Caffeine Guide

muscleupcrohn

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It seems like there's been a lot of discussion lately about caffeine/stimulant intake, breaks, tolerance, effects, etc, so I figured this would be a good time to post up this guide/article on the benefits of caffeine and the doses needed/used to provide these effects in studies.

I know most of this may not be anything new or exciting for a lot of people here, but I still think it can be a good resource for people to look at to help them decide how much caffeine they want to take for a given purpose, and what to stack with it. With that said, here we go:

Caffeine
Caffeine is the most commonly used central nervous system (CNS) stimulant known to man. This plant alkaloid has a half-life of approximately 5 hours in healthy individuals, and reaches peak plasma concentration between 15-120 minutes after oral ingestion, with the variation among individuals in half-life and peak concentration depending on a variety of factors including smoking, altitude, obesity, and diet. Caffeine can be found in a variety of beverages and foods, including coffee, tea, soda, and chocolate. The focus of this article is to highlight the various benefits of caffeine supplementation, as well as the ideal doses for these benefits, as supported by published research and studies. This article will also touch on what to stack, or combine, with caffeine to potentiate its effects, helping you get the most out of humanity’s favorite plant alkaloid [1].

Cognitive Enhancement: Improving Energy, Focus, Alertness, Reaction Time, Mood, Etc.
Dosing Overview: 50-300mg

One of the most common uses of caffeine is to promote wakefulness and provide energy and focus. A wide variety of individuals can benefit from caffeine, ranging from students to businesspeople and even elite military forces. Doses as low as 50mg have been shown to improve subjective alertness and accuracy on an attention switching task [2], and 75mg has been shown to improve reaction time [3]. These doses are quite small, as a cup of brewed coffee may contain 107-151mg caffeine [4]. Somewhat higher doses of 150mg and 160mg have been found to improve reaction time, perceptions of fatigue, and rapid visual information processing [5-6]. Slightly higher doses of caffeine, 200-300mg, have also been demonstrated in numerous studies to benefits soldiers and military personnel, including reducing tiredness and cold discomfort during low temperature shooting [7], reducing errors and improving speed of target detection without negatively impacting marksmanship [8], improving reaction time, visual vigilance, repeated acquisition, and improved mood and alertness without negatively impacting marksmanship following 72 hours of sleep deprivation [9], and improved sighting time without negatively impacting accuracy [10]. Looking at these studies, it is clear that caffeine consumption can improve energy, focus, alertness, and reaction time without negatively impacting accuracy and performance, which is important, as increased speed is worthless if it comes at the cost of accuracy and precision.

Sports Performance: Endurance, Power Output, Speed
Dosing Overview: 200-400mg

Another popular use of caffeine, especially among athletes and the fitness community, is improving exercise and sports performance. Slightly higher doses of caffeine appear to be required for these benefits compared to the lower minimum doses needed to improve various aspects of cognition and mood, but that doesn’t mean massive doses of caffeine are required here. As a general rule of thumb, 3-6mg/kg is the recommended dose to improve exercise performance, which equates to about 200-400mg for a 150lb (68kg) individual. 240mg caffeine has been shown to reduce fatigue during high-intensity sprint exercise [11]. Elsewhere, 3mg/kg (about 200mg; see above) has been shown to improve power output, where 1mg/kg (about 70mg) did not [12]. Similarly, 5mg/kg (about 340mg) improved performance on knee extension and flexion, where 2mg/kg (about 140mg) did not [13]. So while lower doses may not be effective for exercise performance, the high-end of the spectrum (6mg/kg) may not be a necessity either, as one study noted improved endurance cycling performance with 3mg/kg and 6mg/kg, but the higher dose was not significantly better than the lower dose [14]. 5mg/kg can also improve print time [15], and 6mg/kg can improve performance in elite rowers [16].

Thermogenesis, Metabolic Rate, and Energy Expenditure
Dosing Overview: 100mg +

As many of you already know, caffeine possesses thermogenic properties, and is therefore a useful supplement to assist in weight loss and improving body composition. 100mg caffeine has been shown to increase the resting metabolic rate of lean and postobese humans [17], and caffeine has been found to product dose-dependent increases in energy expenditure and thermogenic response in doses from 100-400mg [18]. What this means is that higher doses of caffeine, within reason of course, are able to improve energy expenditure by more than lower doses.

