drinking coffee before training

[7foot8foot]

I hear alot of guys here say it beats energy drinks but i hear also its really not good too cause the crash really brings you down so which is it

 

[WhereYouAtFool**]

It's never bothered me any. I'll have a couple of cups before my run and roll sessions. But beware. Make sure you get the post coffee shits out of the way cause Coffee is a big laxative.

Last thing you need is to have your cup and start whatever then have the shits.

 

[CouchStud]

It's virtually the same thing as an energy drink since the active ingredient in energy drinks is Caffeine. The major difference is that you can brew some very good coffee for $0.20 whereas an energy drink is going to cost at least $2.00.

I also agree with the other commenter that you need to crap after you drink coffee. You'll feel cleansed and unbloated before training. It's always good to crap everyday and you only need to look at Brock Lesnar as an example. Elvis had like 40 lbs of crap in his intestines when they did the autopsy.

 

[CeleresVerraden]

caffeine is fine, and recommended by many cause it does improve strength and endurance. energy drinks are looked down upon for the high simple sugar content, black coffee i believe is sugar free.

 

[marian]

I hear alot of guys here say it beats energy drinks but i hear also its really not good too cause the crash really brings you down so which is it

Coffee is delicious & a known performance enhancer (It's on the WADA list, or was at one point, but one has to consume near deadly amounts of caffeine to be pull a pos).

Personally, I'd bet the crash from some of those fancy-pants neon-colored drinks is way harder than the crash that comes from a morning cuppa.

 

[hardheart]

Coffee doesn't have a crash.....at least if you don't put a mountain of sugar in it there won't be a crash

 

[Gary Peters]

So drink the sugar-free energy drinks.

 

[Ironpants]

There are HUGE benefits to coffee pre-workout...

Caffeine Therapy | Dangerously Hardcore

caffeine—often in the form of coffee because of the additional cholinomimetic stimulants1,2—because of the cognitive-enhancing abilities3,4, the fat-burning properties5-14, because it increases testosterone levels during training15 and not because recent research shows that caffeine increases nitrous oxide (NO) production16. I don’t even care that caffeine raises your pain threshold, allowing me to push a little harder...17-21

 

[MMAsuppguru]

Coffee is G2G for training purposes as the caffeine will trigger MAOI inhibition, great for a rapid neuron firing brain and boosts in testosterone due to the increases in dopamine and acethylcholine.

 

[marian]

So drink the sugar-free energy drinks.

Yeah, but there's issues w/sugar substitutes tho, eh?
Personally, I feel way more comfortable w/a cuppa because I see the beans go from whole to grinds to liquid motivation rather than opening a can of energy drink that contains god knows what.

 

[spyu]

I just take caffeine pills. But I only use it when I have a fitness test or something.

I take about 300mg an hour prior. It certainly helps and I feel fine afterwards.

 

[Steakeater**]

You get a coffee crash about 2-3 hours after taking it.

If you training is 3 hours or more, each some energy beans or something in between, since they have some caffeine in it. You'll need some carbs for training that long anyway

 

[Gary Peters]

Yeah, but there's issues w/sugar substitutes tho, eh?

Such as? And provide something worthwhile not "they cause cancer."

 

[marian]

"Food intake at lunchtime was significantly greater following the saccharin compared with the plain preload, and parallel effects were revealed by the motivational ratings. Saccharin also stimulated further increases in intake after lunch. Food intake was lowest following the high-energy preloads, with the starch supplemented yogurt producing somewhat the largest suppression of intake."

"Consumption of sweeteners resulted in significantly increased body weight; however, the food intake did not change.These results question the effect of non-caloric artificial sweeteners on weight-maintenance or body weight decrease."

"Our laboratory has suggested that rats exposed to saccharin, showed increased in body weight and caloric intake, compared to rats exposed to the caloric sweetener glucose."

"Additional pertinent information includes the demonstration of significant mutagenic activity by aspartame with a standard assay method;3 the potential alterations of the MDM2 oncoprotein bound to the p53 tumour suppressor transactivation domain by phenylalanine and aspartic acid,4 the two aminoacid components of aspartame; and the steep rise of primary lymphoma of the nervous system noted by Yau and colleagues5 in non-immunocompromised patients since 1981."

but, you know, correlation≠causation.
(& for the record, there have been a couple of studies that have show that coffee/caffeine does have mild mutagenic properties, however it is difficult to determine if the mutagenic properties stem from the beans or from chemicals used to make coffee grounds, the bleached filters, &c.)

 

[spyu]

2005: Italians full of bologna test 4k rats. zomg! aspartme=cancer

2006: EFSA says Italian study wrong and that's ALL u need 2 know

US FDA says F that! We want to see for ourselves. And then says:
Oh ok! It's fine unless you have phenylketonuria. Then probably not as fine. And that's our official position.

And that's all I've got to say about that.

 

[amiller353]

I don't believe there are any health benefits to energy drinks. At least coffee is natura.

 

[Gary Peters]

The purpose of coffee or energy drink prior to training is for a kick in the ass from caffeine. I doubt people are drinking them pre-workout for health benefits. Those studies are pretty worthless in this scenerio...

 

[UTAMore]

All the major pre-workout supps have ~300 mg caffiene in them--should tell you something. I quit taking them because they're expensive and loaded with random crap, plus, too much caffiene every day is bad for you and reduces your tolerance. Now I mix my own ****tail of BCAAs beta-Alanine and creatine and yes I'll have some coffee an hour or so before working out. I do crash on coffee but not usually until 4 hours afterward so that's not that big of a deal. So I'll do on caffiene for 5 days per week then take 2 days off to cleanse my system and build back up my tolerance. I read somewhere that caffiene stays in your system for 48 hours. Who knows. Broscience ftw.

Edit: oh yeah and +1 re pooping after coffee. That's why I build in that lag time.

 

[Warmonger 99]

I like to drink green tea while I work out.