can finish matches quickly. Sounds like good advice to me.

[Tomek]

I would suggest, You should play hard and put all balls in the corners. That should work for you

[Joe Oldschool]

I smoke. Not cigarettes, just pot. Doesn't affect my tennis. In fact, I play just as well if not better.

I am in good company, Borg and MacEnroe used to hit the doob too.

[BigboyDan]

The difference between McEnroe, Borg and you Joe Oldschool is that they were two of the best tennis players on Earth, and played against similar - you aren't and don't.

Enjoy smoking ammonia, acetone, and benzene, do you?

http://nepenthes.lycaeum.org/Drugs/T...omponents.html

[Phil]

In fact, I play just as well if not better.

That is, you THINK you play as well or better-LMAO.

[ucd_ace]

I played with a guy who smoked all the time. He took designated "smoke breaks" on change overs... sometimes he wouldn't come back. Very annoying.

[@wright]

I play with a guy who smokes like a chimney(usually between sets and always right after playing), it doesn't seem to hold him back much at all. He finished last year #2 in the section in 4.5 doubles. I have to think it will catch up to him sooner or later...

[Joe Oldschool]

Think whatever McGruff-the-crime-dog propaganda you want, but yes I do enjoy smoking spliffs, even before I play tennis. The fact is that professional atheletes of all kinds smoke weed to relax. Look at the NBA for god's sake. It's far easier on the body than alcohol (diaretics don't jive well with people who spend the day working out and sweating).

My dealer also sells to many doctors, lawyers and other professionals in our area, who attend to their jobs professionally and responsibly, pay their taxes, and love their families. The facts remain that cannabis is a mild drug that has never killed anyone in over 5 thousand years of documented use. Its just that the brainwashed masses of America buy into the whole prison-industrial-complex fabricated B.S. started by Henry Anslinger in the 1920's as a pretext for locking up black people. They prefer to accept some totally warped, television-commercial-infested version of "reality" that they see on their nightly sitcoms where everyone is awash in the latest materialistic, brand-conscious, classist utopia. It doesn't change the truth, and the truth will set you free.

Tonight, I will light one up for all of you prohibitionists who still live in the darkness of your own self-delusion.

Happy smoking!

[Phil]

The fact is that professional atheletes of all kinds smoke weed to relax.

Well, then, now that I know THAT I'm gonna run right out and git me a bag 'o weed, I mean, if THOSE guys, incredible role models each and every one of them, do it, than I should be doing it too. Sounds real bright to me.