How can coffee help you with training?
When we think of coffee, we just thing off caffeine and the way it wake us up in the morning. And if you think this way you are thinking the wrong way. You should actually have a coffee way after you have woken up because your body will naturally have more cortisol in it. If you add more coffee the cortisol will increase. Making the coffee less effective during the day if you have another one.
How can you can use coffee to help training
I sometimes use coffee before I do cardiovascular session. Usually a HIIT or plyo session because it’s going to get the heart pumping. Your body will also be more awake before going into the training. You will find that if you didn’t have a coffee you will take longer to get going. However, with the coffee you can go straight in from the outset. Making your session in hand more beneficial in your training routine.
You can also use it before sports or events you do. You feel more aware and awake in the moment. Giving yourself more of a benefit over the others. Be careful though, you will also have pre event nervousness which you will have to transfer into being excited. You will have to learn to control this through time. Instead of feeling anxious or nervous.
This will also give you the upper hand, But it will take time and a lot of events to get past this feeling. That’s why when you see an olympic race, the athletes are composed and happy to be there. This is because they’ve been though hundreds of races and in there first race they probably felt the same way you did. Your coffee can be a great way to wake up your senses before a race because of the caffeine. But treat it with respect.
If you’re a personal trainer
If you’re a personal trainer in Windsor and you use coffee throughout the day to stay awake. It can be detrimental to your health and you will start to feel the stain more. You can get through the day in a much healthier way by prioritising time. For example, If I have an early morning I go to sleep a lot earlier so that I can get up earlier. You can also do this, it may sound dorky but it helps tremendously. You can also take a mid day 20 minute nap (if you have the time). This will energise you for the evening shift. If you try these two things and minimise the coffee intake to 1 a day at a certain time. It will help you feel better. I feel as a trainer I see people using coffee way to much. Not only that its bad for you in high quantities, its not a great advert for your clients.
If you’re a a busy person
If you are a person that wakes up early to get to work or get to the gym before work. You’ll have to get up between 5:30am and 6:00am. You might feel like having your coffee then will be beneficial to you and your right it will help your training. However, Our bodies naturally wake up as the sun gets higher in the sky. We are animals that wake with the sun. Meaning by the time the sun is up we naturally have chemicals produced in the body to wake our body up. So, you might want to think about what time you drink your coffee. It might be good to have it around 1pm or 12:30 to help you get through the rest of the day. I know that around this time it is when I start to feel tired on the days I wake up at 5:30am.
PT’s perspective
If you can organise your sleep and your food in the right way you will start to feel like you don’t need as much coffee. And before your workout, if you feel excited you will start to feel like you don’t need a coffee because your body will naturally wake up. It is bad for your heart to keep it pumping faster throughout the day. So, try to minimise your caffeine intake gradually. This will give your heart a rest and it will also help to make you sleep better at night.