What to Take with Caffeine to Maximize Benefits
The following sections will focus on what you can add to your caffeine to provide additional benefits and maximize caffeine’s effects.

L-Theanine
Dosing Overview: 100-250mg

L-Theanine is an amino acid that is found in tea. The combination of caffeine and theanine is a classic example of synergy, where two ingredient potentiate each other, and the result is truly more than the sum of its parts. Both studies and anecdotal feedback demonstrate that adding l-theanine to caffeine is able to preserve the benefits of caffeine, but also provide a clean, calm, and focused energy. The addition of 250mg l-theanine to 150mg caffeine was able to preserve the benefits of caffeine (improved reaction time, perceptions of fatigue, and rapid visual information processing), and also further improve reaction time while reducing ratings of headaches that occurred with caffeine in isolation [19]. Lower doses of caffeine and theanine are also effective, including a combination of 100mg l-theanine and 50mg caffeine improving accuracy and speed on an attention-switching task and also reducing susceptibility to distracting information on a memory task [20], and 40mg caffeine and 97mg theanine significantly improving accuracy during task switching, as well as reducing self-reported tiredness and improving self-reported alertness [21]. In light of these studies, it can be said that adding 50-250mg theanine to your caffeine is a winning-combination. Some people prefer higher or lower ratios of caffeine to theanine, including but not limited to 1:1, 1:2, and 2:1 ratios. This is subjective really, and some testing may be necessary to find the perfect ratio for you. I personally enjoy a ratio of around 2:1, favoring caffeine (around 200-250mg caffeine with 100mg theanine for study and work purposes, with 250-300mg caffeine and 100mg theanine for pre-workout purposes).

L-Ornithine HCL
Dosing Overview: 250mg

L-Ornithine is another amino acid that is synergistic with caffeine. Research has found that the addition of 250mg L-Ornithine HCL to 100mg caffeine improved mood ratings after 8 hours by more than 100mg caffeine alone, which suggests a unique synergistic effect between caffeine on mood of healthy office workers [22]. 8 hours is quite a long time to still notice the benefits of caffeine, so adding l-ornithine to caffeine appears to be an effective way to extend the beneficial effects of caffeine and perhaps also delay or even prevent the crash some people get several hours after taking caffeine.

Choline
Dosing Overview: See Choline Guide

http://anabolicminds.com/forum/nootropics/296327-choline-supplementation-stacking.html
Interestingly, caffeine has been shown to increase choline’s ability to increase acetylcholine [23], meaning caffeine can potentiate the effects of choline, making the two an effective combination in nootropic stacks. For more information on choline, including the different choline sources, how to dose choline, the effects of choline, as well as what to stack with choline, see the Choline Guide http://anabolicminds.com/forum/nootropics/296327-choline-supplementation-stacking.html.

Carnitine
Dosing Overview: 1-2g

Caffeine may be able to improve carnitine’s benefits on exhaustion time and fat oxidation [24].

Theacrine
Dosing Overview: 50-200mg

Theacrine is a purine alkaloid derived from caffeine. Like its popular cousin caffeine, theacrine is also able to increase energy, focus, and concentration [25-26]. Additionally, doses of up to 300mg/day theacrine for 8 weeks appears not to have a tachyphylactic/habituation response, which means that it may not be subject to the same tolerance that caffeine is, where you eventually need higher doses of caffeine to feel the same effects [27]. This promising alkaloid is the perfect complement to caffeine, as it allows you to keep your caffeine dose a bit lower and avoid some tolerance from developing. Studies using theacrine alone tend to use 100-300mg, but theacrine is probably most often used in addition to caffeine to provide a boost, with doses of 50-100mg being common additions to caffeine.

