Wake Up and Lift: Caffeine Boosts Strength and Power in the Morning

Key Points:

Caffeine boosts strength and power.
It eliminates morning performance drops.
Performance gains happen without increased muscle activation.

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Caffeine is the world’s favorite legal performance booster, used by millions of athletes, office warriors, and sleep-deprived students alike.

A new study shows that caffeine might be the best thing for your morning workouts.¹

Here’s why.

Caffeine 101

Whether you get it from your morning coffee, a pre-workout energy drink, or the fifth iced coffee of the day, caffeine is a staple in the fitness world.

Caffeine (or 1,3,7-trimethylxanthine for the chemical name) is a stimulant that blocks adenosine receptors and makes you feel more alert. It also improves calcium release in muscles and ramps up neuromuscular function, which is perfect when you’re trying to squeeze out one more rep.

Past research already shows caffeine helps boost strength, power, and endurance.²

But what about when you work out? For many people, strength, power, and performance in the gym fluctuate with their body clock.

If you’re an early bird lifter, you might have noticed that setting new PRs is harder in the morning than in the afternoon or evening.

Can caffeine fight the morning slump in performance? Let’s take a look at the results from this new study.

The Study Setup

Thirteen well-trained men (average age 24) took part in a triple-blind, placebo-controlled trial. They had an average of five years of training experience and could bench press 1.29 times their body weight and squat 1.88 times their body weight.

Each lifter came to the lab on four separate occasions. They were tested in the morning (9:00 AM) and in the evening (6:00 PM). In each time slot, they either downed 3 mg/kg of caffeine (about 210 mg for a 70 kg guy) or a placebo that looked and tasted identical one hour before training.

The “triple-blind” part means that the participants did not know what they were taking, nor did the researchers or the people analyzing the data. It’s a great way to eliminate bias.

Each did four sessions under different conditions:

Morning with caffeine
Morning with placebo
Evening with caffeine
Evening with placebo

They hit the bench press and back squat at different loads (25%, 50%, 75%, and 90% of 1RM) and tested muscle endurance at 65% 1RM until failure.

Find your one-rep max with our calculator!

The researchers used a linear transducer to track the speed and power of the barbell on every single rep. They also hooked the participants up to surface electromyography (EMG) apparatuses to check the electrical activity of their muscles (the pecs and triceps for the bench press and the quads for the squat).

All to see if caffeine made their muscles work harder on a neural level.

What They Found

Caffeine definitely made a difference.

Morning Slump?

You know how you feel weaker in the morning (not everyone, and you can get used to lifting heavy soon after waking up, but in general)?

The study confirmed that feeling.

The placebo group performed worse in the morning than in the evening.

However, when the lifters quaffed their caffeine in the morning, it wiped out that morning performance dip in both the bench press and squat at lighter loads (25% of 1RM).

We’re talking a 10–11% increase in mean velocity and power in the morning with caffeine compared to placebo.

Strength & Power Gains (Back Squat)

For the back squat, caffeine also improved performance at heavier loads.

When lifting heavier, 75% and 90% of their 1RM, the participants were faster and more powerful after taking caffeine, and this happened in both the morning and the evening.

At 75% 1RM: +2.7 to +3.8 g in effect size with caffeine
At 90% 1RM: +2.5 to +2.9 g effect size

A g of 2.5 to 2.9 means a very strong difference between the groups (caffeine vs. placebo in this case). In exercise science, that’s an unusually large and practically meaningful effect.

Muscle Endurance

When it came to the endurance test (a set to failure at 65% 1RM), caffeine again came to the rescue. It helped the lifters crank out more reps and maintain better bar speed in both lifts, especially the squat (for the bench press, the improvement was seen in the morning).

Bench press (morning): +11–12% in bar speed and power
Back squat (morning and evening): +6–9% power

EMG Findings?

Nada. Muscle activation levels stayed the same despite all these performance improvements and regardless of caffeine.

That suggests that the extra oomph from the caffeine wasn’t due to the brains sending stronger signals to the muscles.

Instead, the researchers think the magic is happening inside the muscle itself via peripheral mechanisms, like better calcium handling or other cellular mechanisms that improve muscle contractions.

What This Means for You

If you’re a morning lifter who feels like you’re benching in a dream state, good news. A modest dose of caffeine (~3 mg/kg) can bring your A-game to your a.m. sessions.

Here’s your takeaway toolkit:

Take your caffeine 60 minutes before training to time peak plasma levels with your workout.
Stick with ~3 mg/kg if it works. Higher doses can add side effects (jitters) without much extra performance boost. If you’re used to a high daily intake, you might need to up your dose a bit to feel it, though.
It’s extra effective for the lower body, so expect more benefits for your heavy morning squat or deadlift session than for an arm workout.

Final Rep

Whether you’re squatting at sunrise or chasing PRs in the evening, caffeine improves your lifting performance.

And if you train early and feel like your strength is stuck in snooze mode, a scientifically sound shot of caffeine might be the best training partner you didn’t know you needed.

So, there you have it. Your morning coffee doesn’t just give you life; it gives you literal strength. And now you know more about how to use it to your advantage. Happy lifting!

Read more:

Coffee: An Elixir of Youth?