The Effects of 3 Different Doses of Caffeine on Jumping and Throwing Performance: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Crossover Study

Abstract

Purpose: To examine the acute effects of 3 doses of caffeine on upper- and lower-body ballistic exercise performance and to explore if habitual caffeine intake affects the acute effects of caffeine ingestion on ballistic exercise performance. Methods: Twenty recreationally active male participants completed medicine-ball-throw and vertical-jump tests under 4 experimental conditions (placebo and 2, 4, and 6 mg·kg−1 of caffeine). Results: One-way repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) with subsequent post hoc analyses indicated that performance in the medicine-ball-throw test improved, compared with placebo, only with a 6 mg·kg−1 dose of caffeine (P = .032). Effect size, calculated as the mean difference between the 2 measurements divided by the pooled SD, amounted to 0.29 (+3.7%). For the vertical-jump test, all 3 caffeine doses were effective (compared with placebo) for acute increases in performance (P values .022–.044, effect sizes 0.35–0.42, percentage changes +3.7% to +4.1%). A 2-way repeated-measures ANOVA indicated that there was no significant group × condition interaction effect, suggesting comparable responses between low (≤100 mg·d−1) and moderate to high (>100 mg·d−1) caffeine users to the experimental conditions. Conclusion: Caffeine doses of 2, 4, and 6 mg·kg−1 seem to be effective for acute enhancements in lower-body ballistic exercise performance in recreationally trained male individuals. For the upper-body ballistic exercise performance, only a caffeine dose of 6 mg·kg−1 seems to be effective. The acute effects of caffeine ingestion do not seem to be affected by habitual caffeine intake; however, this requires further exploration.

CYP1A2 genotype and acute effects of caffeine on resistance exercise, jumping, and sprinting performance

“…The ES magnitude of 0.15 observed in this study is very similar to the pooled ES of 0.17 reported in a recent meta-analysis of 10 studies [36]. This result, therefore, confirms that caffeine ingestion may have a relatively small performance-enhancing effect on vertical jump height [36][37][38]. The acute improvement in vertical jump height following caffeine ingestion is comparable to the improvement in jump height found as a result of 4 weeks of plyometric training [39,40].…”

The Effects of Caffeine Ingestion on Measures of Rowing Performance: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…In contrast, in one study, none of the three employed doses (i.e., 2, 4, and 6 mg/kg) were ergogenic [6]. These differences in the results are likely because the 'optimal' dose of caffeine is highly individual, as shown by studies that plot individual participant responses to varying doses of caffeine [26,27]. Therefore, while our analysis reports that caffeine is ergogenic for rowing performance (when considering average responses), the optimal dose and protocol of caffeine supplementation need to be established on a case-by-case basis.…”

Isolated effects of caffeine and sodium bicarbonate ingestion on performance in the Yo-Yo test: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…1 These results were obtained from studies that examined the effects of caffeine on either level 1 or level 2 versions of the test. However, given the inter-individual variation in responses to caffeine ingestion, 11,33,34 future studies may consider comparing the effects of caffeine on performance in the level 1 and level 2 version of the test in the same group of participants. Based on the results of this review, sodium bicarbonate is effective for acute increases in Yo-Yo test performance.…”