Safety of Caffeine Consumption
Caffeine is likely the most often ingested pharmacologically active substance known to man. A review of published human studies concluded that moderate daily caffeine intake at a dose of up to 400mg/day (6mg/kg body weight for a 65kg human) is not associated with adverse effects including general toxicity, cardiovascular effects, effects on bones status, changes in adult behavior, or increased incidence of cancer and effects on male infertility. This review also concluded that reproductive-aged women should consume no more than 300mg/day caffeine (4.6mg/kg for a 65kg woman) [28]. With this in mind, it seems safe to say that there is really no need to go above 400mg/day caffeine for men, or 300mg/day for women, especially considering that all of the benefits of caffeine, including improving energy, focus, reaction time, cognition, and exercise performance, are all obtainable without going above these doses.

Update:

It seems a lot of people are interested in knowing what the highest amount of caffeine that is "safe/reasonable/etc" is. As mentioned earlier, the 400mg/day for men and 300mg/day for reproductive-aged women is a good "safe" amount (assuming average weight, no medical conditions, etc). With that said, a lot of people will/do go over 400mg/day, but I'd still caution you that if you do go above 400mg, which may not be the best idea for chronic (very long term) use, do not exceed 600mg/day, which is supported by the following summary from the U.S. Army's formulations for military operations:
High doses of caffeine can have a negative effect on mood and cognitive performance, and thus the maximum content of caffeine in the delivery form of choice should not exceed 600 mg.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK223789/

Summary: Dosing/Stacking Guide

Caffeine
Energy, Focus, Alertness, Reaction Time: (50-300mg)
Doses as low as 50mg have shown benefits, but 200-300mg may be preferable for more physically demanding or intensive activities
Exercise Performance: Endurance, Power Output, Improved Time (200-400mg)
3-6mg/kg (~200-400mg for a 150lb person) caffeine has been shown to improve various aspects of exercise performance, with studies noting no significant improvement with 1-2mg/kg (~70-140mg for a 150b person), and one study noting no additional benefits with 6mg/kg (~400mg) compared to 3mg/kg (200mg).
Thermogenesis (100mg +)
Improved thermogenesis and metabolic rate with 100mg, and dose-dependent response up to 400mg

L-Theanine (100-250mg)
Synergistic with caffeine; further improves benefits of caffeine such as reaction time while also reducing potential side effects of caffeine (promotes a calm, focused energy)

L-Ornithine HCL (250mg)
Synergistic with caffeine; improves mood by more than caffeine alone at 8 hours, suggesting it could potentiate the effects of caffeine and the duration of these effect

Choline (see choline article)
Caffeine is able to enhance choline’s ability to release acetylcholine

Carnitine (1-2g +)
Caffeine may be able to increase carnitine’s benefits on exhaustion time and fat oxidation

Theacrine (50+mg, preferably as a “boost” to caffeine, so dose accordingly)
A purine alkaloid derived from caffeine. Possesses similar effects as caffeine, but may not be subject to the same habituation/tolerance that caffeine is

References:
1 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK223808/
2. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18681988
3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20521321
4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/762339
5. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18006208
6. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26869148
7. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/0014013032000121606
8. https://www.ntis.gov/Search/Home/titleDetail/?abbr=ADA387188
9. http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA331982
10. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12688447
11. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20737165
12. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22569090
13. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20421833
14. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22142020
15. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18799995
16. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21799214
17. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2912010
18. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2333832
19. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18006208
20. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18681988
21. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21040626
22. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4287333/
23. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1435067
24. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11922111
25. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4711067/
26. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/articles/27164220/
27. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4271659/
28. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12519715

Edit: Additions:

Ephedrine and Caffeine (EC) Stack
Commonly 200mg caffeine and 20mg ephedrine three times daily
*note: Ephedrine is not considered a "supplement" in the United States, and may not be in other areas. Be sure to obey all laws where you live. The following is purely scientific information, not advocating/condoning/etc anything.

