Some companies sell energy goods with targeted marketing to children and teenagers, under the age of 18. Energy drinks are also frequently consumed by college students.
Athletes and workout instructors need strength and vigor to perform at their best. Because of this, they frequently turn to energy drinks.
Energy drink consumption does not seem to have a long-lasting impact on strength and power performance, but it does seem to improve the quality of a resistance training workout.
In addition, energy drinks are popular among strength and power athletes due to their stimulant qualities.
In general, energy drinks will help you concentrate and perform better and become more mentally alert for hours following your consumption.
Continue reading to know how energy drinks can increase your strength, and with the help of which ingredients.
What Are Energy Drinks?
Sports drinks and soft drinks aren’t the same as energy drinks. Soft drinks have lower caffeine content.
Sports and energy drinks may contain vitamins, carbohydrates, and sugar. To restore your body’s fluid balance after an intense workout, you should consume them.
Caffeine and vitamins are typically listed as the main ingredients in energy drinks. They sound attractive and healthy from this, but that is untrue.
Energy drinks are promoted as beverages used to boost concentration and enhance performance. Numerous additional stimulants are included in them, including guarana, taurine, ginseng, sugar, and others.
These don’t always pose a threat on their own. However, they can have negative health effects when combined with too much caffeine.
Ingredients In An Energy Drink: Providing Muscle Strength
Not all ingredients in an energy drink are supposed to give you energy or help you feel stronger. Each and every component of an energy drink has a different function to follow.
Let’s have a look at some common ingredients in energy drinks, also those that help with muscle endurance, and energy boosting.
L-Carnitine
The human brain, liver, and kidneys produce the chemical l-carnitine. It aids the body’s conversion of fat to energy.
L-carnitine and its many forms are helpful for a variety of conditions, including depression, metabolic health, and liver diseases. Although l-carnitine is frequently used for fat loss, its efficacy is debatable.
It reduces the amount of lactic acid that is produced by anaerobic respiration in your muscles, which is what causes your workout performance to suffer.
As a result, carnitine enables you to exercise more vigorously, which in turn helps you develop more muscles and thus become stronger.
L-Tartrate
L-tartrate increases fatty acid oxidation, reduces purine catabolism, and decreases the creation of free radicals.
This may lessen the effects of chemotherapy on peripheral neuropathy, hyperlipoproteinemia, and fatigue from strenuous exercise.
According to some studies, l-tartrate can increase the number of androgen receptors in muscle, which could increase the potency of your body’s testosterone.
Take two grams of l-tartrate per day to potentially gain the benefits of muscle growth and recovery.
Guarana
Guarana is a Brazillian climbing plant that goes by the name Paullinia Cupana and is valued for its fruit.
A diverse array of stimulants, including caffeine, theophylline, and theobromine, are present. It is also responsible for producing fast-acting antioxidants.
Currently, the beverage industry uses 70% of the guarana that is produced in soft drinks and energy drinks, while the remaining 30% is processed into a powder.
It is a herb that is used to boost mental agility and prevent fatigue. Additionally, it is employed to increase sexual desire and aid in weight loss.
Caffeine is also present in guarana. Because of this, the energy drink’s overall caffeine content is increased.
Taurine
An amino sulfonic acid is a class of chemicals that includes taurine. In the body, it happens on its own. Meat, fish, and eggs are the best food sources.
It raises the muscle level, which may be brought on by contractile traits that are phenotypic-specific.
Lowering blood pressure and relaxing the nervous system might also help those with heart failure.
Numerous metabolic and physiological processes, including the control of glucose and lipids, energy metabolism, anti-inflammatory modulation, and antioxidant actions, all benefit from the positive effects of taurine.
The use of taurine as a potential ergogenic aid to enhance athletic performance follows.
Caffeine And Its Effect On Strength
Energy drink consumption has increased significantly among athletes, largely because of the stimulant effects of caffeine.
When someone is feeling lethargic from restricting calories, caffeine helps to boost energy and may momentarily suppress appetite.
It activates the sympathetic nervous system, which helps to increase satiety, reduce hunger, and speed up the breakdown of fat cells into energy.
A recent review of the literature by the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) found that taking caffeine between 30 and 90 minutes before exercise at a dose between 3 and 6 mg per kg of body weight can result in minor gains in muscular strength, endurance, and power.
Caffeine can improve endurance, high-intensity exercise, and power sports, according to studies. It appears to help trained athletes the most.
Although caffeine can raise blood pressure, regular users may not experience this effect.
