Caffeine for endurance performance: a practical protocol

Topic

Caffeine for endurance performance: a practical protocol

Summary

What this changes

• • Caffeine can improve endurance performance on average, but individual responses and adverse effects vary.
• • Study doses and timing describe research, not a required intake or a personal safety limit.
• • Count caffeine from every product and consider sleep, anxiety, health conditions and medications before use.

Protocol

A practical starting point

• • First decide whether caffeine is appropriate for you; it is optional, not necessary for completing an event.
• • If choosing to use it, compare the product label with usual intake and seek individualized advice when health conditions or medications are relevant.
• • Test a familiar product during an appropriate training session rather than first using it on race day.
• • Record the total from drinks, gels, tablets and other products; do not keep adding doses because one session felt difficult.
• • Review gastrointestinal symptoms, palpitations, anxiety and subsequent sleep as well as performance.

Fit

Who it may help, and who should be cautious

Limits

Limitations and uncertainty

• • The ISSN position stand describes commonly studied doses of 3–6 mg/kg and possible effects at lower doses; more is not necessarily better.
• • Timing differs by product, and one favourable training session cannot establish a causal benefit.
• • Performance evidence does not establish an individual medical safety limit.