Ergogenic Aids: Caffeine

Cory
2 min readJun 13, 2018

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What is an ergogenic aid? Anything that will improve or enhance performance. Some forms are natural aids, others scientifically modified in science labs. Knowing the affects can help one significantly improve their performance to exercise more meaningfully to lose weight or build muscle quickly. However, tampering with the wrong aids will lead one to many additional health problems. Here is one ergogenic aid that can improve your performance if you take them properly:

-Caffeine

Increases performance by reducing your perception of pain by elevating endorphins. Reducing the feeling of pain helps you when you are pushing through your personal limits.

Caffeine also increases fatty acid oxidation and spares muscle glycogen.

Supplementing this aid will reduce central fatigue by blocking adenosine-adenosine receptor binding, keeping your energy high.

Also, increases facilitation of muscle recruitment reducing the mental drive necessary for a given exercise. Meaning, caffeine activates your muscles more intensely without having to activate them by performing more reps.

Caffeine lowers hunger during the recovery process. Although, you will feel less hungry you should still supplement 20 g whey protein within an hour after exercise to promote protein synthesis and recovery right away. The caffeine will aid feelings of satiety until a few hours after exercise, then you reactivate protein synthesis by eating a meal with protein and carbohydrates.

May improve aerobic performance due to the lowered feeling of pain and higher energy levels.

How to supplement safely:

You can supplement 3–4 mg/kg of body weight before exercise to maximize performance. Take more than 8 mg/kg of body weight will be dangerous and is pushing the limits into overdose range, could raise heart palpations.

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