The combination of Ephedrine and Caffeine, commonly referred to as an EC stack (or ECA when Aspirin is added, which will not be discussed here), is a common and effective stack for fat-loss. Ephedrine and caffeine are synergistic, with studies noting that while neither caffeine (200mg 3x daily) or ephedrine (20mg 3x daily) were effective for the treatment of obesity, the combination of 200mg caffeine and 20mg ephedrine 3x daily was. Additionally, side effects (tremor, insomnia and dizziness) were transient, and after 8 weeks of use they reached placebo levels [1]. EC has been shown to increase energy expenditure (fat oxidation) while also preserving lean mass (muscle) [2,4]. This combination is often used for somewhat long periods of time (studies have used EC daily for at least 24 weeks), and research suggests that "the side-effects are minor and transient and no clinically relevant withdrawal symptoms have been observed," and "the ephedrine/caffeine combination is safe and effective in long-term treatment in improving and maintaining weight loss" [3]. Additionally, "the hemodynamic and side effects to E+C are transient during chronic treatment, while the effect on energy expenditure persists. The compound also possesses repartitioning properties, which may be useful in the treatment of obesity" [5]. In healthy, lean subjects, the thermogenic effect of 20mg E and 200mg C was greater than 10 or 20mg E alone, 100 or 200mg C alone, and also greater than 10mg E + 200mg C or 20mg E and 100mg C (supra-additive synergism for the 20/200mg dose, with only additive effects at the other doses). Additionally, all three combinations of E&C resulted in a 3-hour postintake increase in systolic blood pressure of 5-7 mm Hg more than placebo. Diastolic blood pressure was not increased by 20/200mg, while the other two combinations increased it by around 4mm Hg more than placebo. Finally, 20mg E and 200mg C (and 20mg E and 100mg C) increased heartrate more than placebo, while 10mg E + 200mg C had no effect on heartrate [6].

1: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1318281
2: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1619985
3: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8124407
4: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8384186
5: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8384179
6: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2000046
 

Killcure666

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This is epic. Thanks for putting this together!
 
John Smeton

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Good stuff. Thanks for posting. Will take 125 mgs pre training in a bit
 

Robert5891

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Fantastic post MUC!

Keep up the great work with these ingredient mega guides!
 

scump

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Awesome post man, Have you considered adding a section on different types of caffeine too and how their effects/half lifes vary?
 

bb333

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Great post!
as far as its tolerance is concerned? how would it be cycled?
Thank you!
 

Robert5891

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Great post!
as far as its tolerance is concerned? how would it be cycled?
Thank you!
I would think that would be highly individualistic as certain people metabolize caffeine at different rates and one person's tolerance buildup could be much different than another persons.

There's also no need to cycle caffeine, unless you want that strong "hit", but it's effectiveness isn't any worse if used daily as shown in a newer study
 
muscleupcrohn

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I would think that would be highly individualistic as certain people metabolize caffeine at different rates and one person's tolerance buildup could be much different than another persons.

There's also no need to cycle caffeine, unless you want that strong "hit", but it's effectiveness isn't any worse if used daily as shown in a newer study
Good points. Examine wrote a decent article on if/when caffeine needs to be cycled:
https://examine.com/nutrition/do-i-need-to-cycle-caffeine/
Awesome post man, Have you considered adding a section on different types of caffeine too and how their effects/half lifes vary?
The half-life is going to vary among people, but I'll give it a go. As previously mentioned, caffeine has a half life of around 5 hours (again, this varies), while dicaffeine malate has a half-life of 5-7 hours, so a little longer it seems, although there honestly isn't all that much research on this. Anecdotally, dicaffeine malate provides a somewhat more sustained energy than anhydrous (i.e. not quite as strong of a "hit," but a longer overall duration of the effects). There's also the whole "caffeine vs coffee" topic, where something like coffee or tea (which contain caffeine) can have different effects than "isolated" caffeine (caffeine anhydrous, dicaffeine malate, etc), as there are more compounds found in coffee/tea besides the caffeine, but I think that's beyond the scope of this article, as it would tangent into effects of caffeine-containing beverages independent of the actual effects of caffeine. There's also sustained release caffeine, which I think is easy enough to understand/conceptualize; just think of the effects of slowly sipping on your caffeine, except you don't actually have to sip on it.
 
