How Effective is Caffeine for Your Workout? The Timing Matters

written by

posted on

Functioning without that early morning dose of caffeine is hard for me. And working out without having coffee? Impossible. 

Caffeine has some pretty cool benefits. It helps you wake up, makes you feel more fresh, and lets you think more clearly. But most importantly, you feel more energetic when working out after you have had your morning caffeine. 

This is why, many people consider that pre-workout dose of caffeine a critical part of their training routine. It gives them that much-needed performance boost to help them get to their goals quicker. Or does it? 

You may feel better working out after having coffee, but caffeine may not improve your performance.

In this article, we will discuss the ergogenic effects of caffeine. You will find evidence-based answers about whether caffeine really does boost performance or may simply be leaving you with impaired sleep. 

The Ergogenic Benefits of Caffeine

The word ergogenic is used to define the physical performance-boosting element of any substance. Many scientific researches have studied the ergogenic benefits of caffeine. A good number of these studies have concluded that caffeine does seem to have ergogenic or performance-boosting properties. 

This is why, many athletes, professional trainers, and regular gym-goers rely on caffeine to help them perform better. 

However, caffeine does seem to have some side effects like sleep impairment. Therefore, it may be worth your time to question the ergogenic benefits of caffeine to see if it really helps you perform better physically or if it simply makes you lose more sleep without contributing anything towards your performance. 

What the Research Says

A study involving young female athletes looked at the ergogenic impact of caffeine when taken in varying doses in the morning and evening. 

The participants were given a placebo (0 mg/kg caffeine dose), a 3 mg/kg and a 6 mg/kg dose of caffeine at two separate times, in the morning and evening. There was always a 72-hour difference between each dose to make sure the previous dose did not influence the outcome. 

The results were measured using various tests like Counter Movement Jump (CMJ), Modified Agility Testing (MATT), Repeated Sprint Ability (RSA), and Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE).

The Results

The study revealed some thought-provoking results that might change your perspective on caffeine. 

In the placebo condition, the athletes’ evening performance was better than the morning performance. This is consistent with the existing evidence that people tend to perform better when working out in the evening. 

The athletes’ performance was tested again after they had consumed caffeine. Researchers found that Caffeine had no significant impact on evening performance. But the all the athletes saw an improvement in the morning performance after they had consumed pre-workout caffeine. 

This means that the evening performance remained the same, whether the participants had taken caffeine or not. Morning performance improved with caffeine. 

This should be evidence enough to prove that caffeine does have performance-boosting benefits. However, before we jump to that conclusion, let’s take a minute to think. 

If caffeine really had ergogenic benefits, it should have worked the same way in the evening as well and helped boost performance. But evening performance with caffeine remained the same as it was without it. 

Does this mean caffeine works better when consumed in the morning? Not really. 

Unless adapted to training in the morning, many people may show lower levels of performance when working out in the morning [1]

So, what caffeine probably does is bring the lower level of morning-time performance up to the baseline. It does not really “boost” your performance but may only help you perform at your normal level. 

This is evident from the results of the study we are discussing here. Caffeine improved morning performance levels. But it only brought it up and closer to evening performance that remained nearly consistent, with and without caffeine. 

For example, the evening CMJ was 2.6% better than the morning in the placebo condition. So evening performance was 2.6% above morning performance without caffeine. 

Caffeine helped bring the morning performance up by 2.5% without increasing the evening performance too much. So, it simply boosted morning performance until it was closer to evening performance in placebo. 

And this was consistent across all tests except RPE. RPE remained pretty much the same and caffeine had no significant impact on exertion. 

The Side Effects

The researchers also looked at the potential side effects of caffeine ingestion. And while the smaller dose did not seem to have any significant side effects, the 6 mg/kg dose did. 

The heavier dose of caffeine led to side effects like tachycardia (increased heart rate) in 33% of the participants on the day of caffeine consumption. Besides that, increased amounts of caffeine also resulted in headaches in 20% of the participants and gastrointestinal problems in 27% of the participants on the day they had caffeine. 

47% of the participants experienced insomnia, and 40% had headaches the next day. 

So, Should You Take Pre-workout Caffeine?

Now, the big question. To take pre-workout caffeine or not? 

There is a great deal of research supporting the ergogenic benefits of caffeine. But what most people don’t see is, these studies are often conducted in the morning. ThisWhich means, that participants consume caffeine in the morning. And that early morning caffeine consumption may be boosting their performance. Or it might only be bringing it up to the baseline.  And we have seen what that does to your physical performance. It simply brings it up to its baseline. 

There is not enough research to support the ergogenic benefits of caffeine when consumed before an evening workout.

But wWhat we do have enough research showing consuming caffeine closer to your bedtimebed time may lead to poorer sleep quality and reduced sleep timequantitiy. 

So, if you look towards caffeine to help boost performance before an evening workout, you may want to reconsider it. Your caffeine consumption may not be contributing much towards your performance at the gym. But it may be taking a lot away from your sleep. 

The Takeaway

Caffeine, when consumed in safe amounts, can offer pre-workout benefits and you may be able to avoid the potential side effects. Consuming 3-6 mg/kg bodyweight of caffeine 60 minutes before your workout is usually recommended [2]. But going beyond that limit may have side effects. 

Also, while consuming caffeine may help you perform better when working out in the morning, it’s performance-boosting benefits may be insignificant during evening workouts. 

Therefore, be careful about how much caffeine you consume when working out in the evening and monitor your sleep time and quality to make sure your evening caffeine consumption does not leave you with impaired sleep. 

Also, consuming caffeine before your evening workout may not be the best idea. Caffeine does not have significant performance-boosting benefits when taken in the evening. But it might leave you with impaired sleep. 

It can, however, help you perform better when working out in the eveing. 

But make sure you avoid caffeine 

Small doses of caffeine do not seem to have very concerning side effects unless you have certain medical conditions. However, when consumed in larger doses, caffeine can have some serious side effects like tachycardia and insomnia. 

As far as its ergogenic benefits are concerned, caffeine may not be boosting your performance above your baseline. Regardless of the dose. 

Therefore, you may be better off avoiding your pre-workout caffeine if you workout in the evening. 

You may justify pre-workout caffeine consumption if you are trying to adapt to a morning workout routine. You may also allow yourself some caffeine if you have not slept too well the night before or if you want to feel better before your workout. But always make sure the amount of caffeine you consume falls within safe levels. Also, make sure to have enough time between your caffeine intake and bedtime to avoid sleep impairment. 

References 

[1] Morphological, molecular and hormonal adaptations to early morning versus afternoon resistance training. National Center for Biotechnology Information. 

[2] Caffeine Dosage Pre-Workout: How Much Should You Take Before Exercise? Performance Lab.