Coffee Is The Best Pre-Workout For Powerlifters
Some people can rely on their internal motivation to keep them coming back into the gym everyday, hitting it hard and heavy and chasing down their goals without hesitation. Others, maybe yourself, might need a little something to help them out. We know you WANT to workout, lift weights, get jacked and tan, and crush your PRs. But maybe your body isn’t listening to your brain. You need that extra boost for a workout. Liquid motivation! Or what many of you know as pre-workout.
And guess what? The cheapest, most effective, and healthiest pre-workout on the planet is something you probably already have in your kitchen. Coffee! Coffee is the BEST Pre-Workout For Powerlifters, especially those that lift at home. Why? Well, lets get into it.
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Too Many To Choose
There are so many different brands, types, and dosages of pre-workout today. A quick Amazon search gave me over 2000 results! A big downside of pre-workouts, is that they are not regulated by the FDA. This can be scary for a typical lifter due to potential health side effects and a lack of quality control around the ingredients. But it can also be a problem for competitive athletes. If your sport has regular testing, and your product comes up on the list of banned substances, you could be kicked out of meets/events, or even banned permanently.
Each has a different formula and flavor, typically hinting at some kind of energy BOOST, increased pumps, and better focus. The main ingredient in MOST of the pre-workouts, that just so happens to be one of the most clinically studied and validated items on the planet, that helps accomplish the majority of these claims, is caffeine.
You can always go with a quality company, someone who has their products third party tested, is transparent about the ingredients, and lists items you can easily research and clarify for yourself. Your other option, is to go the “natural pre-workout” route, and grab a cup of coffee.
A Cup of Joe
One very easy and natural way to get caffeine that’s cheap, safe, and comes in high doses is coffee! This makes it one of the most beneficial and effective drinks to help enhance your exercise performance. Coffee is one of the world’s most popular drinks, is regulated by the FDA, and includes natural sources of caffeine, nutrients, and antioxidants.
There are hundreds of thousands of studies out there in controlled lab settings that prove that coffee is a very effective ergogenic aid. The caffeine gives you enhanced focus, reduced fatigue, and even can help enhance your metabolism for hours after your workout. It also suppresses appetite to help you fast during workouts if that is a goal of yours, or can help you limit the amount of snacking in your life. Caffeine is also a great vasodilator (one of the big reasons you have to run to the bathroom not too long after your first sip).
This vasodilation helps circulation throughout the entire body, which can help oxygen delivery to the muscles during your workout. This is what reduces that muscular fatigue and increases muscular strength and endurance. Coffee also increases adrenaline in your body, which is the fight or flight hormone in your body that can provide you with that extra boost for those intense workouts. All of these perks are what makes coffee similar to all those pre workouts on the store shelves.
What is NOT In Coffee
Not only is coffee fairly affordable compared to your typical pre-workout, but you can control just about every aspect yourself. I personally drink coffee for what it doesn’t have in it!
Pre-Workouts are notorious for listing a LOT of ingredients, but being under-dosed for many of them. On top of that, if you have a bad reaction, with such a long list, it can be difficult to figure out what went wrong. Now you have a tub of pre-workout that goes in the trash.
Coffee skips things like beta-alanine. This is that part of pre-workout that makes your face feel super itchy. This is something some people really enjoy, but it’s also something many people really despise! Pre-Workouts often have a huge assortment of colorings, dyes, and various artificial flavors. These things seem to have mixed feedback in the scientific literature around their effects, especially with long term use. So this is something I would personally recommend taking a strong look at before incorporating in your daily routine.
A lot of the “nautral” flavorings used, are items that commonly cause gastric issues. So you get to take that pre-workout, and then lose it in 30 minutes.
On top of that, you’ll probably find a laundry list of ingredients on the pre-workout label, with many of them you won’t even be able to pronounce, or worse, they’ll put them in a “proprietary blend” so you have no idea how much you are actually taking.
Things To Consider Adding To Your Coffee “Pre-Workout”
Now there are a couple of things that coffee doesn’t have, that you might want to consider adding from a typical pre-workout.
