Do you drink coffee? More importantly, do you use coffee to help with your training or performance? I know there are some people that can't touch the stuff before training or it results in a trip to the bathroom mid-workout. Personally, I love to sip on a cup of coffee for an early morning workout for a bit of a boost. But does it help? Specifically with respect to fat burning, does caffeine help? And does it make a difference what time of day you have a cup of coffee in relation to your training? A recent study looked to answer this question. They wanted to know if caffeine would boost fat burning. What they did was have the experiment subjects have a drink 30 minutes before an aerobic exercise workout. The subjects included 15 males averaging 32 years old. The subjects did 4 sessions 7 days apart. This allowed them to experience all 4 test conditions of coffee, placebo, 8 AM training or 5 PM training. The researchers controlled for fasting, exercise and other stimulants consumed. They wanted to make sure the subjects weren't doing workouts before coming to the lab or slamming back a Red Bull either. The researchers used indirect calorimetry to measure maximal fat oxidation (MFO). So what did they find? MFO and VO2max were greater in the PM than in the AM. When the groups consumed caffeine there was 10.7% greater MFO in the morning (i.e. 8 AM) compared to the group that consumed a placebo. And with the 5 PM group MFO was 29% greater when caffeine was consumed instead of a placebo. So the two big takeaways are that: Caffeine works and helps increase MFOResults were better with the afternoon versus the morning group A few things to keep in mind include: Would we...