I love coffee. There, I said it.
Like many of my Performance Coaching Colleagues, the job requires a lot of weird work hours, and I am sure many are no stranger to the 5am or 6am client, team lift, or personal workout.
Coffee gets us through.
One thing that we know is caffeine is a stimulant and it heightens the central nervous system (CNS). But what does it do as far as affecting the speed of a muscle contraction? When this study came across my Google feed as an article of interest, first I felt personally attacked given the reference to caffeine. Second, I knew it would make a great (and relevant) research article to review for All Access!
For those who may be new to our research reviews, here’s how they break down…
Part 1: What we know.
This is going to explain what the research was looking to study, how they studied it, and why you should care.
Part 2: Any comments or concerns about what the study is showing?
Sometimes the best research study looks so good on paper, but then when you dive in you see that it was done on olympic athletes, or was sponsored by a specific company, or something else that can throw a major red flag on its effectiveness in practical use. Alas, that is what we are for here at Parisi HQ
Part 3: How can I use this?
This part is going to explain practical applications of the research. Typically research is lab based and can be hard to replicate when you’re a Performance Coach on a budget. I’m going to do my best to break down how you can actually apply this research to you coaching
Here’s the article of note, in citation format for you grammar nerds out there…it’s hyperlinked to the text in case you want to dive in yourself.
Part 1: What we know.
Oh a study surrounding caffeine, so near and dear to my heart. This study took 42 male football players (in Australia, in case you were wondering) and gave them a dosage of 6 mg of caffeine per kilogram of bodyweight. For those keeping score at home, that is a clinical dose of caffeine per most recommendations. The experiment took the 42 athletes and separated them into three groups. Those who ingested caffeine and then were immediately measured, those who let 30 minutes lapse before testing, and those who let 60 minutes lapse before testing. The study used a tensiomyography (TMG) reader to look at the calf and its peak muscle contractions.
Note 1- It should also be noted that the 42 athletes were qualified ‘habitual caffeine users’, which I would like to be known as, as well…
Note 2- As mentioned in the introduction, most caffeine (and stimulant) related studies looked at heart rate response and other CNS-related responses…this study looked specifically at the muscle contractions speed as it related to peak caffeine dose.
Okay, back to what we know…
The study showed that after 30 minutes there were significant showings in the peak muscle contractions as it related to the other groups.
Why is this interesting? Two main points stand out.
First, the general recommendation of caffeine for performance is to ingest 60 minutes prior to exercise or performance effort…that may need to be rethought.
Second, the study hooked up the TMG to both legs when testing…there was no statistical difference between the two sides, which debunks the idea that a ‘strong side’ could inhibit the study findings. Apparently caffeine > muscle dominance, haha!
Part 2: Any comments or concerns about what the study is showing?
To fully understand the caffeine mechanisms on muscle activity, it would be useful to study the effect of different caffeine doses and how the dose prescription impacts contraction speed. I know that is a fine-line critique of the study, but the researchers used a sizable dose at 6 mg/kg of bodyweight.
One clear limitation of this study could be the lack of a control group. However, when you think about the use of a control group (a group that does not receive ANY caffeine in this case) they would show null results relative to what the study was trying to produce and the chances of them being non-habitual caffeine users would be very, very slim.
The last limitation is that the study involved only male athletes, so the results should not be generalized.
Part 3: How can I use this?
These findings suggest that individuals who require enhanced muscle performance, like the athletes we work with….or simply just individuals engaging in physical activities, may benefit from consuming caffeine approximately 30 minutes before their performance. By doing so, they may experience faster muscle contraction and reduced delay time, potentially leading to improved athletic performance…which are all things we like as Coaches!