Caffeine

If it doesn't bother your stomach, yes.

I drink enough soda for an entire team, and haven't had any problems. I think I've actually become immune to the effects of caffeine...but the taste of the soda is good, and it keeps my dentist in business!!

I rarely drink coffee except on meet days. That way I maximize the effect. :anim_coffee:

As long as it is O K with your parts, have at it.:anim_coffee::anim_coffee::coffee:

Is caffeine good or bad?An undeniable good and a requisite for modern living. YouTube - Kids on coffee ... although I think the phlebotomist and my physician might say something different when I go in for my physical later this month.:anim_coffee:

Is caffeine good or bad? I drink about 5 cups of coffee a day and when I swim I don’t get an upset stomach or anything that some people get. I’ve been reading articles online about how caffeine increases athletic performance but is it really beneficial to drink a load of coffee and workout? In excess, it's probably like most things - bad for you. I think it can definitely be detrimental to a workout as well if you've had too much - however much that might be. More for some, less for others. I'll have about a 10-12 ounce cup on my way to morning workout. I notice I don't swim as well that early (5:30/6:00am) if I haven't had it. Also, during that mid-afternoon lull, if I'm feeling sleepy at a meet on the weekend, a cup will perk me up real good about 30 minutes before a race. I typically have 2 cups a day. The one in the am before workout and possibly another in the afternoon.

For optimum performance, go "caffeine naive" for a week or two before a big meet, then drink a cup or two about 45 minutes before a big event. A better approach than drinking is Jolt gum. Chew a couple times and stick the wad under your tongue. It gets absorbed and shoots to your blood stream in 15 minutes, and you don't have to worry about urinating. All in all, the ergonomic benefits of caffeine probably have more to do with motivation than anything else. It does juice you up a bit, and some researchers used to believe it helps mobilize fat stores for use as a substrate during long workouts. Now, however, the consensus seems to be that it energizes you mentally in a way that keeps you training on those days when you'd otherwise be tempted to phone it in. To sum up: moderate and regular dosing of caffeine to train better a break from all caffeine usage during the taper period in order to become caffeine naive--i.e., regaining your caffeine virginity--before a big meet resumption of caffeine, ideally 15 minutes before an important event via buccal absorption of Jolt gum briskly masticated several times Thus was delivered to his people the wisdom of a semi-educated pontificator of dubious albeit reasonably authenticated lore Email me if you want an article I wrote for Men's Health on caffeine a couple years ago, one which, if memory serves, included an interview with the former US Olympic team nutritionist

It has psychological effects, obviously. It takes a lot of coffee now for me to even notice anything. There's also this: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/.../9132918 A review of the literature suggests that caffeine at doses of approximately 6 mg/kg is not of ergogenic benefit to high intensity exercise performance, but similar doses are ergogenic in endurance exercise performance. 6 mg/kg is a couple cups of coffee (lots of variation in both human body weight and caffeine dose). But, as I recall, you aren't really into endurance exercise performance.

I do love my coffee and diet cokes. :) ... My habit is 3-4 cans of Diet Coke and 4 shots of espresso. Sometimes I'll substitute in a 24-oz cup of coffee instead of a can of Diet Coke. I owe you one of these:bow: and think you need to adopt my picture thingy under my name. I thought my 4-5 espresso shots a day was good and impressive, but clearly I'm a babe in the woods of Caffeineland.

I do love my coffee and diet cokes. :) When I caffeinate all day my heart rate goes bonkers the first 5 minutes of my afternoon bikeride. Normally during an easy caffeine-free warmup my heartrate would gradually increase from resting to about 145 and only hit max (172) later on climbing steep hills or time trialing. Under influence of caffeine, my heartrate will bounce crazily around between 63 and 218 bpm with no other noticeable symptoms - not even breathing hard. Eventually it settles down, but still my heart is 5 beats per minute more during the entire ride than it would be if I wasn't so caffeinated. The warmup is mostly easy soft-pedaling to loosen up a stiff knee. My habit is 3-4 cans of Diet Coke and 4 shots of espresso. Sometimes I'll substitute in a 24-oz cup of coffee instead of a can of Diet Coke.