MitchellH

Interesting article about the effects of caffeine during intense exercise.

Caffeine Reduces Muscle Burning During Intense Exercise

Researchers at the University of Illinois report that 300 mg of caffeine (the amount in four cups of coffee) reduces muscle burning during intense exercise in both regular coffee drinkers and in those who do not drink coffee at all (International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, April 2009). One of the researchers, Robert Motl, PhD, says that caffeine blocks spinal nerves that transmit pain messages to the brain. This means that people can exercise longer because they feel less pain.

Athletes take caffeine because they know it helps them to exercise longer. When muscles run out of their stored muscle sugar, they have to burn more fat which requires more oxygen. Lack of oxygen is the limiting factor in how fast and hard you can exercise over long periods of time. When you run low on oxygen, lactic acid accumulates in the muscles, which makes muscles more acidic, causing the burning that you feel in tired muscles. However, caffeine helps to delay the burning by causing muscles to burn more fat so they can preserve the sugar stored in muscles and you can exercise longer without accumulating large amounts of lactic acid.

Another interesting study from Iran showed that omega-3 fatty acids lessened delayed onset muscle soreness that occurs 48 hours after exercise in untrained men (Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine, March 2009).

DrPete 

300mg of caffeine reduces muscle burning for me because I'm on the port-a-john having palpitations before I can even get up to LT. That's a lot of caffeine to take at once, and I live on the stuff.

ImaPoser

So I should be filling one of my water bottles with mountain dew? Cool.

DrPete 

In that case, the sugar crash will more than make up for the benefit of the caffeine.

MitchellH

This is a very good thing IMO. I think caffeine tablets might be in my future...

DrPete 

Here's the stuff...

https://www.competitivecyclist.com/ro...621.387.0.html

200mg of caffeine per reportedly palatable serving, so you could get there. I've done the vivarin/no-doz thing and they made my stomach a decidedly unhappy place.

roca rule

well they fail to mention that caffeine is diuretic. and for the mountain dew option i do not mind the sugar (i am only 142) but i have heard that carbonatd water is not good for endurance athletes.

urbanknight

Doesn't the USAC restrict the amount of caffeine you can have in your system during competition?

roca rule

i belive it is 3 cups of regular. caffeine is ideal for sprinters but not for climbers like me.
have you done the montrose ride.

OCshark

I'm experimenting (hehe) with Apex Max Workout, which is a Caffeine and Ginseng stack:

https://my.apexfitness.com/products/p....php?item=1028

While I haven't encountered any bad effects, I'm still trying to learn if it actually helps. I've not supplemented with caffeine before, so this is still in the trial and error phase for me. I've got a crit simulation with my team in 2 hours...will follow up with my experience.

I did use it (though not at full strength) during my race yesterday, and my legs never got much of a burn (granted, it was only a 45 minute event in cool weather).

coasting 

this is interesting. so drinking tea and honey hits the spot.

cuski

Enough with the diuretic nonsense. You need to consume more than 360-mg of caffeine before there is a noticeable increase in urine output. Additionally, a person who regularly consumes caffeine has a higher tolerance to the diuretic effect.

MrCrassic 

Really? Because there are some days where I urinate excessively, all of which happen after drinking coffee.

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cuski

Yes, really. In moderate amounts, caffeine has only mild diuretic effects — much like water. Plenty of studies out there, this is one of them: https://advance.uconn.edu/2002/020722/02072207.htm

Feel free to Google for more.

ok_commuter

NYT ran an article recently about a study that showed that caffeine is about as diuretic as plain H20.

Walter

Hmmm.... Maybe I drink some really strong stuff. I'm a bit of a coffee nerd and really like the Kona bean but my students know that I'll be a minute or 2 late for 2nd block regularly. I finish my travel mug during 1st and by the end of that block, beginning of 2nd I'm standing by the door. You can (I'm pretty sure my students do) set your watch by it.

spry

That's why you people always lose races,stopping at 3 pm for tea.

MIN 

I hit my max heart rate of 206 while highly caffeinated. Non-caffeinated MHR is about 195. Whatever that means.

trinity000

Caffeine is a diuretic but only in large doses... The "average" cup of coffee (even lattes or cappucino's) have more liquid (water) that you take in then what the caffeine makes you expel.

However 400 or 500 mg of caffeine without taking in any real water with it probably would be a diuretic.

P.S i just got this info during a class i took last week (Cooper Institutes Fitness Specialist), the Dr. that came to present that class actually helped in one of the studies on it.

urbanknight

I don't know the current restriction, but I remember 15 years ago the legal limit for someone of average weight was the equivilent of about 12 cups of coffee!

Yeah, I've done the Montrose Ride plenty of times. Last year it was Liquid Fitness, this year is PAA, both times on a White Tsunami. If I don't get dropped on Arrow Highway, I get dropped at Winston. The former reminds me why I shouldn't race.

mr handy

I guess I need to go back on my espresso kick ... now it is starting to make since why I was riding more when I was starting my day with a nice heavy hit of the stuff. when I stopped making it I lost the desire to ride... or maybe it's because I have been sick all spring...

DannoXYZ 

The diuretic effect is overblown because most people don't do double-blind studies. If you drank 2-3 cups of water while sitting around the office in the morning, you'd need to pee in the next hour anyway. It the liquid water in the coffee that's making you pee and you don't end up dehydrated. A lot of people think of the effects of alcohol when they hear the word "diuretic", and yes, alcohol has a completely different effect on you than coffee.

The actual effects of caffeine is on the brain and it allows you to tolerate more suffering. Your muscles are getting just as sore and you're producing just as much lactic acid as before the caffeine. Just that your brain is on a high and doesn't mind it as much. Here's some more articles of interest:

CP Tips - Caffeine
JAP - Effect of different protocols of caffeine intake on metabolism and endurance performance
JAP - Effect of a divided caffeine dose on endurance cycling performance,
JAP - Performance and metabolic responses to a high caffeine dose during prolonged exercise (cycling endurance increased +51%)
AJCN - Caffeine and coffee: their influence on metabolic rate and substrate utilization in normal weight and obese individuals

Markj61

EXTREEEEEME!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO2Abp0FbA0

Harun

ENERGY LEGS

mr handy

Wow, just wow.