Early workouts and caffeine/cortisol/adenosine levels

[Bumby]

My ideal scenario is to take a pre-workout for an early training session first thing in the morning. There is a claim that we should avoid caffeine for 1-2 hours after waking to avoid the buildup of adenosine in our system, hoping to stave off a bigger energy crash later in the day. Is this something we should be concerned with and possibly mitigate by either training later in the day or not taking caffeine before an early workout?

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

There is a claim that we should avoid caffeine for 1-2 hours after waking to avoid the buildup of adenosine in our system, hoping to stave off a bigger energy crash later in the day.

This is entirely made up by Huberman, which is something he does often.

I would not follow this advice and would not spend time listening to him.

[Bumby]

I was trying to avoid using his name, but yep, you called it I know it's got to be frustrating to constantly battle the same sources of bad information but thanks for the insight.

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

It can be, for sure. We'll just keep plugging away

[Shaz]

Hi Jordan

Just out of interest, as a layperson, how can we confirm whether what Huberman says is true? For example I just googled whether the caffeine delayed intake is beneficial for adenosine and can't find any reliable sources.

Thank you

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

I don't think the lay person without a lot of formal science training can easily discern the veracity of Huberman's claims. Sometimes he cites sources, though the overwhelming majority of the time they do not actually support his point. At best, he overhypes things with little to no clinical evidence, at worst, he promotes misinformation. Given his track record, I would presume everything he says is made up. Until ample human evidence is provided to suggest the claim is correct, that'd be a safe bet.