Anecdotally, many of us have experienced the performance-enhancing benefits of caffeine.
My morning runs or workouts certainly seem easier after I’ve had a cup or two of coffee. But is it the placebo effect or does caffeine actually improve exercise performance?
A recent comprehensive report analyzed 21 published meta-analyses to answer this very question.
The systematic review looked at the effects of caffeine on aerobic endurance, muscle strength, muscle endurance, power, jumping performance, and exercise speed.
The conclusion — after looking at all of the data — is that “caffeine ingestion improves exercise performance in a broad range of exercise tasks.”
This would come as no surprise to world-class athletes, who have increasingly turned to caffeine as a legal performance-enhancer since the World Anti-Doping Agency removed caffeine from its banned list in 2004.
But does caffeine improve certain types of exercise more than others?
Caffeine was shown to deliver benefits across all types of exercise, but the greatest gains were seen for endurance and speed. It appears as though the magnitude of the effect of caffeine is greater for aerobic as compared with anaerobic exercise.
In terms of the ‘optimal’ dose of caffeine for performance, that is still a bit of an open question. Additionally, most of the meta-analyses used highly-concentrated caffeine powder, so it can be challenging to apply the findings to coffee, energy drinks, bars, and other caffeine-containing substances.
That said, coffee has independently been shown to enhance aerobic endurance performance, weight lifting, and sprinting. And looking at all of the studies, the authors concluded that “the caffeine dose from coffee likely has to fall within the 3–6 mg/kg range” to provide performance-enhancing benefits.
The caffeine dose from coffee can depend on bean type, preparation method, size of the cup, and other factors, but there are some generalizations that can be made. The ‘average’ cup of coffee contains around 100 mg of caffeine — meaning that two cups would deliver about 200 mg, representing about 3 mg/kg for a 70 kg person (about 155 pounds).
As a general rule, the authors conclude that “two cups of coffee, consumed around 60 minutes before exercise, should exert an ergogenic effect in most individuals.”
Sensitivity to caffeine is highly personal, so experimentation is key. Try different doses and shorter/longer wait times before exercise to see what works best for you.
The results are clear — caffeine is a proven performance-booster. Hopefully these findings help you utilize caffeine to maximize your workouts.
Andrew Merle writes about living well. Read more and subscribe to his email list at andrewmerle.com.