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| Caffeine as an Ergogenic Aid | ||||||||||||||
| by Doug Reese TTNL | ||||||||||||||
| Caffeine is one of the most widely consumed drugs in the human diet. The average coffee or soda drinker can attest to its stimulating effects of arousal, attention, and acuteness. Because of its known effects as a stimulant, many athletes currently use caffeine as an ergogenic aid or a performance enhancer. | ||||||||||||||
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| A number of studies have been done over the last 20 years regarding the ergognenic effect of caffeine. Most of the studies have found that the drug improves endurance performance, as opposed to power and speed performance. Studies using well-trained cyclists showed that caffeine increased their endurance capacity and efficiency. Ingesting caffeine one hour prior to exercise increased the time for cyclists to reach exhaustion while riding at a high intensity.
The cyclist were able to ride over 25 percent longer. It was also found that caffeine enhanced fat oxidation and delayed glycogen depletion. These physiological effects are beneficial for the endurance athlete because fat is burned at an increased rate, and carbohydrate stores are spared. The examination of caffeine's effects at different dosage levels reveals that higher doses were no more beneficial than the smallest dose of five milligrams caffeine per kilo of body weight (2.2 lbs = 1 kilo). Therefore, the amount an athlete ingests above five milligrams/kilograms of body weight is inconsequential for performance purposes. This is significant because the International Olympic Committee has included caffeine on its banned list; however, it is the only banned substance on the IOC's list with a doping limit that allows the presence of the substance up to a specified amount. The maximal beneficial caffeine dose of five milligrams/killigrams of body weight is below this IOC limit. It should be noted that the subjests in the cycling study ingested caffeine an hour prior to exercise; however, other studies have showed that the benefits of caffeine are even greater when caffeine is ingested immediately prior to exercise. The benefits of caffeine on endurance performance are also elevated when the athlete is not a regular user of caffeine. |
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| There are negative side effects of caffeine intake. Dizziness, headache, hunger sensations, insomnia, dehydration, and calcium depletion were the most often reported at the highest levels of caffeine dosages.
There is significant evidence supporting the use of caffeine as an ergogenic aid for endurance performance (the results for power and high-intensity, short- |
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| term endurance performance are inconclusive). The beneficial effects, such as increased time to exhaustion, increased fat oxidation, and glycogen sparing seem to be maximized at dosages that are below the IOC's allowable doping limit.
References: Pasman, WJ; van Baak, MA; Jeukendrup, AE; de Haan, A. "The Effect of Different Dosages of Caffeine on Endurance Performance Time." International Journal of Sports Medicine, 16 (1995): 225-230. |
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| To The Next Level (2) 2000 Reprinted with permission | ||||||||||||||