One of the best caffeine studies I've seen done on athletes was conducted recently and found that it reduces the pain of intense exercise. Over the years I've done a lot of experimenting with caffeine and this study is consistant with my (anecdotal) research. A couple times per year I "cycle" my coffee, weaning myself off of it and than re-introducing it. I used to do this for athletic events because I always felt it was more ergogenically effective after a layoff. This study confirms my theories in a lab setting.
Besides its helpful effects with athletes, caffeine may also be one of the keys to helping deconditioned individuals get into shape.
"One of the things that may be a practical application, is if you go to the gym and you exercise and it hurts, you may be prone to stop doing that because pain is an aversive stimulus that tells you to withdraw," Motl said. "So if we could give people a little caffeine and reduce the amount of pain they're experiencing, maybe that would help them stick with that exercise."
Here's a link to the article:
Caffeine Lessens Pain of Exercise
"more coffee, sir?"
Don't some old-school analgesics (i.e., Excedrin, Bufferin, Anacin -- the stuff your grandma took for her arthritis and whatnot) have caffeine in them?
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with that. I cycle my "caffiene" intake maybe once or twice a year, but not with actual coffee, but with some weak "fatburners" of some type. Nothing too fancy-some caffeine, and some citrimax, and some yohimbine, usually for about 3 weeks and then I'm done. It's a nice jumpstart when I'm starting something new, workout wise.
ReplyDeleteSome of them still do. Most famously Excedrin, who had to add Excedrin PM for those who didn't want caffeine in their pain killer.
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