The FDA has stated that for healthy adults, 400 milligrams per day—roughly four or five cups of coffee—is an amount not typically linked with harmful, adverse effects, such as:
- Restlessness and shakiness
- Insomnia
- Headaches
- Dizziness
- Fast heart rate
- Dehydration
- Anxiety
- Dependency
Let’s have a look at the caffeine contents of some known energy drinks.
| Energy Drinks | Caffeine Quantity |
| RedBull | 80mg |
| Runa Clean | 150mg |
| Celcius | 300mg |
| NOS | 160mg |
| Redline Xtreme | 300mg |
Can Sugar Make You Stronger?
The effect of excessive sugar consumption on fatigue is now widely acknowledged. You can experience an initial energy boost after consuming sugar that lasts for between 30 and 60 minutes before fading.
Then, “a crash” is felt. This explains why sugars are so addictive and why we turn to sweets so frequently.
The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends a stricter added-sugar limit of fewer than 100 calories or 24 grams per day for the majority of adult women and less than 150 calories or 36 grams per day for men.
Overconsumption of sugar could result in:
- Fatty liver disease
- Cognitive decline
- Cancer
- Skin Issues
- Hormonal Changes
How Do Energy Drinks Affect Your Body?
Depending on how you consume them, energy drinks can have positive or negative effects on your body.
An energy drink is a complete energy package with the ideal amount of healthy nutrients because it contains essential vitamins, carbohydrates, sugar, caffeine, and antioxidants.
This study demonstrates that 10 minutes after consuming an energy drink, caffeine enters the bloodstream.
It provides an energy boost to the body within 15 to 45 minutes. You feel highly active while performing the necessary work, focused, alert, and attentive.
After peaking in 45 minutes, the effect gradually wears off; and within 5 to 6 hours, half of the caffeine in your body has left. The caffeine leaves your body completely after 12 hours of consumption, in other words.
Additionally, excessive caffeine use can lead to addiction; as a result, you should always limit your daily caffeine intake to prevent dependency. The FDA advises limiting daily caffeine intake to up to 400mg.
Can Energy Drinks Make You Stronger?
Energy drinks will provide you with the strength or stamina to work for long hours. This temporary increase in energy, however, quickly wears off.
Therefore, the answer is yes, energy drinks can give you a temporary boost in energy and muscle strength.
Caffeine is a stimulant that directly works with the nervous system, giving you the vigor and required energy to function well.
The majority of energy drinks contain a lot of caffeine, which gives you a brief energy boost.
Although brief, the surge might be followed by additional health problems as numerous energy drinks contain sugar as well as other ingredients.
Instead of falling into the trap of consuming more energy drinks at once in the hopes of gaining more strength, it is preferable to stick to a moderate intake. Instead, overindulging can only make you feel more worn out and sleepy.
Therefore, you risk experiencing the negative effects of caffeine on your body if you drink and consume too many energy drinks for the sake of strength.
Famous Energy Drink Brands
Monster
This energy drink doesn’t require any further introduction. Together with its rival Red Bull, Monster energy drink dominates the global market for energy drinks.
It’s important to take precautions upon consuming Monster since it contains a handful of caffeine which is 150mg, sugar which is 54g, and 210 calories.
Rockstar
One of the best energy drinks on the market is Rockstar energy drink.
It is renowned for having 20 different distinct flavors in all, which are varied widely. The fact that there are so many variations of it makes it very well-liked both in the US and the UK.
It primarily consists of 122 calories, 63g of sugar, and 160mg of caffeine. It is free of fat and contains several B vitamins.
REIZE
REIZE contains 11 calories and 50mg of caffeine, with zero sugar and no added sugar.
Every morning, I need this energy supplement. Even just 50 mg of caffeine is enough to give me the much-needed boost.
Try REIZE and discover how it can work wonders on your energy levels!
Conclusion
- Due to their amazing capacity to boost energy, focus, alertness, and performance in the specific work they desire to accomplish, energy drinks are becoming more and more popular among athletes, gym-goers, and regular people.
- The competition for various energy-boosting drinks and foods is as fierce as it is in any market. Energy drinks can do a better job of boosting your energy than other drinks can.
- They can assist you in working out hard by boosting your capacity for strenuous physical activity, which in turn strengthens your muscles.
- Caffeine, a component of energy drinks, triggers the body’s flight or fight response. The hormone dopamine, which gives you more energy and lifts your mood, is released more frequently as a result.