Monday, June 30, 2008

New World Record?

The Olympics should be very interesting!!

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Where to Get Kettlebells and Instruction?


Greetings! Just a heads up that there may be a week pause in blogs as I am finishing up my PhD written exams in the new few days and then it is July 4 weekend, so I will be heading out to the lake for some water skiing and hopefully some kiteboarding as I haven't been out much at all this summer! I have tons of material "in the tank" but not sure if I will have time to get it out.

Big shout out to everyone that I met at Fawn Friday's place this past Friday (Friday at Fridays) as they were in town for RKC II--Rif and Tracy, Kettlebell Kate,

In the meantime here is a good question that I get a fair amount.

Question: Hey Mike, what weight KB do you recommend starting with for kettlebells and where can I get some? Dragondoor?

Also, are there any good beginner KB manuals/tapes/DVDs that you could recommend to get the correct movements down for a routine?


Answer: For kettlebells (KBs) , the best place is DragonDoor, bar none. There are a few others that are making some good ones now I hear, but I have not used them yet. Don't buy one from Target, Dicks, etc Joe Pavel (local RKC and Z Health R Phase) had a client that bought one and the handle broke off! Yikes! I started with some cheaper ones and I don't use them now other than for farmers walks. It is well worth the few extra clams to get nice ones as they last for a very long time.

KB Size?
For most men I would recommend a 16kg to start and women an 8 or 12kg. I know that seems light, but it is good to get the basics down and there will always be some exercises you can do later with it. A 24 kg would be the next one for guys and perhaps a 16kg for women as you get stronger. Always work on PERFECT form first and then add more weight later.

Instruction?
I know that sounds like just a plug for me, but I was in the exact same boat you were a few years ago and debated dropping $100 with a local RKC (Brad "No Relation" Nelson) and eventually did it and it was well worth it. You don't want to be training bad habits to start as they are much harder to untrain (too many bad reps). See the part above about PERFECT form. I have a wide variety of sizes here too at my place from 8 kg up to 40 kg, so you can try all of them ahead of time too and get the right one for you (if you are in the Minnesota area).

Here is a link to pick up KBs, DVDs and other products from Dragon Door. Pavel's "Enter the Kettlebell" is a great intro and there are some other great ones too, but I have not personally viewed them yet. Click HERE to pick up your KBs, DVD, etc

So time to get your KBs, pop off your shoes, do some Z Health for a warm up and start exercising. No better time than today!

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand (SAID) and Transfer


New article time!
The following article is on XL Athlete, so check it out. The site is great and has tons of great articles and lots and lots of videos, so go over there and poke around. Great stuff. Special thanks to Cal Dietz for running the article and the great work he is doing with XL Athlete.

Here it is

SAID and Transfer

You hear it all the time, “hey strap on these jump shoes and your vert (vertical) will go sky high man!” “You NEED to do calf raises for a huge vertical” Others argue “screw that, the calves don’t contribute more than a gnat’s butt to vertical, you need to work the glutes with some glute bridges” The debate normally degenerates into long drawn out version of the telephone game you played in first grade. What was a purple elephant by the end is a blue giraffe. They both are animals found in Africa, but not too similar otherwise.

To stay with the circus animal theme I am cooking up here, the large elephant in the room that people seem to miss is the concept of TRANSFER. I am here to shed some light on it for you and see if we can get a picture of these elusive, Nessie like creature.

Step 1) I SAID it!

To start we need to go back and dust off our physiology 101 text books. Can’t find yours beneath piles of old TV Guides; well let me help you out.

The SAID principle stands for Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand. Or translated, your body ALWAYS adapts to EXACTLY what you are doing, whether you are conscious of it or not.

Powerlifters have known this for a long term. How should you train if you want to rock your first or 50th meet where you perform the squat, bench and deadlift? Well, you squat, bench and deadlift! Yeah I know that is overstating the obvious, but via the SAID principle this is what you would expect. Now let’s peel the triple ply bench shirt down a layer and take a closer look. Everyone young male wants to bench press. Go to any gym on a Monday and somewhere in the bylaws it states that it is national bench press day---I swear I saw it (right after I got kicked out for doing an overhead lift like the guy on the symbol was doing).

So from the SAID principal if we want to up our bench, we need to bench press. Next we need to look at HOW a bench is done in competition. Various rules are slightly different, but in general you will have to hold the bar at lock out until an audible “start” command is given, lower it to your chest and pause there until the “press” command is given and hold at lock out until the “rack” command is given.

Back to national bench press day. If we want to increase our bench in a competition, we should be doing some training with the same audible commands and a pause at the chest since it is more specific.

So we know that SAID specific work is good. So why don’t we just pound away at it all the time? It becomes obvious pretty quick that heavy single rep work at every training session will quickly result in stagnate progress or even back sliding----crap, what now?

Enter transfer

We have now maxed out our SAID work, so time to look for something else. Enter accessory work for the bench press such as board presses, floor presses, and even upper back work. Yes Johnny Wannna Big Bench on Mondays you will have to work a muscle you can’t see in a mirror. Our goal is to have these exercise TRANSFER to an increased bench come contest day. Powerlifters refer to this many times as “carry over.”


Enter Joint Mobility

Out of left field here comes joint mobility. What? Hold on there and this will make sense soon.

The body is governed via the nervous system. The three main ways you get new information into the nervous system is 1) proprioception (the body’s 3D map of its self) 2) visual (information from the eyes) and 3) vestibular (inner ear “balance” function). Your body is constantly taking in information from these three systems. If you are getting bad proprioceptive information, you are screwed for starters! If your map to Chicago is bad, you are going to have one long drive!

The body has lots of mechanoreceptors—imagine little green guys that live all over your body and really like to hang out in your joints. So they are not really green guys, but they are constantly sending precise signals to that thing on the top of your neck (yes that would be your brain). Since the bones do not move much (hopefully), by concentrating mechanoreceptors in the joints we can assess where our limbs are in space (and also pass that sobriety nose touching task too when you have a visit from the friendly Smokey).

Dynamic joint mobility work (like Z Health) engages the mechanoreceptors. Many times an old injury can result in long lasting neurologic shut down. The body really wants to protect itself, so if you injure your elbow there will be some shut down to the muscles that cross the joint in order to protect the body due to the arthrokinetic reflex (2, 3, 7). To combat this arthrokinetic shut down, we can work on the joint with some dynamic joint mobility work to tell the brain “hey, this is the elbow joint here and we are all up to 100% now and good for some heavy lifting now”

Sports Performance

Ok, so we have talked about SAID, transfer and joint mobility. What we really want to know in most cases do this exercise transfer to an increased performance. In the case of our friendly powerlifter, we have a pretty good idea; but the water gets as murky as the Mississippi river in front of the waste sewage plant when we look at sports performance. Does weight lifting make Johnny a better football player? The old saying goes “looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane”

What does the research say?

Researchers have been interested in this for years, and especially in the old Soviet Union which has a machine to crank out amazing athletes for years. While many excellent coaches talk about transfer, it was probably the Russians that did much of the work years ago.

“A+B+C=D Correct!

A+C+B=D Not correct."

---Anatoly Bondarchuk Transfer of Training 2006

"This is what people don’t understand and it is what the Russians are best at.” ---Cal Dietz, Head Olympic Weightlifting Coach University of Minnesota


The US literature surrounding sport performance has not reached a consensus yet from what I can find. It may be surprising that getting an athlete stronger in the weight room does not AUTOMATICALLY ensure increased performance in sport (1, 4-6, 8-10). Don’t even start with me about the Swiss ball unless you are training athletes for the Cirque De Soleil(11). Keep your athletes the heck off that thing.


What to do now? Is he done yet?

After all my yammering, what the heck do I do now? Glad you asked. Here is the plan

1) Perform as much SAID principal work as you can

As in our example above, this will be limited by the recovery ability of your athlete.

2) Perform joint mobility work to ensure your proprioceptive signals are clean and your athlete is not experiencing any neurologic shut down due to the arthrokinetic reflex.