Creatine is a fantastic supplement that can often be found in many pre-workouts. But you are often overcharged when it is combined in a formula, you can’t control the amount you take, and a lot of times they include fancy types to upsell you. You need Creatine Monohydrate, and that is it. Next to caffeine, creatine is one of the most researched items on the planet. Assuming you are a healthy individual, drink enough liquids, and otherwise take care of yourself, creatine should have no side effects.
A lot of pre-workouts have some form of glucose, or sugar, added to them. We are tackling two birds here with the caffeine and easy sugars in terms of an energy boost. The good news is, that sugar tastes great in coffee. So a small sprinkle can help ya out here in a number of ways.
Electrolytes, which are the minerals your body uses to move your muscles, are a key ingredient in most pre-workout formulas. The good news is, coffee is a good source of magnesium and potassium, two of the most common electrolytes lost during physical activity. The other? Sodium… so add a small pinch of salt to your coffee.
Don’t like sugar or salt in your coffee? You can make a lemonade of sugar, lemon, and salt, that would be DELICIOUS for during your workout.
Cocoa powder, especially with the bit of sugar added, will make your coffee have a chocolate kick. Cocoa powder is also full of magnesium and can help produce those “intense pumps” that pre-workouts are always claiming.
Coffee allows you to get really creative. Based on your diet, macros, taste buds, and over all goals. You have full control, compared to your off-the-shelf pre-workouts.
When and How Much Coffee For A GOOD Pre-Workout
The International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) is the world’s leading research journal in providing science-based sports nutrition and supplement information. The ISSN states that caffeine is an effective ergogenic aid when consumed in doses of 0.9–2.7 mg per pound (2–6 mg per kg) of body weight. This equals around a few hundred milligrams for the average 150 lb (68kg) person. The average cup of coffee has roughly 100mg of caffeine, so drinking 1-2 cups around 1 hour before you workout will provide you with that BOOST of energy needed to complete your workout.
This allows the time needed for the caffeine to be absorbed into your bloodstream and reach peak effectiveness. If you’re someone who doesn’t fair well with stuff in your stomach during a workout, then opt for 1–2 espresso shots, which have less volume but more caffeine. Two shots can give you around the same amount of caffeine.
You can adjust the caffeine amounts in your cups by making it differently or cutting with caffeine free coffee, filling your cup with more water, milk, etc. All things that can help you get the right amount of caffeine FOR YOU.
Are There Any Downsides To Coffee?
You can definitely over do it on the caffeine though, which can give you the jitters and send you down that path of hyper awareness. The numbers I previously mentioned are for your basic home brewed coffees. You still have to make sure you’re checking the caffeine content of your coffee brands. Some brands have roughly double the amount of caffeine, or some other highly concentrated brands have over 700 mg per cup! Not all coffee is created equal, so you still have to read the labels and be informed, but the labels are so much easier to read and understand. You’re also getting something that is natural, cheap, and highly effective at helping get you through your workouts!
I’ll be the first one to admit that I have been relying on caffeine the past few years ever since I became a dad. This is before, during and after my workouts too!
Keep in mind, a large majority of sleep researchers will tell you to avoid caffeine late into the afternoon, and especially in the evening. It can mess with your circadian rhythms, which can make sleep more difficult. Sleep is where we recover and get the rest and energy we need for the next day. If we start the day off on empty, we are gonna need a LOT of coffee to get through it. So make sure you are nailing your sleep as best you can, and then add coffee in the right amounts and times to crush your workouts.
Wrap Up
My first articles here for the GGC were focused on kids and their journey in the weight room. This time I wanted to put the focus more on ourselves and what we need to bring our best self forward for our families. We are all fitness lover’s here if you’re reading this article. But I’ll be the first one to admit that it definitely gets hard sometimes to keep doing it day in and day out. This is why pre-workouts were created in the first place!
I wanted to give you a better knowledge about coffee in general so you can use that as an excuse the next time you want to swing bye that local Starbucks and grab a coffee before/after your workout. Just because we are tired parents, doesn’t mean we get to stop! It’s still our responsibility to set that example early and often in the weight room.
About Primal Armor and Our Author
Jeff Kimpel is the owner and host of the Primal Armor podcast where he takes his education and experience and dives deep, but succinctly, into a topic to help you be a better version of yourself.
