You’re watching the summer X Games and you see Danny Way chug a Monster energy drink before dropping in, or maybe during the commercial break you see New York Jets wide receiver Braylon Edwards throw back a 5 hour energy shot. The message the public receives is put caffeine in your body, and your athletic performance will increase. However, how much of this is actually true and can be proven with science? Does caffeine actually improve our 40-yard dash times or allow us to pull 900-degree spins? In J.K. Davis and J. Matt Green’s study entitled “Caffeine and Anaerobic Performance” these questions are answered to an extent.
Caffeine has been used as a stimulant for hundreds of years, but in the past decade or so has experienced tremendous growth, especially in the variety of forms it comes in. Coffee and caffeinated soft drinks have been popular for years, however now we can receive an energy boost from pills, gels, energy drinks, etc. Athletes these days often use these items to gain a competitive advantage, which has lead organizations such as the NCAA to “implement urinary caffeine restrictions,” for ethical reasons. For these reasons, several studies have been completed regarding the aerobic performance of subjects on caffeine; however, few studies have examined the effects of caffeine on anaerobic performance. In this review, the researches study caffeine’s effects on anaerobic performance exclusively, especially for 4-180 second durations. Aerobic performance refers to muscle use in which oxygen is the main fuel for our metabolism, allowing us to perform without fatigue. Anaerobic performance concerns muscle use without the presence of oxygen, making our muscles rely on other, wasteful reactions to power movement, which causes fatigue.
J.K. Davis works in the Department of Health and Human Performance at Texas A&M and J. Matt Green works in the Department of Health / Physical Education and Recreation at the University of North Alabama. Their article looks at several different professional studies that test the effects of caffeine on various aspects of anaerobic performance. These tests all posses some similarities, such as a placebo group and whether or not caffeine has an ergogenic effect, or enhances performance. The first study looked at by Davis and Green concerned caffeine influenced performance in the Wingate test. The Wingate test was developed at the Wingate Institute, in Israel, during the 1970’s. It is possibly the most widely used assessment of anaerobic power, anaerobic fatigue and total anaerobic capacity. The Wingate test involves a participant who must pedal a stationary bike, “all out”, for a total of 30 seconds. The participant begins pedaling with no resistance; however, after three seconds of no resistance, a fixed amount of resistance is applied. While the participant pedals, a counter measures wheel revolutions in five-second intervals.
Most studies of athletic performance supplemented by caffeine using the Wingate test have shown no actual improvement in anaerobic performance while being treated with caffeine. In fact, in one study done in 1998 by Greer showed a decline in anaerobic performance on the fourth Wingate test when compared to the placebo. Kang did the only study known to show an ergogenic effect from caffeine. In Kang’s study, there were both trained cyclists and untrained participants. Both groups in Kang’s study actually showed an improvement in mean, total and peak power while treated with caffeine compared to the placebo. It is important to remember though; that this is the only study that’s shows any egogenic effect of caffeine during sustained, high-intensity activity and that is unclear why performance increased.
While the Wingate test may be a good measure of anaerobic performance in general, it does not necessarily simulate the nature of most sports. The majority of sports are characterized by short bursts of high-intensity activity, like a break away in hockey or a point guard driving to the hole in basketball. These activities generally last between two and 5 seconds and happen intermittently through out games in intervals with periods of rest. The Wingate test, which as mentioned earlier measures performance in 30-second intervals, does not reflect these activities and therefore may not be the most effective method of measuring anaerobic performance. Because of this, another research named Schneiker created an experiment to more closely mimic common athletic competition for testing the effects of caffeine on anaerobic performance. In his test, subjects participated in two, 36-minute halves, each made up of 18 four-second bursts of “maximum exertion” cycling with two minute recovery periods between sprints. The subjects using caffeine experienced significant performance improvement in both halves for total work and peak power. These results showed that when the experiment more closely resembled actual athletic competition, caffeine actual does provide an athletic advantage.
In this study, Green and Davis both prove and disprove that caffeine is an ergogenic aid when it comes to athletic performance. Traditional tests such as the Wingate test, which measure sustained, high-intensity activity, do not show any athletic enhancement from caffeine, and in fact have the potential for detrimental effects on anaerobic perfomance. However, when the scientists replicated more common athletic events in their tests, they did observe enhanced performance in all categories from subjects treated with caffeine. So should all athletes use caffeine? According to the research it has the potential to improve Usain Bolt’s 100 m dash time, or allow B.J. Upton to steal home in the bottom of the 9th when they might not be able to under normal circumstances.
http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4&hid=4&sid=342e141e-c766-49aa-83ff-71f84c628795%40sessionmgr111
http://www.myfooddiary.com/resources/ask_the_expert/aerobic_vs_anaerobic.asp
No comments:
Post a Comment