Jabberwocky
Frumious Bandersnatch
Okay, I've edited it to the point I think i got most all grammar/spelling issues. As this is 100% me and zero copypasta or simple re-wordings, I'd definitely like any thoughts/comments, particularly on things i may have missed or that need clarification, and/or areas where the way i write makes it harder to understand. Thnx :]
Some thoughts on NSAIDs and caffeine in the triathlete.
When I started to increase my training volume, I increased: sleep, total calories / fluids /vits/minerals, NSAIDS and caffeine. The increased consumption of the last two made me concerned about what effects, besides the obvious "pain relief" and "energy", respectively, they had on my training. My training is moderate triathlete training; my goals are: increased competitiveness in sprint-distance triathlons, and as high a muscle:fat ratio as is practical during such training. Accomplishing the latter is, naturally, primarily dependent upon calorie balance, and muscular stimuli. The former is accomplished by training, in the appropriate manner*, as much as is safe/efficient.
(*=I periodize my training, focus on progressive overload, and strive to perfect technique / movement
When I started to become concerned about what effects NSAIDS and caffeine (alone, or in combination) had upon my training, I was unable to find resources that I considered complete. This is a summary of what I've found, hopefully this can save someone else a lot of googling. This is not intended to be complete or authoritative, and corrections, comments or additions are welcomed.
[as this was compiled for myself, and further edited for your ease of reading, there is no reference section. I'll reference and elaborate by request
]
Training.
The way I see it, the overall stimuli of any given time spent training is a function of both volume, and efficiency of such volume as it pertains to your specific results (ie types of training, whether anaerobic, 'crossfit' or endurance). Efficiency is not always synonymous with intensity, in fact going to full/maximum intensity with regularity is detrimental, and becomes moreso quick the more it's pushed (higher intensities can be sustained longer the closer to "ideal" you keep rest/sleep, and how you fuel (quality and quantity), but there's still certainly an upper limit to how far you can push before your training becomes counterproductive and, subsequently, unhealthy and/or dangerous.)
Enter caffeine and NSAIDS. At face value, they seem to be cheap, safe, simple solutions that can let you train better and more frequently. Are they truly? To what degree? How?
Caffeine.
Let's start with caffeine. Caffeine is the most widely consumed stimulant in the world , the second being amphetamine(which is superior to caffeine in most/all regards when used appropriately, but is restricted due to concerns re the compound's abuse and addiction potentials). It is also the most widely consumed psychoactive drug on the planet.
When it comes to using caffeine, my reasoning has always been that I seem to train stronger for longer periods, I definitely feel less fatigue, I like to think it reduces how sore i'll be later, and I feel "in the zone" much more than I can w/o caffeine (I approach 1g/day sometimes lol, but typically in the vicinity of 500mg). Oh, and I definitely think it helps my digestion, in that it seems to help me eat more w/o feeling as full (caffeine increases soft-tissue movement in the GI tract and increases bile production.) I have little concern about increased calorie expenditure, as caffeine's demonstrated 'weight loss' abilities are minimal, and seem largely due to appetite suppression, an effect that's easily overcome IME. The CNS stimulation is also just 'enjoyable', a subjective distinction to placebo of a "pleasurable" nature to most (provided proper dosing regimens).
How about caffeine's "ergogenic" or performance-enhancing capacities? I'd swear by it for many psychological activities, and almost any physically exerting activity, with the only exception coming to mind being yoga (and any "active recovery" exertion like walks / light biking /etc). In truth, its effects on an activity depend upon the degree to which the activity's metabolic requirements are aerobic, or anaerobic.
For aerobic, long-distance exercise such as distance-running/biking, hiking, skating, skiing, etc, caffeine will increase the time that a given effort can be maintained(the lactate threshold, as it were; a crucial factor for manipulating the highest efficiencies in long-distance, aerobic energy production type training), due to caffeine's sparing effects on glycogen (via breakdown of aforementioned fat stores; the fatty acids that are released into the blood are a fuel for aerobic metabolism, so time-til-spent at any given glycogen level is increased due to this "sparing"- an increase in total 'aerobic metabolism fuel' in the blood while training.)
