For athletes, caffeine is more than just a morning pick-me-up. Strategically adding caffeine to your nutrition plan before and during exercise can help keep your mind sharp, decrease perceived effort, boost your endurance, and delay fatigue.
Mental benefits:
- Caffeine can boost your mental clarity to keep you focused on the task at hand.
- Caffeine can decrease your perceived effort meaning hard efforts can feel easier.
Physical benefits:
- When training or racing, caffeine can help you utilize fat as fuel, which spares your glycogen and extends your endurance.
- During longer efforts, caffeine can delay fatigue, meaning you’ll feel fresher, longer.
Okay… But How Much & When?
The short answer is that consuming caffeine both before and during exercise has benefits. More is not necessarily better. Research suggests that even a small amount of caffeine (70 mg) during exercise can improve performance.
Up to 400 mg of caffeine per day is considered safe. However, caffeine stays in your system even during exercise, so consider skipping the extra caffeine for your evening activities to avoid disrupting your sleep!
GU uses naturally derived caffeine from green tea leaves.