Monday
Mar022009
Ask the Experts: Ben Greenfield on coffee consumption for athletes
Question: What's your advice on coffee consumption for athletes in training?
Answer: There has, as you probably know, been quite a bit of study done on the use of caffeine as a performance-enhancing ergonenic aid. For example, the
January 2009 National Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research reported a systematic review of caffeine for sport-specific endurance performance and
reported significant effectiveness.
However, rather than lauding caffeine for performance enhancement and listing it's various benefits and dosage requirements, I'd like to instead give you a few simple tips to implement coffee into a successful multi-sport lifestyle.
When I was a triathlon camp with Peter Reid, he mentioned that he abstained from coffee for 8 weeks prior to the Ironman Championship, simply so that he
would not be "masking fatigue" with caffeine and central nervous system stimulation. I thought this was a wonderful suggestion, but would perhaps require too much self-control for a mere mortal exposed to various Starbucks drive-by's throughout the day.
Instead, I do the following, and suggest it to the athletes I coach:
1) Limit yourself to one cup of coffee in the morning, without heavy amounts of milk, cream, sweetener or artificial sweetener.
2) If you're too tired or sleep-deprived to tackle a workout, prioritize sleep or a power nap, and not another cup of coffee. Seven days missed from an immune system crash due to training through masked sleep deprivation is worse than skipping that single workout session.
3) 5-7 days prior to a race, taper the coffee intake. I achieve this by drinking a decaffeinated version of my usual morning French Press.
4) 30-45 minutes prior to the race, boost your performance with a powdered energy drink, caffeine pills, or, if you prefer, a cup of black coffee (caution: a cup of coffee can upset the stomach before the swim). Dosage recommendations vary, but are in the range of 3-6mg of coffee per kg of body mass.
To your health,
Ben
For more information on caffeine for the endurance athlete, you can also check out this article from PacificHealth!
Many qualified experts on training and nutrition use TrainingPeaks to help manage their business. Now, a select few are offering professional training and nutrition advice on our blog. The views expressed here are the opinions of the experts and as such do not represent the official position of TrainingPeaks. Read on to learn more about the expert, and submit a question of your own below!
About the expert:
Ben Greenfield is recognized as one of the top fitness, triathlon, nutrition and metabolism experts in the nation. In 2008, he was voted as the Personal Trainer of the Year by the National Strength and Conditioning Association, an internationally recognized and respected certifying agency. Ben is Director of Sports Performance and oversees the physiology and biomechanics laboratory at Champions Sports Medicine in Spokane, WA, which offers metabolic-based weight loss, bicycle fitting, running gait analysis, swim stroke analysis, VO2 max testing, blood lactate testing, resting metabolic rate analysis, and other cutting-edge procedures for weight loss and performance.
Ben hosts the highly popular fitness, nutrition and wellness website at www.bengreenfieldfitness.com, which features blogs, podcasts, and product reviews from Ben. In addition to coaching and training for weight loss and sports performance at http://www.pacificfit.net, Ben serves as a business and marketing consultant to fitness professionals, and is the host of a weekly syndicated fitness business blog and podcast at http://www.trainfortopdollar.com. E-mail: ben@bengreenfieldfitness.com
Ask a question of your own! If you have a question for the experts, submit it here either by emailing asktheexperts@peaksware.com or by posting it on our message boards. Your question could be featured in our next blog!
Answer: There has, as you probably know, been quite a bit of study done on the use of caffeine as a performance-enhancing ergonenic aid. For example, the
January 2009 National Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research reported a systematic review of caffeine for sport-specific endurance performance and
reported significant effectiveness.
However, rather than lauding caffeine for performance enhancement and listing it's various benefits and dosage requirements, I'd like to instead give you a few simple tips to implement coffee into a successful multi-sport lifestyle.
When I was a triathlon camp with Peter Reid, he mentioned that he abstained from coffee for 8 weeks prior to the Ironman Championship, simply so that he
would not be "masking fatigue" with caffeine and central nervous system stimulation. I thought this was a wonderful suggestion, but would perhaps require too much self-control for a mere mortal exposed to various Starbucks drive-by's throughout the day.
Instead, I do the following, and suggest it to the athletes I coach:
1) Limit yourself to one cup of coffee in the morning, without heavy amounts of milk, cream, sweetener or artificial sweetener.
2) If you're too tired or sleep-deprived to tackle a workout, prioritize sleep or a power nap, and not another cup of coffee. Seven days missed from an immune system crash due to training through masked sleep deprivation is worse than skipping that single workout session.
3) 5-7 days prior to a race, taper the coffee intake. I achieve this by drinking a decaffeinated version of my usual morning French Press.
4) 30-45 minutes prior to the race, boost your performance with a powdered energy drink, caffeine pills, or, if you prefer, a cup of black coffee (caution: a cup of coffee can upset the stomach before the swim). Dosage recommendations vary, but are in the range of 3-6mg of coffee per kg of body mass.
To your health,
Ben
For more information on caffeine for the endurance athlete, you can also check out this article from PacificHealth!
Many qualified experts on training and nutrition use TrainingPeaks to help manage their business. Now, a select few are offering professional training and nutrition advice on our blog. The views expressed here are the opinions of the experts and as such do not represent the official position of TrainingPeaks. Read on to learn more about the expert, and submit a question of your own below!
About the expert:Ben Greenfield is recognized as one of the top fitness, triathlon, nutrition and metabolism experts in the nation. In 2008, he was voted as the Personal Trainer of the Year by the National Strength and Conditioning Association, an internationally recognized and respected certifying agency. Ben is Director of Sports Performance and oversees the physiology and biomechanics laboratory at Champions Sports Medicine in Spokane, WA, which offers metabolic-based weight loss, bicycle fitting, running gait analysis, swim stroke analysis, VO2 max testing, blood lactate testing, resting metabolic rate analysis, and other cutting-edge procedures for weight loss and performance.
Ben hosts the highly popular fitness, nutrition and wellness website at www.bengreenfieldfitness.com, which features blogs, podcasts, and product reviews from Ben. In addition to coaching and training for weight loss and sports performance at http://www.pacificfit.net, Ben serves as a business and marketing consultant to fitness professionals, and is the host of a weekly syndicated fitness business blog and podcast at http://www.trainfortopdollar.com. E-mail: ben@bengreenfieldfitness.com
Ask a question of your own! If you have a question for the experts, submit it here either by emailing asktheexperts@peaksware.com or by posting it on our message boards. Your question could be featured in our next blog!
Monday, March 2, 2009 at 4:33PM
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