Do you consume caffeine before training? Find out all about the benefits of this natural stimulant before hitting the gym.
Most of us cannot imagine our life without a morning cup of coffee, and some even drink coffee before training in the gym. Let's figure out whether caffeine is beneficial before a bodybuilding workout, and if so, what benefits can an athlete derive from this aromatic tonic drink?
Caffeine has been known since ancient times for its stimulating effects. Today, you can get a nice dose of natural tonic from the nuts, seeds and leaves of some plants, and you can get ready-made caffeine from green tea, chocolate, sports drinks, and, of course, coffee. In addition to caffeine, energy drinks contain a range of substances such as taurine, guarana and some vitamins.
How does coffee work before a workout?
Caffeine in moderate amounts has a stimulating effect on the human nervous system, large amounts cause nervous exhaustion, and very large amounts can be fatal.
When you drink a cup of coffee or a bottle of energy drink, your nerve cells become more active and cause more adrenaline to be released during exercise. This allows you to lower the pain threshold and dull the feeling of fatigue, while your body begins to use existing fat reserves as a source of energy. This way you can increase your weights in the gym and the duration of your workouts with less effort and burning more fat.
Benefits of caffeine before exercise
First, if you haven't added sugar or cream to your cup of coffee, it contains zero calories. In addition, coffee before a workout for weight loss helps speed up metabolism and burn fat, which will be appreciated by everyone who wants to get rid of extra pounds.
If you're facing an endurance workout, a dose of caffeine in any convenient form will help you get through it, according to scientists at the Australian Institute of Team Sports. Some coaches even suggest abstaining from caffeine for a week before an important race, and drinking a cup of espresso on the day of the endurance competition to give the caffeine-weaned body an additional boost of energy.
A moderate dose of this stimulant can even increase your performance. By the way, it was because of this that the International Olympic Committee banned caffeine before performances, in any form: no lattes or chocolates.
Secondly, caffeine stimulates your nervous system and improves concentration before exercise. Figuratively speaking, a cup of coffee before going to the gym can be considered as part of the warm-up, which will facilitate your adaptation to work.
It is believed that caffeine can relieve pain and muscle fatigue after intense strength training. According to another theory, coffee interferes with muscle recovery after exercise, and therefore is not recommended for consumption within the first two hours after visiting the gym. However, both theories have not been confirmed.
One cup of coffee can relieve fatigue during aerobic exercise, and two cups of espresso, which contain a total of 250 mg of caffeine, will help you improve your performance. There are many examples of positive effects in sports such as running, swimming, cycling.
How much coffee do you need to consume to get the effect?
It all depends on your weight. It is recommended to adhere to the following calculation: 0.5-1.4 mg of caffeine per 1 kilogram of weight. For example, a cup of espresso contains 100 mg of caffeine, an American - about 80.
If everything is so rosy, and a cup of coffee before a workout can make you practically a champion, why is there so much controversy around caffeine? What's the catch?
Negative effect
It is not advisable to drink a drink with a high caffeine content immediately after training for the following reasons:
- Any physical activity is perceived by the body in the same way as a stressful situation. The nervous system reacts especially acutely to excessive stress. It is she who first of all needs compensation for expended resources. But caffeine, which is a stimulant, will only interfere with the natural recovery process. After all, this substance activates the brain, which can lead to a nervous, excited state.
- The best remedy for normal recovery after sports activities is healthy sleep. Therefore, if the workout takes place after lunch, then drinking coffee will not allow you to fall asleep normally. The next morning the person will feel unwell and will need more than one dose of caffeine. As a result, the body will not be able to fully recover even for several days.
- During sports activities, the body uses a lot of water. Muscle tissue is especially active in losing fluid. Therefore, after training it is necessary to normalize the water balance. This is necessary in order to remove breakdown products from tissues and replenish glycogen reserves. But caffeine has a pronounced diuretic property, that is, it removes fluid. And this disrupts the normal recovery process after training.
- In addition, drinking a coffee drink on an empty stomach will definitely cause a feeling of discomfort and heaviness in the stomach.
- If you drink even a small cup of coffee after a serious workout, you run the risk of indigestion and stool upset.
Obviously, the cons outweigh the positives.
The dangers of caffeine before exercise
If even one small cup of coffee causes your heart to react too violently, drinking coffee before a workout is definitely not worth it, and in general you should think about consuming this drink. Maybe try switching to strong black tea?
Caffeine addiction is talked about in the same way as nicotine addiction. Of course, the harm is incomparably less, but the strength of the habit is approximately equal. Try not to give a coffee addict his favorite drink in the morning, and you will see how dependent a person becomes on this stimulant. In addition, as in the example with smokers, coffee lovers tend to increase the dose of the drink consumed over time, which clearly has a negative effect on the functioning of the heart.
