Drink Coffee To Lift More Weight

Coffee: The Most Effective, Legal Performance Booster

Drink coffee to lift more weight. The medical community is finally changing its view on coffee as a beverage that should be avoided. Just as compelling, the caffeine in coffee is by far the most effective legal performance enhancing aid available.

A study published in the International Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism tested the effect of consuming 4 mg per kg of body weight prior to strength training. Researchers wanted to see how caffeine affected motivation and training volume. The study participants were professional athletes who were self-classified as either “sleep deprived” or “rested.” They performed four sets of bench press, squats, and bent over rows at 85 percent of the 1RM.

Having ingested caffeine led the sleep-deprived group to lift significantly more reps than a placebo sleep-deprived group. The caffeine group performed equal volume of work as a rested placebo group (no caffeine but adequately rested).

Researchers also measured testosterone and cortisol response to training. The elevations in these hormones correlated to the volume of load lifted, indicating that caffeine did not affect hormone response.

The study supports other research showing the benefits of caffeine when needing to perform in a sleep-deprived state. The same research group found that throwing a large dose of creatine into the caffeine supplement will improve skill performance more than just taking the caffeine by itself. This is likely because sleep deprivation reduces the brains stores of phosphocreatine, which is necessary for optimal cognitive function.

Coffee Has Many Health Benefits

Coffee has many health benefits, improving insulin sensitivity and decreasing risk of diabetes. It also has an anti-tumor effect and may lower cancer risk. Coffee has an overall protective effect, decreasing risk of all-cause mortality.

The health benefits of coffee come from the naturally occurring antioxidants, including phenols and deterpenes (both improve insulin health and are anticarcinogenic). Recent large-scale studies show no link to coffee and cardiovascular disease. Caffeinated coffee has also been found to improve adipocyte and liver function, meaning it can support fat burning and optimal body composition.