Premium
Low doses of caffeine late in exercise improve cycling time trial performance
Author(s) -
Talanian Jason L,
Spriet Lawrence L
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.21.6.lb107
Subject(s) - cycling , caffeine , time trial , heart rate , blood lactate , zoology , chemistry , medicine , blood pressure , biology , archaeology , history
Moderate and high doses of caffeine (>300 mg) have been shown to improve endurance exercise performance in a variety of laboratory and field tests. The present study investigated the effects of low caffeine doses given late in exercise on cycling time trial (TT) performance. Fifteen (11 male, 4 female) competitive cyclists (22.5 ± 0.9 yr, 69.3 ± 2.6 kg, 64.6 ± 1.9 ml/kg/min) completed three randomized cycling trials. Each trial consisted of 2 hr cycling at ~60% VO 2 peak with five simulated hill climbs (~85% VO 2 peak for 2 min) and descents (50 W for 40 s) followed by a TT where subjects completed 6 kJ of work/kg BW as quickly as possible (25–30 min). Subjects were given a carbohydrate‐electrolyte solution (CES) (3ml/kg BW) prior to cycling and at 20, 40 and 60 min during exercise. At 80 min, subjects were given 350 ml CES with either, no caffeine (PL), 100 mg caffeine (CAF1) or 200 mg caffeine (CAF2). Body mass was maintained and heart rate, VO 2 , RER, and blood glucose responded similarly during all trials. The TT was completed in 1720 ± 38.2 s in PL and 65 s faster in CAF1 (1655 ± 32.8 s) and 124 s faster in CAF2 (1596 ± 22.5 s). Blood lactate was significantly higher following both CAF trials compared to the PL.