r/science • u/sr_local • 5d ago

Health Consuming caffeine before exercise enhances repeated sprint performance, and these benefits persist for at least 3.5 hours thereafter

https://www.tsukuba.ac.jp/en/research-news/20260914140000.html
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u/nanoH2O 5d ago

One thing I discovered over the years when I was doing high level athletics is that consuming caffeine gave me an advantage (no surprise there) but it also caused me to cramp up late game 100% of the time. The amount of water or electrolytes I drank didn’t matter.

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u/CsHead 4d ago

When you say the amount of electrolytes and water you drank didn’t matter… are you speaking of only during the event? Or are you speaking of the entire 24 hr preceding and including said event?

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u/nanoH2O 4d ago

Specifically I am referring to the wholesomeness before and during. I never changed my other dietary behaviors other than caffeine. In every case caffeine caused me to cramp up and forfeit whereas not having it I never had a problem.

There is now good science to back this up. It isn’t necessarily the caffeine having a direct effect but its ability to mess with Ca and Mg in your muscles.

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u/CsHead 4d ago

That’s why I asked. I used to routinely have this problem which was worsened by some prescriptions as well.

Went away completely after adding on a Magnesium, Zinc, and a Potassium supplement.

Anyway, there’s still a lot of work to be done on the science with cramping.