An Introduction To Caffeine For Personal Trainers

Introduction

The vast majority of your clients will consume caffeine every single day. It is probably one of their (and your) favourite daily rituals. Getting up in the morning and having a cup of coffee seems to make our bodies and brain work that little bit faster.

However, some of us forget that caffeine is a powerful psychoactive drug. So, how much caffeine is too much caffeine? How does it affect our bodies? And how does caffeine impact your clients’ performance in the gym? Performance nutritionist Ben Coomber explains in this video.

Or, if you’d prefer, you can read what Ben had to say in the article below.

What are the benefits of caffeine?

Caffeine is effective at increasing performance levels. It also improves our pain tolerance. So, if you are trying to push your clients in the gym and they have not taken caffeine, exercise will be more painful. That is another great benefit of caffeine that not many people are aware of. It improves our ability to push by reducing our feeling of pain.

What we often find as a result of moderating caffeine intake is that our clients feel a more potent effect. That is because caffeine is not in their bloodstream as often. If something is in your blood less often, the blood is more receptive to its effects.

So, when you are looking at caffeine with your clients, assess how frequently it is in their diet. Do they consume caffeine consistently throughout the day, or only occasionally? Chances are, as soon as you qualify as a PT after your personal training course, you are going to be using caffeine throughout your client’s program (maybe as part of a pre-workout ritual to improve performance), so it is important you monitor their intake.

How much caffeine is too much caffeine?

Most of our clients enjoy caffeine because it turns them into better, more productive human beings! However, one of the big problems with consuming too much caffeine is becoming over-reliant.

As you have probably seen in your own coaching career, a lot of people report they are tired, run down, and can’t think clearly. They almost always turn to caffeine which can lead to unhealthy, potentially damaging, dependence over time.

Not too long ago, the government released a report revising guidelines around caffeine. The guidelines recommended that 400 milligrams per day should be the upper limit. With the amount of coffee, tea, and energy drinks people are now consuming, a lot of us are now pushing over that upper limit.

This upper limit has been linked to worsened cardiovascular health. So, if your clients want to reduce the risk of placing stress on their heart, it is a good idea to potentially reduce their caffeine intake.

What dosage of caffeine should I recommend to my clients?

Most of your clients will have a coffee to get their caffeine fix. For most people, that is absolutely fine and will be enough caffeine to have an ergogenic effect. The research seems to indicate that 3 to 6 milligrams of caffeine per kilogramme of body weight is the ergogenic area. Other people might turn to caffeinated energy drinks. They have a slightly different effect on the body – as this article explains.

It does gets a little bit more difficult when your clients are consuming caffeine from coffee. They might pop into a Starbucks or make a coffee at home, but do not know exactly how much caffeine is present in one serving or cup. We can look at the average amount per gramme of coffee that contains caffeine and start to use a slightly different dose based on that information. Research indicates that pharmaceutical-grade caffeine (pure caffeine) is better at eliciting an ergogenic effect.

Are there any caffeine supplements I can use with my clients?

Using caffeine tablets allows your clients to consume a precise amount of caffeine. It means your clients do not have to rely on coffee and measure out a certain amount. In some instances, it is beneficial to use a caffeine capsule because they can say “today, I’m going to try 100 milligrams of caffeine, the next day I am going to try 140 milligrams, then the day after that I am going to try 180 milligrams and see how it affects me.”

Caffeine tablets allow your clients to control their dose based on the situation or time of day. For example, your client might be at work early in the morning and want a lift because they are running late. Alternatively, it might be 7 o’clock at night and they don’t want to take a high dose of caffeine because it would affect their sleep. Having caffeine at this time might not be ideal, but poor sleep will have a much worse impact than missing the optimal pre-workout caffeine dose.

If you are interested in learning more about evidence-based diet and nutrition practices and how these relate to healthy eating, take a look at our range of nutrition courses and qualifications.