3) Combine 2 and 3. Whoooo hold on there Tex, what? You can put the athlete in the sports specific position and perform a joint mobility drill. For example, our bench press buddy could get into a bench press position and do Z Health wrist circles. Based on the SAID principal we know this should have the greatest potential to help his bench. Good places to starts are any areas of old injuries and scars. Make sure that is it not painful, as pain can also start to shut down the nervous system too

4) Test it! How do you know if Kettlebell swings increase sprinting performance? Test it! Yes I know that is rather obvious, but without testing we don’t know what change we have made.

So the next time trainer “big guns 23” tells you that jump shoes will increase you vertical, you will know what to do! The art for coaches is to determine how to test and determine which exercises really do increase sports performance (not just weight room performance). Happy testing!

Note--please post any comments on what you have tested and found to transfer well! Or what testing you do and your results. I expect a good discussion!


References

1. Blazevich A. J., D. G. Jenkins. Effect of the movement speed of resistance training exercises on sprint and strength performance in concurrently training elite junior sprinters. J Sports Sci. 20(12):981-990, 2002.

2. Clark R. K., B. D. Wyke. Temporomandibular articular reflex control of the mandibular musculature. Int Dent J. 25(4):289-296, 1975.

3. COHEN L. A., M. L. COHEN. Arthrokinetic reflex of the knee. Am J Physiol. 184(2):433-437, 1956.

4. Cronin J., P. J. McNair, R. N. Marshall. Velocity specificity, combination training and sport specific tasks. J Sci Med Sport. 4(2):168-178, 2001.

5. Keetch K. M., R. A. Schmidt, T. D. Lee, D. E. Young. Especial skills: their emergence with massive amounts of practice. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 31(5):970-978, 2005.

6. Kukolj M., R. Ropret, D. Ugarkovic, S. Jaric. Anthropometric, strength, and power predictors of sprinting performance. J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 39(2):120-122, 1999.

7. Liebler E., L. Tufano-Coors, P. Douris, et al. The Effect of Thoracic Spine Mobilization on Lower Trapezius Strength Testing. J of Manual & Manipulation Therapy. 9(4):207-208-212, 2001.

8. Lockie R. G., A. J. Murphy, C. D. Spinks. Effects of resisted sled towing on sprint kinematics in field-sport athletes. J Strength Cond Res. 17(4):760-767, 2003.

9. Meckel Y., H. Atterbom, A. Grodjinovsky, D. Ben-Sira, A. Rotstein. Physiological characteristics of female 100 metre sprinters of different performance levels. J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 35(3):169-175, 1995.

10. Morriss C. J., K. Tolfrey, R. J. Coppack. Effects of short-term isokinetic training on standing long-jump performance in untrained men. J Strength Cond Res. 15(4):498-502, 2001.

11. Stanton R., P. R. Reaburn, B. Humphries. The effect of short-term Swiss ball training on core stability and running economy. J Strength Cond Res. 18(3):522-528, 2004.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Random Z Health Thoughts

Watch out. Random ramblings ahead. You have been warned. Too much stress and coffee sometimes does odd things to my thought patterns!

Here is a simplified version of what I do with athletes:
-mobility work (like Z Health) to obtain efficient movement. This enables the CORRECT muscles to fire at the CORRECT times (neural retraining)
-add load/tension in posture you want to mimic. So don't lift like Quasi Motto unless you want to look like a hump back!

It is amazing what even 1-3 reps of a good pushup can do to correct some issues! The reverse it true--perfect mobility work can be "wrecked" by piss poor lifting mechanics. Trust me, I tried that out in my own lab for months.

Not sure? Test it! Do an exercise and test your movement before and after or at minimum your static posture.

What next?
One thing I noticed with myself recently is that once movement is freed up (increased movement quality), I added in some chins with a pause at the top and it seems (have not looked at any lit.) that my lower traps fire like crazy now! I am starting to think that pull ups/chin ups are better than rows to "balance out" all the pressing/bench work if you look at how the muscles fire and have to move, but have not looked into this much (I told you this would be random!)

Further down the rabbit hole---if my back muscles are so piss weak, how come I can pull myself into correct posture but it does not stay there?

I moved to trap bar deadlifts recently to maintain a longer spine better under load (regular DLs were feeling like crap anyway) and work on my right ankle bone rhythm (efficient movement) along with more left wrist (opposite joint work probably due to interneural coupling if you want to be fancy--aka it works) and right ankle work--esp Z Health 6 position ankle circles and fig 8s)--last night my ankle started to move better and was cracking and popping all night as I walked around. I also have more soreness in my right glute (glute max I think)---hmmmm, funny how that cuboid area is so important (think foot strike timed to appropriate hip movement). I also think I need a longer run on sentence now too.

Summary
Random thoughts I know---but the take away is that it is all connected and the nervous system runs the show! Yes this even applied to soft tissue work. What do you think is holding all those muscles tight? I like Brad Nelson's quote "just because the dial spins doesn't mean the safe will open" Z Health helps provide the right pass code.

Another Coffee Study and Caffeine Speeds Recovery?


While I am on the coffee/caffeine theme (probably from my caffeine induced haze while working on my PhD written exams) here is some more news! There is some speculation and limited data to suggest that caffeine messes with insulin sensitivity, but COFFEE it seems does not and may actually IMPROVE it.

Even Major Coffee Drinking Not Seen as Mortality Risk

Another interesting study recently that was talked about a lot at ACSM recently, showed the highest rate of glycogen (stored sugars and water in the muscle and liver) synthesis RATE ever seen BUT they also used a lower carb amount than what is typically seen. End results? Probably nothing too new when all things are considered, but interesting from a mechanism/ "further research is needed" stand point.

HIGH RATES OF MUSCLE GLYCOGEN RESYNTHESIS AFTER EXHAUSTIVE EXERCISE WHEN CARBOHYDRATE IS CO-INGESTED WITH CAFFEINE

David J Pedersen1, Sarah J Lessard2, Vernon G Coffey3, Emmanuel G Churchley4, Andrew M Wootton4, They Ng5, Matthew J Watt6, and John A. Hawley7*

We determined the effects of the co-ingestion of caffeine with carbohydrate on rates of muscle glycogen resynthesis during recovery from exhaustive exercise in 7 trained subjects who completed 2 experimental trials in a randomized, double-blind crossover design. Prior to an experiment subjects performed exhaustive cycling and consumed a low-carbohydrate diet. The following morning subjects reported to the lab and rode until volitional fatigue. Upon completion of this ride subjects consumed either carbohydrate (CHO; 4 g.kg BM-1) or carbohydrate plus caffeine (CAFF, 8 mg.kg BM-1) during 4 h of passive recovery. Muscle and blood samples were taken throughout recovery. Muscle glycogen levels were similar at exhaustion and increased by a similar amount after 1 h of recovery. After 4 h of recovery CAFF resulted in higher glycogen accumulation (313 ± 69 vs. 234 ± 50 mmol±kg- d.w, P<0.001). style="font-weight: bold;">We provide the first evidence that in trained subjects, the coingestion of large amounts of caffeine with carbohydrate has an additive effect on rates on post-exercise muscle glycogen accumulation compared to when carbohydrate alone is consumed.
(my note--we don't know if there is a PERFORMANCE difference or not yet or if using higher amount of carbs makes a difference)

Interestingly enough, I was just reading Alan Aragon's Research Review last night, and low and behold he talked about this study! Get your butt over and pick up a copy HERE. I highly recommend it and I get no money for any referrals.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Caffeine and Testosterone--Is There a Connection?

Does caffeine raise testosterone? Can it be true? Is all my coffee drinking as of late increasing my testosterone levels too! Well, it looks like it may be true, but hold on their Tex as the effect is ameliorated (canceled) by an increase in cortisol (a muscle munching hormones a Dr. Lowery likes to say). Looks like the end result is probably nothing to write home about--drat. The high end is a pretty high dose of caffeine too with a 800 mg does used in the study and a standard (not Starbucks mongo sized version) coming in at about 120 mg caffeine per serving as a comparison. Be sure to check out my other ramblings on caffeine HERE.
.
Here is the study

Dose effect of caffeine on testosterone and cortisol responses to resistance exercise.

Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2008 Apr;18(2):131-41.

Beaven CM, Hopkins WG, Hansen KT, Wood MR, Cronin JB, Lowe TE.

Horticulture and Food Research Institute of New Zealand, Hamilton, New Zealand.

INTRODUCTION: Interest in the use of caffeine as an ergogenic aid has increased since the International Olympic Committee lifted the partial ban on its use. Caffeine has beneficial effects on various aspects of athletic performance, but its effects on training have been neglected.

PURPOSE: To investigate the acute effect of caffeine on the exercise-associated increases in testosterone and cortisol in a double-blind crossover study.

METHODS: Twenty-four professional rugby-league players ingested caffeine doses of 0, 200, 400, and 800 mg in random order 1 hr before a resistance-exercise session. Saliva was sampled at the time of caffeine ingestion, at 15-min intervals throughout each session, and 15 and 30 min after the session. Data were log-transformed to estimate percent effects with mixed modeling, and effects were standardized to assess magnitudes.

RESULTS: Testosterone concentration showed a small increase of 15% (90% confidence limits, +/- 19%) during exercise. Caffeine raised this concentration in a dose-dependent manner by a further small 21% (+/- 24%) at the highest dose. The 800-mg dose also produced a moderate 52% (+/- 44%) increase in cortisol. The effect of caffeine on the testosterone:cortisol ratio was a small decline (14%; +/- 21%).

CONCLUSION: Caffeine has some potential to benefit training outcomes via the anabolic effects of the increase in testosterone concentration, but this benefit might be counteracted by the opposing catabolic effects of the increase in cortisol and resultant decline in the testosterone:cortisol ratio.

Publication Types: Randomized Controlled Trial
PMID: 18458357 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Human tendon behaviour and adaptation, in vivo.

Very cool stuff!
The body is HIGHLY efficient overall! It also has the unique property of also being very quiet during movement (normally).
The tendons are designed to absorb and release energy to decrease the cost of movement. This study shows that and that tendon can change and adapt much faster than we thought! I think going forward we will be amazed at how much turnover is going on in the body as it is ALWAYS ADAPTING!. So it is never too late to start that new exercise program or your mobility work like Z Health.

Note: in vivo refers to taking place INSIDE an organism, and the data obtained by this method is more accurate than bench top or petri dish testing (it is also much hard to obtain normally too).
J Physiol. 2008 Jan 1;586(1):71-81. Epub 2007 Sep 13.
Human tendon behaviour and adaptation, in vivo.

Magnusson SP, Narici MV, Maganaris CN, Kjaer M. Institute of Sports Medicine, Copenhagen, Bispebjerg Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Tendon properties contribute to the complex interaction of the central nervous system, muscle-tendon unit and bony structures to produce joint movement. Until recently limited information on human tendon behaviour in vivo was available; however, novel methodological advancements have enabled new insights to be gained in this area. The present review summarizes the progress made with respect to human tendon and aponeurosis function in vivo, and how tendons adapt to ageing, loading and unloading conditions. During low tensile loading or with passive lengthening not only the muscle is elongated, but also the tendon undergoes significant length changes, which may have implications for reflex responses. During active loading, the length change of the tendon far exceeds that of the aponeurosis, indicating that the aponeurosis may more effectively transfer force onto the tendon, which lengthens and stores elastic energy subsequently released during unloading, in a spring-like manner. In fact, data recently obtained in vivo confirm that, during walking, the human Achilles tendon provides elastic strain energy that can decrease the energy cost of locomotion. Also, new experimental evidence shows that, contrary to earlier beliefs, the metabolic activity in human tendon is remarkably high and this affords the tendon the ability to adapt to changing demands. With ageing and disuse there is a reduction in tendon stiffness, which can be mitigated with resistance exercises. Such adaptations seem advantageous for maintaining movement rapidity, reducing tendon stress and risk of injury, and possibly, for enabling muscles to operate closer to the optimum region of the length-tension relationship.


Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Protein Review--Protein Quality and Optimal Health

Here is another one for ya. Be sure to check out yesterday's post if you missed it.

Protein quality assessment: impact of expanding understanding of protein and amino acid needs for optimal health.

Millward DJ, Layman DK, Tomé D, Schaafsma G.

School of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, University of Surrey, Surrey, UK.

Protein quality describes characteristics of a protein in relation to its ability to achieve defined metabolic actions. Traditionally, this has been discussed solely in the context of a protein's ability to provide specific patterns of amino acids to satisfy the demands for synthesis of protein as measured by animal growth or, in humans, nitrogen balance. As understanding of protein's actions expands beyond its role in maintaining body protein mass, the concept of protein quality must expand to incorporate these newly emerging actions of protein into the protein quality concept. New research reveals increasingly complex roles for protein and amino acids in regulation of body composition and bone health, gastrointestinal function and bacterial flora, glucose homeostasis, cell signaling, and satiety. The evidence available to date suggests that quality is important not only at the minimum Recommended Dietary Allowance level but also at higher intakes. Currently accepted methods for measuring protein quality do not consider the diverse roles of indispensable amino acids beyond the first limiting amino acid for growth or nitrogen balance. As research continues to evolve in assessing protein's role in optimal health at higher intakes, there is also need to continue to explore implications for protein quality assessment.

Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 May;87(5):1576S-1581S.

Publication Types:

* Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

* Review

PMID: 18469291 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Training Log is Updated
Click HERE

Monday, June 16, 2008

Protein Review Article-Impact on Glycemic Control During Weight Loss

Greetings and thanks for stopping back to check in. Until about the first week of July you will probably be seeing even more studies than usual here as I will be posting some studies I find interesting as I am currently up to my neck in all sorts of studies working on my PhD writtens.

Here is a great review that you can get the whole article too from their website. Dr Layman has done lots for great work in the area of protein research. Abstract below
enjoy

Dietary protein impact on glycemic control during weight loss.

Layman DK, Baum JI.

Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA. dlayman@uiuc.edu

Diets with higher protein (1.5 g x kg(-1) x d(-1)) and reduced carbohydrates (120 to 200 g/d) appear to enhance weight loss due to a higher loss of body fat and reduced loss of lean body mass. While studies of prolonged use of moderate protein diets are not available, short-term studies report beneficial effects associated with increased satiety, increased thermogenesis, sparing of muscle protein loss, and enhanced glycemic control. Combined impacts of a moderate protein diet are likely derived from lower carbohydrates resulting in lower postprandial increase in blood glucose and lower insulin response, and higher protein providing increased BCAA leucine levels and gluconeogenic substrates. A key element in the diet appears to be the higher intake of BCAA leucine with unique regulatory actions on muscle protein synthesis, modulation of the insulin signal, and sparing of glucose use by stimulation of the glucose-alanine cycle. This review focuses on the contributions of leucine and the BCAA to regulation of muscle protein synthesis and glycemic control.

Publication Types:
* Review

PMID: 15051856 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Sunday, June 15, 2008

More Caffeine!!

I had a few email questions regarding caffeine, so here is another nice summary for all of you. It is a little dated, but in general the information is still good. I believe the IOC has not banned caffeiene now, but if you compete according to their rules be sure to read them yourself.

The Gatorade Sports Science Institute has some really great, well researched articles; so be sure to check them out at
Gatorade Sports Science Institute

Enjoy
Mike N

Caffeine
SOURCE: Gatorade Sports Science Institute
SSE #60: Caffeine and Exercise Performance

SPORTS SCIENCE EXCHANGE

CAFFEINE AND EXERCISE PERFORMANCE

SSE#60, Volume 9 (1996), Number 1

Participants:

Terry E. Graham, Ph.D.
Department of Human Biology
& Nutritional Sciences
University of Guelph
Guelph, Ontario
CANADA
Lawrence L. Spriet, Ph.D.
Member, GSSI Sports Medicine Review Board
Department of Human Biology
& Nutritional Sciences
University of Guelph
Guelph, Ontario
CANADA

KEY POINTS

1. Recent, well-controlled studies have established that moderate doses of caffeine ingested 1 h prior to exercise enhance the performance of certain types of endurance exercise in the laboratory. Moderate caffeine doses produce urinary caffeine levels well below the allowable limit, as determined by the International Olympic Committee. The results are specific to well-trained elite or recreational athletes. It is not known if these findings will improve performance in competitions because controlled field studies of the effects of caffeine are lacking.

