Pre-Workout Caffeine Works!

by Mark McManus on December 4, 2008

I recently broke my caffeine habit after I realized I was guzzling down more coffee than any sane man should.

This crept up on me slowly. I used to take 1 cup in the morning only. Then I had 1 when I arrived at work too (about 7.15am), then I added another at break time @ 10am. Then I started having another with lunch around 1.30. I eat my main meal about 4.30pm, so I thought I’d have another wee cup after that too.

Sometimes I’d have one between 2 and 3 pm as a little afternoon ritual. So I was basically having 5 – 6 cups of coffee per day at about 100mg of caffeine per cup.

This amount of caffeine will disrupt your sleep patterns as well as give you headaches when you come off it e.g. at the weekends, when I’m off work, I was waking up with a headache that wouldn’t go away until I had some caffeine. Talk about withdrawal symptoms!
Time for action!

Forum members will be aware that I placed myself on a 7 day caffeine ban and tracked my results for all to see.

It wasn’t easy and there were many headaches but afterwards I felt better and more clear-headed than before.

There has been an unexpected benefit to this though.
As my body is no longer de-sensitized to caffeine, a cup pre-workout works wonders. If you’re not a regular coffee drinker, a little caffeine buzz before your training session can really boost your focus, motivation and results!

After I noticed this I purchased caffeine tabs online. They’re very cheap and get the job done quickly and conveniently. I got Prolab Caffeine, each pill contains 200mg of caffeine so I just bite 1 in half for 100mg about 20-30 minutes before I workout and blam! Of all the pre-workout energy products on the market, I’m not sure any can beat some simple, cheap caffeine.

At £8 for 100 tabs it’s beyond cheap. 100 tabs = 200 workouts. I train 4 times a week so 200/4 = 50 weeks. So £8 will give me energized workouts for a whole year! Actually more when you factor in my weeks off at the end of every THT cycle.

Like everything else, it’s much cheaper in the US too. $4.01 will get you 100 tablets, which is equivalent to about £2.50!! I swear I’m moving to America one of these days!

It’s something you should consider especially if:

You don’t currently consume a lot of caffeine
Your workout intensity hasn’t been up to par lately

To great workouts!

Mark McManus

{ 15 comments }

1 Rafaellopes December 5, 2008 at 1:31 am: I’m going to try drink coffee just before workout and not 5 times during day.

Kind of off topic:Is this prolab brand good? Someone tried prolab’s creatine?
2 Mark McManus December 5, 2008 at 6:02 am: I think you’ll like the results Rafaellopes. Prolab is a cheap brand and I’m not sure I would buy their creatine, but caffeine is caffeine, no need to go for an expensive brand.
3 sowmya December 5, 2008 at 9:23 am: i think green tea works great!!
antioxidants and caffine too!
gettin unbranded caffine frm uk in a month. 1kg is a lot of caffine
4 Sam December 6, 2008 at 10:01 am: I get the shakes from drinking even a large cup of coffee and it makes workout difficult unless I stop for a few mins and drink water. I may have to avoid this one..
5 sowmya December 6, 2008 at 11:08 am: @sam
used to happen to me too
take a month off caffine and coffee and stuff, that way ur receptors recouperate!!
6 Dennis December 9, 2008 at 7:00 pm: I tend to work out later in the evening (approx 8-9 pm) and have noticed it’s sometimes difficult to stay focused and energized through my whole workout. I went out and bought some caffeine yesterday and took 200 mg before my workout and it helped a lot. It was probably the best workout I’ve had in a couple months. Note: I don’t drink coffee or soda, so my body is not used to caffeine. This probably increased the effectiveness. Thanks for the idea.
7 Mark McManus December 9, 2008 at 7:02 pm: Thanks Dennis, glad it helped you man. Just hope you got to sleep ok after taking it so late
Mark
8 Jim December 9, 2008 at 8:32 pm: I’ve read “Caffeine limits blood flow to heart muscle during exercise”, a study done in Zurich, Interesting article which makes me leery of caffeine before a workout. I’ve also read favorable items, though, about caffeine enabling one to focus on the workout more intensely. I’m open to all information.
9 Aaron December 24, 2008 at 4:15 pm: Often times, I’ll notice my energy level is lacking during my workouts. What I should normally be doing with a 50lb dumbbell for 12 reps, I can barely muster with a 45lb dumbbell for 8 reps. When I’m doing a pre-workout caffeine load, I roar through the workout. The only side effect is that it elevates my heart rate by about 10-15 beats/min.

I generally work out at lunch. With breakfast, I drink a cold Diet Lipton Green Tea… (caution, contains aspertame). Before I head to the gym, I brew ~16oz of Lipton Green Tea using 2 tea bags. This makes it extra strong (too bitter for most I’d assume), but should provide about 100ml of caffeine. Of course, don’t forget the antioxidants it provides. I pour that back into my DLGT bottle from breakfast and drink it on the way to the gym. I drink water for the rest of the day.
10 Luca December 30, 2008 at 9:15 am: Caffeine pre-workout definitely works, but I hesitate a bit to take it now because I gave up caffeine completely last June and would not like to get hooked again. I was drinking as much as you, and I had four days of constant withdrawal headaches, but I feel great now!

I might try caffeine pills before the gym instead, as they are unconnected to the aroma and taste of coffee, which I occasionally still miss.
11 Aaron December 30, 2008 at 4:36 pm: I had such bad headaches for two weeks that I went in for an MRI. It was the dreaded Coca-Cola that did it. I now just drink water and tea. I think using the same 9(?) week cycle that Mark uses for creatine would be great even for caffeine. Just imagine the buzz after the first pre-workout caffeine dosage!
12 Mark McManus December 30, 2008 at 5:07 pm: Hi Luca. Start out with half a pill, I find it’s enough.
@ Aaron. I get that buzz every time as the pre-workout caffeine is the only caffeine I get. I take none on my week off.
13 Chris February 24, 2009 at 9:05 am: I like to have 6-14 oz. coffee with a touch of nonfat milk. This is breakfast for some fasted cardio in the morning and studies have shown that the combination of fasted cardio in the morning can burn more fat; also caffeine targets fat cells more efficiently.
14 massnutrition March 3, 2009 at 10:17 pm: Have you noticed that the caffeine tablets have better results, when you compare to the actual coffee?
15 James April 13, 2009 at 4:58 pm: Amazon has the ProLab caffeine (60 Tablets) on sale for .25 cents (America). The shipping is more than the product but that’s still an awesome price.