Is coffee good before a workout?

For those who work out, its safe to say that a boost of energy before you exercise is almost imperative. It quite literally makes or break the session. 

When working out one of factors you want to consider is how can you increase muscle mass. Now, whilst the idea of drinking coffee to build muscle may sound imprudent, surprisingly there has been studies that scientifically prove a positive correlation.

One study (conducted by the journal of sports medicine and physical fitness in 2015), examined the effects of acute caffeine absorption in resistance trained males. The study looked at two exercises, the leg press, and the bench press. The participants were instructed to perform 3 sets till failure on each exercise. The results of these tests found that participants who ingested caffeine prior to resistance training, could complete almost 20% more repetitions over 3 sets on leg presses and over 11.5% repetitions over 3 sets on the bench press. So, from looking at this data, the idea of drinking a cup of black MF coffee before going to the gym or training seems extremely attractive, there is clear evidence to show that the consumption of caffeine/coffee directly increases your ability to completing increased loads on weighted exercises which therefore will lead to greater muscle mass being grown.

The next factor we must look at is coffees effect on the bodies natural anabolic hormones. In simpler words. What are some of the effects coffee's having on your muscle building HORMONES? Well, you’ll be glad to know coffee has positive benefits in regard to that too. 

Another study looked at the effect caffeine had on exercise induced testosterone levels. The participants of the study were competitive cyclists and the exercise used in the test were 5 sets of 30 second sprints. The results analysed from the study found that participants who had taken caffeine had increased exercise induced testosterone by 14% when compared to a placebo. With this increase level of testosterone, muscle-building without a doubt becomes easier and faster. With that being said, to truly reap the rewards of one would have to consume coffee completely black. Now, now, I know guys. Coffee without a creamer?! Or sugar? Well, yes small, small sacrifices for big rewards indeed.

Lastly, and we’ve touched on this subject briefly before, is your metabolic rate. Caffeine has been shown to increase your metabolic rate by 3-11%. If you don’t know about what your metabolic rate is and what this means for your workouts I will explain briefly. The higher your body`s metabolic rate, the easier it is to lose body fat and the more calories you can allow yourself to consume without increasing in weight. Therefore, if you are looking to get lean and shed some body fat then increasing your metabolic rate is most definitely going to help in your workouts.

And that’s it guys the benefits of drinking coffee before a workout are; increased physical output, increased anabolic hormone production and an increase in your metabolic rate. All of which will occur when sipping a cup of delicious MF Coffee before you push your body to the limit.