Caffeine can actually make you run faster, research shows

A recent study by researchers at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan, has for the first time directly investigated the effects of caffeine on the 100-meter run in athletics. To precisely explain the ergogenicity (ability to affect performance) of the stimulant, A supplement was tested on the performance of athletes in a field test.

Although performance-enhancing drugs for athletes are banned worldwide in sports, caffeine is not only tolerated but even recommended. World Athletics (WA) recommends: substance found in coffee is used to improve physical performanceUntil now, the exact effects of caffeine on the 100-meter sprint were unknown.

How was the ergogenic effect of caffeine evaluated in athletes?

According to Takeshi Hashimoto, the project’s principal investigator, the difference between the current study and previous studies addressing the same topic is that most of them analyzed the effects of caffeine in sprint races shorter than 60 meters. Extending the track to 100 metersThe Ritsumeikan professor explained that one of the goals of the research was to “support the WA consensus.”

To evaluate 100m sprint time trials, 13 male sprinters were recruited to participate in a double-blind, counterbalanced, random, cross design. Before the tests with the laser system, participants took 6 mg of caffeine per kilogram of body weight.

Researchers conclude that acute caffeine supplementation corrected 100m sprint time improved to 0.14 seconds, the time that can represent the difference between first and sixth place for professional sprinters. There was also an increase in the 60-meter sprint due to more explosive acceleration at the start of the sprint.

ARTICLE 🇧🇷 Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise – DOI: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000003057.