For short, strong anaerobic moves, like lifting heavy weights or sprinting, caffeine is of little physiological benefit - the mobilized fatty acids are not a useful energy for strong, explosive, max-effort anaerobic energy metabolism (note that caffeine and creatine are both effective products but only in specific and opposite manners, and that their concurrent usages are not contraindicated. Also, that where caffeine is ineffective - in movements requiring anaerobic metabolism and recruiting a high% of typeII fibers, as such movements are extremely relative to glycogen and ATP levels - creatine is effective. For the same reason, creatine is useless for endurance/aerobic performance - ATP stores are able to be replenished at much slower rate, which is easily maintained as much as the available energy allows. In the types of energy metabolism where either is ineffective, it is not countereffective, it is just useless.) While there seems to be no significant physiological benefits, it does seem to offer 'psychological' benefits, again, that subjective 'in the zone' stuff; i see a strong role of psychology in higher-level exertion and maximal effort training regardless of whether it's aerobic or anaerobic, and caffeine seemingly helps some in this regard (although, even if the mechanism was just a psychological "excitement", that should still show on tests against placebo yet there's not much measurable anaerobic benefit...)
Okay, so caffeine provides general boosts to aerobic capacity, CNS/urinary/digestive/psychological stimulation, relaxation of smooth muscle tissue and stimulation of cardiac muscle, increase many neurotransmitter levels such as dopamine, serotonin and epinephrine, increases releases of testosterone(~20% over placebo) experienced due to training, and increases blood-fuel levels(by the fatty acids released into the blood from breakdown of fat, only really providing benefit to aerobic / predominantly-typeI fiber training). Its half life is ~4.9-6.0hrs, with a decrease of half life for smokers of 30-50% (this is obviously not from 'smoking' so much as it's just 'nicotine'. I recently started nicotine patches and, while adjusting dosages, had a couple times where it was 'ergogenic' as all hell when it was more nicotine than I was used to. And, while cigarettes are obviously terribly unhealthy and performance-decreasing, the safety profile of transdermal nicotine is really not so bad and, w/o actually researching it, I'm gonna go on a limb and guess nicotine gum is also surprisingly safe for light, occasional usage - but i'm going to leave nicotine out of the topics of this paper)
It's also incredibly cheap, and easily tolerated by most. So what're the drawbacks? There are a host of potential side effects, but they were below *my* risk:reward thresholds- WAY below.
Conclusions on caffeine: I cannot endorse caffeine enough. Provided it's well-tolerated by the athlete, it offers many benefits at a reasonably safe dosage level, and the chief factors affecting its benefits include: dosing levels and frequency; using it in such a manner as to avoid disruption of sleep; and, avoidance/reduction of the building of tolerance as much as possible- ie using caffeine during the day to stay awake, or on non-training days, decreases caffeine's relative efficacy when it is used during training (this would also clearly apply to the ergogenic properties of nicotine in a similar fashion)
NSAIDs.
Okay, so caffeine definitely retains its place in my arsenal, but what about NSAIDS? Let's start with what they are, and an overview of what they do. NSAIDs, or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, are widely consumed to reduce inflammation, and decrease pain and fever. Aspirin, acetaminophen, naproxen sodium, and ibuprofen are some common OTC examples. Their primary effects on pain are via reduction in prostaglandin production (by inhibiting the COX enzymes that create prostaglandins via oxygenation of arachadonic acid (a fatty acid. COX also oxygenates, to a lesser extent, the fatty acids EPA and DGLA; the prostanoids yielded when COX enzymes oxygenate EPA or DGLA, instead of AA<arachadonic acid>, are less inflammatory than those yielded from oxygenation of AA, hence the anti-inflammatory effects observed from consumption of things such as fish oils or flax).
