Lately, CBD has been gaining attention in the sports world, nabbing features in major publications like Outside Magazine and Runner’s World. That’s to say that more and more athletes are curious about CBD’s potential to help them recover faster from hard workouts. This has stoked a conversation about CBD for athletes at all levels of competition. In this article, we’re exploring how CBD and athletic performance might just make the perfect pair.
CBD & athletic performance When it comes to sports and CBD, there haven’t been enough studies to make a no-doubt statement that CBD for athletes is beneficial for performance. But in the studies that have been done, there are promising results for athletes who use CBD. Plus, there has been zero evidence that CBD could reduce performance or cause any type of harm. So, if you’re worried about CBD tanking your next marathon time or making you lose your next match, you can let that worry go. On the flip side, there also hasn’t been clear-cut evidence that CBD enhances athletic ability directly. It’s no miracle supplement that’s going to turn you into an unbeatable machine. That is something only practice can do.
Is CBD for athletes allowed? CBD is permitted by both the World Anti-Doping Agency and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. But there are some rules you should know: Only cannabidiol is allowed in sports. If you didn’t know the technical term, cannabidiol = CBD. So… great, CBD is allowed. What’s the problem? Well, every other compound found in the Cannabis plant is still banned. That means that you have to be sure that your CBD doesn’t contain any other “tagalong” compounds from the Cannabis plant. It has to be 100% pure CBD. The only way to know that you’re getting pure CBD is to use CBD isolate, not full-spectrum CBD. You’ll also want to only buy from companies that can provide third-party lab test results to prove that their product does not contain THC.