Question regarding caffeine consumption.

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

I’m currently running the Power building 2 program and on a program like this I typically (read, always) take caffeine (200-300mg) before the gym on the four main lifting days, but not on the GPP days. I take caffeine so frequently because I lift after work and if I don’t take caffeine I often feel like I’m in a haze and generally unmotivated.

However I find that some days I feel super gassed and higher rep sets especially on squats are really hard to recover from between sets and I just feel “off” in general.

Is there a chance that this is caused by an over accumulation of stress due to consuming caffeine before the gym so frequently? Am I better off kicking the caffeine, or are these off days just to be expected?

Also not sure how much it matters but I tend to take the caffeine at 2pm, start lifting around 4:30pm and am in bed by 10pm, and I get 7-7.5 hours of sleep a night.

2

I would probably not blame this on the caffeine alone, as there are lots of factors that can contribute to this. Variations in sleep quality, daily life stress, training fatigue, expectations, and even just how conditioned you are / how good you are at high-rep sets could all factor into this.

1 Like
3

Okay, I’ll try not to read so much in to my performance on those off days then. Thanks for the response, Austin.

4

Ishmael,

I recently reduced my caffeine from 600mg to 200mg and I thought I’d share my experience if you’re interested.

  1. I used caffeine tablets only for caffeine, gradually reducing my consumption by 50 to 100 mg a week.
  2. In retrospect even a 50mg reduction per week may have been too much. Like you, I frequently felt “off.” I experienced difficulty concentrating, fatigue, and a lack of motivation to move or do physical activity. This lasted for 4-5 weeks.
  3. For the past 6 weeks, I’ve been able to train upon waking without taking any caffeine. I find that training and listening to music is stimulating enough. Whereas previously I felt that I needed to pop 200mg upon waking just to be able to function at all. Now I save my first 100mg for when I get to work.
  4. There are numerous studies showing the performance benefits of caffeine. I just wanted to experiment to see how I’d do with less caffeine. I seem to have improved sleep quality: It’s easier to fall asleep and I don’t take naps anymore. I have fewer “mental crashes” throughout the day, I think in part because I’m not so dependent on caffeine anymore.
  5. Rich Froning won 4 CrossFit championships and he doesn’t use any caffeine. Neither does Alan Thrall. Obviously there are a lot of factors other than caffeine intake that contribute to their success. I only mention them because I think they’re examples of how there are a lot of factors and preferences that contribute to success, and there are many paths that we can take based on our preferences and experiences of what works for us individually.
  6. Whatever you decide to do with caffeine, I think you’ll adapt to it with time and you won’t notice much difference. Good luck friend!