So, NSAIDs cause a lower inflammation-response because of less prostaglandins produced- is this what we want? It depends... in a nutshell: No, for anabolism, or "tissue building"(muscles/joints/etc); No, for progress in a progressive-overload training scenario- at least, not until they aid "progress" by helping you to train through pains that you should not, such 'progress' being risky and only temporarily sustainable.
While NSAIDs are good at reducing perceived pain levels, they decrease the adaptations we strive for, and they open us up to more injuries (both from inferior repairs gained while consuming NSAIDs, and decreased pain-perception raising risk of severity of muscle/joint/tendon damage). The inflammation response is a part of muscles' recovery, and recovery is how they adapt - when the inflammation response is reduced via NSAID consumption (prostaglandin reduction), so is muscle building and so is joint/tendon repair/building (note: the stimuli's adaptation-inducing effects are NOT inhibited when inflammation is reduced other ways, such as by cold(ice baths) or compression) Further, tissues such as tendon and ligaments that repaired/grew while NSAIDs were being consumed show abnormalities and were inferior to growth achieved w/o NSAIDs.
All things considered, I see NSAIDs' only proper usages as either race-day aids, or as a pain reliever for traumatic pains(whether a fall/road rash, twists/sprains, excessive DOMS from overtraining), but not for recurring/general training-pains(ie daily fatigue / chronic+general muscle soreness /etc. Not only would such usage be risky and the gains inferior, but gauging things such as general overtraining becomes less precise, further compromising your ability to maximize your training) A product to be avoided as much as possible*, excepting as-needed for irregular / not-chronic pains, and on race days (as the SLIGHT benefits it will give on an overused muscle/joint is counterproductive for gains and potentially dangerously risking injury, the idea in a race scenario would commonly be to push through as much as you really can "safely" risk; you're not there to improve your condition or increase results/stimuli from that session, but to exert maximal performance)
(*=there appears to be a lot of evidence for daily consumption of low-dosage aspirin(salicylic acid) lowering heart attack rates, adn for being of potential benefit during heart episodes, by it's blood-thinning effects can help displace a blood clot. Frequent and/or high-dosage aspirin usage is linked with gastrointestinal bleeding. None of the 'traditional', OTC NSAIDs seem to be close to benign, another reason not to be popping them regularly)
by bmxxx
Some thoughts on NSAIDs and caffeine in the triathlete.
When I started to increase my training volume, I increased: sleep, total calories / fluids /vits/minerals, NSAIDS and caffeine. The increased consumption of the last two made me concerned about what effects, besides the obvious "pain relief" and "energy", respectively, they had on my training. My training is moderate triathlete training; my goals are: increased competitiveness in sprint-distance triathlons, and as high a muscle:fat ratio as is practical during such training. Accomplishing the latter is, naturally, primarily dependent upon calorie balance, and muscular stimuli. The former is accomplished by training, in the appropriate manner*, as much as is safe/efficient.
(*=I periodize my training, focus on progressive overload, and strive to perfect technique / movement
When I started to become concerned about what effects NSAIDS and caffeine (alone, or in combination) had upon my training, I was unable to find resources that I considered complete. This is a summary of what I've found, hopefully this can save someone else a lot of googling. This is not intended to be complete or authoritative, and corrections, comments or additions are welcomed.
[as this was compiled for myself, and further edited for your ease of reading, there is no reference section. I'll reference and elaborate by request
]Training.
The way I see it, the overall stimuli of any given time spent training is a function of both volume, and efficiency of such volume as it pertains to your specific results (ie types of training, whether anaerobic, 'crossfit' or endurance). Efficiency is not always synonymous with intensity, in fact going to full/maximum intensity with regularity is detrimental, and becomes moreso quick the more it's pushed (higher intensities can be sustained longer the closer to "ideal" you keep rest/sleep, and how you fuel (quality and quantity), but there's still certainly an upper limit to how far you can push before your training becomes counterproductive and, subsequently, unhealthy and/or dangerous.)
Enter caffeine and NSAIDS. At face value, they seem to be cheap, safe, simple solutions that can let you train better and more frequently. Are they truly? To what degree? How?
