Your Best Gym Time: Caffeine Boosts While Training by Tina Jo Orban

Feeling Sluggish? Tired? Are you being pulled in many directions (namely, away your
training)? Is your training in the gym perfunctory? And through the holidays did you crush your workouts— or rush your workouts? How can you get back on track with kick-ass gym time? One word: Caffeine. Thus far, the 2019 Holiday season, personally have been able to stay on track with my fitness. My nutrition of course got derailed with the cookies and holiday libations.
It got me thinking on my more energetic days and better training days were the days brought my ‘Joe’ to the gym. (Not Jim to the Gym that’s another story). Good old coffee may just help you perform better. I know, I know a lot of you probably already drink coffee: Starbucks, Peets, Tully’s, Black Rifle, Joe and the Juice— whatever, and that is great! But studies show its just pure unadulterated coffee that has the best effect on power and performance. I am very aware of the Ghee Craze and Bulletproof Coffee and DIY ‘Bulletproof-esque’coffee/butter drinks. While the butter and Ghee may give you a sense of fullness, it is the caffeine in the coffee that allows for increased performance. On that note mochas and lattes with sugary syrups, and whipped cream probably won’t help you with your workouts or your waistline. Back to MCT and Ghee additives to your coffee: I am not against Bulletproof, in fact MCTs can help you feel fuller so stave off hunger yet provides you energy to train—And powerfully so, as medium chain triglycerides are more easily digested and broken down. That said, DIY (butter in your coffee) could have a different effect, slower digestion and if you are lactose sensitive butter still has the milk fats and lactose sugars in it. That is where Ghee comes in. Ghee has used by ancient Indian and middle Eastern cultures. It’s like clarified butter. Milk fats are removed. Ghee added to your black coffee can also help your feeling of satiety and allow you to be hunger free for hours. Satiety and blood sugar levels are certainly linked, but satiety let us not forget is partly psychological. That is some people like the action of chewing or “feel” deprived if they don’t eat food instead of drink it. Back to caffeine and why IT will help you kick-ass in the gym: A 2005 study titled “Caffeine maintains vigilance and improves run times during night operations for Special Forces” showed data to back the title. Likewise, another article titled “Coffee Ingestion Improves 5 km Cycling Performance in Men and Women” also reported data to prove enhanced performance of the caffeine consuming study subjects. You may already be using caffeine just to get you going in the AM and then head to the gym. A tangent note here: This is one more reason I am a proponent of MORNING workouts and not night ones. (Unless that is your required work/sleep schedule). What I am saying is: if you work out at night and cut coffee early in the day you may be missing the added performance effect of caffeine! The conclusion of all this is: Caffeine is a proven ergogenic aid to your training. And you are probably reading this article (hopefully with your ‘cup of joe’ because you want all the tips and tricks that can help you be your best in the gym.

Back to Issues