Caffeine and Exercise - Does it Help? :

I was amazed when 20 years ago my friend Miles mentioned that his gym had free coffee because it helped people with their workouts. I thought he was joking, but visited his gym and found it was true. There were lots of men and women on treadmills, pumping iron, and riding exercise bikes while drinking coffee! Everyone seemed to think it helped get a great workout. Well, I love coffee, so I tried it, and I'm a convert. I'll often grab a cup of strong coffee like Starbucks and head to the gym with it.

It turns out that researchers have found that 100 milligrams of caffeine or more before a workout, the amount in a small and weaker cup of coffee, improves athletic performance for people who exercise regularly. The effect doesn't seem to be there if you only occasionally exercise. No mechanism has been found but researchers postulate that caffeine may signal your muscles to contract differently and to ignore fatigue. Of course caffeine can have side effects too, and not everyone likes caffeine.

As I love coffee, I'm grabbing a strong cup a couple or more times a week and heading to the gym. Although researchers have suggested the caffeine taken an hour before the workout, I usually start drinking my coffee 10-15 minutes before hand as I head to the gym and finish it off slowly during my workout. The only side effect I have seen is an occasional upset stomach, quite rare, and needing to go to the bathroom more often.