peppers for lifting???

[cr3beast]

So I was wondering if anyone has tried eating a hot pepper(such as a habanero) immediately before lifting. When I eat them I get an endorphine rush, and a bit of an adrenaline rush. It seems like a good idea to eat one before lifting hard, but I can't find anything about people doing this so I don't know if it will be counter productive. Any advice on if this is a good or bad idea let me know.... I know they aren't technically supplements but I didn't know a better place to post...thanks guys...

[EricT]

Lots of things that cause pain will give you an endorphine rush. This is going to sound macabre but have you heard about people who are very depressed and messed up mentally who engage in "cutting"? They do that precisely because the pain causes a "release". The endorphines make them feel better.

You wouldn't do that thinking it will help your lifting performance, would you?

If you actually eat habenero's you are a bad ass mofo, though. I wouldn't be working out anytime soon after eating one. I wouldn't be able to see, lol.

But ask yourself whether there is a difference between any self-infliction of pain that causes an endorphine/adrenaline rush and eating peppers.

The other question is what does "lifting hard" mean? If it's about many reps really fast where you don't really care about performance and precision then maybe a 'rush' would be fine.

But if it is about lifting maximally or doing technical lifts where you need focus and precision then a 'rush' will not necessarily improve your performance and may well impair it. You could essentially be 'over-aroused'.

[cr3beast]

Hey thanks for the reply. I understand what you mean about pain causing the same thing, but I would much rather eat a habanero than cut myself...too much of a narcissist to do that, haha. But seriously, I see what you mean by it not making much logical sense. To clarify, by "lifting hard" I meant heavy. I don't speed lift, that is just a waste of time, and can cause a blow-out. I hadn't thought about it shifting focus and impairing lifting. That could suck if I try to lift heavy and my head isn't in the right place. Thanks for pointing that out. Anywho, again I appreciate the feedback.

[EricT]

You're welcome. When I said "many reps really fast" I actually just meant light weights with high volume and short rest periods" as opposed to near maximal lifting. I shouldn't have worded that way since it sounded like I was talking about speed or "dynamic effort".

[cr3beast]

Ah, I see. My bad, I misunderstood ya. That makes more sense. Again, thanks for advice dude.

[cr3beast]

Ok so to update. I just got home from the gym, I decided to test this theory of mine out. I didn't have any peppers but I have Mad Dog 357 Ghost Pepper Hot sauce. This stuff is like 550,000 scoville units, so it is more than hot enough to get your ass jump-started.
I wanted to hit a new max for my bench. My old one rep max is 175(doesn't sound like much but I weigh 143lb) and I wanted to hit 185. I did 1 set of 10 with 135, 1 set of 5 with 155, 1 set of 1 with 175(which I barely got up). I then put about a penny sized spot of hot sauce on my thumb, licked it off, and got set for my bench. I got up 185 TWICE!! and was halfway up on the third when I got stuck.
This method works! A friend of mine decided to try it as well with dumbbell shoulder press. He grabbed a weight he had previously been unable to do, gave it a few good tries(all of which he failed to get the weight up) then tried the hot sauce. He was then able to get the dumbbells up 6 times!!
So, tested twice, two different people, two different lifts. Try it guys, it will give you an edge and allow you to increase your max!

[Hercules]

That's interesting. I will have to try that.

[cmatthew4]

thats kind of interesting though... im going to give it a try.... just as an experiment see what happens... i happen to love hot peppers... although a habenero might be a little too extreme for lifting... mabey a thai chili ;)
next thing you know... it worked and im eating bhut jolokias! lol! (wich i have growing in my back yard! lol)

[BillyIce]

Eating a habanero or just a nice size bit of one sounds like fun! I'm a try it soon

[jetsetter]

I read this awhile back and kind of chuckled, but the joke was on me. Tried it and it worked!