Coffee is the easiest pre-workout to get your hands on (besides water). If you’re stranded in a mountain cabin, with a Bowflex and you want to get a workout in…coffee can be a great alternative pre-workout. The caffeine in coffee is what most pre-workouts rely on, so coffee is just another source of caffeine.
If you are looking for a stimulant-free pre-workout, obviously coffee isn’t what you’re looking for. In that case, some orange juice or other fast digesting carbs can give you a burst of energy.
Coffee Can Help Burn Fat
Coffee is great for enhancing your body’s ability to burn fat as an energy source. Coffee raises your core temperature, and increases your heart rate which can help you burn more calories while exercising. Additionally, coffee reduces the rate at which your body burns through its glycogen stores, so it can force your body into peak fat burning mode.
Read More: Is Coffee and Beta-Alanine a Good Pre-Workout?
Coffee Enhances Athletic Performance
Coffee, and the caffeine found in coffee, can improve athletic performance in a number of ways. Caffeine’s stimulating effect on the central nervous system helps reduce feelings of fatigue, lowers your perceived exertion level, and can even help minimize the pain you perceive while training.
In addition to increasing your fat burning, coffee delaying your depletion of glycogen stores can extend your time to exhaustion.
Coffee Enhances Focus and Concentration
Coffees stimulating effect on the nervous system is helpful for improving mental sharpness and performance of technical activities. Keeping your mind sharp can keep you focused on your workout and can help you push through those final reps.
Coffee Can Reduce Post-Workout Soreness
In addition to coffee aiding in firing up your body and nervous system before working out, it can help reduce muscle soreness post workout. According to a study published in Science Daily, caffeine can cut post-workout pain by nearly 50 percent. The effects were found with just a moderate dose of caffeine, equivalent to about two cups of coffee.
