To make a workout — whether it's running, cycling or weight-lifting — more enjoyable (the "runner's ... [+]
Performance-enhancing drugs in sports are nothing new: Erythropoietin, or EPO, human growth hormone (hGH) and the stimulant bromantane have all derailed famous athletes’ careers, from the Russians abusing bromantane in the1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics to American cyclist Lance Armstrong, who in 2012 admitted to doping with steroids.
Because these substances pose not just the loss of Olympic medals but also serious health risks, casual athletes like marathon runners and gym rats may be interested in a recent University of Colorado study that found a far safer drug – cannabis – can enhance the non-performance aspects of exercise, like enjoyment of exercise (“runner’s high”) and energy.
So which cannabis strain(s) exactly are we talking about? While the Colorado researchers tested participants running on treadmills after they imbibed either CBD or a psychoactive THC flower product, no specific product was named. That’s where cannabis entrepreneur Justin Journay comes in.
Journay recommends the cannabinoid HHS. “Of all the cannabinoids, especially the intoxicating cannabinoids, [consumers] say HCC gives the most energy,” the founder, CEO and chief scientist at Indianapolis-based 3CHI, said in a recent interview. “I know that people take it to go to the gym.”
3CHI blogger Colin Slager offered some specifics. HHC (known by its scientific name Hexahydrocannabinol) is a compound derived from the hemp plant, Slager wrote this month. Like conventional THC, HHC is psychoactive (i.e., it gets you high). But unlike THC, HHC is a cannabinoid that’s been hydrogenated (hydrogen molecules have been added), which potentially influences its stability and shelf life.
“When it comes to how HHC affects the body, consumers have reported a range of experiences,” Slager wrote. “Primarily, HHC is known for its uplifting and energizing effects, which can be particularly beneficial for exercise enthusiasts.
“Adding to this,” the blogger continued, “the interaction of HHC gummies with the central nervous system could play a role in how they influence exercise routines. Pure HHC, much like Delta 8 THC, is a cannabinoid product that interacts with the body’s receptors.”
That comparison with Delta 8 is key, Journay says. He starts his discussion with Delta 9, or marijuana, the best-known of the cannabis plant’s 140-olus cannabinoids. In terms of an exercise booster, “Delta 9 comes with a lot of side effects for a lot of people,” the CEO says: He mentions how “it’s very heady” and strongly affects focus and the ability to get things done. “It comes with paranoia and anxiety and things of that nature.”
Justin Journey, educated as a biochemist as well as CEO of 3CHI, is delving into the possibilities ... [+]
In short, a runner on Delta 9 might take the wrong turn off that previously familiar running path.
Delta 8, meanwhile, “exploded the hemp space,” because having been derived from the hemp part of the cannabis plant, it’s been legal since the 2018 Farm Bill and is much less intoxicating than Delta 9. With Delta 8, “People find that it’s a lot more functional version of THC,” Journay said. Fitness fans can get the relief they seek — those achy runner’s knees for example – without the anxiety and paranoia of Delta 9. That claim of pain relief was supported by the Colorado study. However, a negative aspect for cannabis when combined with exercise according to the study: Athletes taking HHS often have to exert more in their exercise efforts.
Still, the value of HHS is that with some consumers Delta 8 packs too light a punch.
“HHC is in between” Deltas 8 and 9, Journay said. “There’s more headiness but less paranoia; and of those three, Delta 8 tends to be associated with sleep, like an indica [plant].” In other words, it’s hard to finish your afternoon run, taking Delta 8, when you’d really rather just nap.
“Uplifting and energizing” are the adjectives Slager, the blogger, uses for the HHC strain 3CHI sells, in the form of gummies and vapes.
Certainly there is much still to be learned, says Journay, who has a background in biochemistry and whose company has 200 employees scattered across five locations, four of which have research labs.
. “The great thing about cannabis is it has so many different cannabinoids, and as we learn more about them, it’s wonderful because before, everybody was stuck with just marijuana, and that just didn’t work for everybody. Then we had CBD, and that wasn’t enough for everybody,” says the CEO, whose researchers started with two cannabinoids and by next June, he says, will be producing isolates of fully 29 cannabinoids.
“Now, as we discover more of these cannabinoids, we’re finding that it works along an entire spectrum and we can build out things that work for each specific person.”
Journay, who started his cannabis career producing a lip balm infused with CBD, describes how he wanted to learn more about all those cannabinoids beyond Delta 9 THC and Delta 8. Looking at the wide range of cannabinoids, his question was, and is, “What are the rest of the 140 no one else is looking at?”
Now, he’s making progress answering that query.