LeanEngineer

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A lot of info in one spot. Thanks for sharing.
 
AntM1564

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I would think that would be highly individualistic as certain people metabolize caffeine at different rates and one person's tolerance buildup could be much different than another persons.

There's also no need to cycle caffeine, unless you want that strong "hit", but it's effectiveness isn't any worse if used daily as shown in a newer study
Sign me up, I will use some sort of caffeine pre workout on my heavy sessions!
 
muscleupcrohn

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Sign me up, I will use some sort of caffeine pre workout on my heavy sessions!
Based on the research (see the "Sports Performance" section), I'd go with around 200mg (if you don't want a bit more than that). If you're between 150-160lbs (say 70kg for easy math), 3mg/kg (210mg) is a dose that's been shown to increase power output, where 1mg/kg (70mg) did not, and elsewhere 2mg/kg (140mg) also did not, but 5mg/kg (350mg) did.
 
AntM1564

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Based on the research (see the "Sports Performance" section), I'd go with around 200mg (if you don't want a bit more than that). If you're between 150-160lbs (say 70kg for easy math), 3mg/kg (210mg) is a dose that's been shown to increase power output, where 1mg/kg (70mg) did not, and elsewhere 2mg/kg (140mg) also did not, but 5mg/kg (350mg) did.
I use it more or less for placebo. My heavy weeks have the following rep ranges for my main movement:

Week 1 - 5x5 (50-100mg caffeine)
Week 2 - 6x4 (100-150mg caffeine)
Week 3 - 7x3 (150-200mg caffeine)
Week 4 - 8x2 (200-300mg caffeine)
Week 5 - 9x1 (300-400mg caffeine/something with EJ, AMP, etc)
Week 6 - Deload (0mg caffeine)

All weeks I only consume that amount 3 times per week.

I will usually taper the dosage up each week with the heavier lifting. I will sometimes take a stim break on the first week, the 5x5, and I always take a stim break the 6th week. However, when I use stims, I only use them 3 times per week and I do not consume caffeine or stims from any other sources. That is why I am thinking I do not need to stay away from caffeine on the 5x5 week. I'm sure a full week of no stims once every 5 weeks, after only consuming stims 3 times per week for 5 weeks does not affect my receptors. When I say caffeine is more or less of a placebo for me, I will have a stick of a product that only has 80 mg and I feel stronger. Although when I do go with higher amounts, I do feel it more, if that makes sense.
 
muscleupcrohn

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I use it more or less for placebo. My heavy weeks have the following rep ranges for my main movement:

Week 1 - 5x5 (50-100mg caffeine)
Week 2 - 6x4 (100-150mg caffeine)
Week 3 - 7x3 (150-200mg caffeine)
Week 4 - 8x2 (200-300mg caffeine)
Week 5 - 9x1 (300-400mg caffeine/something with EJ, AMP, etc)
Week 6 - Deload (0mg caffeine)

All weeks I only consume that amount 3 times per week.

I will usually taper the dosage up each week with the heavier lifting. I will sometimes take a stim break on the first week, the 5x5, and I always take a stim break the 6th week. However, when I use stims, I only use them 3 times per week and I do not consume caffeine or stims from any other sources. That is why I am thinking I do not need to stay away from caffeine on the 5x5 week. I'm sure a full week of no stims once every 5 weeks, after only consuming stims 3 times per week for 5 weeks does not affect my receptors. When I say caffeine is more or less of a placebo for me, I will have a stick of a product that only has 80 mg and I feel stronger. Although when I do go with higher amounts, I do feel it more, if that makes sense.
That makes sense. If the lower doses of caffeine work for you, then by all means keep it up. The only time that I'd strongly advise using 3-5mg/kg caffeine pre-workout (assuming the person isn't overly sensitive to it) is if you're really going for a PR for some reason (something like a competition or maxing out for whatever reason, etc), as I'd still like to have the research-supported physiological effects in addition to whatever other effects (psychological, increased energy, etc) caffeine can provide. Your caffeine intake is pretty moderate, even on the "higher" days, as it's only 3x per week. I think that with the 6th week off, there shouldn't be a problem using it during the 5x5 week.
 