2. The mechanisms responsible for improved exercise endurance in prolonged exercise remain elusive. A metabolic mechanism appears to contribute early in exercise, when caffeine ingestion increases plasma free-fatty acid concentrations and muscle triglyceride use and spares muscle glycogen. However, it is not clear if increased fat oxidation causes the glycogen sparing in muscle. Increases in plasma epinephrine concentrations usually occur following caffeine ingestion but are not essential for the accompanying metabolic changes. When studying caffeine effects in the human it is difficult to identify the primary source of the "stimulus" because caffeine usually increases epinephrine secretion and is also rapidly metabolized in the liver to three dimethylxanthines (paraxanthine, theophylline and theobromine). The dimethylxanthines can remain in the circulation longer than caffeine and may be metabolic signals in their own right.

3. Caffeine appears to enhance performance during short-term, intense cycling lasting ~5 min in the laboratory and in simulated 1500 m race time. However, positive ergogenic effects of caffeine are much less frequent during sprint exercise lasting less than 90 s and in incremental exercise tests lasting 8-20 min.

4. Potential mechanisms for improving performance during intense exercise lasting 5-20 min include direct effects of caffeine on the central nervous system and/or excitation-contraction coupling and increased anaerobic energy provision in skeletal muscle.

INTRODUCTION

Caffeine is a "controlled or restricted drug" in the athletic world, because urinary levels of greater than 12 ùg/mL following competitions are considered illegal by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). However, most athletes that consume caffeine beverages prior to exercise would never approach the illegal limit following a competition. Therefore, caffeine occupies a unique position in the sports world. It is an inherent part of the diet of many athletes although it has no nutritional value and also has the potential to be a "legal" ergogenic aid in many exercise situations. While it is common to equate caffeine with coffee, it should be noted that rarely is coffee the vehicle of administration in research studies. Therefore, it may be misleading to equate the two because coffee contains hundreds of additional chemicals.

In a 1990 Sport Science Exchange article, Wilcox concluded that few well-controlled studies had examined the effects of caffeine on endurance performance and that the results were inconsistent. Since 1990, the research examining caffeine and exercise performance increased and demonstrated the ergogenic effect of caffeine during prolonged endurance exercise (Graham & Spriet, 1991, 1995; Pasman et al., 1995). In addition, investigations examining the effects of caffeine on exercise performance during sprinting (<90>

There has been general improvement in the quality of the investigations because researchers have attempted to control several factors that may confound the caffeine results. Conlee summarized these factors in a 1991 review article. Three factors relate to the nature of the experimental design, i.e., the exercise modality, the power output, and the caffeine dose, whereas four others relate to the status of the subjects prior to the experiment, i.e., nutritional status, training status, previous caffeine use, and individual variability. An additional factor is the ability to reliably measure exercise performance. This reliability is greater in highly trained subjects than it is in the less well-trained.

Caffeine appears to be taken up by of all tissues of the body, making it difficult to independently study the effects of caffeine on the central nervous system, the muscles, and fat tissue in the exercising human. It is also apparent that different mechanisms are probably responsible for performance enhancement in different types of exercise. However, it is important to note that the mechanism(s) may not be entirely due to caffeine. For example, caffeine ingestion usually increases the plasma concentration of epinephrine, a hormone with widespread effects, and the liver rapidly metabolizes the caffeine, a trimethylxanthine, into three dimethylxanthines, i.e., paraxanthine, theophylline, and theobromine. The concentrations of these metabolites increase in the plasma as the caffeine concentration declines, and paraxanthine and theophylline especially are potential metabolic stimuli. Thus, it is difficult to resolve which tissues are directly or indirectly affected by which compound. Due to this uncertainty, when the term "caffeine" is used in this report, the reader should note that it could be any of the methylxanthines.

THEORIES OF ERGOGENICITY

There are three major theories for the ergogenic effect of caffeine during exercise. The first theory suggests a direct effect on some portion of the central nervous system that affects the perception of effort and/or the neural activation of muscle contraction. The second theory proposes a direct effect of caffeine on skeletal muscle performance. This may involve ion transport (including Ca2+ transport) and direct effects on key regulatory enzymes, including those controlling glycogen breakdown. Support for these suggestions is largely derived from in vitro investigations in which high pharmacological concentrations of caffeine are used to demonstrate effects. If these "testtube" results have any relevance during exercise, the most likely candidates for contributing to an ergogenic effect of caffeine are changes in calcium activity and in the ability of the muscle to pump potassium from the extracellular fluid to the interior of the muscle fibers; caffeine levels during exercise are similar to the lowest concentrations of caffeine used in vitro that can affect these processes.

The third theory is the classic or "metabolic" explanation that involves an increase in fat oxidation and a reduction in carbohydrate oxidation. In this scheme, caffeine directly enhances the activity of enzymes that break down fat into fatty acids or caffeine increases circulating levels of epinephrine (EPI), which in turn mobilize free-fatty acids from triglyceride (TG) stores in fat or muscle tissue. The increased fatty acid availability increases muscle fat oxidation and reduces carbohydrate oxidation, thereby improving the performance of exercise that becomes exhausting when carbohydrate stores reach low levels.

The following sections address the ergogenic potential of caffeine during varying types of exercise that are categorized according to power output and time to exhaustion or to completion of a race.

CAFFEINE AND ENDURANCE PERFORMANCE

The interest in caffeine as an endurance ergogenic aid was initially stimulated by work from Costill's laboratory. They examined the effect of ingesting 330 mg of caffeine 1 h prior to cycling to exhaustion at 80% of maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) (Costill et al., 1978). The trained cyclists improved performance from 75 min in the placebo condition to 96 min following caffeine ingestion. A second study demonstrated that 250 mg of caffeine was associated with a 20% increase in the amount of work performed in 2 h (Ivy et al., 1979). These studies suggested that utilization of fat for energy increased by ~30% in the caffeine trials. A third study examined exercise muscle metabolism and reported that ingestion of 5 mg of caffeine/kg body weight spared muscle glycogen and increased the use of muscle TG (Essig et al., 1980). In the 1980's, few investigations actually tested the ergogenic effects of caffeine during endurance exercise; most examined only how metabolism was affected by caffeine. Furthermore, conclusions regarding the metabolic effects of caffeine were often based on indirect indicators of fat metabolism, i.e., increases in plasma free-fatty acids (FFA) and/or decreases in the ratio of carbon dioxide production to oxygen consumption (such decreases indicate that more fat is being utilized for energy). This work has recently been reviewed (Graham et al., 1994; Spriet, 1995; Tarnopolsky, 1994, Wilcox, 1990).

RECENT STUDIES OF CAFFEINE EFFECTS ON ENDURANCE PERFORMANCE AND METABOLISM

Several recent studies have carefully examined the performance and metabolism effects of caffeine in well-trained athletes who are accustomed to exhaustive exercise and race conditions. Most confounding factors were well controlled, and performance assessments were chosen to simulate competitive conditions. The studies examined the effects of a caffeine dose of 9 mg/kg body mass on running and cycling time to exhaustion at 80-85% VO2max (Graham & Spriet, 1991: Spriet et al., 1992), the effects of varying doses (3-13 mg/kg) of caffeine on cycling performance (Graham & Spriet, 1995; Pasman et al., 1995) and the effects of a moderate caffeine dose (5 mg/kg) on performance of repeated 30 min bouts of cycling (5 min rest between bouts) at 8590% VO2max (Trice & Haymes, 1995).