In 2006, a specialized cardiology journal published material in which Swiss scientists stated that 250 mg of caffeine can significantly reduce blood flow to the heart during and after exercise. To function healthily during physical activity, your body requires a significant amount of oxygen and nutrients, so the heart experiences enormous stress, quickly pumping a large volume of blood. And drinking two cups of coffee reduces post-workout blood flow by 25%!
Moreover, these indicators turned out to be higher, the higher the altitude the experimental chamber simulated, about 40% for an altitude of 4000 m! If you live high above sea level or just climb regularly, be careful with your coffee.
In addition, coffee can cause an imbalance in water balance, which is especially important during and after training. This drink slows down the absorption of fluid from the intestines, which leads to dehydration and gastrointestinal disorders.
And with concentration, skeptics say, not everything is so rosy. Caffeine can stimulate brain function before exercise. You feel powerful and practically omnipotent, while you're just nervous and a little more focused. Whether to consider this a disadvantage is up to you to decide. For example, if you have a chess championship coming up, a cup of coffee will not be superfluous, but if you have a powerlifting triathlon ahead, we recommend weighing the pros and cons.
Why was this article written if everyone loves coffee so much? We also love its divine aroma and rich taste, but we advise you to think about what effect caffeine before a bodybuilding workout has on your body. Our common main goal is to create the perfect physique, and we sincerely wish you to remove all the barriers that prevent you from achieving this. And with problems providing cells with blood and nutrients during training, you will not only not get the desired result, but also cause significant damage to your heart.
Caffeine after exercise: the pros and cons
Is it possible to drink coffee after a workout, what effect can you expect from caffeine in this case? Its effect will be exactly the same as when taken before exercise. Physical activity in any form, be it running or strength training, is a test for the body. During intense exercise, there is an active release of adrenaline into the blood, which means that caffeine, as a source of additional adrenaline, will be superfluous.
You will be interested in: Is it possible to drink coffee on an empty stomach - the consequences
However, some positive aspects of drinking coffee after exercise are worth highlighting:
- weight loss exercises will have a greater effect;
- caffeine will help eliminate fatigue;
- the drink will invigorate and energize;
- will increase tone.
When asked how long after training you can drink coffee, you should answer that no earlier than 40 minutes.
The disadvantages of caffeine effects on the body immediately after physical activity include the risk of overloading the heart with exacerbation of hypertension. This is why it’s worth fighting the urge to drink a cup of coffee after a workout if the only thing you have to do is return home and end the day. Temporary energy in this case will not be a necessity, which means you can protect the body from additional caffeine shake-up and enjoy the body’s natural reactions to physical activity.
What can replace coffee?
If you are a lover of coffee aroma and taste, try decaf coffee (or decaf) first. Thanks to modern technologies, hot air treatment can remove caffeine from green coffee beans, while maintaining all the taste and aroma qualities of the future drink. Decaf is no different from the classic drink, except that it is no longer the same coffee in the usual sense. This is a great option for coffee fans who, due to heart problems or other reasons, are forced to deny themselves a cup of their favorite drink with friends or before a workout. In addition, decaf relieves nervous tension.
For those who are not interested in coffee as such, but need the stimulating effect of caffeine, you can switch to drinking green tea before training. The result will be similar, however, such an exchange is not recommended for people with heart problems, since green tea contains many times more caffeine than a cup of Americano. To be precise, in tea this value reaches 4%, while coffee contains only 1.2% caffeine.
Another advantage of green tea over coffee is that tea caffeine has a milder effect on the body due to its combination with tannin, which is absorbed into the blood more slowly.
If you use caffeine as a stimulant to excite your nervous system before exercise, try a radical change: energetic music can give you the same jitters as a cup of coffee! Choose your favorite performer and go ahead to strength training. The session will be faster and more fun, while maintaining a caffeine-like effect throughout the entire training. What to listen to? Some people prefer to work out their muscles to the music of hard rock, others run on the track to the rhythms of rnb, and others prefer to train to the hard electronic rhythms of progressive DJs. In any case, be guided by your taste so that training brings you pleasure and makes you want to come to training again and again!
Debunking legends
Coffee and tea producers have created many myths about their products in competition. But such inventions about the properties of coffee have not stood the test of time.
The myth that coffee is an addictive drug is not true. Check it out for yourself. If you gradually reduce the number of cups per day, this will not cause any health problems.
For some time it was believed that coffee was a diuretic drink. But if you drink too much water, you will also not be able to resist and will run to the toilet.
And it is not he who increases the pressure, but its excessive use with loads of the same nature.
For those who believe that coffee makes bones thinner and this causes injuries, how many tons of coffee do you need to drink to wash away calcium before your bones become thinner?!
Actually, numerous studies of the effect of magic grain on the health and achievements of bodybuilders do not give a clear answer to this burning question - positively or undesirably. The golden rule of professionals is that everything is good in moderation. Then the dubious qualities of coffee will not affect the achievements in building our body, and its positive qualities will work for us. It's simple.
