Does Caffeine Make You a Better Boxer?

It is estimated that 90% of adult Americans consume caffeine regularly. Nowadays, it seems like there are literally a million different types of energy drinks and pre-workout supplements, as consuming caffeine before exercise is very common too. Should you be taking it before boxing workouts? And if so, when? And how much? What about side effects? Read on!

First and foremost, your intake of caffeine should depend very much on who you are and your present medical condition. People with heart disease, high blood pressure, high anxiety, or insomnia should definitely use caution and check with your doctor before using caffeine. It is certainly not recommended for people who are pregnant either.

Otherwise, while moderation is often encouraged, caffeine is probably the most effective exercise supplement available. It affects several different types of cells throughout your body including muscle cells, fat cells and those within your central nervous system. Besides increased athletic performance and decreased fatigue, caffeine can also improve your mental focus as well. It even may help you burn more calories.

How does it do all of this? Many different ways. Caffeine increases circulating epinephrine, the hormone that kicks in during the fight or flight response and gives us that adrenaline rush feeling. Beta-endorphins are also produced that help give you the workout high feeling as well. The effects on the central nervous system are not as well understood but we all tend to feel more awake, focused and able to process things quicker mentally when we consume it. Caffeine can increase your body's ability to burn fat via lipolysis- breaking down fat in fat cells- plus it can raise your body temperature too, which can help burn calories. The lipolysis effect means that you might burn less of your glycogen carb storage, leading to enhanced endurance performance.

There have been plenty of studies of caffeine and endurance athletes, with all of them experience some performance improvements. How much you improve once again depends a lot on you and your genetic make-up but you don't have to read the studies to know this. Just consume a reasonable amount of caffeine and you will very likely feel more energy.

For higher-intensity training, the results are pretty similar except a little more skewed towards caffeine being more of a benefit to trained athletes vs. untrained athletes. For strength training, there is not a lot of evidence to show that it will increase your 1 rep maximum lift but your overall performance and muscular endurance (reps, rest time between sets) will likely improve.

All of these things will benefit your boxing training. You can box at a given intensity for longer before feeling fatigued. I can tell you almost every fighter consumes caffeine before training or a fight. Usually a pre-workout or sometimes just black coffee. They have to be careful not to overdo it, especially before a fight, as some of the side effects, like jitteriness, are not beneficial. Usually, it is anywhere between 40-325 mg. Depends on a lot on their personal tolerance and body weight.

Speaking of side effects, is there a down side? Of course! Too much caffeine can cause:

• increased heart rate
• anxiety
• dizziness
• irritability
• tremors
• multiple stomach problems
• sleep disruptions

It should also be noted that caffeine becomes addictive and the more you take, the more your tolerance increases so the more you feel like you need. Breaking this addiction or even dramatically reducing your intake can be rough. I personally have found (working with people and in my own training), that some of the negative side of effects of caffeine can really be exacerbated by how much you eat. For instance, if you skip lunch and come to a boxing class at night after downing an energy drink, you may feel pretty bad and even quite weak, despite the energized feeling. I don't recommend high amounts of caffeine during the day on an empty stomach.

Of course the method you choose to consume caffeine may have a different effect too. Some energy drinks are also full of sugar, some are not. Pre-workouts also have a million different ingredients and your reaction to them will be different than others. We don't have a ton of information on all of these ingredients and the FDA does not regulate this stuff so make sure to compare labels and do research if you are concerned.

Since everyone's tolerance is pretty different, it is hard to recommend a particular amount of caffeine for training. You really need to safely assess your own sensitivity first. 200mg is pretty standard for energy drinks and pre-workouts. The stronger ones are about 300-400mg. I have read things that say an average cup of coffee is about 50mg but we drink coffee in all different sizes so I would guess 50 is on the very low end. What would be considered a somewhat dangerously high dose? About 600mg, especially if you are not used to it.

Can you overdose and even die from too much caffeine? Yes, you can. It would have to be an extremely high amount and usually a habit of extremely high doses, as well as pre-existing medical conditions.

The bottom line is that caffeine is a fairly safe, undeniably effective exercise supplement. The recommended doses vary by body weight, usually between 200-400mg, taken 30-60 minutes before a workout. Make sure you know how much you are taking, how you handle the side effects and most importantly, if you have any physical or mental conditions that make caffeine a bad fit for you personally. As always, what might be safe for someone else may not be safe for you!