Leo Chiang DOT COM

In this edition of Friday Health Check, coffee drinkers everywhere rejoice! Forget the decaf. What’s the point of drinking coffee without caffeine anyways? That’s like weight training without gaining muscle. I usually fill up on water or Powerade/Gatorade but maybe I’ll stop by the nearest Starbuck’s after my next Crossfit workout.

Caffeine Cuts Post-workout Soreness

Delayed onset muscles soreness (DOMS) is muscle pain you feel during the days following an intense workout. DOMS can be particularly severe in untrained people. Researchers from the University of Georgia in Athens found that a caffeine supplement reduced muscle soreness in study participants following electrical muscle stimulation. The subjects took 5 milligrams of caffeine per kilogram bodyweight at 24 and 48 hours after the muscle stimulation treatment. The researchers speculated that caffeine blocked the activity of a chemical called adenosine, which is released during inflammation in response to muscle injury. Caffeine relieved post-exercise muscle soreness better than acetaminophen (Tylenol) and naproxen (Aleve). This study used untrained subjects so the results may not apply to weightlifters or people who consume high amounts of caffeine regularly. In an earlier study, researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign showed that caffeine reduced leg pain in subjects during cycling exercise. (Journal of Pain, in-press, published online Dec. 2006; Medicine Science Sports Exercise, 38: 598-604, 2006)

Posted on May 11th, 2007 by Leo
Filed under: Friday Health Check