Caffeine, Exercise and.... Me?

Love your coffee, love your exercise...

A cup of coffee please? Yes sir, is that to go?  Of course, I'm going to go exercise!  Uh... what? Yes, though this seems strange initially, caffeine has been found to improve endurance exercise performance.  As we look for ways to improve our exercise and gain a competitive edge in our training we tend to look to supplements or unorthodox methods of exercise.  These by themselves are fine.  Research out of the University of Queensland, Dr. Tina Skinner an Exercise Physiologist conducted a study that shows the effects of caffeine when exercising.

Dr. Skinner made mention that, taking in caffeine an hour prior to exercise improves athletic performance.  This is significant because we can couple this with different exercises and supplements to gain the edge we need to excel in our exercise.  How this is affects us is simple, caffeine boosts our energy levels this gives us an advantage not just on our conditioning but it also improves our ability to loss weight as well.  Caffeine hosts a multitude of purposes including enhanced cognitive functions.

For my coffee and tea drinkers, rejoice!  You're ahead of the game (so to speak).  But what else contains caffeine?  Finding caffeine supplements, chocolate and sodas and certain over-the-counter medications are easy, finding the ones right for you may prove to be a challenge.

Dr. Skinner also stated, that the amount of caffeine is not as important as the time in which the caffeine gets into our system.  So, we don't need 7 cups, pills or cans prior to working out.

What affect does this have on Movement of the Mind?  I'm glad you asked, when we think of alternative ways to succeed at anything we are exercising our mind.  There is more than one way to do things, and it takes mental ingenuity to accomplish this goal.  Can caffeine solve all our problems?  If you ask a coffee drinker, they may say yes, however in reality of course not.  It takes innovative thinkers like Dr. Skinner and others to bring refreshing ideas that helps us be better in all aspects of life, including exercise to feel complete.

A cup of joe, a swig of coke, a sip of tea or a scoop of supplements has found a new purpose.  If caffeine can truly help us move better, exert more and lose less we have no choice but to look at it closely for ourselves to see if this can give us the advantage we need.