Caffeine/stimulant effects inconsistency

De__eB

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Stimulants are NOT a specialty of mine. I've tried a lot of things, to see what I find feels the best for me, but my knowledge of stimulants is relatively limited from a science standpoint.

My question is specifically related to caffeine content and perceived energy in various products. I'm only naming one here because it's the recent experience in my mind, and stands out as an outlier so much.

e.g.

Gaspari's new SuperDrive has 250mg of caffeine per scoop. That's 500mg per 2 scoop serving. Well Beyond tolerable upper limits in some countries.

I expected one scoop to be decently stimulating off of caffeine alone but that was not the case so I began using two scoops, and continued to do so for the remainder of the tub, just since I bought it and figured I might as well finish it. I was quite underwhelmed, it didn't feel like there was anywhere near that much caffeine in the product. And I'm not accusing them of under dosing it, I'm just saying how it felt.

Confused by the underwhelming energy, which I expected to be unpleasantly too much, I grabbed my caffeine , put 250mg in a capsule, took it, and got the response I would anticipate from 250mg of caffeine. Feeling masochistic, I dropped 500mg in a capsule the next day and sure enough I got the over the top sort of effects one would expect from 500mg of caffeine.

I know I know, De__eB hates Gaspari, look at yet another gaspari bashing thread, but that's not my purpose here. I was not pleased with the product, but that's beside the point of this thread other than the fact that the underwhelming stimulant blend was a part of my disappointment

What I'm trying to figure out is why such a massive variance in the effects of various stimulant blends in preworkouts with comparable quantities of stimulants in it. There's products with low doses of stimulants that seem far more potent than products with high doses of stimulants, etc...

I've supplemented with various doses of many stimulants individually and in combination from my own purchases of raw materials, and I get consistent results with given doses with consistent surrounding sleep/diet/stress/energy parameters.

Is this because of undocumented interactions with the other ingredients commonly included in preworkouts?
Is homogeneity within preworkout batches particularly poor?
Any thoughts folks?
 

BigBrucy

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I workout in the mornings on an empty stomach, never used stimulants or pre workouts - stuff looks scary
 

mr.cooper69

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There's so much at play behind the scenes, physiologically. It's probably more day-to-day neurological variability than anything else. For instance, the effects of caffeine on perceived energy can vary tremendously based on adenosine levels and degree of RAS inhibition. 24-hour biorhythms also play a minor role...I remember reading a cool caffeine study where administration in morning vs night had totally different perceived effects in subjects, and the reason wasn't psychological but rather physiological (serum biomarkers)
 
nattydisaster

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Perception plays a big role as well...

Some people think an 8oz red bull is crazy. Its 80mg caffeine

In your case though it seems opposite?
 
booneman77

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One thing I've noticed in a pre mixed pre workout vs a homemade cocktail is that there's always the chance for things to settle and not mix etc with the pre made. It can be as simple as the fact that some ingredients settled and you're getting severely underdosed scoops at times, while others may be over. It's a crapshoot really
 

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