Tea or coffee - Which is good? My Experience

Note:

If you are keen and have queries, please contact Coach Rameshon at 9100 4369 or you can email him at m.rameshon@gmail.com or swift.rameshon@gmail.com. Please refer to website http://flexifitness.com.sg (for more information on him and his programmes)

By Rameshon
Bsc (Hons) Degree in Physical Education, Loughborough University (1992-1994)

Masters in Education (University of Western Australia, 2005-2008)

 Tea - A topic that I have not covered in this blog post

Having teh tarik with my friend Eng Howe

I shall discuss this with simple language so that a number of the readers could understand. 

When I was young, there was no particular drink that I was longing to drink. If anyone offer me any drink, I usually do not show any form of preference at all. 

I saw a similarity in all drinks, namely, milo, horlicks, tea and coffee. Even when I was around 26, I still had no liking for a particular drink. It was only at 27 that I decided to take coffee, as it tasted better than other drinks. My training was getting tougher, I had to rely on coffee to give me the extra edge in running, besides my planning to train well. Along the way, I also learnt the disadvantages also, like it can give injury, stitch, sleeplessness etc. You will need to rest a lot with coffee also. The quantity to drink is a topic that a runner must know in order to well. A coach can guide on how much content a person can put inside the coffee drink etc. is important. Coffee did help me a lot in my competitive days. 

In my blog post, I have spoken about coffee but I have not spoken on tea yet. My uncle who introduced to me on caffeine did mention to me, when I was at the age of 12, that tea will make one do well in games. He was about 20 years of age at that time and it did help him in playing a good game of basketball. As for me, it did not help me at all. I did not see the effect. Even coffee did not help me. I believe that when a person is young, one is very active enough and it is not necessary to stimulate blood circulation through drinking caffeinated drinks of any form. Children can become very restless if the child consumes caffeinated drinks. That is why I guess it is written on Red Bull drinks that it is advisable for the young ones not to drink it. 

Anyway, it is a known fact that Kenyan's drink tea for themselves in workouts etc so that they get their "wings" from the drink. Kenyan athletes do believe that they can actually do well in races when they drink tea an hour or two earlier.  

As for me, even when I was around 27 plus, tea did not make that much of an impact in me. Studies do show that coffee has more caffeine than tea. I believe that coffee does give a person a bigger kick than tea. It is proven otherwise for runners like Kenyans as they are used to tea. 

The key is to take a drink that enables one to enable one to elicit good performance in races. It can come from coffee, tea, or even milo.



Note:

By Narayanan
Rameshon has taught in Hwa Chong Institution, plus several schools, and Republic Polytechnic as well. He has won many accolades and he was awarded Merit Award for 1991 marathon performance in breaking the national record of Singapore, at that time. He has made 22 male athletes do a marathon in sub-3hrs. He has made 7 female runners do sub-4 hours for the marathon, as well. He was inducted to the ‘Roll of Honour’  by the then College of Physical Education, organised by Singapore Olympic Academy, in 1998, for breaking the National record repeatedly 4 times, till he did 2hr 24min 22sec).


He also has a Coaching group and he trains them on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 7pm at Botanic Gardens. Those interested can call him at 91004369 for coaching assistance, to improve performance. There is also personal training that he does for many in a week. You can e-mail him at swift.rameshon@gmail.com.