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Caffeine and endurance
PETE GLADDEN
Pete’s World
Published: January 30, 2023
I’m going to admit that I used a performance enhancing drug during some of my running, cycling, swimming and multi-sport races.
Okay, I’m also going to admit that that the aforementioned is a deceiving bit of hyperbole intended to grab your attention.
Because this performance enhancing drug is anything but remarkable.
In reality it’s quite ordinary and totally legal. What’s more, everyone under the sun consumes the stuff each and every morning - all of which compelled me to draw you into the conversation with a little ploy.
Now as you’ve probably guessed, the drug I’m talking about is plain old caffeine.
And when I ingested it pre-competition, it was typically via an earthy double espresso––not exactly the drug you’d think of when conversations turn to ergogenic aids (devices, substances or techniques that can be used to increase athletic performance).
Indeed, caffeine isn’t exotic nor is it illegal, it isn’t hard to obtain nor is it expensive, yet regardless of its benignness it’s been used as a performance enhancer for decades, despite most of us not knowing exactly how it worked.
Technically called methylxanthine, caffeine’s a bitter substance that can be found in coffee beans, tea leaves, cacao pods (used to make chocolate), kola nuts and in over 60 other plant products, and its effect on the body involves brain and central nervous system stimulation.
Yet despite the fact that there’s decade’s worth of anecdotal evidence supporting its efficacy as a performance enhancer, until recently no one could really pinpointed the nuts and bolts of just how caffeine has this enhancing effect on the human body.
Now that’s not to say there haven’t been a slew of theories, there have been, it’s just that researchers couldn’t suss out any rock solid data to support those theories.
Over the years though, two prominent physiological suppositions have evolved concerning caffeine’s effect on sports performance.
The first centers around its role as a stimulator, where caffeine somehow stimulates the muscle fibers to contract.
The second centers around its role as a inhibiter, where caffeine somehow blocks certain receptors in the brain that are associated with fatigue. But again, it’s the “somehow” which has had sports science researchers scratching their heads.
Well, turns out that both of these suppositions might be valid because a new research study has come up with some very interesting data. And it goes like this. In the September 2022 issue of Medicine And Science In Sport & Exercise, researchers provided evidence that, “Caffeine ingestion improves performance during high-intensity, whole-body exercise via attenuation of exercise-induced reduction in VA [voluntary activation] and contractile function.”
This study, Caffeine Increases Endurance Performance via Changes in Neural and Muscular Determinants of Performance Fatigability, was based on data accumulated from 10 cyclists who completed “time-to-exhaustion” tests.
Now without diving too deep into the weeds here, know that some pretty sophisticated electronic techniques was used to monitor the participant’s brains, central nervous systems, muscles, and circulatory systems - ironically some of the same techniques that had been used in past studies yet which provided no conclusive results.
The key between this and previous studies though was that the electronic monitoring occurred DURING exercise as opposed to pre and post exercise. And apparently that made the difference.
So when the cyclists were run through their numerous trials, the ones who ingested caffeine lasted 14 percent longer than the ones who ingested the placebo - which is massive.
Most important though is the fact that the researches were able to decipher the physiological mechanisms that allowed for such performance enhancements.
First, they discovered that the quadriceps muscles (the primary movers in cycling) were able to function longer and thereby attain a higher level of muscle fatigue prior to failure.
Second, they discovered that the central nervous system, which signals those quadriceps muscles to contract, could send contractile signals longer. And third, much to the researcher’s surprise, is they found that caffeine has an effect on blood O2 saturation levels meaning that there was more oxygen flowing through the arteries available for the muscles to metabolize while cycling.
So for those of you who have always wondered why a good stiff coffee seems to provide a discernible physical/psychological bump to your racing and training, looks like there’s now some hard data to prove it and it’s far from being hyperbolic.