Fitness: start your workout with a cup of coffee

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Canadians love their coffee. Most often a morning habit, a puff of caffeine helps shake off early profanity. But there’s more to caffeine than its ability to jumpstart your day.

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It can also enhance your exercise routine, improving performance for elite and recreational athletes, including the average user looking to get the most out of their training.

Confirmed by the International Olympic Committee as one of the few performance-enhancing supplements, caffeine has long been popular among the world’s top athletes. Urine samples collected from athletes from several sports organizations revealed that 76% of them use caffeinated products before and/or during competition. Widely studied in the laboratory and in real competitions, the results are impressive. Endurance athletes such as cyclists, runners, cross-country skiers and swimmers report a 2-4% performance boost from caffeine, with similar results in strength and power athletes (sprinters, jumpers, throwers and weightlifters).

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Even team sports athletes can benefit from caffeine, with basketball players jumping higher, reacting faster, making more free throws and getting more rebounds, and football players covering more ground and making more accurate passes. .

Quickly absorbed into the bloodstream, caffeine enters the central and peripheral nervous system, where it delays fatigue, improves muscle contraction and increases mental acuity. Caffeine allows athletes to work at a higher intensity for longer. It also improves mental quickness, which is crucial in high-paced matches where the decision to pass, shoot or tackle can mean the difference between winning and losing. Its effects are felt in athletes of all ages and abilities, meaning Masters Athletes and Olympians can share the same performance boost whether in the gym, on the field, in the pool, on the road or on the rink.

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3 to 6 mg per kilogram of body weight produces the best results. A lower dose still improves performance, but to a lesser extent. To get a better idea of ​​how much coffee will put more energy into your workout, the average cup of coffee contains around 100mg of caffeine, although this may vary depending on the type of bean, how it is brewed and cup size.

There are other ways to consume caffeine, including energy drinks and bars, powder (the most common source of caffeine used in lab studies), pills, gummies, gummies and gels, sprays and mouthwashes, all of which enter the bloodstream at different times. fares taking between 30 and 120 minutes to reach their full potential.

A larger dose of caffeine does not mean better results. Overdoing it can do more harm than good, especially if you’re experiencing anxiety before the competition or in your daily life. Caffeine can disrupt sleep, which can negatively affect performance and anxiety.

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It’s also worth noting that not everyone realizes the same performance benefits from caffeine, a result that has been extensively documented in almost every study. Experts aren’t sure why some exercisers and athletes benefit more or less from a dose of caffeine, but genetic and environmental factors, not habitual consumption, seem to affect how we absorb and metabolize caffeine.

Given everything we know about caffeine and athletic performance, there’s little downside to experimenting with combining the two.

Put your love of coffee to good use. An iced coffee about an hour before a run or bike ride in the summer, an extra cup of tea before your early morning swim, or an ice-cold energy drink near the court or field can give you that extra push when you need it. most needed.

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Tips on Using Caffeine to Boost Performance

Start by consuming two cups of coffee 60 minutes before a workout and see how your body responds, remembering not to try anything new just before a game or competition. Significant differences in the amount of caffeine have been found in coffee drinks sold at the same retailer, so don’t treat every cup of coffee the same when it comes to judging how much caffeine you’re consuming. .

Time and adjust the caffeine dose based on your sensitivity and training/competition schedule. And don’t be afraid to experiment with various sources of caffeine, especially if you’re worried that the effects of coffee (running to the bathroom) will ruin your training or competition.

Chewing gums and nose and throat sprays quickly enter the bloodstream, making them a great option for endurance athletes who might benefit from a caffeine boost in the later stages of their training or workout. competition.

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Although lower doses of caffeine have a lesser effect on physical performance, they still have a cognitive effect, improving mood and alertness, which in itself can improve your training or your ability to compete.

Children, youth and adolescents should not consume caffeine before games or a workout. Energy drinks in particular have been overconsumed by teenagers, leading to health problems. So proceed with caution when promoting performance-based supplements designed for adults.