Considering Caffeine?

I… like 95% of Melbournian’s, love a great coffee. Not only do I love the taste, I love the social experiences, the killing time moments, the pick me up and excitingly…the effect it can have on my exercise performance. As we are well aware, coffee provides us with a source of caffeine. This little gem has been highly discussed and researched in the exercise and nutrition world, demonstrating some pretty cool performance improvements across a variety of sports and exercise activities.

Which exercise/sports can benefit?

  • Intermittent exercise
  • Endurance (swimming, running, cycling)
  • High Intensity, short duration sports
  • Team sports (basketball, soccer, rugby)
  • Sadly, not many benefits currently found for resistance training.

How does it work?

  • Caffeine stimulates the Central Nervous System (CNS). It is suggested that caffeine works in opposition to the chemicals in your brain that help you sleep. (This explains a lot!!)
  • You may feel exercise is easier and seem less fatigued
  • It helps to excite and contract your muscles
  • Some researchers propose that caffeine can help to spare carbohydrates and extend fat burning for energy while exercising.

How much?

  • 1-3mg/kg of body weight (BW) e.g. 1.5mg x 80kg/BW = 120mg
  • Higher dosages of >6mg/BW and <9mg/BW have shown some enhancements. (It’s best to start small and adjust your intake over time, managing what works most efficiently with your body).
  • Below is a quick table of food and beverages. This guide will make it easier to calculate your current intake or notice what is available at home. Please take time to read your product nutrition information panel for an estimated caffeine content.

Food and Beverages:

Food Caffeine content

Percolated coffee

60-120 mg/250 mL cup

Instant coffee (1 teaspoon/cup)

60-80 mg/250 mL cup

Tea

10-50 mg/250 mL cup

Coca Cola

48.75 mg/375 mL can

Milk Chocolate

20 mg/100g bar

FSANZ- http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumer/generalissues/Pages/Caffeine.aspx

CAFÉ ESPRESSO:

  • In Australia, we have a crazy amount of coffee bean varieties and even more cafés! It is difficult to get a clear indication of an espresso shot’s caffeine content. However, one estimated average is around 106mg/shot of coffee.

Supplements:

  • There are loads of caffeinated supplements and sports drinks available for those that require it! If you are unsure, speak to a Dietitian or Nutritionist for extra professional advice.

When should you have it?

  • 1 hour prior to exercise or during prolonged exercise
  • Caffeine is released into the blood stream between 15-45 minutes after eating/drinking it.
  • It works its best about 1hour in. Leaving the body around 3-6 hours later.

BE AWARE!  You may experience some unpleasant side effects:

  • Restless sleeping
  • Increase heart rate
  • Getting the shakes
  • Upset gut
  • Anxiety

Caffeine can be a wonderful boost for motivation and physical movement, encouraging you to feel great and help you push yourself to that next level!!

Have an AWESOME training session and LISTEN TO YOUR BODY, YOU KNOW IT BEST!!

Emily

Dietitian/Nutritionist

Fresh Start For Life

Photo credit: https://munsterbootcamp.com/how-to-improve-your-sports-performance-with-caffeine/

2018-06-04T12:17:38+10:00

About the Author:

Denee Lalouette
A UFT PLAYground is a place that people of all shapes, sizes and ages learn to develop their movement abilities through an infinite learning and development program. UFT PLAYgrounds have been created to re-inspire our natural ability to move, create, adapt, re-act, connect, have fun and of course PLAY. PLAYgrounds have been developed to allow people to feel and explore their own abilities by utilising a multidimensional, infinite, creative and PLAYful approach to training. We live in a world full of specialists and obsessions. At an ever increasing rate, people are specialising more and more, in their jobs, in their businesses, in their sport and in their training. The result, is a backward step in human evolution. By specialising, we limit ourselves to thinking that 1 particular way of doing things is the right way, or the only way. We promote creativity, not only in movement and training methodologies but in thinking in general. A UFT PLAYground is created to provide the general public with an opportunity to PLAY across multiple styles of training and moving, to be able to progress in the training methods that they become passionate about or that excites them and to be a part of a community that promotes more than just fitness. The “fitness” industry above all others has brought about a need to specialise in order to achieve anything, and majority of what we do for “fitness” is for an aesthetically pleasing reason. We understand that aesthetics are nice and we too love to look and feel good. However a UFT PLAYground is developed to allow people to move better than ever before across a broad range of training methodologies and ideas. Aesthetics, therefore are a result not a goal of that system. We know that “If you train to look good, you will not always enjoy what you do, but if you PLAY a lot, and do the things that you love, you will ending up looking good”. Aesthetics should be a result not a goal. For years now, we have recognised that the best movers on the planet are children. They are flexible, mobile & fit, they have better relative strength than a typical adult (and even most adolescents), they are the best creators and innovators, they learn faster, the adapt better, they interact better with other people, they are more connected to nature and most importantly, they PLAY more than anyone else. As adults, we tend to believe that because we are taller and more experienced in “life”, we are better, and then we get to an age that says we are “too old to PLAY”. As we grow taller (and in a lot of cases rounder), we experience things that inhibit our ability to move, think and not think. We allow our experiences to limit our abilities as humans, whether it be a physical injury, a story that we heard or a youtube video that we watched. We also allow our emotions to control our behaviour because of our past experiences. Maybe it was the feeling of humiliation when we tried something new, regret when we failed or heart break when it was taken away from us. Because of this, we allow our experiences to control our future instead of learning from them and creating our own . This is what UFT PLAYground’s are built on. The understanding that we as humans need to go back to the way things were before our negative experiences took over our subconscious mind and body. A UFT PLAYground gives people the ability to re-learn what they have lost, as well as develop new sets of skills that will allow them to follow any particular passion that they uncover in PLAYtime. When we PLAY, we are simply, exploring. Through exploring we become curious and through curiosity we become obsessed or passionate about a particular thing. This is why in a PLAYground we allow people to PLAY across a broad range of training systems (minimum of 3), Through this system they are able to identify 1, their current limitations and be educated on how to overcome them, and 2, identify their passions and learn to develop, grow and excel in them. UFT PLAYgrounds are also a development centre for up and coming entrepreneurs in the fitness industry. Each PLAYground founder will have been trained and will be continuously trained in UFT’s Trainer Success System. This system allows personal trainers, coaches, teachers, instructors, etc. to continue to develop in their fields of specialty (as they play they will find it) and in the philosophy of PLAYtime. They will also be trained in the business systems of UFT in order to have their own successful and profitable business. See UFT Trainer Success System for more details.

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