Low and Moderate Doses of Caffeine Late in Exercise Improve Performance in Trained Cyclists
Jason L Talanian Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, 01 April 2016
The aim of the present study was to assess if low and moderate doses of caffeine delivered in a carbohydrate-electrolyte solution (CES) late in exercise improved time trial (TT) performance. Fifteen (11 male, 4 female) cyclists (22.5 ± 0.9 yr; 69.3 ± 2.6 kg; VO2peak, 64.6 ± 1.9 ml ∙ min-1 ∙ kg-1) completed four double-blinded randomized trials. Subjects completed 120 min of cycling at ~60% VO2peak with five interspersed 120 s intervals at ~82% VO2peak, immediately followed by 40 s intervals at 50 W. Following 80 min of cycling, subjects either ingested a 6% CES (PL), a CES with 100 mg (low dose, 1.5 ± 0.1 mg ∙ kg bm-1) of caffeine (CAF1) or a CES with 200 mg (moderate dose, 2.9 ± 0.1 mg ∙ kg bm-1) of caffeine (CAF2).
Following the 120 min cycling challenge, cyclists completed a 6 kJ ∙ kg bm-1 TT. There was no difference between respiratory, heart rate, glucose, free fatty acid, body weight, hematocrit or USG measurements between treatments. The CAF2 (26:36 ± 0:22 min:sec) TT was completed faster than CAF1 (27:36 ± 0:32 min:sec, p<0.05) and both CAF TT’s were completed faster than PL (28:41 ± 0:38 min:sec, p<0.05). Blood lactate was similar between trials and rose to a greater extent during the TT (p<0.05).
In summary, both doses of caffeine delivered late in exercise improved TT performance over the PL trial and the moderate dose (CAF2) improved performance to a greater extent than the low dose (CAF1).