Caffeine for Performance

People are always asking, what, if any effect does caffeine have on athletic performance? Well it’s time to shut the hell up and read, because ima gonna lay it down for you.

Does it help?

It certainly does. Of the many, many research studies into the area of caffeine and its beneficial effects on endurance performance the resounding consensus is that caffeine has a meaningful benefit to physical output. Many of the studies looked at cycling time trial performance, and found benefits lasting for around an hour into the test. So about the same amount of time it takes for your mate to change a flat that time. 

How?

The exact reason for performance improvement is not yet fully understood. Below are some of the known effects and some of the subsequent theories based of them.

Perception of fatigue under the influence of caffeine is shown to be lower. This may seem trivial but in endurance sports, efficiency is a matter of maximum output for minimal perceived exertion. Perceived effort therefore, underpins exercise efficiency. When there are no physical limiting factors, this decreased perception will likely make a noticeable difference in total output.   

The cause of this - Without getting too sciencie; when caffeine is present in the brain it decreases the “excitation threshold” of the nurons in the brain. Meaning, motor units in muscles can be recruited quicker, and decrease perceived fatigue. It has also been theorised that Caffeine has a similar effect at the muscular level allowing for faster contractions. 

One of the interesting and commonly observed effects of caffeine is that it increases the levels of free fatty acids in the blood stream to the tune of 50-100% at rest as well as during exercise. It would stand to reason and has been theorised that this increase in circulating FFA would then be used as a fuel source during exercise (potentially sparring the more efficient fuel source of glycogen for higher intensity work)
This theory however has not been proven. So the scientific world will have to keep researching to find the answers, just like with big foot, loch ness monster and power balance bands.

How much ?

You would think the more C8H10N4O2 (caffeine molecule... but you knew that ;)  the better, but most studies have found that a ceiling exist at around 3mg/kg.bw. That means for example that a 70kg person would require 210mg of caffeine. Any more than this has show to yield the same beneficial effects. 

Caffeine tolerance? Is caffeine like the other drugs I do, after a while does the buzz wear off?

In many studies there has been a small amount of participants that are seen to be ‘non responders’ it is unclear whether this is an actual phenomenon or has more to do with test variability.

Research has uncovered that blood pressure and hormonal related changes are suppressed meaning habitual use of coffee does not lead to high blood pressure and hormonal stress as it was once believed to. Further to this, caffeine is still shown to cause improved performance in habitual caffeine users. Indicating that the ergogenic effect of caffeine is most likely not due to these factors.

Also long term coffee consumption is not a contributing factor to hypertension as it was one thought. So your soy lattes aren't killing you, but you still look like a douche.

Drawbacks

Some evidence exists to suggest levels of certain inflammatory markers are more highly elevated post exercise in caffeine vs non caffeine users. This may be due to caffeine induced increase in adrenaline or possibly simply a result of the excess work that is able to be completed when affected by caffeine.

Caffeine cost money, especially if its served by a hipster, in Sydney, in a bio-degradable cup.

Using any ergogenic aids raises some moral and ethical considerations, Caffeine was a restricted substance until 2004 under the WADA anti dopeing rules which govern all legitimate professional sporting competitions (so not cross fit). At the time of its restriction caffeine was restricted to a urine content of 12 micrograms. To test above this level would mean for an athlete to be consuming around 500-600mg of caffeine. If that doesn’t sound like much, then id say you don’t have any context to caffeine quantities. (it’s like drinking 9 espresso at once) Part of the reason for its removal was that caffeine levels this high are well beyond the levels adequate for performance improvements.

Recommendations:

How much: 3mg/kg body weight. (any more than this has no added benefit.)

Timing: most of the studies used 1 hour before exercise commencement but more research is needed for optimum timing)

How: energy drink, coffee, no doz whatever, its all good.