Can you imagine how horrible life would be without coffee? Like its Monday morning seven days a week horrible. My son recently nabbed a bag of coffee that I just bought and bolted out the door to the backyard where he and my daughter played keep away with daddy's caffeinated container.
Yes, they are horrible little human beings bent on world domination one sleep deprived parent at a time. I'll tell you what, they didn't learn that little trick from me! Actually, they're both pretty awesome, every once in a while they just briefly hiccup in their decision making process.
Back to the original plot line and a world without coffee. I for one, refuse to live in that kind of world. My guess is it would look a little something like this:
Your alarm goes off
You want to go off on your alarm
The "Turn" binge watch session the night before has just turned you into a Grumpy-saurus Rex. Watch this show, it is awesome! Its like the Revolutionary War version of "24" from first two or three seasons. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I hate that Cpt Simco, he's an evil dude. In fact, if the Joker lived in Colonial times, he'd be him! Now, that's a guy that needed more coffee.
Basically its an OMG FML start to your day.
Once you do haul your carcass out of bed, you stumble over to the coffee pot, and luckily you're reading Craig Ballantyne's "Perfect Day Formula" (AMAZING BOOK, get it and smooth out your days), which means your morning was planned out the night before, you've preloaded the coffee pot before you went to bed and all you have to do is hit the "On" button. At this point you're only a few minutes away from HELL YES BABY!!! BRING IT!!!
What does this have to do with fitness and exercise? A little pre-workout coffee can help you train better and here's why (1):
1) Faster fat loss
2) Performance improvements
3) Dialed in focus
4) Reduced muscular pain
5) You may fight off certain diseases better
"Caffeine is definitely a performance-enhancing drug, but don't let that scare you," says DFitLife's Daniella Dayoub, also my partner in PE at the studio. "I have to say that a quick shot of caffeine usually does my workouts good. Not only does it make you more alert (ready to tackle more complex moves), but the extra adrenaline gets the blood pumping and helps propel you towards a more intense workout."
Need more proof? Try these on for size (2):
1) Improved memory
2) Improved circulation
3) Caffeine has been found to offset the loss of muscle due to aging.
4) Coffee can help with post exercise muscle glycogen replenishment.
"I'd save your use of caffeine pre-workout for those days when you really need it," says Dayoub. "Keep in mind, you don't always need to be in "beast mode." But sometimes, it's really fun!"
So, coffee good stuff. Moderate it the right way, and it can be a very useful tool for a great workout.
Thanks for reading, have an awesome week!
References:
1) "Crush Your Workouts With Coffee," Parker Cote ISSA, CFT, Men's Fitness
2) "5 Reasons to Drink Coffee Before Your Workout," Cynthia Sass, MPH, RD, Health.com