Caffeine has many uses in the modern world, but what are the effects on exercise and can it be a beneficial supplement for exercise and training programmes and help you to achieve your goals. I take a look at this common substance, found naturally and also added to many drinks and sport supplements.
The world of caffeine
=====================
Caffeine for many of us is as routine as brushing our teeth, the all important daily morning dose of coffee before work or the mid morning tea break to boost your energy levels. Not just limited to hot drinks, today caffeine is added to many soft drinks such as cola and even forms the main ingredient and selling point for stimulation drinks.
Today caffeine is a socially accepted drug and sinceits removal from the World Anti-Doping Agency Prohibited List on the 1st January 2004 it’s now an accepted performance enhancer for sports athletes.
Caffeine is a drug and will in some way either positive or negative affect certain biological aspects of body cells and tissue, lileky affects on the body include:
Mobilization of fats from adipose tissue and the muscle cell
Changes to muscle contractility
Alterations to the central nervous system to change perception of effort or fatigue
Stimulation of the release and activity of adrenaline
Effects on cardiac muscle
Caffeine products are widely available and with the introduction and popularity of caffeine in the form of guarana available in confectionary, drinks and specific sport supplements, it makes it easy for a sports athlete or training individual to include caffeine in their everyday diet or add it as supplement.
Performance related enhancements of caffeine
============================================
Studies on caffeine enhancement in sport suggest caffeine should be taken upto an hour prior to an event in doses equivalent to 6-mg per Kg of body weight. As well as an initial intake of caffeine some studies have shown it can be beneficial to also take caffeine during exercise or an event to boost energy levels and especially during longer endurance based events in the final stages at the point an athlete will be starting to feel fatigue. However, it’s not suggested to take doses in excess of 1-3-mg per KG of body weight during exercise, increasing the intake of caffeine above these amounts is unlikely to gain further benefits or increase performance and only likely to increase the possibility of side effects.
Will caffeine improve my endurance?
===================================
Caffeine is effective at masking fatigue and stimulating the central nevous system. This will give the body a preceived effect that the work demand is acceptable and that you can contiune exercising past the point where you might have felt fatigue without the use of caffeine.
Therefore with the boost in the central nevous system and possible release of adrenaline while any fatigue is being masked, it’s certainly possible that taken correctly and in sensible doeses caffeine will aid endurance.
The bad in the good!
====================
As with most supplements, side effects are always possible, caffeine is no exception and below is a list of possible side effects that an athlete or training individual should be aware of when taking caffeine as a supplement and of course the higher the dose of caffeine the more likely these are to occur.
Increased Heart Rate
Impairments or alterations of fine motor control and technique
Over arousal that may lead to interference with recovery and sleep patterns
Impaired technique has the potential to affect the quality of the performer in many sports
The above side effects are those that may arise from use of caffeine as a supplement on it’s own, but these days it’s rare that athletes will rely on one supplement and will almost certainly intake other supplements for performance and recovery such as creatine and whey protein. It’s not clear what the inclusion of other supplements might have on the side effects of caffeine and caution should always be taken.
Caffeine as an aid for weight loss
==================================
Widely used in thermogenic weight loss tablets, caffeine is used as an ingredient in such supplements due to it’s ability to increase heart and speed up metabolism and stimulate the utilization of fat from adipose tissue. However, some of these thermogenic weight loss and toning supplements can be quite aggressive making you feel extremely warm normally and especially during exercise. These types of supplements are widely used throughout the body building world and those with goals of achieving very lean and toned bodies, used to strip excess fat and lower their body fat percentage. Generally this type of product would not be recommended for someone trying to lose a large amount of weight.
However, every little helps!
============================
Certain drinks like coffee and tea with no sugar or milk are extremely low in calories and high in caffeine resulting in little calorie gain but having the effect of raising you bodies metabolism, in essence burning more calories.
How?
====
As we have already learnt caffeine is effective at utilising fat stored in adipose tissue as a form of energy and with an increase in heart rate will ultimately lead to the consumtpion of more calories. This as a weight loss tip would be acceptable providing you are getting a healthy diet ample to meet the needs of your daily calorie requirements or just under.
How many calories are in these caffeine drinks?
===============================================
Coffee per portion of 150ml
Coffee Black –
4
kcals
Coffee, with milk –
13
kcals
coffee irish –
160
kcals
Tea per portion of 150ml
Tea, black –
tr
kcals
Tea, with milk –
15
kcals
Tea, green –
tr
kcals
Tea, Herbal –
2
Kcals
All Kcals amounts above are without sugar, adding sugar will increase the calories by 15 kcal per level teaspoon
Caffeine is a diarrhetic! How will that help an athletes performance?
=====================================================================
Caffeine is certainly a diarrhetic and will have an effect making you dehydrated, however for those that are habitual caffeine users, the eventual urine loss is actually minimal. Caffine effects poeple in didfferent ways and some will be more prone to side effects than others and therefore the use of caffeine should be treated on an individual basis.
Leave a Reply