Drinking coffee helps you work out
A study conducted by a physiology professor at the University of Sao Paulo suggests that there’s a real, scientifically verifiable link between caffeine and more effective workouts.
If you’ve ever woken up at an ungodly hour for a workout and thought, “Wow I could really use all of the caffeine right now,” consider this your wakeup call. A study conducted by a physiology professor at the University of Sao Paulo suggests that there’s a real, scientifically verifiable link between caffeine and more effective workouts.
As reported by The Cut, professor Bruno Gualano decided to test this theory because he’s both an exercise buff and a huge coffee drinker. So he gathered a sample size of competitive male cyclists and split them up into groups based on how much coffee they already drank. He then tested them based on no caffeine intake, a placebo, and then a 400-milligram caffeine pill — the equivalent of four robust brews.
From there, Gualano got the results he’d expected. Given a specific workout goal of burning 450 calories, participants who’d taken the real caffeine pill were on average 3.3 percent faster on the bike than those who didn’t. The placebo, it must be noted, still gave a 2.2 percent bump. But the real surprise was that this increase was across the board, whether the study participants rarely drank coffee or drank a lot of it.
Though Gualano still doesn’t have an upper limit for this coffee/caffeine boost, it’s safe to say that maybe getting your morning coffee down before you head to the gym isn’t just good for your general alertness but maybe even for your workout. With all things, practice moderation — but if you’re already in the caffeine habit, this workout hack seems like the real deal.(SD-Agencies)
