Following on from my comments on the other thread, I've chosen Friday as quit day.

In order to quantify the beneficial effects on my training I'm going to keep a tally of how many press ups I can do in 2 minutes.

I chose press ups as I can do them at home easily and I do quite a lot already so it won't be much about building strength. I chose 2 minutes rather than 1, as fatigue usually starts to set in about the 45 second point, leaving only 15 seconds where stamina could increase.

To ensure consistency I put a focus pad on the floor and each press up must be chest to pad and up.

OK, current level 94 (62 in 1st minute and 32 in 2nd)

I am training on Friday so won't post results then but will wait until Sat or Sun.

Hypothesis: As the level of carbon monoxide in my blood returns to "normal" over the 1st few days there should be an immediate improvement, after that improvement will be slow as I experience improvements in oxygen take up and circulation.

Lets see if I'm right.

Best of luck with quitting the fags, let us know how it goes; it will be interesting to see how much progress you make.

And just think how much money you will save!

Nice work Jeltz! Have you ever read the Alan Carr quitting smoking book? My friend had to quit as he has a heart condition and he found that really good,as well as the patches! Good luck with it,look forward to hearing your progress!

Thanks for the support, will keep you posted.

Well I actually stopped lunch time yesterday, today is the 1st smoke free day but its been over 24 hours so I thought I'd do the press up test before I go training (thats gotta be a bad idea).

Although a relatively short time I know that by now carbon monoxide and oxygen levels should be pretty much "normal" by now and it would be interesting to know.

OMG!! I wanted some improvement to be shown but I still wanted to feel that smoking hadn't been that big a deal where stamina was concerned.

The result was 127 (79 being in 1st minute 48 in 2nd)thats about a 35% improvement.

Scary.

Another scary thing, I got home and there was a package waiting for me, it had torn open in the post but contained 2 Nicorette inhalators. Not ordered by me and no note or anything.

Day 3: The icky 3's are supposed to be tough ones. That's day 3, week 3 and month 3. So far the withdrawal symptoms have been fatigue, thirst, sore tongue and light headedness. Cravings have been manageable and I remembered I had a box of cigars in the garage, so I gave them away to a neighbour to put them out of temptations way, before any mental weakness sets in.

My sense of smell is improving already, not always a good thing and I've developed a cough as my lungs try to clear the crap I've been putting into them.

So far so good, mentally I'm feeling strong and its not too tough to resist the urge to give in, but its a long road and I'm sure there will be tough points to come.

Well done so far, if you find yourself getting tempted, get straight on the forum and we'll make sure you don't fall off the wagon!

1st week without smoking complete and without too many "dark" moments. When they have occurred its been a case of just dealing with it and they pass soon enough. The mental resolve is as strong as ever.

Press up count is 132 in 2 minutes so just a small gain however 90 of those are in the 1st minute now so it seems there is an improvement in "sprinting off the blocks"

Reading Allen Carr's book thanks Su Lin for the heads up on that.

Good God! 132 press ups in 2 minutes! Way to go!

Well still going strong! Off the coffin nails for 3 weeks and a day!

Funny thing is there was a marked improvement in stamina while training initially but in the last week its got loads worse

My usage of NRT (nicotine replacement) has dropped off considerably in the same period, and as the body gets used to not having the drug it's been used to all sorts of things happen, even changes in your digestion and ahhem movements so I don't think there is any real cause for concern. Perhaps the body is putting its energy into healing?

I haven't done a press up test as such this week but at training I was struggling to get past 60.

Never mind, off for a week camping with the family tomorrow (oooh today actually, is that the time)

Cheers
Nic

I think you are right, your body is ridding itself of nicotine.

Also, at this stage your lungs will be ridding themselves of the tar, so you might actually have a worse cough than when you smoked. But the end result will be better as your lungs won't have the black goo that play havoc with your respiration.

You're probably tired as well - so enjoy your holiday!

Keep it up!

And again kids:
http://www.martialedge.net/articles/fitness-and-nutrition/quit-smoking,-train-hard-and-fight-easy./