For many people, including athletes, a cup of coffee in the morning is a ritual. After all, some simply cannot imagine their life without coffee.
However, can you drink coffee just before training? And if so, how much and what can replace caffeine? Let's try to give answers to these questions in this material.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Taking Caffeine Before Workout
Disputes about the effect of coffee on the body have not subsided for a long time: some are sure of the absolute harm of this drink, others - of its benefits. Which one is right?
Advantage
There are several points that speak about the benefits of caffeine before running. They are as follows:
- Caffeine is one of the main sources of magnesium (and it, in turn, is extremely necessary for an athlete, including a runner, because magnesium is the reason for accelerating metabolism, as well as activating the process of fat burning).
- Our body will be more resilient, its efficiency will increase, and strength and power will also increase. According to some studies, caffeine acts not on the central nervous system, but on the muscles, while an athlete weighing about one hundred kilograms can drink up to five to seven cups a day. But remember that excessive consumption of coffee is unsafe and threatens with various "side effects". Also
- With the help of coffee, drunk before jogging, there is one or two cups of this drink will speed up the process of glycogen synthesis in the muscles, as well as speed up fat burning. After drinking coffee, a runner has a faster reaction according to research.
- Coffee works great on the brain, removes drowsiness, increases strength and endurance.
- According to some American scientists, this drink will reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease, and also inhibit the development of breast cancer in women.
Harm
We mentioned the benefits of coffee. However, one should not forget about the possible harm from its use.
In particular, there are contraindications for drinking this drink before a running workout, such as:
- coffee can cause heart muscle confusion. If you have heart problems, high blood pressure, tachycardia - this will be a serious argument against taking this drink. It is better to drink hot tea - it is both healthier and safer.
- you should always remember about coffee addiction (it is akin to nicotine addiction). Hence the danger of an overdose of this drink and possible health problems.
- a lot of drunk coffee can lead to another trouble - a violation of the water balance in the body, and even dehydration, which is extremely dangerous.
- it is not recommended to abuse coffee for easily excitable and irritable people, as well as for those who suffer from insomnia, or such diseases as glaucoma, hypertension, atherosclerosis, and so on.
How much to drink a day?
As you can see, coffee is not such an easy drink and in no case should it be overused. So, the average daily dose of this drink for a person who weighs about eighty kilograms should not exceed four hundred grams of caffeine (this is about three to four cups of the drink). This applies to athletes.
There is also another calculation formula developed by the head of the sports nutrition department of the Australian Institute of Sports, Louis Barcl. He believes that coffee should be consumed at the rate of one milligram per kilogram of the athlete's weight. That is, an athlete weighing eighty kilograms should drink no more than 120 ml of this drink daily.
But for those who are not very friends with sports, you need to further limit the use of coffee, one or two cups a day will be enough.
Caffeine replacement
Have you been banned from coffee? You can try replacing this drink with decaf - the so-called decaffeinated drink. The peculiarity of decaphom is that all excess caffeine was removed from green coffee grains as a result of special processing. However, the taste and aroma remained.
Green tea is also an excellent substitute for coffee. It will also serve as a great stimulant, although this drink is not suitable for cores either.
In addition, the following drinks can serve as an alternative to coffee:
- tincture of ginseng, which will help reduce the risk of dizziness. She invigorates, gives energy.
- various juices, compotes, fruit drinks, in a word, drinks with a high content of vitamin C. They also have an invigorating effect. However, it is recommended to drink juices freshly squeezed, best of all: from grapefruit, orange, lemon.
- loved by many since childhood cocoa.
- Spices, such as cinnamon, nutmeg, or ginger, can also invigorate. They should be poured with boiling water, drunk after insisting, adding lemon or berries.
So, at the end, let's summarize. As we were able to see, coffee, in principle, can be useful before exercise, it will improve your well-being, give you a boost of energy and vigor. Coffee is especially effective before long-distance races.
But after running classes, it is better to refrain from coffee. However, it must be remembered that only a healthy person should take coffee. If there are many contraindications to coffee, you should give it up, or you can quite successfully find an almost equivalent replacement for it.