Collectively, this work produced several important findings. Endurance performance was improved by ~20-50% compared to the placebo trial ~20-50% following ingestion of varying doses of caffeine (3-13 mg/kg) in elite and recreationally trained athletes who ran or cycled at ~80-90% VO2max. Without exception, the 3, 5, and 6 mg/kg doses produced an ergogenic effect with urinary caffeine levels that were below the IOC acceptable limit. Three of four experiments using a 9 mg/kg dose reported performance increases, while 6/22 athletes tested in these studies had urinary caffeine levels at or above 12 ùg/mL. Performance was enhanced with a 13 mg/kg dose, but 6/9 athletes had urinary caffeine levels well above 12 ùg/mL. The side effects of caffeine ingestion (dizziness, headache, insomnia and gastrointestinal distress) were rare with doses at or below 6 mg/kg, but prevalent at higher doses (9-13 mg/kg). Such side effects were associated with decreased performance in some athletes at 9 mg/kg.

Caffeine generally produced a two-fold increase in venous plasma EPI at rest and during exercise and in venous plasma FFA at rest. The elevated FFA with caffeine was no longer apparent within 15-20 min of exercise. At the lowest caffeine dose (3 mg/kg), performance was increased without significant increases in plasma venous EPI and FFA. Muscle glycogen utilization was reduced following caffeine ingestion, but the "sparing" was limited to the initial 15 min of exercise at ~80% VO2max.

There is little information on the performance and metabolic effects of caffeine in recreationally active or untrained subjects because performance in these groups is difficult to measure accurately. Chesley et al (1994) reported a variable glycogen sparing response to a high caffeine dose (9 mg/kg) in untrained males. Only 4/8 subjects demonstrated glycogen sparing during 15 min of cycling at 80-85% VO2max. These results suggest that the metabolic responses to caffeine ingestion in untrained subjects are more variable than in aerobically trained populations.

Recently there was a preliminary report (Graham et al., 1995) comparing the effects of caffeine (4.5 mg/kg) in "pure" tablet form to the same amount of caffeine in a coffee beverage (~two mugs of strong coffee ingested in 10 min). Caffeine as a tablet resulted in the usual metabolic and performance effects, but when ingested as a beverage there was less of a response in plasma epinephrine and little or no effect on performance, even though the plasma caffeine concentrations were identical. Presumably the wide variety of compounds in coffee negated the usual ergogenic benefit.

MECHANISMS FOR IMPROVED ENDURANCE

It seems likely that a metabolic mechanism is part of the explanation for the improvement in endurance with caffeine, except at the low caffeine doses for which this hypothesis has not been fully examined. The increased FFA at the onset of exercise, the glycogen sparing in the initial 15 min, and the report of increased intramuscular TG use during the first 30 min of exercise suggest a greater role for fat metabolism early in exercise following caffeine doses of 5 mg/kg and above. However, these metabolic findings do not preclude other factors contributing to enhanced endurance performance. For example, caffeine appears to stimulate transport of potassium into inactive tissues, leading to an attenuation of the rise in plasma potassium concentration during exercise. It has been postulated that the lower plasma potassium helps maintain the excitability of the cell membranes in contracting muscles and contributes to caffeine's ergogenic effect during endurance exercise (Lindinger et al., 1993).

It is also noteworthy that EPI does not appear to play a major role in metabolic changes occurring with caffeine ingestion. Performance was enhanced with a caffeine dose of 3 mg/kg without significant increases in plasma EPI and FFA during exercise. In addition, an infusion of EPI that was designed to produce exercise EPI concentrations similar to those induced by caffeine had no effect on plasma FFA or on the rate of glycogen breakdown (Chesley et al., 1995). Also, Van Soeren et al. (1996) gave caffeine to spinal-cord injured subjects and reported increased plasma FFA without changes in EPI. Therefore, the known alterations in muscle metabolism alone cannot presently explain the ergogenic effect of caffeine during endurance exercise in all situations.

CAFFEINE AND PERFORMANCE OF GRADED EXERCISE TESTS

Several studies reported no effect of moderate doses of caffeine ingestion on time to exhaustion and VO2max during graded exercise protocols lasting 8-20 min (see Dodd et al., 1993) However, two studies from the same laboratory reported prolonged exercise times when high doses of caffeine were given (Flinn et al., 1990; McNaughton, 1987). The first study used 10 and 15 mg/kg caffeine doses and reported a small, significant increase in performance. However, the control trial always preceded the caffeine trials, leading to the possibility of an order effect. The second study used a 10 mg/kg caffeine dose 3 h prior to cycling exercise and reported an increased time to exhaustion. The subjects completed control, placebo and caffeine trials with the control trial always first, and the remaining two trials randomized. It appears that the high caffeine dose is the most likely factor that separates these positive findings from the studies reporting no effect. Unfortunately, no mechanistic information presently exists to explain the ergogenic effects.

CAFFEINE AND PERFORMANCE OF INTENSE AEROBIC EXERCISE

Competitive races lasting ~20 min require athletes to exercise at power outputs at or above 90% of VO2max. Recently, MacIntosh and Wright (1995) examined the effect of 6 mg caffeine/kg on performance in 1500 m swim trials in trained distance swimmers. Caffeine significantly reduced swim trial time from 21:22 to 20:59 (min:sec). The authors reported lower preexercise plasma potassium levels and higher post-exercise blood glucose concentrations with caffeine and suggested that electrolyte balance and glucose availability may be related to the ergogenic effects of caffeine.

CAFFEINE AND PERFORMANCE OF SHORT-TERM INTENSE EXERCISE

There has been recent interest in the effects of caffeine on performance during short-term intense exercise (~100% VO2max) lasting ~5 min; near-maximal provision of energy from both aerobic and anaerobic sources is required for such activities.

Collomp et al. (1991) reported that 250 mg of caffeine increased cycle time to exhaustion at 100% VO2max from 5:20 with placebo to 5:49, although the increase was not significant. A third trial, in which subjects received 250 mg caffeine daily for 5 d also increased exhaustion time non-significantly (5:40). Wiles et al. (1992) reported that drinking coffee containing ~150-200 mg of caffeine improved 1500 m time on a treadmill in well-trained runners by 4.2 s compared to placebo (4:46.0 vs. 4:50.2). In a second protocol subjects drank either coffee or a placebo, ran for 1100 m at a predetermined pace, and then ran 400 m as fast as possible. The average speed of the final 400 was 23.5 km/h with coffee and 22.9 km/h without. Following coffee, all subjects ran faster, and the mean VO2 during the final 400 m was also higher.

A recent study by Jackman et al. (1996) examined the effects of caffeine ingestion (6 mg/kg) on the performance and metabolic responses to repeated bouts of cycling at 100% VO2max in 14 subjects. Three bouts of exercise were performed with intervening rest periods of 6 min each. The first two cycling bouts at a controlled power output lasted 2 min, and the third continued to exhaustion. Cycle time to exhaustion was improved with caffeine (4.93 + 0.60 min vs. placebo, 4.12 + 0.36 min). Muscle and blood lactate measurements throughout the protocol suggested a higher production of lactate in the caffeine trial, even in the initial two bouts when power output was controlled. The net rate of glycogen breakdown was not different during the initial two bouts, and less than 50% of the muscle glycogen store was used in either trial during the protocol. The authors concluded that the ergogenic effect of caffeine during short-term intense exercise was not associated with glycogen sparing and may be caused either by a direct action on the muscle or by altered function of the central nervous system.

In conclusion, the mechanisms contributing to the performance improvement in short-term, intense exercise are not known but may include enhanced anaerobic energy provision, direct effects of caffeine on the transport of ions in muscles, and central nervous system effects on the sensation of effort and/or activation of muscle contraction in appropriate muscle fibers.

CAFFEINE AND SPRINT PERFORMANCE

Sprint performance is defined as fatiguing exercise at power outputs 1.5to 3-fold greater than that required to elicit VO2max or maximal efforts in sporting events lasting less than 90 s. The amount of energy derived from anaerobic processes would be ~75-80% of the total in the first 30 s, ~65-70% over 60 s, and ~5560% over 90 s.

