The Gym. The Best and Worst things to do during Opiate Detox.

[GreenGnome]

Hello All!

As most of us know, physical activity is one of the best things to aid us mentally and physically during a detox from opiates. No matter your method of detox, Taper, Cold Turkey, Suboxone ect.

The intense physical activity aids the mind in producing chemicals we no longer produce at normal rates. The pain from the gym is mentally rewarding and can help accelerate recovery. Plus the achievements in and of it self are very rewarding. I am sure, myself included, during our abuse the gym was like... wait, whats a gym?

As great as the gym may be I would like to ask some questions of the ties between detoxification and working out. I will also answer some of these myself through personal experience, but I would appreciate all of yours as well. Some scientific information from those of you that may be more knowledgeable would be of great aid to this post. Some of these questions that I currently have in mind are:

• What type of workouts are best?
  • Cardio over strength training, or vise versa?
  • More peaceful exercises, or core exercises are better? like yoga, Pilates or barr
  • Considering RLS, should workouts be more focused on lower body, if so, what is best? again, yoga, pilates, cardio, strength?

• What is the best time of day to work out?
  • Mornings? to help jump start the day?
  • Evenings? to assist those who have a tougher time sleeping, or worse RLS then others.

• Supplements?
  • The good? the bad?
  • Pre-Workouts? Recovery Supplements? Amino Acids? Creatine, would the water retention be of aid, as opiates naturally make us retain water? And any other supplements you can think of that we should steer away from, or you think may possible be helpful because of their nutrition.

• Anything else you can think of

These are all questions that I have given much thought to. I feel that this has potential to be of excellent aid to those whom are undergoing recovery. The gym is an excellent source of aid. Opiate recovery or not, the gym can be a waste of time to those that do not know the body well. Those that want to be buff, doing a bunch of cardio will never get you there, or inappropriate dieting. So as there is a best way to achieve any physique type goal from the gym, why can their not be a proper way to utilize the gym for opiate users in recovery?

I will post information myself from my past experiences and current ones. I am happy to make myself a bit of a guinea pig to find out. So look for posts in the near future as I more properly compose my "research". In the mean time, i would greatly appreciate any thoughts, opinions, experiences from you as well.

Best of luck to you all. And thank you all for being there.

 

[Ruby Slippers]

I love doing strength training. The muscle soreness from working out feels good and overpowers the shitty kicky leg feelings. I double up on my vitamins, do a green smoothie and protein smoothie daily and it makes my detoxes these days bearable. I use pills intermittently, l haven't used Heroin or high dose pill abuse in years. But because of my history of use l am still a total freaking baby with any withdrawal symptoms haha.

 

[simco]

When I can make myself do it, I find swimming to be really helpful for my mood and over-all feeling of well being. Anymore, I don't push it very hard in the pool. Even ~30 mins at low intensity does it for me.

If I don't make it to the pool, at I at least have to take the dog for a couple walks a day. He keeps me from being utterly lazy!

 

[Phil.McKeer]

Swimming max laps (my routine is always 100 laps divided by 4, with an individual medley in between each set of 25, so really 116 laps) and then hopping into a sauna (and if you have the balls for it - the cheapest high that exists - jumping right into a VERY COLD shower RIGHT AFTER the hot sauna), followed by more sauna and a nice warm end-of-gym shower is a pretty good one for me. Doing that definitely takes my mind off dope.

Also, don't forget that running, stretching, yoga, crunches and push-ups can be done at home for free without a gym membership and can create real results by themselves.

You probably can't exert yourself like this on day 1 or 2 of withdrawal but if you're fighting cravings after the acute phase is over, working out to the max (whatever your routine is) is the shiz-nite.

 

[Bonch]

I also swim and sauna and it has been key to my recovery. I walk to the rec center a mile or two. Then I sauna or hot tub for a while. Then I strech. And strech and strech. Then I swim just a few laps and then just play in the water stretching more and moving my body in ways I can't on land. Then I walk back and go to work. It is a lovey routine and I look forward to it everyday.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Swimming max laps (my routine is always 100 laps divided by 4, with an individual medley in between each set of 25, so really 116 laps) and then hopping into a sauna (and if you have the balls for it - the cheapest high that exists - jumping right into a VERY COLD shower RIGHT AFTER the hot sauna), followed by more sauna and a nice warm end-of-gym shower is a pretty good one for me. Doing that definitely takes my mind off dope.

Also, don't forget that running, stretching, yoga, crunches and push-ups can be done at home for free without a gym membership and can create real results by themselves.

You probably can't exert yourself like this on day 1 or 2 of withdrawal but if you're fighting cravings after the acute phase is over, working out to the max (whatever your routine is) is the shiz-nite.

This is the money post. Hells fucking to the yeah.

 

[Phil.McKeer]

Thanks TPD, I appreciate that!