danny_boy

Hey,

I am a runner, and have been told that coffee before a highly intensive workout of 30 mins or more is good. Reason, is when you exercise you get your fuel from carbs stored as glycogen and fats. When your pace goes from moderate to intense, the balance shifts so that you use more glycogen and less fat. Apparently, caffeine restores this balance.

Now, the above is irrelevant for my question...sorry. But, after a workout, is coffee a bad idea ? I know it is a diuretic and can therefore dehydrate you, but is one coffee occasionally after a run a bad idea.

Thanks.

hrandani

Caffiene is an effective drug that isn't give a lot of credit, and I would not recommend using it on a daily basis with no reverence to its power.

That being said, I use it a lot, as does most of Western society. Sugar as well shouldn't be used as much as it is, but there's not a lot I can do about that.

Caffiene and coffee have different properties, however. A noted case is that of the King of Switzerland giving coffee and tea to a pair of twins imprisoned for some crime - he let them live in exchange for being his guinea pigs, and the one who drank coffee in addition to his daily meals and identical regime died after the one drinking tea. Thus coffee was endorsed as the drink of choice in Switzerland, where they continue to drink it far more than other countries per capita.

This is not an urban legend, but was in a historical document regaling the history of coffee's medicinal purposes.

Having said all that I don't see any reason why you should be drinking coffee for the express purposes of working out, as I really doubt it helps a healthy workout. Caffiene is not healthy energy and it will not give you a healthy burn. Stick to water and complex carbs.

jbw97361

Caffiene is just a mild stimulant. The only time I ever have caffiene is when I am truly pooped out after a long day, and need a little bit of a energy revitalization before working out. Then again, i'm not dependant on caffiene like some people. I can go for weeks at a time without any if I dont need it.

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JBW

danny_boy

to get something straight...

i am not suggesting to use coffee as part of my workout. I simply like it, and often want one after a long run.

maleficent

know I heard about it on the television show, Quantum Leap, and I did ask my doctor and he said it was correct.

Caffeine has long been known to help asthmatics and many have found regular consumption of coffee to assist in moderating attacks. It helps keep the bronchio- something or other open- -I'd imagine that owuld be a good thing fo a runner

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raeanna74

Here's my 2 cents.

Caffeine is a vasoconstrictor. If you have high blood pressure then I would recommend that you find something without caffeine in it to drink after a workout. When you work out your blood pressure increases, add caffeine on top of it and for someone with high blood pressure this could get dangerous for your heart.

Caffeine is often use in diet pills because it increases the metabolism. This is temporary though so if you use them to loose weight and then go back to your normal regime you will gain the weight back quite quickly once your metabolism returns to normal.

If you aren't using it for diet purposes, you don't have high blood pressure, this could be just fine. Caffeine does contribute to your body producing more endorphines so if you get sore after a workout you may not feel it quite as much after drinking the coffee because the endorphines block the pain receptors. The effect is quite mild so unless you drink a lot of coffee you probably won't really notice a difference.

I found this site informative. Look at how coffee/caffeine works in your body and make your own decision if it's helpful or hurtful.

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