Williams et al. (1988) reported that caffeine ingestion had no effect on maximal power output or muscular endurance during short, maximal bouts of cycling. Collomp et al. (1992) found that ingestion of caffeine at a dose of 5 mg/kg did not increase peak power or total work completed in six subjects performing a 30-s Wingate test. However, the same group later reported that 250 mg of caffeine produced a significant 7% improvement in the maximal power output that could be generated during a series of 6-s sprints at varying forcevelocity relationships (Anselme et al., 1992)). The same authors also examined the effects of 250 mg of caffeine on two 100-m freestyle swims that were separated by 20 min (Collomp et al., 1990). In well-trained swimmers, the velocity during the first and second swims was improved by 2% and 4%, respectively but performance times were not given.

Therefore, given the present information, it is not possible to conclude whether or not caffeine has an ergogenic effect on sprint performance. The brief and intense nature of sprint exercise makes it very difficult to study and to demonstrate significant effects of caffeine.

FIELD STUDIES

Performance in most laboratory studies examining endurance exercise is measured as the time taken to reach exhaustion at a given power output. However, in the field, performance is measured as the time taken to complete a certain distance. Consequently, extrapolations from the laboratory to field settings may not be valid. Occasionally, laboratory studies simulate race conditions by allowing the subject to control speed on a treadmill or cadence and resistance on a cycle ergometer in order to complete a distance or a given amount of work in the shortest possible time. Other studies have measured performance on the track or in the swimming pool not under actual race conditions but in time trials. However, these studies still do not entirely simulate real competitions.

In field studies that do simulate race conditions, it is often impossible to employ the controls required to generate conclusive results. For example, Berglund and Hemmingsson (5) performed the only field study examining the effects of caffeine ingestion on performance during endurance exercise. Cross-country ski performance in a race lasting 1-1.5 h was improved by 12.5 min compared to a control condition. Oddly, this improvement occurred during a race at high altitude but not at sea level. Unfortunately, the weather and snow conditions were variable in both locations, requiring mathematical "normalization" of the performance times in order to make comparisons. These problems raise questions about the validity of the results and indicate how difficult it is to perform wellcontrolled and meaningful field trials. There is a tremendous need for more field studies examining caffeine and endurance performance.

PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS OF INGESTING CAFFEINE

Caffeine Dose

Caffeine is a "controlled or restricted substance" with respect to the IOC. Athletes are allowed up to 12 ùg caffeine/mL urine before it is considered illegal. This permits athletes who normally consume caffeine in their diets to continue this practice prior to competition. An athlete can consume a very large amount of caffeine before reaching the "illegal limit". A 70 kg person could drink about three or four mugs or six regular size cups of drip-percolated coffee ~1 h before exercise, exercise for 1-1.5 h and produce a subsequent urine sample that would only approach the urinary caffeine limit. It is not easy to reach the limit by ingesting coffee. A caffeine level above 12 ùg/mL suggests that an individual has deliberately taken caffeine in the form of tablets or suppositories in an attempt to improve performance. Not surprisingly, only a few athletes have been caught with illegal caffeine levels during competitions, although formal reports of the frequency of caffeine abuse are rare. One older study reported that 26/775 cyclists had illegal urinary caffeine levels when tested following competition (Delbecke & Debachere, 1984).

Urinary Caffeine and Doping

The use of urinary caffeine levels to determine caffeine abuse in sport has been criticized. Only 0.5-3% of orally ingested caffeine actually reaches the urine because most of the caffeine is metabolized in the liver. The caffeine byproducts that are excreted are not measured in doping tests. Other factors also affect the amount of caffeine that reaches the urine, including body weight, gender, and hydration status of the athlete. The time elapsed between caffeine ingestion and urine sample collection is important and will be affected by the exercise duration and environmental conditions. Sport governing bodies may not regard these concerns as problems because most people caught with illegal levels of caffeine will have used caffeine in a doping manner. However, it is possible that someone who metabolizes caffeine slowly or who excretes 3% of the ingested dose rather than 0.5% could produce IOC-illegal amounts of urinary caffeine following ingestion of a moderate dose of caffeine.

Variability of Caffeine Responses

The variability of most performance and metabolic responses to caffeine is large. This appears to be true for all groups studied, including those who routinely ingest small and large amounts of caffeine, users who have withdrawn from caffeine, and non-users. The variability of muscle glycogen sparing following caffeine ingestion is greater in samples of untrained males than in trained males (Chesley et al., 1994; Spriet et al., 1992). Few females have been studied to determine if the variability in response to caffeine ingestion is similar to that in males. Menstrual status needs to be controlled for in these studies because estrogen may affect the half-life of caffeine. Therefore, although mean results in a group of athletes may predict an improved athletic performance, it is impossible to reliably predict that the performance of a given individual will improve.

Habitual Caffeine Consumption

As reviewed by Graham et al. (1994), several recent studies suggest that chronic caffeine use dampens the EPI response to exercise and to caffeine but does not affect indirect markers of fat metabolism during exercise (Bangsbo et al., 1992; Van Soeren et al., 1993). However, these changes do not appear to dampen the ergogenic effect of 9 mg/kg caffeine. Endurance performance increased in all subjects in two studies in which both users and non-users of caffeine were examined; users abstained from caffeine for 48-72 h prior to experiments (Graham & Spriet, 1991; Spriet et al., 1992). However, the performance results were more variable in a subsequent study with more non-users (Graham & Spriet, 1995). In addition, Van Soeren et al. (1993) recently reported that prior caffeine withdrawal for up to 4 d did not affect exerciseinduced changes in hormones and metabolism in subjects who acutely ingested caffeine doses of 6 or 9 mg/kg. Performance times in the recreational cyclists riding to exhaustion at 80-85% VO2max were improved by caffeine, and this was unaffected by 0-4 d of caffeine withdrawal.

Caffeine and High Carbohydrate Diets

It was reported that a high-carbohydrate diet and a pre-race carbohydrate meal negated the expected increase in plasma FFA following caffeine ingestion during 2 h of exercise at ~75% VO2max (Weir et al., 1987). These results were interpreted to imply that high-carbohydrate diets would negate the ergogenic effects of caffeine, although endurance performance was not measured. However, a high-carbohydrate diet and a pre-trial carbohydrate meal did not prevent caffeine-induced increases in performance in a number of recent studies using well-trained/recreational runners and cyclists (see Spriet, 1995).

Diuretic Effect of Caffeine

Because caffeine is a diuretic, it has been suggested that caffeine ingestion may lead to poor hydration status prior to and during exercise. However, two studies reported no changes in core temperature, sweat loss, or plasma volume during exercise following caffeine ingestion (Falk et al., 1990; Gordon et al., 1982). A recent report also demonstrated that urine volumes and body hydration status during exercise were unaffected by caffeine ingested in a fluid replacement drink (Wemple et al., 1994).

Ethical Considerations

Since ergogenic effects of caffeine have been reported with doses of 3-6 mg/kg, it is easy for endurance athletes to enhance performance "legally" with caffeine. We suggested on the basis of our work that caffeine should be banned prior to competitions in endurance athletes. This would ensure that no athlete had an unfair advantage on race day but would not prevent caffeine use in training. Athletes would have to abstain from caffeine ~48-72 h prior to competition to achieve this goal. However, in the present climate, what should athletes do? Should they use caffeine in moderate amounts to make sure they are not missing out on a potential beneficial effect, or should they avoid this tactic because it could be considered doping? The former point of view may be popular because caffeine use is prevalent in society, and athletes will not have "illegal" amounts in their urine. Others argue that caffeine use in moderation is a trivial issue; other drugs with more serious side effects require greater attention. Nevertheless, the potential ergogenic effect of caffeine is impressive. On the other hand, discouraging caffeine use counteracts the "win-at-all-costs" mentality and sets the proper example for youth. The Canadian Center for Drug Free Sport reported in 1993 that over 25% of youths aged 11-18 reported using caffeine in the prior year to help them do better in sports.

