Wednesday 21 May 2008

Coffee... A Pre-Workout Drink?



















A recent study carried out a test in exploring the effect of coffee and caffeine before exercise.

A group of nine men took part in five trials... one hour before each run, the men took one of the following:
  • A placebo
  • Caffeine capsules
  • De-caffeinated coffee with caffeine added
  • Regular coffee
Performance times were up to 10 times longer in subjects using the caffeine capsules, with no differences in times among the other trials.


Since the level of caffeine absorption was similar during the caffeine trials, researchers concluded that the coffee itself interferes with caffeine’s performance-enhancing effects.


This makes sense considering that there are literally hundreds of compounds dissolved when coffee beans are roasted, ground and extracted. Results of this research suggest that if benefits of caffeine on endurance times are desired, caffeine capsules work better than coffee


Before you make Starbucks part of your pre-workout warm-up in order to harness the effects of caffeine, be aware that simply downing a grande may not give you similar benefits found in these studies.

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