So that cup of coffee isn’t helpful for just getting you going in the morning as there is more reasons to drink coffee than you possibly knew…
Caffeine improves endurance performance. 2-4% increase in performance could equate to a 40 to 80 second improvement in a 35-minute race. Despite 30+ years of research demonstrating that caffeine improves endurance performance, the secret behind somewhat a mystery is the alterations in fat metabolism leading to less use of glycogen stores, but also the increase in central nervous system actions leading to increased force production in your muscles.
Power up your workout. Research has indicated that caffeine improves force production and power in larger muscle groups, such as the quadriceps, compared to smaller muscles. A study was performed using leg and arm cycling, during this approach, participants performed 30 minutes at a moderate-intensity followed by a 10-minute maximal effort time trial. On a separate day, following caffeine ingestion (5mg·per kg of body weight) work performance during the 10 minute time trial increased with leg cycling, but not during arm cycling. This supports the theory that caffeine ingestion enhances performance output in larger muscle groups versus smaller muscles. Therefore save your caffeine potent pre-workouts and espresso’s for leg day and training for quad-destruction as oppose to getting your arms pumped up for a night out on the town. This is beneficial for those that follow a split training routine and divide muscle groups in each workout. The use of caffeine pre-workout will be ineffective when training arms for strength-based performance.
Promote your fat burning furnace – In an effort to assess the effects of caffeine ingestion on fat metabolism and performance during prolonged exercise, nine competitive cyclists exercised until exhaustion. One trial was performed an hour after ingesting decaffeinated coffee, while a second trial required each participant to consume coffee containing 330 mg of caffeine 60 minutes before the exercise. Following the ingestion of caffeine, the cyclists were able to perform an average of 90.2 min of cycling as compared to an average of 75.5 min in the other trial group.
Measurements of fat metabolism, was significantly higher in the caffeine trial with cyclists using 118g free fatty acids where as the decaffeinated trial oxidized 57g. The enhanced endurance performance observed in the second trial was likely the combined effects of caffeine on lipolysis (fat metabolism) and its positive influence on nerve impulse transmission and force production.
This not a secret to fat loss and is not effective if you don’t manage your calorie intake and training output.
Coffee helps inhibit the absorption of sugar in the gut
Stimulate brain function. Caffeine is the most widely consumed stimulant to pick your head up off the desktop and stimulate your nervous system. Caffeine increases energy metabolism throughout the brain. The effects of caffeine can improve learning, memory, performance and coordination. However if you’re fatigued then caffeine will not help you as fatigue will outweigh caffeines ability to stimulate the brain. Caffeine effects vary according to an individual’s sensitivity to caffeine.
If you’re going to have one coffee a day, make it a good one. Chris Williams
When I first meet up with a client that wants to transform their bodyshape, this initial consultation is one of the most important parts of their Jake Wood experience. Firstly, this is the first step and this can be the most daunting one of them all. But more importantly I can gather as much information about your lifestyle as possible in order to improve your health first. As a personal trainer, if I can improve your health first and help you adopt an improved and sustainable lifestyle then you have the toolbox to transform your body shape. This brings me on to my next point which is more common in company directors and business men and business women I work with to get in better shape. They enjoy coffee at work, in meetings, and often when traveling around the world too. Many clients drink upto 10 coffee’s per day from first thing in the morning to last thing before bedtime and they are not concerned about the effects of this on their health. Yes, there is no studies will tell you much more than you may get the jitters when you consume a lot of caffeine. However from my experience with training the average “joe bloggs” I can tell you that this is a big sign of being over-worked, chronic fatigued, or lack of sleep therefore you become reliant on the benefits of coffee and it’s feel good factor to help you battle through each day. I would recommend to all my clients to limit their coffee intake down to 4 per day maximum at this stage with no milk or sugar if course. This will help bring back your caffeine sensitivity as no doubt these receptors have been “bleached out” and do not appreciate the potency of caffeine in the body. The reduction in caffeine consumption will also support your sleep quality. The benefits of sleep quality is a whole new chapter to talk about but to summarise this in one sentence, it is one of the most under-valued factors in achieving optimal health and fat loss results.
Thanks for your reading my blog and I hope this can help you enjoy coffee as a part of your lifestyle. Check out more blogs from JWPT.
Stay Strong! Thanks Jake Wood