JahCure

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Awesome informative thread here, Thank you for your work and presenting the information.

Any particular reason as to why ephedrine was not included in the stacking guide muscleupcrohn ?
 
muscleupcrohn

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Awesome informative thread here, Thank you for your work and presenting the information.

Any particular reason as to why ephedrine was not included in the stacking guide muscleupcrohn ?
Thanks. Honestly, I was just thinking about the legality of it not being a "supplement" here in the US, although I suppose it is still pretty easily obtainable, commonly used, and safe. I could add a section for it just with that little footnote/disclaimer.
 
JahCure

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Thanks. Honestly, I was just thinking about the legality of it not being a "supplement" here in the US, although I suppose it is still pretty easily obtainable, commonly used, and safe. I could add a section for it just with that little footnote/disclaimer.
I think that would be an awesome addition to an already great guide you've created.
 
muscleupcrohn

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I think that would be an awesome addition to an already great guide you've created.
Thanks. I added a brief section on EC with a few references. It includes the common doses of each, the purpose/effects (fat loss and muscle preservation) of the stack, noted synergy, safety profile, long(er) term use, etc.

Edit: Added some more info comparing the acute effects of various doses/combinations of ephedrine and caffeine.
 
AntM1564

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That makes sense. If the lower doses of caffeine work for you, then by all means keep it up. The only time that I'd strongly advise using 3-5mg/kg caffeine pre-workout (assuming the person isn't overly sensitive to it) is if you're really going for a PR for some reason (something like a competition or maxing out for whatever reason, etc), as I'd still like to have the research-supported physiological effects in addition to whatever other effects (psychological, increased energy, etc) caffeine can provide. Your caffeine intake is pretty moderate, even on the "higher" days, as it's only 3x per week. I think that with the 6th week off, there shouldn't be a problem using it during the 5x5 week.
I failed to mention, but after the deload week is my attempt at new PRs. That was last week for me and I attempted a squat PR yesterday, but I agree, with the higher doses then, even if it is more psychological. I used half a scoop of a product with 300 mg caffeine and stacked that with 1 cap of NootropiMax.

I actually went to the gym after the post you quoted and did not use any caffeine after all that. Maybe tomorrow since it is 5x5 on deadlifts after a day of work.
 
JahCure

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Thanks. I added a brief section on EC with a few references. It includes the common doses of each, the purpose/effects (fat loss and muscle preservation) of the stack, noted synergy, safety profile, long(er) term use, etc.

Edit: Added some more info comparing the acute effects of various doses/combinations of ephedrine and caffeine.
Awesome, this should be a sticky, great work brother.
 

scump

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Good points. Examine wrote a decent article on if/when caffeine needs to be cycled:
https://examine.com/nutrition/do-i-need-to-cycle-caffeine/

The half-life is going to vary among people, but I'll give it a go. As previously mentioned, caffeine has a half life of around 5 hours (again, this varies), while dicaffeine malate has a half-life of 5-7 hours, so a little longer it seems, although there honestly isn't all that much research on this. Anecdotally, dicaffeine malate provides a somewhat more sustained energy than anhydrous (i.e. not quite as strong of a "hit," but a longer overall duration of the effects). There's also the whole "caffeine vs coffee" topic, where something like coffee or tea (which contain caffeine) can have different effects than "isolated" caffeine (caffeine anhydrous, dicaffeine malate, etc), as there are more compounds found in coffee/tea besides the caffeine, but I think that's beyond the scope of this article, as it would tangent into effects of caffeine-containing beverages independent of the actual effects of caffeine. There's also sustained release caffeine, which I think is easy enough to understand/conceptualize; just think of the effects of slowly sipping on your caffeine, except you don't actually have to sip on it.
cheers man, i was just thinking in relation to now days how we have many pre workouts containing 3-4 different types of caffeine (not to mention different sources).
 
muscleupcrohn

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cheers man, i was just thinking in relation to now days how we have many pre workouts containing 3-4 different types of caffeine (not to mention different sources).
Yeah, that's true.

