Any athletes here

[dmoh7]

IM startin to get kinna worried, ive noticed my lungs are tightenin (if thats a word) ... ive bin smokin ghelioon pretty often gettin kinna worreid.. wonderin if theres any other atheletes in here who continue smokin without much problems ...

[cypress]

You might ought to try puffing the smoke like a cigar to get away from
you lung problem. Although it may feel better than a cigarette to
inhale you still are smoking for at least an hour at a time. 

[yashman19]

Its summer vaca now, but during school last year I played racquetball
on avg 4-5 times per week. I hope I can keep up with that schedule this
coming year. And at that time I was smoking 1-2 times per day, and
didn't really notice any shortness of breathe or side effects.

I know this may sound ludacris beacuse smoke is smoke, and we are
inhaling it, but the difference between hookah and ciggs for lung
capacity seems to favor hookah. When you are puffing on a cig, your
doing just that, puffing. Hookah you are taking in huge amounts of
smoke, expanding and contracting your lungs fully. I like to believe
that smoking actually helps my lung capacity So don't burst my
bubble huh guys?

But yeah so everyone knows that smoking anything isn't great for your
lungs/body, but from my own personal experience, I haven't noticed
anything at all. But remember, I do play racquetball a lot, so maybe
they sort of counteract each other and I'm about breaking even?

If you're worrie, cut back a bit or start exercising more.. You should be fine.

[MR Bubble]

I'm a 20+ year cigarette smoker, who served 20 years, 22 days in the Army. By the time I was 29, I was still running a 2-mile course in 14:30. The guys aged from 19-25 years were sucking my butt wind. My fastest time was a 13:50 at Ft Benning, GA: One mile down a runway and one mile back up. I think I passed a C-141 on takeoff But guess what? It caught up to me. I slipped a disk at age 31, was inactive for 2 or 3 months, and never got it back. I was sucking other's butt wind. That's a bad place to be. The point I'm trying to make is that if you want to smoke and be a jock, you have to really be in the game. Every day. If something happens, and you are inactive for a while, you may be someone's butt wind monkey. I don't know what effects long-term hookah smoking will do. I had friends who were non-smokers who smoked the machine with me. One complained of his running suffering slightly. I had one friend who was a cigarette smoker, put them away and smoked shisha with me instead. After a few weeks she claimed her running improved. So, you may assume (if everybody were to be the same) that hookah is better than cigarettes, but worse than air.
Today, after work I mounted my bicycle and worked out with it on a 1 mile track. This was the first time in 3 years. I was sucking. Smoking will hurt your oxygen exchange resulting in you muscles unable to replenish themselve's with "quality" blood. You get the muscle burn and fatigue too soon and just go down-hill from there. But remember, I'm doing cigarettes too. I was on the patch for a few weeks here while back and was doing so much better. Oxygen exchange was up to 98% in a few days, I could climb my stairs at work with no shortness of breath and my legs didn't burn. Yes, I was smoking my machine at night.
If you want to smoke the shisha, you better do it in moderation and be in your game constantly. And even then imagine what you could accomplish if you weren't smoking it. Then imagine what you won't accomplish in a few years. We all get some years on us unless we do ourselves in. Who's butt wind are you going to inhale in 2010?
Precious moments from the heart by,
MR Bubble

[dmoh7]

yea im a kickboxer and im 16, ive bin smokin ghelioon pretty often lately.. and fell tightness in my lungs, so im gonna reduce hte amount im smokin... i jus started smokin alot cuz of summer, ill tone it down thanx alot guys

[John Deere]

I have been playing the bagpipes for about 6 years now. (Talk about using your lungs!) Band practise lasts 5 hours every week, and I practise at home for an hour usually every day. I also smoke about 2 or 3 heads a day. If I did have any problems with my lungs functioning, I would most definately know. And I dont. But I guess it varies from person to person.
$.01

[NERV]

i havent had any problems and i play ddr, thats an extremely intense workout