FITNESS + CANNABIS
LIT + FIT WITH FLAVIE DOKKEN BY ANTONIO DEROSE
Consuming cannabis and exercising may seem like a new concept for many, especially considering the past few decades of lazy stoner propaganda, but it’s much more common than you think, and research is starting to prove it. In fact, in April of 2019, The University of Colorado Boulder published their research focused on exploring the relationship between consuming cannabis and exercise behavior. The research was collected and published as a group effort between the university’s Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, and the Institute of Cognitive Science. Their study, in the form of an anonymous online survey conducted between January 2017 and July 2018, concluded 81.7% of study participants endorsed consuming cannabis before and/or after exercising. A whopping 67.2% endorsed consuming cannabis both before and after exercise. Although their sample size was less than 1000 people, those are some heavily weighted percentages, and I’m not surprised by the findings. This is why we decided for our Veteran’s Issue, we’d get some tips from U.S. Army Veteran turned competitive ultra runner, Flavie Dokken, who currently consumes cannabis for her performance and recovery as an athlete. Dokken works in the cannabis industry as a Senior Retail Account Manager for BDS Analytics by day, and has fun living the life of a sponsored ultra runner outside the office. A former national level competitive bodybuilder, with a race resume spanning 18 ultra-mountain trail races, including taking home 2nd and 3rd place victories at the Silverton Ultra 50 and Pikes Peak Ultra 50, she is sponsored by Bodyvisions and the well-known cannabis-infused products company, Wana Brands. Dokken, who is originally from France, joined the military to “Take on a duty bigger than myself and from a sense of patriotism,” and she went on to add that she “Is very proud to have become an American Citizen.” Her enlistment got her assigned to the Military Police, and she did a 3 year tour in Alaska before being discharged early due to multiple femur stress fractures resulting from military training. Although she describes her experience as brutal, both physically and mentally, she’s grateful for having served her country, because it was in this service where she says she learned “the true meaning of accountability, teamwork, and resilience,” and “It only strengthened my respect and admiration for everyone who serves in the military.”
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