If You Take Caffeine Pills, You Should Read This
First, let us start by saying: DIY Active in no way promotes consumption nor encourages you to take caffeine pills. Now, if you do take caffeine pills (or are simply curious!), we hope this article is of use to you.
Caffeine is a tested-and-proven component for bodybuilding and sports nutrition. However, the time of reaction or response to the particular supplementation is seemingly variable. Here’s what you need to know about when to take caffeine pills.
When to Take Caffeine Pills
Timing is everything. The variable responses you get to caffeine pills are largely due to the timing and the dosage of intake. It can also be due to a person’s sensitivity to caffeine, which is already a matter of genetics, or the frequency which can impact the immediateness of the pill’s effects.
But as we said, the dosage and the timing of the intake really are the biggest players here. Once you have a good grasp of them, you can gauge the appropriate time you should take your caffeine supplement. We will discuss more of them in the next sections below.
Caffeine Dosage 
People don’t have uniform tolerance when it comes to caffeine. Some are capable of handling large doses while others can become jittery from small amounts.
It is wrong to assume that you have the same caffeine tolerance as your gym buddy. That’s not how things work.
Another determining factor that you should consider is your body weight. You see, burly people that have bigger and heavier muscle build require a substantial amount of caffeine to support their routines. On the other hand, thinner individuals only require a small boost before they can get giddy for their next routine.
Because of this, researchers usually test caffeine dosage based on the body weight of their subjects. Typically, dosage recommendations are emphasized using this equation: ‘x’s mg/kg. Specifically, the ‘x’s represents caffeine. The rest reads milligrams per body weight kilogram.
The next question deals with the prescribed caffeine dosage on a per kilogram basis. We have to remember that our bodies have different caffeine tolerance. Some suggest two milligrams of caffeine per kilogram (2 mg/kg), while others can go as high as 12 milligrams of caffeine per kilogram (12 mg/kg).
Therefore, if we are talking about a bodybuilder whose weight is 90 kilograms, the ideal caffeine dosage ranges from 190 mg/kg to 1020 mg/kg.
There are health concerns to think of before maximizing your dose, however. You have to take things in moderation. We do recommend that you settle on 3 to 5 mg/kg dosage values. They can already provide the optimal level of boost that your body needs.
Taking too much caffeine can make you jittery, nervous, and irritable.
Take note that many pre-workout supplements have caffeine content already. There is a limit to how much you can get from them. They overcome this limitation by the other components of the supplement such as creatine, beta-alanine, and citrulline.
Timing of the Intake
Next, we have to discuss the proper timing of the caffeine. Many bodybuilders wonder: what is the right time to take caffeine before a workout?
Most of the pre-workout supplements that contain caffeine suggest you take them 20 to 30 minutes before your routine. However, some studies say the best time to take caffeine is one hour before your workout regimen.
Take note that the time in which the caffeine reaches your blood is different from one person to the other. One study shows that it takes at least two to two-and-a-half hours before the caffeine level in your blood reaches its peak. This is why you may need a gap between ingestion and your workout.
Even if the caffeine reaches a peak level in your blood, it doesn’t mean that you have already attained the peak of your performance.
According to research, there are certain factors that can affect the performance of a person based on the amount of caffeine in their blood.
Among these is the response time of the sensory detectors of the gastrointestinal tract, endurance, and caffeine’s threshold effect.
Wrap-Up
It should be clear to you and every bodybuilder out there that caffeine doesn’t kick in instantly. Each of our bodies has a different response time for caffeine. It is completely normal if you don’t feel the effect right away.
But if you want to stay right on track, just follow the recommendations that we have given here.
- Dose and Timing of Caffeine Pills - April 23, 2018
