Caffeine makes the heart beat faster. So doing a cardio workout after having drunk something like Red Bull means you actually work less hard because the cardio target is a certain rate (143 for me) and the drink has got you part of the way there already. I think. So in order to really workout harder I should have a soothing mug of Horlicks first, yes? (Not that I go by rate of heart, I go by BPM from Podrunner. Today a 140 is in order).
Post-workout update:
Yesterday. 131 BPM music. 58:26 I hit 1000 calories
Today. 142 BPM. At 58:26 I hit 922 calories.
Ignoring the fact it says calories (which may or may not be accurate) the fact is the number is 78 calories less. Doesn’t seem a lot but it’s a few minutes work.
I’d drunk the equivalent of just over 2 cans of Red Bull.
I suppose I need to do the 142 again.
And yes I know it could be something else too, but it’s a genuine question.
I thought that those “calorie” counters were just a formula based on your height/weight (which you input) and the amount of work done (machine can measure the the resistance it is giving you — and thus the force you’re exerting to overcome it — as well as the distance traveled). So if you were on the same resistance setting (don’t know what kind of machine/treadmill you’re using), I would expect that on the second day you only went 92.2% of this distance you went on the first day.
It’s an elliptical trainer, and I input just my weight (which was wrong but was wrong both days).
I should have measured distance, but the speed difference between a 131bpm (9.8-10.2) and a 142bpm (11.7-12.1) should mean I covered more ground. I know when I get to a 146 it’ll be even further.
So I’m thinking my heart raced up faster and stayed faster but I was working less. So the curve up to the plateau of a 143 heart rate was reached and maintained more easily – because of the caffeine.
The problem is that caff frags your system.
Badly.
Speed kills, baby.
There’s no shortcuts.
- –
Okay,
Father Luke