I'd just consider dicaffeine malate a slightly "slower" version of anhydrous in that it doesn't seem to have quite the same initial/peak "hit," but the effects seem to last a little longer. This appears to be supported by research suggesting dicaffeine malate has a half life of up to 7 hours, compared to 5 for caffeine, although this is variable person to person.

Any "sustained release" type caffeine is just like sipping on it as opposed to chugging it, even if you do chug it. That's assuming that the sustained release actually works, if not it's just like "normal" caffeine.

Comparing caffeine from other sources like coffee or various forms of tea is so variable and diverse that it would probably require a whole article itself, due to the other compounds in these sources besides the caffeine itself (like yerba mate decreasing heart rate for example, or potentiating otherwise ineffective doses of caffeine). That said, if you have something extracted/standardized for 80-90+% caffeine, I'd probably just treat it like normal caffeine, but that's just me, and is only a general, simplified rule of thumb, and may not always be applicable/accurate.

I may add the above info to the original article/post.
 
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Good read! Thanks for sharing
 
muscleupcrohn

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Update (also added to original post):

It seems a lot of people are interested in knowing what the highest amount of caffeine that is "safe/reasonable/etc" is. As mentioned earlier, the 400mg/day for men and 300mg/day for reproductive-aged women is a good "safe" amount (assuming average weight, no medical conditions, etc). With that said, a lot of people will/do go over 400mg/day, but I'd still caution you that if you do go above 400mg, which may not be the best idea for chronic (very long term) use, do not exceed 600mg/day, which is supported by the following summary from the U.S. Army's formulations for military operations:
High doses of caffeine can have a negative effect on mood and cognitive performance, and thus the maximum content of caffeine in the delivery form of choice should not exceed 600 mg.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK223789/
 
bigdavid

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Update (also added to original post):

It seems a lot of people are interested in knowing what the highest amount of caffeine that is "safe/reasonable/etc" is. As mentioned earlier, the 400mg/day for men and 300mg/day for reproductive-aged women is a good "safe" amount (assuming average weight, no medical conditions, etc). With that said, a lot of people will/do go over 400mg/day, but I'd still caution you that if you do go above 400mg, which may not be the best idea for chronic (very long term) use, do not exceed 600mg/day, which is supported by the following summary from the U.S. Army's formulations for military operations:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK223789/
But does that (the 600 mg part), not refer to an acute dose? Because that is typically what the military would want to assess as it’s all about acute doses (for missions or in go pills) not really daily usage. And all the studies they cite in the article are once again acute doses of 500+ mg vs 200. I sincerely doubt that 200 thrice daily would have the same negative effects as 600 at once. They even mention that these acute doses would be in addition to whatever your normal chronic caffeine use is because otherwise it wouldn’t help performance.
 