Caffeine.
Let's start with caffeine. Caffeine is the most widely consumed stimulant in the world , the second being amphetamine(which is superior to caffeine in most/all regards when used appropriately, but is restricted due to concerns re the compound's abuse and addiction potentials). It is also the most widely consumed psychoactive drug on the planet.
When it comes to using caffeine, my reasoning has always been that I seem to train stronger for longer periods, I definitely feel less fatigue, I like to think it reduces how sore i'll be later, and I feel "in the zone" much more than I can w/o caffeine (I approach 1g/day sometimes lol, but typically in the vicinity of 500mg). Oh, and I definitely think it helps my digestion, in that it seems to help me eat more w/o feeling as full (caffeine increases soft-tissue movement in the GI tract and increases bile production.) I have little concern about increased calorie expenditure, as caffeine's demonstrated 'weight loss' abilities are minimal, and seem largely due to appetite suppression, an effect that's easily overcome IME. The CNS stimulation is also just 'enjoyable', a subjective distinction to placebo of a "pleasurable" nature to most (provided proper dosing regimens).
How about caffeine's "ergogenic" or performance-enhancing capacities? I'd swear by it for many psychological activities, and almost any physically exerting activity, with the only exception coming to mind being yoga (and any "active recovery" exertion like walks / light biking /etc). In truth, its effects on an activity depend upon the degree to which the activity's metabolic requirements are aerobic, or anaerobic.
For aerobic, long-distance exercise such as distance-running/biking, hiking, skating, skiing, etc, caffeine will increase the time that a given effort can be maintained(the lactate threshold, as it were; a crucial factor for manipulating the highest efficiencies in long-distance, aerobic energy production type training), due to caffeine's sparing effects on glycogen (via breakdown of aforementioned fat stores; the fatty acids that are released into the blood are a fuel for aerobic metabolism, so time-til-spent at any given glycogen level is increased due to this "sparing"- an increase in total 'aerobic metabolism fuel' in the blood while training.)
For short, strong anaerobic moves, like lifting heavy weights or sprinting, caffeine is of little physiological benefit - the mobilized fatty acids are not a useful energy for strong, explosive, max-effort anaerobic energy metabolism (note that caffeine and creatine are both effective products but only in specific and opposite manners, and that their concurrent usages are not contraindicated. Also, that where caffeine is ineffective - in movements requiring anaerobic metabolism and recruiting a high% of typeII fibers, as such movements are extremely relative to glycogen and ATP levels - creatine is effective. For the same reason, creatine is useless for endurance/aerobic performance - ATP stores are able to be replenished at much slower rate, which is easily maintained as much as the available energy allows. In the types of energy metabolism where either is ineffective, it is not countereffective, it is just useless.) While there seems to be no significant physiological benefits, it does seem to offer 'psychological' benefits, again, that subjective 'in the zone' stuff; i see a strong role of psychology in higher-level exertion and maximal effort training regardless of whether it's aerobic or anaerobic, and caffeine seemingly helps some in this regard (although, even if the mechanism was just a psychological "excitement", that should still show on tests against placebo yet there's not much measurable anaerobic benefit...)
Okay, so caffeine provides general boosts to aerobic capacity, CNS/urinary/digestive/psychological stimulation, relaxation of smooth muscle tissue and stimulation of cardiac muscle, increase many neurotransmitter levels such as dopamine, serotonin and epinephrine, increases releases of testosterone(~20% over placebo) experienced due to training, and increases blood-fuel levels(by the fatty acids released into the blood from breakdown of fat, only really providing benefit to aerobic / predominantly-typeI fiber training). Its half life is ~4.9-6.0hrs, with a decrease of half life for smokers of 30-50% (this is obviously not from 'smoking' so much as it's just 'nicotine'. I recently started nicotine patches and, while adjusting dosages, had a couple times where it was 'ergogenic' as all hell when it was more nicotine than I was used to. And, while cigarettes are obviously terribly unhealthy and performance-decreasing, the safety profile of transdermal nicotine is really not so bad and, w/o actually researching it, I'm gonna go on a limb and guess nicotine gum is also surprisingly safe for light, occasional usage - but i'm going to leave nicotine out of the topics of this paper)
It's also incredibly cheap, and easily tolerated by most. So what're the drawbacks? There are a host of potential side effects, but they were below *my* risk:reward thresholds- WAY below.
