You may think you have to choose between having your coffee and working out in the morning, but you may be wrong. Sports studies have shown a number of brilliant ways black coffee can help your workout. Drinking moderate amounts an hour before exercising can do worlds for your brain, blood flow, output and aftermath.
Check out some of the perks of having a few sips of coffee before your workout, but make sure it’s freshly ground and avoid creamers, artificial sweeteners and, for Pete’s sake, hit the john before you start your squats. That’s a clever reference to a big coffee chain (Pete’s). Let it soak in.
Speedy Bowel Movements
We might as well get this shit out of the way, so to speak. It’s no secret that caffeine, especially right out the gate in the morning, can hurry the turtles to the race. That, and foods that make you poop, can get the filth out of your system faster, relieving toxins and allowing for a cleaner, smoother workout. There’s nothing worse than crapping your drawers mid-squat, am I right?!
Accelerated Fat Loss
Coffee’s fat-burning abilities mixed with steady workouts is a powerful duo. Small amounts of caffeine enlist fat cells for the workout, instead of glycogen, allowing you to burn those off first. And larger amounts of caffeine increase metabolism, which keeps you burning calories throughout and after your workout. Caffeine is truly becoming the drug of the new generation. And it’s way cheaper than blow, as well as easily accessible!
Increased Blood Flow and Circulation
Japanese studies have found that caffeine also increases blood flow by studying the effects on non-caffeine drinkers, giving regular to some and decaf to others. The people who drank the regular coffee were found to have 30 percent increased blood flow, which allows for better circulation which allows more oxygen to the muscles, and thus, a better workout.
Improved Mental Focus
Like any stimulant, coffee, when not polluted with dairy and dirtied sugars, increases mental capacity and the ability to focus. That focus can prove highly beneficial in the workout scenario, keeping you focused, active and motivated in your exercises. Nobody who ever did great things had a milkshake right before, and I dare you to prove me wrong.
Pain Reduction
The University of Illinois claims that about two cups of coffee one hour before a short workout reduces the perceived muscle pain. Caffeine, which increases blood flow and mental focus, also has the ability to help you push harder, building muscle and endurance at a faster pace, allowing you to move up in strength training at a faster pace as well.
Increased Endurance and Performance
Sports Medicine has found a correlation between coffee and athletes, allowing for greater putout (maybe I should give my girlfriend more coffee) and longer exercises. Other studies have shown that caffeine improves performance in running, weight training and other common exercises, giving people the edge they crave in workouts. And to think, most celebrities are trending for using “non-steroid drugs” that still get them in trouble. Just get on over to Starbucks, bro! Actually, don’t.
Muscle Preservation and Stamina
Sports scientists studied the effects of caffeine on age-related injuries, finding that caffeine was offsetting muscle loss both in the diaphragm and skeletal tissue. This protective property might prove worthy for aging adults who want to work out but commonly face age-related injury. Drinking moderate amounts of caffeine can not only improve the workout, but can also allow exercisers to continue their strength training into the bulk of years where muscle loss is most prevalent.
Prevents Disease
You’d have to have grown up under a large rock to not know exercise is disease preventing, but caffeine can be especially beneficial due to its antioxidant properties. Not only can it help with the workout, but coffee has an inverse relation to diabetes, some cancers, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, meaning the more moderately you drink coffee, the better off you might be down the road.
Better Memory
In 2014, John Hopkins found that caffeine drinkers have better memory within the 24-hour window of consuming caffeine. When testing people by giving either a caffeine dose or a placebo, results showed the caffeine subjects to score significantly higher than those with the placebo.
Muscle Fuel
Although caffeine is recommended before a workout, not so much after, it can also be somewhat beneficial after (as long as you’re hydrating, too!) exercising. In terms of long-term endurance and cardio worker-outers, caffeine has been found to be a double threat when paired with carbs, giving even larger pockets of energy stored in muscles, which can be big for power training and advanced exercises both longer and harder.
You know, that might help you in the sack, too. Everybody wins! Now go chug some coffee.
Eco-friendly advice: Use reusable filters whenever you have a chance, you filthy coffee junkies.
Sources:
Health
Men’s Fitness
Mercola
