Why Coffee Will Benefit Your Workout!

Have you ever wondered how to boost your workout when at the gym? Have you ever thought to yourself, how can I make my exercise routine more intense and beneficial for my body? There are many commercial products you can buy that claim to make you “burn more fat” when working out or make you “sweat out more calories”. Who knows if these actually work, not to mention they definitely burn a hole in your wallet! Well, your go-to morning drink may be the answer to these questions: COFFEE!

Why is coffee beneficial for workouts?

When you drink coffee, it fights against physical fatigue occurring in your body. Physical fatigue causes you to be less willing to complete your workout at the intensity you would like to, as you feel tired faster and not want to finish exercising. Avoiding this state will allow endurance to increase, therefore being able to, for example, run longer on the treadmill without getting a feeling like we have to stop as soon as one usually would. This also improves your mental focus, pushing you to concentrate more on what you’re doing.

How does it help with exercise performance?

Coffee contains caffeine – the main reason most of us drink it! Caffeine helps to strengthen muscle contractions. This helps performance by assisting our body move itself during exercise, and potentially decreasing ‘perception of pain’ in the body. Many people feel like they have to terminate their workout because they’re body begins to ache or hurt, so this specific benefit will definitely help keep your intensity up and train longer!

Coffee helps burn fat.

Instead of glycogen being used as the normal energy source for the body during workouts, coffee can cause body fat cells to be used instead. This, in turn, will cause the fat on your body to decrease more from your workout than if you didn’t consume it. Caffeine also increases metabolism (the processes in which cells produce the energy to sustain life in the body). So, the calories you burn in exercise and simply throughout the day will also be amplified.

Now, sadly, these benefits get quickly outweighed if you put a ton of sugary creamer into your coffee. Prior to your workout, try taking your coffee black or with just pure half and half in it!

Article written by GUADS intern Julia, with contributions from www.sciencedaily.com, www.coffeescience.org, and www.mensjournal.com.