Would one get a more productive workout if one were to take a muscle relaxer prior to lifting? My unedumacated brain tells me yes, because you’re working harder to overcome the effect of the drug, but I’m probably wrong. What say ye?
Note I have no intention of taking any sort of drug prior to lifting (with the possible exception of caffeine).
The basic logic is wrong. It might be mentally harder for you to work out, but the muscle only knows how hard it worked. A muscle relaxer that prevents the muscle from working would tend to reduce how hard you worked.
There would probably be other effects relating to blood pressure and possibly your heart, breathing, etc, so it would be a very bad idea to experiment with this.
That sounds like a good setup for an injury to me.
I tried it once as a moron high school kid… had the worst workout ever, quit early and played some b-ball and sucked out there too. It’s not a fun time, trust me.
But I never considered it being a possible workout enhancer… you said it yourself, dumb question!
Maybe I’m operating under an incorrect assumption of what a muscle relaxer does. I’m thinking that it physically affects the muscle tissue and you seem to be indicating that it operates on the brain. My logic such as it is is that if it takes x effort to lift y mass without drugs, taking a drug that physically affects the muscle tissue such that it takes x.25 effort to lift mass y means that the muscle is working harder to overcome the effect of the drug. Harder working muscle = better result from the workout.
Even if you did, why not just add more weight to lift? But I agree with 100% with ultrafilter on both scenarios. Don’t do it.
If you want a better workout, concentrate on multi-joint movements with heavy weights. Keep the reps low and the sets high, and take short rest periods. That’ll get you results. It’ll also make you cry like a little girl from the soreness the first few times.
Well, again, I’m not going to do this. My question isn’t whether or not it’s a good idea. It’s a Very Bad Idea. My question is whether it would work.