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Coffee and Fitness
By Cindy | August 4, 2007
I Love Coffee. I need (am addicted to) my two cups a day and sometimes I go for a third. When I stopped drinking during the pregnancies, I experiencing three days of intense headaches. I attributed it to work and pregnancy, but looking back I realize it was my body’s withdrawal symptoms from the caffeine in the coffee. How does coffee affect fitness? Are the coffee drinkers of the world less fit than those that vow to never have coffee again? I turned to other’s to see how caffeine/coffee affects fitness.
Ultimate Coffees Info says studies prove that coffee “can be beneficial to those looking to improve their personal levels of Physical Fitness.”
Matt Pitcher, a Certified Fitness trainer, wrote an article at I Need Coffee that demonstrates the possible ill effects coffee has on the body. He points out that “despite being one of the most researched beverages around, no one has come up with a definitive ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer to the question of coffee and health.”
Jon Jestl at Mama’shealth.com wrote a comprehensive review of the relationship between coffee and fitness which I found to be a balance of the information I could find on coffee/fitness studies. He concludes that “As with everything else, moderation is the key to healthy caffeine consumption. Further research is needed to clearly determine whether the performance-enhancing benefits of caffeine outweigh the potential risks.”
Overall, it appears that the effects of caffeine in the form of coffee, are largely unknown. Moderation appears to be key in drinking coffee. I love coffee. I believe that moderation will serve me well for my caffeine addiction. Of course, realize that the lattes, mochas, and frappuccinos are very high in calories and fat. This argument for coffee is for the basic cup with a possible splash of milk and sugar/Splenda!
Do you think caffeine or coffee has an adverse effect on your fitness levels? What’s your take on the coffee and fitness debate?
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- TGIF Blog Carnival! | Kansans and Friends In Weight Loss on August 17th, 2007 at 9:05 am:
Caffeine is worse for you than alcohol or tobacco. It is an addictive substance made more dangerous by the fact that we get our kids hooked on it at an early age.
I completely eliminated caffeine from my diet 8 to 10 years ago. My sleep improved, my concentration improved, and my running has improved.
Most importantly, I no longer get cluster migraines. I still get 2 to 4 migraines every year, but they are few and far between and generally don’t interrupt my life anymore. When I was in high school (before giving up caffeine) I went blind for two weeks once, and the pain from that was nothing compared to some of the other migraines that I have had before then.
I generally take a hard line on caffeine because eliminating it from my diet has had so many positive effects on my life. If you are going to go through some bad withdrawal symptoms when you don’t have it, then why would you start taking it again once those symptoms are gone and you are out of the habit?
I started drinking coffee regularly in 2001. I haven’t seen such negative effects on my own performance or in my day to day living, but then again I haven’t trained for competitive or high performance runs since I’ve started drinking coffee. It is interesting how coffee/caffeine affects people differently.