Is drinking Red Bull before a cardio workout a dumb idea?

January 2, 2009 3:06 PM

Is drinking Red Bull before a cardio workout a dumb idea?

For the last year, I've been doing a pretty strenuous weightlifting regimen on my upper body mondays, wednesdays and saturdays. I would like to start doing cardio/ab work on the remaining days. Mainly I want to add cardio in as a means to get my own natural energy/stamina levels up so that I wont have to rely as much of caffeine or energy drinks throughout my day or (more importantly) when I go dancing on the weekends.

I am 34, naturally pretty energetic anyway and have very little body fat. What my hope is it that cardio will give me a marked increase in energy.

Now, here's the conundrum: when I do my lifting regimen, I usually have a sugar-free Red Bull beforehand just to get my wherewithal up. If I do this for cardio (say the running incline machine) will this be like "cheating", and will it lessen my gains? Is it a bad idea to mix Red Bull and cardio anyway?

Note: this may be a really dumb question, but humor me.

posted by Senor Cardgage to health & fitness (17 comments total)

Here's an interesting claim from the NY Times on the validity of caffeine causing dehydration. In short: "Most studies have found that in moderate amounts, caffeine has only mild diuretic effects — much like water."
posted by nitsuj at 3:11 PM on January 2

Also: some think caffeine will help performance. I'll leave the rest up to the doctors to decide.

"In addition to various psychological and physiological benefits, numerous studies have documented caffeine’s ergogenic effect on athletic performance, particularly in regard to endurance. Studies show that caffeine ingestion prior to exercising extended endurance in moderately strenuous aerobic activity. Other studies researching caffeine consumption on elite distance runners and distance swimmers show increased performance times following caffeine consumption."
posted by nitsuj at 3:13 PM on January 2

well, you know how the quickest way to off an old man with a weak heart is to give him viagra? you're jolting your heart here, albeit mildly, and then you're putting it under rather severe pressure. I'm no ikkyu2 (and I'd bet he could set you straight with some actually respectable advice on this) but I'd be a bit careful.
posted by krautland at 3:22 PM on January 2

Dude, Im 34
posted by Senor Cardgage at 3:23 PM on January 2 [1 favorite has favorites]

I'd tend to agree, caffeine stresses the heart, and then cardio stresses the heart more.... I'd be worried.
posted by Night_owl at 3:31 PM on January 2

A friend of mine who is a triathlete was drinking Red Bull before/during either events or training, don't recall which, and his Dr. told him to stop doing it.

So, the doctor of a friend of a guy from the internet says don't do it, whatever that's worth...
posted by altcountryman at 3:36 PM on January 2

Unless you're competing I wouldn't do it. You want to get your heart rate up to a target zone, and who knows how the caffeine messes with that, but it seems at least possible that you'd be putting in less work at the target. I don't know why you would, either.. 5 or 10 minutes into it the caffeine is pretty much unnecessary to keep you going.
posted by devilsbrigade at 3:43 PM on January 2

The popular opinion seems to be all over the place with just as many stories about people seeing benefits from Red Bull as those who caution against it.

Red Bull will stress your heart, that combined with exercise could exacerbate an existing (and possibly unknown) condition. I've read at least one or two stories of Red Bull (or other canned stimulant) heart attacks. Men's Fitness cites a study that found, "The drink strengthened heart contractions and increased stroke volume..." so the effect on the heart muscle seems real enough.

I would take a look at what's in the Red Bull that is beneficial (like the taurine) and see if you can find some other drink out there that gives you the same bump without the caffeine and sugar (though you mention you drink the sugar free version.)
posted by wfrgms at 4:00 PM on January 2

what about those of us who drink a cup or two of coffee in the AM and hit the gym on our lunch break or in the evening? i've never even stopped to think about whether THAT caffeine affected me or not, but as far as i'm aware i haven't suffered a heart attack or anything :-)

i think the key is in moderation. i think most people would have the sense not to slam a four-pack of red bulls, then try to run six miles in 60 minutes. Maybe the OP can start by running on one of those treadmills/ ellipticals with a heart rate monitor on it, so he can make sure he isn't going over his target rate. and maybe start with 1/2 a red bull and only drink the second half if he needs it.

i think it probably also depends on your preexisting relationship with caffeine . . . if you are like me (and you sound like you might be), I get raging headaches if i skip my coffee. no way I could go to the gym in that condition. although I have heard bad things about Red Bull. maybe you should switch to coffee. It has antioxidants! in any case i think it's commendable that you're trying to use exercise as a replacement for your caffeine fix. you should let us know how it works out, maybe I will try it. but i certainly think that exercise with a little help is still much better than none at all.
posted by lblair at 4:13 PM on January 2

Oh yeah, I mainline caffeine all day.
But my hope is to need less of it eventually, from doing the cardio.

