Coffee before Training?

Does anyone else drink coffee before training? Curious if you think it helps or hurts the quality of your training session and climbing in general. 

I like the energy boost, but sometimes I feel like I get pumped faster.

If so, what's your go-to beans and coffee making technique? I usually go for lighter roasts made with my aeropress for just a single, quick cup with high caffeine content.

Coffee yes. If I drink too much I will definitely feel dehydrated. 2 cups in the morning before a big climb day. Aeropress is bomb.com. Not a fan of french press: coffee is too grindy tasting and the temperature isn't hot enough for me. 

Black coffee is generally recommended as a decent preworkout drink.

I used to drink coffee before working out in the morning but cut it out since it made me feel light headed and dehydrated me faster. I used to drink a cup of coffee before running too; it may be mental but I feel like my miles per minute declined for a while till I got used to running without the caffeine buzz. 

While I was initially starting my training program based on ‘Training for the New Alpinism’ I would wake up pretty early to get my long runs in. I was monitoring my heart rate for the duration of the runs to stay within certain heart rate zones. I quickly discovered and then tested it a few times to be sure, that the days I’d drink a cup of coffee before the run would result in more fluctuation in my heart rate while running and it made it more challenging to maintain lower heart rate zones for any meaningful period (which was the goal). When I didn’t drink coffee before the run my heat rate zones stayed lower and didn’t fluctuate nearly as much. I kept pace, distance, and time as constants while I experimented with whether it was the coffee impacting the change. I’ve stopped drinking coffee before the morning workout now and use it as something to look forward to afterwards. I generally climb in the evenings and I think any caffeine that is still in the system at that point is not impacting my training in noticeable ways.

Coffee-wise I tend to go with the Kalita Wave Pour-over (the flatter/rounder base has allowed for more experimentation with water/grind ratios) and I generally enjoy Kenyan and Rwandan coffee that still has a darker/richer body while still preserving the higher fruity/floral notes. Madcap and Onyx Rosters have been my go-to!

Are you saying that it's possible to train without coffee??!! That's crazy!

Yer gonna die after forcefully shitting your pants onto unsuspecting onlookers

Jesse Montgomery wrote:

Does anyone else drink coffee before training? Curious if you think it helps or hurts the quality of your training session and climbing in general. 

I like the energy boost, but sometimes I feel like I get pumped faster.

If so, what's your go-to beans and coffee making technique? I usually go for lighter roasts made with my aeropress for just a single, quick cup with high caffeine content.

Yes, coffee before training everyday. No, I don't think it hurts training and I haven't found any evidence to the contrary. However, like many addictions coffee must be managed properly for best results. 

Your early onset pump is likely because coffee causes you to go just slightly harder than usual. Do track your rests with a watch and use the same warm up weights?

Tradiban wrote:

However, like many addictions coffee must be managed properly for best results. 

I knowingly chose the coffee addict lifestyle about 5 years ago. During that time I developed the dependence that required me to have coffee to feel my best for climbing, but if I had the wrong type or wrong amount, or with the wrong combination of foods I'd feel like I'd be shitting my pants all day, which is really not how you want to feel before a 2 hour drive and all day climb. 

I was into aero press, 20+ g dose with 80 g water for a nice pseudo espresso. Prefer low acidity, whether that is because of the terroir or the roast (Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, or anything with a full city roast). 

Gradually stopped, and totally quit over the pandemic. Now I'm into puer, and very much falling into addition territory with that.