Caffeine - the "pros", the "cons" and dosage for performance.
What is caffeine?
Caffeine is a substance found in 63 or more species of plants, such as coffea arabica and tea which acts a natural pesticide in nature. However, caffeine is claimed to also increase performance and alertness.
What does the science say?
Caffeine improves performance in most events except high-intensity exercise and increases cognitive functioning in endurance exercise. Caffeine increases plasma Fatty Acid concentration (the fat your body uses as a fuel) and so therefore increases endurance performance as carbohydrates and glycogen (sugar stored in the muscle in a saturated state) are sparred, therefore your rate of fatigue decreases. If you can slow down the use of your body using glycogen, you can run further and faster as increased glycogen = increased performance and significantly reduced glycogen = no more running.
Is caffeine more beneficial as a drink or capsule?
A study by Hodgson, Randell, and Jeukendrop (2013), eight cyclists and triathletes performed time trials with caffeine taken as a supplement or consumed as coffee. The result was a significantly faster time trial performance and significantly higher average power when caffeine was consumed compared to a placebo. There was no difference between caffeine as a drink (coffee in this instance) compared with capsules.
Possible side effects of caffeine if you do not regularly consume caffeine:
- Gastrointestinal distress
- Headaches
- Tachycardia
- Restlessness
- Irritability
- Tremor
- Increased blood pressure
- Psychomotor agitations
- Premature left ventricular contractions
I would not recommend consuming large quantities of caffeine a day. However, at your own risk, to figure out what you are capable of consuming will be down to trial and error.
When should I be consuming caffeine before exercise?
Caffeine is readily absorbed after ingestion and blood levels rise and peak approximately after 60 minutes. (Costill et al.1997; Essig, Costill, and Van Handel 1980; Ivy et al. 1979).
How much caffeine should I have to increase my performance?
As little as 1-3.2mg per kg of body weight will see exercise improvement (Cox et al. 2002; Kovacs, Stegen, and Brouns 1998) is what I would recommended but I would like to emphasise that caffeine is not necessary if you have not nailed your sleep routine, hydration status, calories, sufficient macronutrients and fibre intake.
The benefits of caffeine appear to show best affect with increased duration of exercise (you can train for longer with caffeine, but is this necessary?)
More caffeine doesn’t mean better performance though. When 9mg of caffeine per kilogram of body weight is ingested, there is no statistical difference compared to 6mg (Graeme and Spriet 1995). Higher than 3mg per kg of body weight also shows little to no statistical difference.
Basically, even athletes don’t necessarily need more than 3mg per kg of body weight to increase their performance. Most people definitely don’t need that high of a dose.
Can the effects of caffeine diminish?
The effects of caffeine can certainly diminish if taken too frequently. Habitual consumers of coffee or tea might know this already. There is indeed evidence of this, but when does this occur?
Keep an eye out on your inbox and we can eventually run into this deeper!
How I can help you?
Personal Training and Online Coaching for all levels of fitness with accurate calorie targets and nutritional advice which will be realistic around your goals, evidence based and health prioritised.
Performance Nutrition for working professionals that incorporates nutrition around your life style, aiding in better sleep, reduced stress, increased concentration and, of course, increased performance.
Performance Nutrition for the athlete who is trying to increase their performance physically, cognitively, prepare for competition, fuel for competition or simply to make weight.
Everything I do and everything I say is backed by science. There are no guesses.