SUMMARY

Caffeine ingestion (3-13 mg/kg body weight) prior to exercise often increases performance during prolonged endurance cycling and running in a laboratory setting. Caffeine doses below 9 mg/kg generally produce urine caffeine levels below the IOC-allowable limit of 12 mg/mL. Moderate caffeine doses (5-6 mg/kg) also increase short-term intense cycling (~5 min) in the laboratory and decrease swim time for 1500 m (~20 min). These results are generally reported in well-trained elite or recreational athletes, but field studies are lacking to confirm the ergogenic effects of caffeine in the athletic world. The mechanisms for the improved endurance have not been clearly established, but they may involve metabolic, hormonal, or direct effects of caffeine on muscles and/or on the nervous system.

References

Anselme, F., K. Collomp, B. Mercier, S. Ahmaidi, and C. Prefaut. (1992). Caffeine increases maximal anaerobic power and blood lactate concentration. Eur. J. Appl. Physiol. 65:188-191.

Bangsbo, J., K. Jacobsen, N. Nordberg, N.J. Christensen, and T. Graham. (1992). Acute and habitual caffeine ingestion and metabolic responses to steady-state exercise. J. Appl. Physiol. 72:1297-1303.

Berglund, B., and P. Hemingsson. (1982). Effects of caffeine ingestion on exercise performance at low and high altitudes in cross country skiers. Int. J. Sports Med. 3:234-236.

Chesley, A., E. Hultman, and L.L. Spriet. (1995). Effects of epinephrine infusion on muscle glycogenolysis during intense aerobic exercise. Am. J. Physiol. 268 (Endocrinol. Met.):E127-E134.

Chesley, A., E. Hultman, and L.L. Spriet. (1994). Variable effects of caffeine on muscle glycogenolysis in recreationally active subjects during intense aerobic exercise. Can. J. Appl. Physiol. 19:10P, 1994. (Abstract).

Collomp, K., C. Caillaud, M. Audran, J.-L. Chanal, and C. Prefaut. (1990). Influence of acute and chronic bouts of caffeine on performance and catecholamines in the course of maximal exercise. C.R. Soc. Biol. 184:87-92.

Collomp. K., S. Ahmaidi, M. Audran, J.-L. Chanal, and C. Prefaut. (1991). Effects of caffeine ingestion on performance and anaerobic metabolism during the Wingate test. Int. J. Sports Med. 12:439-443.

Collomp, K., S. Ahmaidi, J.C. Chatard, M. Audran, and C. Prefaut. (1992). Benefits of caffeine ingestion on sprint performance in trained and untrained swimmers. Eur. J. Appl. Physiol. 64:377-380.

Conlee, R.K. (1991). Amphetamine, caffeine and cocaine. In: D.R. Lamb and M.H. Williams (Eds.) Ergogenics: Enhancement of Performance in Exercise and Sport. Indianapolis: Brown and Benchmark, pp. 285-330.

Costill, D.L., G. Dalsky, and W. Fink. (1978). Effects of caffeine ingestion on metabolism and exercise performance. Med. Sci. Sports 10: 155-158.

Delbecke, F.T., and M. Debachere. (1984). Caffeine: use and abuse in sports. Int. J. Sports Med. 5:179-182.

Dodd, S.L., R.A. Herb, and S.K. Powers. (1993). Caffeine and endurance performance: An update. Sports Med. 15:14-23.

Essig, D., D.L. Costill, and P.J. VanHandel. (1980). Effects of caffeine ingestion on utilization of muscle glycogen and lipid during leg ergometer cycling. Int. J. Sports Med. 1:86-90.

Falk, B., R. Burstein, J. Rosenblum, Y. Shapiro, E. Zylber-Katz, and N. Bashan. (1990). Effects of caffeine ingestion on body fluid balance and thermoregulation during exercise. Can. J. Physiol. Pharmacol. 68:889-892.

Flinn, S., J. Gregory, L.R. Mcnaughton, S. Tristram, and P. Davies. (1990). Caffeine ingestion prior to incremental cycling to exhaustion in recreational cyclists. Int. J. Sports Med. 11:188-193.

Gordon, N.F., J.L. Myburgh, P.E. Kruger, P.G. Kempff, J.F. Cilliers, J. Moolman, and H.C. Grobler. (1982). Effects of caffeine on thermoregulatory and myocardial function during endurance performance. S. Afr. Med. J. 62:644-647.

Graham, T.E., and L.L. Spriet. (1991). Performance and metabolic responses to a high caffeine dose during prolonged exercise. J. Appl. Physiol. 71:2292-2298. Graham, T.E., and L.L. Spriet. (1995). Metabolic, catecholamine and exercise performance responses to varying doses of caffeine. J. Appl. Physiol. 78:867-874. Graham, T.E., J.W.E. Rush, and M.H. VanSoeren. (1994). Caffeine and exercise: metabolism and performance. Can. J. Appl. Physiol. 2:111-138.

Graham, T.E., E. Hibbert, and P. Sathasivam. (1995). Caffeine Vs. coffee: coffee isn't an effective ergogenic aid. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 27:S224. (Abstract).

Ivy, J.L., D.L. Costill, W.J. Fink, and R.W. Lower. (1979). Influence of caffeine and carbohydrate feedings on endurance performance. Med. Sci. Sports 11:6-11. Jackman, M., P. Wendling, D. Friars, and T.E. Graham. (1996). Metabolic, catecholamine and endurance responses to caffeine during intense exercise. J. Appl. Physiol. 80: In press.

Lindinger, M.I., T.E. Graham, and L.L. Spriet. (1993). Caffeine attenuates the exercise-induced increase in plasma [K+] in humans. J. Appl. Physiol. 74:1149-1155. MacIntosh, B.R., and B.M. Wright. (1995). Caffeine ingestion and performance of a 1500-metre swim. Can. J. Appl. Physiol. 20:168-177.

McNaughton, L. (1987). Two levels of caffeine ingestion on blood lactate and free fatty acid responses during incremental exercise. Res. Q. Exerc. Sport 58:255-259. Pasman, W.J., M.A. VanBaak, A.E. Jeukendrup, and A. DeHaan. (1995). The effect of different dosages of caffeine on endurance performance time. Int. J. Sports Med. 16:225-230.

Spriet, L.L., D.A. MacLean, D.J. Dyck, E. Hultman, G. Cederblad, and T.E. Graham. (1992). Caffeine ingestion and muscle metabolism during prolonged exercise in humans. Am. J. Physiol. 262 (Endocrinol. Metab.):E891-E898.

Spriet, L.L. (1995). Caffeine and performance. Int. J. Sports Nutr. 5:S84-S99.

Tarnopolsky, M.A. (1994). Caffeine and endurance performance. Sports Med. 18:109-125.

Trice, I., and E.M. Haymes. (1995). Effects of caffeine ingestion on exercise-induced changes during high-intensity, intermittent exercise. Int. J. Sports. Nutr. 5:37-44. VanSoeren, M.H., P. Sathasivam, L.L. Spriet, and T.E. Graham. (1993). Caffeine metabolism and epinephrine responses during exercise in users and non-users. J. Appl. Physiol. 75:805-812.

VanSoeren, M.H., P. Sathasivam, L.L. Spriet, and T.E. Graham. (1993). Short term withdrawal does not alter caffeine-induced metabolic changes during intensive exercise. FASEB J. 7:A518. (Abstract).

VanSoeren, M.H., T. Mohr, M. Kjaer, and T.E. Graham. (1996). Acute effects of caffeine ingestion at rest in humans with impaired epimephrine responses. J. Appl. Physiol. 80: 999-1005, 1996.

Weir, J., T.D. Noakes, K. Myburgh, and B. Adams. (1987). A high carbohydrate diet negates the metabolic effect of caffeine during exercise. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 19:100-105.

Wemple, R.D., D.R. Lamb, and A.C. Blostein. (1994). Caffeine ingested in a fluid replacement beverage during prolonged exercise does not cause diuresis. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 26:S204. (Abstract).

Wilcox, A.R. (1990). Caffeine and endurance performance. In: Sports Science Exchange. Barringtron, IL: Gatorade Sports Science Institute. 3:1-5.