Conclusions on caffeine: I cannot endorse caffeine enough. Provided it's well-tolerated by the athlete, it offers many benefits at a reasonably safe dosage level, and the chief factors affecting its benefits include: dosing levels and frequency; using it in such a manner as to avoid disruption of sleep; and, avoidance/reduction of the building of tolerance as much as possible- ie using caffeine during the day to stay awake, or on non-training days, decreases caffeine's relative efficacy when it is used during training (this would also clearly apply to the ergogenic properties of nicotine in a similar fashion)
NSAIDs.
Okay, so caffeine definitely retains its place in my arsenal, but what about NSAIDS? Let's start with what they are, and an overview of what they do. NSAIDs, or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, are widely consumed to reduce inflammation, and decrease pain and fever. Aspirin, acetaminophen, naproxen sodium, and ibuprofen are some common OTC examples. Their primary effects on pain are via reduction in prostaglandin production (by inhibiting the COX enzymes that create prostaglandins via oxygenation of arachadonic acid (a fatty acid. COX also oxygenates, to a lesser extent, the fatty acids EPA and DGLA; the prostanoids yielded when COX enzymes oxygenate EPA or DGLA, instead of AA<arachadonic acid>, are less inflammatory than those yielded from oxygenation of AA, hence the anti-inflammatory effects observed from consumption of things such as fish oils or flax).
So, NSAIDs cause a lower inflammation-response because of less prostaglandins produced- is this what we want? It depends... in a nutshell: No, for anabolism, or "tissue building"(muscles/joints/etc); No, for progress in a progressive-overload training scenario- at least, not until they aid "progress" by helping you to train through pains that you should not, such 'progress' being risky and only temporarily sustainable.
While NSAIDs are good at reducing perceived pain levels, they decrease the adaptations we strive for, and they open us up to more injuries (both from inferior repairs gained while consuming NSAIDs, and decreased pain-perception raising risk of severity of muscle/joint/tendon damage). The inflammation response is a part of muscles' recovery, and recovery is how they adapt - when the inflammation response is reduced via NSAID consumption (prostaglandin reduction), so is muscle building and so is joint/tendon repair/building (note: the stimuli's adaptation-inducing effects are NOT inhibited when inflammation is reduced other ways, such as by cold(ice baths) or compression) Further, tissues such as tendon and ligaments that repaired/grew while NSAIDs were being consumed show abnormalities and were inferior to growth achieved w/o NSAIDs.
All things considered, I see NSAIDs' only proper usages as either race-day aids, or as a pain reliever for traumatic pains(whether a fall/road rash, twists/sprains, excessive DOMS from overtraining), but not for recurring/general training-pains(ie daily fatigue / chronic+general muscle soreness /etc. Not only would such usage be risky and the gains inferior, but gauging things such as general overtraining becomes less precise, further compromising your ability to maximize your training) A product to be avoided as much as possible*, excepting as-needed for irregular / not-chronic pains, and on race days (as the SLIGHT benefits it will give on an overused muscle/joint is counterproductive for gains and potentially dangerously risking injury, the idea in a race scenario would commonly be to push through as much as you really can "safely" risk; you're not there to improve your condition or increase results/stimuli from that session, but to exert maximal performance)
(*=there appears to be a lot of evidence for daily consumption of low-dosage aspirin(salicylic acid) lowering heart attack rates, adn for being of potential benefit during heart episodes, by it's blood-thinning effects can help displace a blood clot. Frequent and/or high-dosage aspirin usage is linked with gastrointestinal bleeding. None of the 'traditional', OTC NSAIDs seem to be close to benign, another reason not to be popping them regularly)
by bmxxx
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![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")