Hi,

I'm a 20 y/o student from the Netherlands. I've been asking this to myself for a while now and decided to ask it here on the forum as well.

I like bodybuilding. I've been training towards my goals for +/- 4 years now. 

Now the thing is; I do smoke weed about 3 to 4 times a week. I've been searching around on the world wide web for a while now, but I can't seem to find a specific answer on whether cannabis is bad for my progress. I don't feel less motivated to go to the gym the day after I smoked so that isn't an issue atleast.

Kind regards

My opinion is that you don't need it. I'd say it's doing more harm than good for your progress, not to mention your health in general. Everyone's allowed their own opinions, and if you want to continue with it, then that's your choice. But is it worth the risks?

I'll cut it down to only one time a week and see how much of a difference it makes to my progress. If I notice any positive change, I might quit it completely.

Here's the thing, I don't think cannabis on its own will hinder your progress (it also won't help it).
(this is obviously just my opinion and not supported by studies bc there are no such studies or I haven't seen them).

However, if you're smoking it, it will mess to some extent with your lung capacity which might in turn mess with your cardiovascular endurance which, as we all know, allows us to go for HIIT sessions and cut hard. Its simply going to hurt you there (as far as training goes, if you're not missing sessions bc of it).

As far as apetite, you might find it helpful because you'll be able to eat more (likely, although not everyone gets 'munchies'). However, you might smoke it one day and end up ordering huge fatty meals or something like that and mess up your diet to some extent. That would be a huge flag to watch out for.

It can also make you groggy and/or lazy. However, I've seen pretty jacked friends of mine smoke right before going into a lift session and killing it.
I guess it depends on how active you are while on it. It might also make you less active which in turn means less calories. You just gotta factor all of this into your diet/routine and you can definitely make it work without much of a hassle.

I'm not seriously bodybuilding (professionally) or competing in strength, so I'm not sure of the effects it migth have at the incredibly competitive level, but I cannot imagine it being benefitial. Imho it comes down to personal preference. Alcohol has very well studied effects and is a no-go for pros (most of the time), but it would be interesting to see more research into cannabis.