My Experiences with Combining Caffeine and Exercise
It seems like there is always a new article being published about the effects of caffeine on exercise, some are negative and some are positive. Here are my personal experiences with Caffeine and it’s effect on my workouts. When I started exercising on a regular basis I went to the gym early in the morning, so I would drink coffee to wake me up and give my workout a boost. It worked for the hour I was at the gym, but found that the caffeine made me crash by the middle of the day. I tried going without caffeine and found that I could not work out at the same intensity and fatigue set in fairly quickly.
About eight months I read Jillian Michaels’ Making the Cut: The 30-Day Diet and Fitness Plan for the Strongest, Sexiest You and in it she recommends using guarana and white willow bark (natural aspirin). According to Jillian, ” Guarana contains a compound nearly identical to caffeine. Unlike caffeine, which produces an energy surg and quick drop-off, guarana is not readily water -soluble and therefore is not to quickly absorbed. Guarana’s caffeine is released much more slowly, over a period of hours, producing an energy boost that continues to escalate gradually. Caffeine is most effective in fat burning when it is combine with white willow bark. “ So I started using it before my runs and workouts, and was able to workout intensely for 2 hours each day, I met my weight loss and fitness goals, and did not have a severe crash in energy afterwards. But now that my weight is down (still want to lose a few more pounds but at this point they are vanity pounds) and I am exercising more moderately, I do not use it as often. I have not been using it on most of my runs, but I do when I go to the gym for weight training, am going for a long run and on those days when I feel sluggish. So overall Caffeine has been a good tool to help me reach my weight and fitness goals.
If you are interested in some of the pros and cons of caffeine usage here are some informative article:
http://www.active.com/running/Articles/The_Caffeinated_Runner.htm
http://us.commercial.lifefitness.com/content.cfm/theeffectsofcaffeineonexerciseperformance_2
http://exercise.about.com/od/healthinjuries/f/caffeine.htm
Slow and Steady Still Finishes the Race
-Middalia Wayman
Filed under: Diet and fitness
very interesting. i’ve never tried guarana but maybe i will before a long run. caffeine was a topic of conversation today as well with a fellow runner. he pounds back espresso just to keep going through the day but i can’t do that – i get too shaky and dizzy. you may just have given me a suitable substitute.
I go up and down with coffee. I always run in AM so don’t have any before, but I usually have a cup and a half after, then a cup in the afternoon. But I’ve been slowly replacing my second AM cup and my afternoon cup with decaf, making them half and half, and I feel better. I do think caffeine nmakes you crash. however, I do know that in some long runs in the PM I’ve had, if i had coffee before I ran like you know what!!
Coffee also dehydrates, so if you are running a lot you should always follow up a cup with a glass of water, then drink the normal amount of water. I’ve found I’m more thirsty on days when I have more coffee.