Wiles, J.D., S.R. Bird, J. Hopkins, and M. Riley. (1992). Effect of caffeinated coffee on running speed, respiratory factors, blood lactate and perceived exertion during 1500-m treadmill running. Br. J. Sports Med. 26:166-120.

Williams, J.H., J.F. Signoille, W.S. Barnes, and T.W. Henrich. (1988). Caffeine, maximal power output and fatigue. Br. J. Sports Med. 229:132-134.

Congrats new RKCs!

Just wanted to send out a congrats to the new RKCs! Awesome work to all and excellent job! My girlfriend Jodie and I stopped by on Sunday for the graduation work out. Ahhhhh, the memories and flash backs I had to my RKC weekend back in Oct.

Special congrats to Pat Collins--good to see you again, Katie B.--fellow Z Health Level 4 and works at Condition Inc in Atlanta, and Franklin--always great to meet people from blog-land in person!

Awesome to see Fawn and Aaron Friday, Joe Pavel and his buddy, all the RKC instructors--Geoff Neupert, Jeff O'Connor, Brett "Clean Shaven" Jones, Angela, Pavel, Andrea and everyone else that I missed.

Check out all of the pics courtesy of Dragon Door HERE

So if you have ever wanted to give the KB a shot, drop me a line! Watch out, as you may never go back to the hamster on a treadmill again! Plus it is great to take them to the park for a nice outside training session, excellent to drop body fat and increase your performance to boot.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Race Across America Update!

RAAM Update
The Race Across America is ON! As most of you know, I was a volunteer for it last year on Team Heart Strong and they placed third overall which was amazing. Not only are they riding (yes pedal bikes) across the entire USA, it is a RACE. That changes everything. It was an honor and a privilege to help last year, but it was a ONCE in a lifetime exerperience.

Check out the writeup from last year HERE and my old blog updates from last year HERE

One thing I learned from last year was sleep deprivation. I slept a total of 17 hours in just over 6.5 days. Yes, you read the correct. I don't know how many quality hours of those 17 there were since that was in a bumpy RV. Going through the mountain in CO, my "sleep time" was in the compartment above the drivers and with each turn I woke up convinced I was doing to die in a fiery RV crash.

During exchanges with the riders, after about day 2.5 I could not remember a number if my life depended on it as I completely blew my short term memory. I had to write down EVERYTHING. Yikes.

A toothbrush and shower feel like the greatest things in world. Nothing like hanging out with smelly people who have yellow fuzzy teeth.

At the end I collapsed on the cement floor and passed out for about an hour while people were running all around everything. I could have cared less.

More details as the RAAM this year progresses. Good luck to that nut Tim Case doing it SOLO (that is off the charts INSANE) and all of Team Heart Strong!!!! Be sure to check out the live updates here!

Rock on

Thursday, June 12, 2008

June Research--Caffeine

WAKE UP! Ha! If you need help, here is the latest research on everyone's fav--caffeine!

Enjoy

Caffeine and other sympathomimetic stimulants: modes of action and effects on sports performance.

Conclusion: “Biochemical mechanisms that are consistent with more recent research findings, involving proteins such as DARPP-32 (dopamine and cAMP-regulated phosphoprotein), are helping to rationalize the molecular details of stimulant action in the central nervous system.”

Influence of caffeine ingestion on perceived mood states, concentration, and arousal levels during a 75-min university lecture.

Conclusion:” The results of this investigation show that university students report enhanced perceptual feelings of behavior and mood state when a low dose of caffeine is consumed 60 min prior to a 75-min academic lecture.”


Effects of caffeine on physiological responses to exercise: boys versus men.

Conclusion: “Metabolism is not affected by a moderate caffeine dose in children or adults. The same dose has a similar effect on blood pressure in both groups. The effect on HR was different, however, with a significant (p < .05) lowering in children in caffeinated versus placebo, with no adult effects.”

Methamphetamine self-administration and voluntary exercise have opposing effects on medial prefrontal cortex gliogenesis.

Conclusion: “Medial Prefrontal Cortex gliogenesis is vulnerable to psychostimulant abuse and physical activity with distinct underlying mechanisms. The susceptibility of Medial Prefrontal Cortex gliogenesis to even modest doses of methamphetamine could account for the pronounced pathology linked to psychostimulant abuse.”

Caffeine-induced changes in cardiovascular function during resistance training.

Conclusion: “To prevent elevated blood pressure and potential enhanced risk of heart disease, Caffeine intake should be monitored in at-risk men who participate in resistance training.”

Hydration and cognition: a critical review and recommendations for future research.

Conclusion: “Inclusion of a positive control condition, such as alcohol intake, a hypnotic drug, or other treatments known to produce adverse changes in cognitive performance should be included in such studies. To the extent possible, efforts to blind both volunteers and investigators should be an important consideration in study design.”

Caffeine effects on physical and cognitive performance during sustained operations.

Conclusion: “It was concluded that caffeine maintained both vigilance and physical performance during sustained operations that require periods of overnight wakefulness and restricted opportunities for daytime sleep.”

Immunoendocrine response to cycling following ingestion of caffeine and carbohydrate.

Conclusion: “Taken together, this suggests that coingestion of caffeine and carbohydrate has greater influence on immunoendocrine responses than neutrophil functional responses to prolonged exercise.”

Effect of caffeine supplementation on haematological and biochemical variables in elite soccer players under physical stress conditions.

Conclusion: “The pronounced increase in the white cell count in the group receiving caffeine appeared to be caused by greater muscle stress and consequently more intense endothelial and muscle cell injury. The use of caffeine may augment the risk of muscle damage in athletes.”

Well-trained endurance athletes' knowledge, insight, and experience of caffeine use.

Conclusion: “The most popular sources of caffeine information were self-experimentation (16%), fellow athletes (15%), magazines (13%), and journal articles (12%). Over half the athletes (53%) could not identify an amount of caffeine required to improve their triathlon performance. Mean (+/- standard deviation) suggested doses were 3.8 (+/- 3) mg/kg body weight. Few side effects associated with taking caffeine during exercise were reported.”

Caffeine-induced Ca(2+) release increases AMPK-dependent glucose uptake in rodent soleus muscle.

Conclusion: “SR Ca(2+)-activated CaMKK may control alpha(1)- activated protein kinase activation and be necessary for caffeine-stimulated glucose uptake in mouse soleus muscle.”

Caffeine, fluid-electrolyte balance, temperature regulation, and exercise-heat tolerance.

Conclusion: “Contrary to popular beliefs, proposes that caffeine consumption does not result in the following: (a) water-electrolyte imbalances or hyperthermia and (b) reduced exercise-heat tolerance.”

Evaluation of the effects of caffeine in the microcirculation and edema on thighs and buttocks using the orthogonal polarization spectral imaging and clinical parameters.

Conclusion: “Smoking as well as alcohol consumption and regular physical activity were not significantly related to the centimetrical reduction observed in treated thighs and hips.”

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Mike T Nelson Training blog live

I've had a few questions as the last few months about what I am doing for training currently; so I decided to log it in another blog. The main reason for this is improved record keeping on my part too, as I can search on it instantly!

Current goals are to maintain strength, drop a little body fat (get down to below 15% on skin fold calipers; last time clocked in at 15.3%), and increase my cardio respiratory fitness (CRF). Once I turn in my completed my PhD writtens on July 3 I will take that weekend off and then probably start a more strength based phase again as prep for the Fall Tactical Strength Challenge. I will need to keep my training on a lower volume/intensity until July 3 as I am sure I will have enough stress!

As always, I rate quality of movement above all else. If a lift messes my up movement wise, I will find something else to do. Lately I've been doing a bit more variety and enjoying it.

So just since you are super busy that is no excuse for little movement! There is no good time to start, so start TODAY! Maybe you will get some ideas of things you can try out.

Just a note---this is what is currently working for me; so it will probably NOT be best for you! I have some old injuries (too many to list), surgeries, and some visual issues I am working through but progress has been good.

Getting professional advice for a program from someone that can watch you move is well worth your coin!

Here are a few to check out
Today's short session
Last private Z Health session with Dr. Cobb
Previous private with Dr. Cobb
KBs are fun!