muscleupcrohn

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But does that (the 600 mg part), not refer to an acute dose? Because that is typically what the military would want to assess as it’s all about acute doses (for missions or in go pills) not really daily usage. And all the studies they cite in the article are once again acute doses of 500+ mg vs 200. I sincerely doubt that 200 thrice daily would have the same negative effects as 600 at once. They even mention that these acute doses would be in addition to whatever your normal chronic caffeine use is because otherwise it wouldn’t help performance.
Considering that 400mg/day is what is typically considered the "max/threshold" safe dose for chronic/regular use, I don't really think 600mg (50% more than the previous number) is an overly-conservative figure. Actually, some studies (including some referenced there [that link is only one part of the much larger paper on caffeine]) noted that higher doses of caffeine may not be superior to lower doses for performance enhancement (assuming that the "lower" dose is still sufficient; around 3mg/kg), with one study noting that, in regards to increasing time to exhaustion, 360mg was equally as effective as 648 and 936mg. I do not think that the 600mg refers exclusively to acute dosing, as that section alone mentions "day" 20 times, with numerous references to daily caffeine/coffee consumption, including meta-analyses on coffee consumption and various health concerns/issues, as well as experiments concerned with daily caffeine intake. There are references of 300-500mg/day caffeine throughout the rest of the paper, as well as frequent mentions of 5-6 cups of coffee (caffeine content) per day not being associated with adverse effects. That 6 cups of coffee would also be around 500-600mg/day caffeine. There are repeated mentions of 6 cups of coffee worth of caffeine per day not being associated with adverse effects, with no mention of higher doses than this not being associated with adverse effects (not that this inherently means that higher doses will be detrimental, just that they don't have the same amount of research supporting their safety). There is a mention of an experiment involving 64 hours of sleep deprivation and 300mg caffeine every 6 hours (1200mg/day), but I see no reason to believe that they intended for this to be something to do regularly, let alone daily/chronically. So, yeah, higher doses than 600mg/day may be "safe" as in they may not cause acute adverse effects, but I still don't believe it's the best idea for chronic daily use. Also, it should probably be noted that many of these intended uses for the military are operational, where being awake, alert, and performing at optimal levels can be the difference between life and death, literally, which means that optimizing performance with "high" doses of caffeine for a few days certainly has more rewards than risks. I do not think this should be taken to mean that it is a good or recommended idea (based on this study) to take 300mg caffeine every 6 hours every day. Can it be done with reasonable safety? Yes. Are there times when it's a "good" idea? Also yes, but I still think that 600mg/day is a pretty reasonable (and not overly conservative) upper limit for daily caffeine use. Again, this is for chronic/daily/long-term use, realistically over the course of years, or even decades, not just a day, week, or even month or two here and there. You could probably get away with higher doses than 600mg/day for limited periods of time, but I still do not think it's a good idea to take >600mg/day caffeine every day for years/decades.
 
muscleupcrohn

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The 500-600mg or 5-6 cups of coffee is/are a dose(s) that is mentioned repeatedly in meta-analysis;
Furthermore, Nawrot et al. (123) concluded in their review of the research that caffeine is unlikely to be a human carcinogen at levels less than 500 mg/day, to the equivalent of five cups of coffee (123).
These findings suggest that the diuretic effects from consuming between 4 and 6 mg/kg body weight/day of caffeine are not likely to have adverse consequences for healthy adults who are habitual consumers of caffeine.
That's around 280-420mg for a 70kg person.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5445139/

However, some analyses have found that intake of >6 cups of coffee per day may actually be healthy:
In this large, prospective U.S. cohort study, we observed a dose-dependent inverse association between coffee drinking and total mortality, after adjusting for potential confounders (smoking status in particular). As compared with men who did not drink coffee, men who drank 6 or more cups of coffee per day had a 10% lower risk of death, whereas women in this category of consumption had a 15% lower risk.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3439152/

Blood pressure may be an issue with higher daily intake though:
Randomized controlled trials, which are mostly of short duration (1–12 weeks), have shown that coffee intake around 5 cups per day causes a small elevation in BP (∼2/1 mmHg) when compared to abstinence or use of decaffeinated coffee.
daily intake of over 6-7 cups of coffee was associated with a lower risk of developing diabetes:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2605331/

Moderate consumption (3-5 cups/day) may be prefereable to high consumption (>6 cups/day):
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3834513/

9 cups/day for women was associated with a higher risk of fracture, while there was no association with men.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9006308/[/url]

TL;DR:
There is some level of conflicting information, or at least different doses/amounts that are better/worse for different goals/conditions/uses/etc, but I think 600mg/day (for daily, long-term, chronic use) is still a pretty good guideline, and does not seem overly conservative compared to the perhaps more common upper limit recommendation of 400mg/day. That said, if you think you need/want to take >600mg/day caffeine for years/decades, that's your decision, and I can't say for sure that it will lead to adverse effects, but I wouldn't "recommend" it as a rule of thumb or for the majority of people.
 

bosskardo

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Some greatest minds (like Einstein) were known to consume A Lot of coffee. I remember some story about 1 making a coffee so strong it was pretty thick.
 
bigdavid

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Some greatest minds (like Einstein) were known to consume A Lot of coffee. I remember some story about 1 making a coffee so strong it was pretty thick.
He also was a big proponent of sleeping and naps. So go figure lol
 

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