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Caffeine and Exercise Performance
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Re: Caffeine and Exercise Performance
#42I work out 2h/d/365d and used to take 450mg boosters, incl. the usual suspects like Citrullin, β-A, etc. every morning. Went cold turkey and I'm now at a single shot of Espresso pre-workout — and the best shape of my life (mid-40). Sleep and nutrition are key; don't get dependent on whatever supplement you think is necessary.
What do you mean you work out for 2h literally every day?
It might sound wild but here in Texas getting ready for high school football often includes “two a days” to get in shape at the start of the season. That means a morning and afternoon workout. In total it can be 2 hours or more spent doing the routine (not solid 2 hours lifting or running, but within that time).
I’m revisiting training and going light for now but if I go the PED route again I will definitely go harder and longer because of the recovery advantages from steroids and protein.
Re: Caffeine and Exercise Performance
#43One data point: I can drink 3 espressos at midnight, go to bed and fall asleep. Apparently I'm immune to caffeine which is both good (I can have a coffee at any time of the day) and bad (if I'm sleepy and I have to drive a coffee won't wake me up.) Maybe I also won't get any of those exercise performance effects.
My anecdata: this changed with age. At university I was disappointed that caffeine pills did nothing perceptible; and in my mid-to-late 20s I too could sleep well after multiple late espressos.
Now in my early 40s I feel the effects of coffee more directly (a physiological buzz if I have more than usual in the morning) and falling asleep and probably sleep quality both seem to suffer if I’ve not allowed a sufficient washout period - which now requires most of the afternoon and evening.
Re: Caffeine and Exercise Performance
#44One data point: I can drink 3 espressos at midnight, go to bed and fall asleep. Apparently I'm immune to caffeine which is both good (I can have a coffee at any time of the day) and bad (if I'm sleepy and I have to drive a coffee won't wake me up.) Maybe I also won't get any of those exercise performance effects.
have you tried modafinil? might not be the best solution for long drives except if you plan well ahead, like say if you have a late 4h drive after which you will sleep maybe take modafinil 6-7h before the drive so you can actually sleep when it's over
Re: Caffeine and Exercise Performance
#45One data point: I can drink 3 espressos at midnight, go to bed and fall asleep. Apparently I'm immune to caffeine which is both good (I can have a coffee at any time of the day) and bad (if I'm sleepy and I have to drive a coffee won't wake me up.) Maybe I also won't get any of those exercise performance effects.
I am also like this. And after long periods of high intake iycan quit with no withdrawal. After I was diagnosed (as an adult) with ADHD my doctor told me caffeine doesn't affect people with ADHD the same way.
Edit: I can say that a pre-workout with 300mg made positive differences in a progress plot on a beginning strength program. But there were other things in there too. When I switched to coffee, creatine, beta alanine, and taurine, the effects did not persist.
Re: Caffeine and Exercise Performance
#46I've recently started taking 200mg caffeine pills in the morning instead of coffee. A very cheap and easy way to boost energy in the morning, within about 15 minutes you really want to get out of bed, and no need to walk to the coffee machine. 200 pills are about $5, which is a lot cheaper than coffee. I'll probably tone down the dose, because it's the equivalent of 3 espressos, which is a bit much. I would normally…
I've used 200mg caffeine pills back in college, exactly for the purpose of waking up in the morning. For me, the tolerance made the effect go away after a month or two. I could take a caffeine pill, and go back to sleep. I had to start taking two, then three, until one morning I took so many I was basically shaking from caffeine, yet I was still sleepy. Maybe it was just me, though. Everyone's metabolism is different…
I did something similar when I started working at my first job. I came into the office and had two of those pills out of habit. Then kept the jar sitting at my desk.
Just like you, I realised that perhaps it wasn't the best idea since I was just taking them out of habit, and I stopped. It took me a few weeks to return to normal, during which I had the weirdest sleep and eating patterns.
Re: Caffeine and Exercise Performance
#47I'm an avid runner (50-70km/week) and I've been running for 5 years. I run long distances on trail. Seems that although it increases performance and stamina for me it also brings my heart rate up, which is not desirable in most cases since I'm training ~80% of the time in zone 2 (aerobic). At given pace I can have few bits higher HR when caffeinated (between 5 and 10 bpm) which means that I need go go slower in order…
Agree. If I want some energy boost I drink matcha, sencha.. green teas. Looks like it kicks off faster than coffee for me, but depends, for example matcha seems a bit harder for gut when drinking before workout. Some of them could be helpful for fat burning also combined with zone 2 but I am not sure, wasn't reading about this.
Re: Caffeine and Exercise Performance
#48One data point: I can drink 3 espressos at midnight, go to bed and fall asleep. Apparently I'm immune to caffeine which is both good (I can have a coffee at any time of the day) and bad (if I'm sleepy and I have to drive a coffee won't wake me up.) Maybe I also won't get any of those exercise performance effects.
There is such a thing as a "coffee power nap". I won't go into the science of it, but it basically makes sense to fall asleep after having a cup of coffee (but not at night).
That said, you may fall asleep, but you don't know how the quality and depth of your sleep is affected. You can be sleeping for 10 hours and still wake up wrecked.
Re: Caffeine and Exercise Performance
#49Caffeine combined with L-Theanine does seem provide slight boost for focus to me. That said, I think biggest mood/focus/energy difference (besides a nice workout which is also important) for me was getting vitamins and other micronutrients in order. I highly suggest you to do a blood test or two per year for all the common vitamins/micronutrients to see which you need to fix. For men, I think it is especially importa…
Vitamins, minerals yes.
But what I found super useful is gut health probiotics. No need to eat them all the time, just when you feel challenged.
I don't want to promote specific supplement products here, but let's just say there is one that helped me enormously.
Re: Caffeine and Exercise Performance
#50I work out 2h/d/365d and used to take 450mg boosters, incl. the usual suspects like Citrullin, β-A, etc. every morning. Went cold turkey and I'm now at a single shot of Espresso pre-workout — and the best shape of my life (mid-40). Sleep and nutrition are key; don't get dependent on whatever supplement you think is necessary.
What do you mean you work out for 2h literally every day?
Yes