Some athletes like to abstain from caffeine until they need that legal boost right before a race while others indulge in caffeine before their home gym workouts.
If you want to be able to enjoy your daily caffeinated beverage but are worried that it will affect your performance, stop worrying so much. According to recent research, those who were daily caffeine indulgers did not build up a tolerance to the effect of caffeine on race day and enjoyed an equal boost the same as those who did not intake caffeine.
With that myth out of the way, we can tell you how to best use caffeine to complement your workout routine.
Coffee And Tea Deliver Caffeine Slowly To Prep For Workouts
For slow-burning energy, you can choose to indulge in coffee or tea. Now, these drinks won’t make you feel like you need to jump on your treadmill for a HIIT workout. Instead, the energizing effects of the caffeine are dulled down a bit by the other ingredients in tea and coffee.
So, before you drink multiple cups chasing a fix, keep in mind that you are shooting for slowly elevated levels of energy, not a quick jump. Other considerations when using coffee or tea as your exercise boost are:
Other Caffeine-Based Stimulants Offer Faster Energy
There are, of course, other ways to pick up your workout energy fix. These include options like 5-Hour Energy, various brands of pre-workout mix, caffeinated sodas, powdered caffeine, and more. These caffeine-packed options kick in much faster than tea and coffee.
This faster effect is usually due to two reasons — lack of dilution and speed. These caffeine options are engineered to provide fast-acting energy releases, with very little of the natural elements tea and coffee have inside them. Instead, you take in what is close to a straight chemical cocktail. Also, most of us do not chug our coffee or tea at the same speed that we would throw back a 5-Hour Energy or soda.
However, as these energy-packed options deliver faster caffeine, they also have more potential things to watch out for:
Don’t Go Beyond The Caffeine Threshold
At some point, you will not be able to safely boost your energy level with caffeine. Health-centric organizations like the Mayo Clinic recommend up to 400 milligrams (mg) of caffeine daily for a healthy adult. So, to avoid many of the adverse side effects of using caffeine to improve your workouts, stick to keeping your intake below 400 mg.
To pick up a more natural energy boost and keep your workouts fresh, pick up NordicTrack equipment at a discounted rate with our NordicTrack promotion codes, and see how fast you improve.