This Is How Drinking Coffee Can Help You Reach Your Fitness Goals

Coffee has a major role to play in fitness. People often ask questions about whether having coffee before a workout is bad or not. It’s a known fact that having a cup of coffee keeps you active. However, drinking coffee before and after a workout session can do wonders for your health. Coffee offers you a host of benefits that can help you get the maximum out of your workouts. Below are some ways that reveal how coffee is beneficial for you when you are working out, how much coffee should you have in a day, and at what time should drink a cup before and after you are done with your gym session. Get started.

Coffee Helps You Focus More On Your Workouts

Adenosine is a chemical that all human cells contain. The neurotransmitter happens to be a by-product of the process in which the body breaks down food to derive energy. That’s why you feel sleepy after a meal. Caffeine leads to alertness by getting attached to your brain’s adenosine receptors and blocking them. This helps you stay active and carry out all the tougher workouts, thus helping you attain your fitness goals.

Coffee Helps You Improve Your Performance

Coffee contains caffeine. When caffeine enters your body, your blood pressure, and heart rate increase. Fatty acids enter the system with the breaking down of fats. According to several studies, fitness, athletic performance, and caffeine consumption before a workout are connected. If reports are to be believed, athletes get that extra energy to train with greater power and for a long period of time after caffeine intake. Research says that those who had coffee before running 1500 meters on a treadmill, tend to complete the entire thing 4.2 seconds faster than those who didn’t.

Coffee Helps in Decreasing Pain in Your Muscles

If you are experiencing body pain, you can’t ignore that. This is an indication that something in your workouts is not right. However, if you have the desire to go beyond your comfort zone, it can prove to be quite helpful sometimes. Those who have a cup of coffee before their workouts don’t experience as much pain as those who didn’t consume coffee. As discussed earlier, caffeine binds itself to the brain’s adenosine receptors and blocks them. You perceive pain in your body because of these adenosine receptors. Aside from blocking this perception of pain, caffeine consumption also leads to the release of beta-endorphins, dopamine, as well as pain-killing neurotransmitters. Caffeine has a dual effect on pain and that helps you push yourself more and more through those moments in your workouts when you feel like quitting.

Coffee Helps Your Body to Recover After a Workout

You have already got an idea of how coffee consumption before exercising is good for you. But how beneficial is it to have coffee after a workout session? Having coffee during post-workout is equally beneficial as it helps you to heal from muscle soreness. Having a cup of coffee one day or two days after exercising, reduces pain by almost 50%. Why do you feel pain in the first place? Whenever you are working out, your body is gradually adapting to it and improving in the process. This leads to inflammation within your body that causes pain. If the inflammation is more than usual, the recovery can get delayed and might also result in an illness. Coffee contains natural anti-oxidants that have an integral role to play when your body is going through the recovery process.  Caffeine helps your body fill up the energy stores after a workout.

Coffee Helps in Speeding Up Fat Loss

The fat-burning properties of coffee are one of the best benefits that your body can get. So, when you have it before a workout, the fat cells will be used as a source of energy. Black coffee is high in caffeine content and helps in increasing your body’s metabolism. You can burn more calories and that is enhanced if you drink coffee before starting your workout session. Caffeine, along with other compounds in coffee help in suppressing your appetite. Therefore, your overall consumption is less.

A host of studies have stated that coffee plays a major role in improving performance in sports and that applies to both men and women.