What if you could burn more fat every time you work out? It just makes sense to maximize the time, effort, discipline...not to mention the extra laundry you're doing!
It turns out you don't have to spend a fortune on pre-workout supplements, which are full of artificial crap anyway. All you need is...COFFEE! It's a simple, cheap hack if you make your own. You just need to have the right amount (200 mg caffeine TOTAL) at the right time (about 45 minutes before exercise).
How does it work? Caffeine basically makes working out less miserable. It delays fatigue, enhances endurance, and reduces your perception of muscle pain. Oh, and it mobilizes fat stores by slowing down the breakdown of muscle glycogen, which means you're burning a higher percentage of fat calories when you're training.
Just do me a favor before you try this out...talk to your doctor if you're pregnant or planning to have a baby, if you have high blood pressure, heart rhythm problems, osteoporosis, fibrocystic breasts, or any health condition, or if you think you're sensitive to caffeine. From my research, you really shouldn't exceed 400 mg of caffeine per day. If you keep it at 400 mg or below, you're most likely going to reap the benefits of caffeine without the bad side effects.
Reference: https://examine.com/supplements/caffeine
Amy what do you think about pre-workout powders? Like Pre Jym is one I'm thinking about trying.
ReplyDeleteHi Tasha! You ask such a good question, thanks for posting this!
ReplyDeleteI don’t take pre-workout powders…the ones that contain caffeine along with a bunch of other ingredients. Most of the ingredients (other than caffeine) don’t have enough reliable, valid research behind them to make pre-workout supplements worth the extra money. I googled the one you’re looking at, Pre Jym. It has 300 mg of caffeine anhydrous. You really only need 200 mg of caffeine. Also, Pre Jym and a lot of other pre-workout supplements have artificial sweeteners, which is crap your body doesn’t need. Speaking of crap, artificial sweeteners like sucralose are notorious for causing laxative effects like bloating, diarrhea, and gas! Let's just say this is counterproductive to your goals!
Regarding caffeine anhydrous, it’s the kind of caffeine that’s in over-the-counter caffeine pills like NoDoz and Vivarin. Anhydrous means “without water.” So caffeine anhydrous is just dehydrated caffeine. Over-the-counter caffeine pills generally contain 200 mg of caffeine anhydrous per tablet, and many brands are very inexpensive. For example, Jet-Alert is $3.43 for 90 caplets (200 mg caffeine anhydrous in each caplet), which comes out to less than 4 cents per caplet. Pre Jym is $35.57 for 20 servings, which is $1.78 per serving.
So Tasha…if you have the extra cash and want to try out a fancy pre-workout supplement, go for it and tell me if you think it made any significant difference in your body fat percentage. Otherwise, save some dough and try caffeine pills or make a couple of cups of coffee at home (brewed coffee has approximately 100 mg per cup.) Either way, update me on your progress, okay? Keep up the good work! ~Amy
WOw Amy thanks for all the info! I would have spent so much money on pre-workout supplements that I don't really have the money to spend. Im gonna try the caffeine pills which I can afford.
ReplyDelete