Im not as worried about health hazards so much as I am about this being like a "crutch" that ends up negating the positive effects of the cardio.
posted by Senor Cardgage at 4:17 PM on January 2

Energy drinks make your BP go way up. Exercise also makes your BP go up. I'd be wary.
posted by xmutex at 4:46 PM on January 2

Completely unscientific opinion (because I was not seeing a physician while I was working out):

Back when I used to workout, I would generally drink an energy drink (sometimes by itself, othertimes mixed with water or juice) before my routine. While I noticed some short term "energetic" boosts.. the overall long term benefits were negative. I noticed erratic heartbeat and my cardio wasnt reliable under stress (meaning = I could perform short term physical exertion, but anything that stressed my heart more than 10min I would suffer a steep drop off in energy and couldnt depend on my heart to be there when I needed it.

Now, you sound like a pretty healthy guy already.. I'm just sharing because I think its a dumb idea to take a "shortcut" to building a healthy heart. Personally I believe you'll get better results by just remembering to eat healthy and build your heart the natural way.
posted by jmnugent at 4:53 PM on January 2

Im not as worried about health hazards so much as I am about this being like a "crutch" that ends up negating the positive effects of the cardio.

As long as you make a concious effort to slowly replace one with the other, I think it would work. Well, I probably think this because it's the same exact idea I've had for the past couple years, but I've been too lazy to actually stick with it. so seriously, I'm curious to know how it goes.

also, if you don't already do it, try paying more attention to how much you sleep. i know it seems obvious but i never really thought of it til this year when I started forcing myself to go to bed by 11 every night and I actually started feeling much more energetic. (didn't give up the coffee though!)
posted by lblair at 4:56 PM on January 2

It's been well-established that caffeine improves performance (REF, REF). However, the long-term health effects are somewhat controversial. Older studies showed links to cardiovascular problems, but they were hard to replicate, and the current consensus seems to be that long-term usage isn't advisable, but the many of the health consequences might have been overstated (REF).

It's hard to find an answer to the "crutch" question. The closest reference I could find was this, which concluded that "chronic use of the caffeine-containing supplement in the present study, in conjunction with aerobic training, provided no ergogenic effects as measured by VO(2)peak and TRE, and the supplement was of no benefit for altering body weight or body composition."

There are less studies that have looked at Red Bull, although it appears to have an even greater cardiovascular effect, possibly due to the presences of taurine (REF).
Not a definitive answer, I'm afraid. There haven't been enough studies of effects and consequences of using these "high-energy" soft-drinks to know anything particularly definitive at this stage.
posted by kisch mokusch at 5:06 PM on January 2

I'd be more worried about dehydration from Red Bull over anything else.
posted by Opera Chic at 8:55 PM on January 2

When I run at lunchtime, I'm still on the loading-up part of my daily caffeine intake. Might just be the time of day, but on my lunch runs, I more often feel like a running god.

If it works for you, do it. If not, don't. Take two weeks of exercise. SuTuTh, you're running, say. One week, slam the red bull on Sunday and Thursday. The other week, only do it on Tuesday. That way the day-of-the-week variable is negated. Take notes. See what works.

All this having been said, you're not a pro. Few of us are. I think questions like this are more for high-end athletes, not us day-to-day schmucks.
posted by notsnot at 9:06 PM on January 2

I wouldn't actually recommend this but I have to admit, I've noticed a benefit in performance when I've consumed a moderate amount of caffeine before exercise.

It's not dehydration I'd worry about but it's arrhythmia: atrial fibrillation or SVT. Basically, the heart can slip into an dysregulated rhythm when you push it too hard. Caffeine raises your heart rate. Exercise raises your heart rate. Dehydration raises your heart rate. If 1,000 people drink a Red Bull and then go exercise hard, probably some will develop this (although not all may even recognize it as it's happening). I've seen college students develop atrial fibrillation from the combination of excess caffeine and the stress of final exams.

Now, the fact that you are well conditioned weighs in your favor and you probably have high parasympathetic tone controlling the top rate on your heart so it's probably unlikely but an overweight, slightly older person who is just starting an exercise regimen might have a higher risk of this.

Finally, you might have noticed that there are several "energy" products on the market that are marketed to triathletes and marathon runners, so I would guess that the risk of something bad happening to a high functioning athlete must be pretty damn low.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 9:35 PM on January 2