Home
Articles
Supplements
Bro Science Vs Published Science #1: Caffeine

Bro Science Vs Published Science #1: Caffeine

Who wins the fight on taking caffeine before workouts?

Written By Jim Stoppani, PhD

Updated November 29, 2018

I am dedicated to bringing you the truth on all things training, nutrition and supplement related.

I am also dedicated to giving you guys info in a way that makes reading a lot of the boring science details easier and more fun. That's why I've started a few different recurring "departments" here on the site. For example, there's my Research Updates and my Supplement Roundups. I'd like to introduce a new recurring department that I call:

Bro Science Versus Published Science

There is a LOT of bro Science going around the gym these days. By bro science I mean common beliefs that go around gyms and among bodybuilding circles. An example of bro science would be that doing slow and steady cardio for 30-60 minutes (such as walking on a treadmill) is the best way to burn fat and keep muscle with cardio. Despite this commonly held belief by many, published science (by that I mean the research that is published in peer-reviewed science journals or presented at scientific meetings) has shown that high-intensity interval training (HIIT) is the best form of cardio to burn fat and maintain (and even build) muscle.Â Â And the anecdotal reports support this.

One of the roles I find the most critical is cutting through all the BS that is out there to give you the real science-backed advice you need to get bigger, stronger and leaner.

I always stay up to date with the latest cutting-edge science published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at scientific meetings all over the world. Many of the studies I get directly from my colleagues doing the research. Some of the studies I have conducted myself. But published science is not always the be-all and end-all of what works in the gym. It also has to hold up with real world application in the gym. And as you will see with the recurring department, sometimes bro science trumps published science.

Let's face it, sometimes you shouldn't take advice from some pencil-neck scientist who never stepped foot in a gym or took a supplement.

They sometimes get it wrong. In fact, I was involved in planning a recent study on creatine with a colleague of mine at a university on the east coast. We had to abort the study because the scientists on the IRB (internal review board) reviewing our study proposal were afraid that giving subjects creatine was too dangerous! Yes, can you believe that even in 2012, there are scientists who have no clue about creatine despite all the research showing it to be safe and effective?! This is what I am talking about when I say sometimes you should ignore the advice of these "experts" as they are not really experts on the topic they are offering advice on.

So in this new recurring department I will be putting bro science up against published science on a number of topics to see who emerges the winner.

Here is the first installment:

Topic:Â Caffeine

Bro science says:Never take caffeine with NO boosters because caffeine causes vasoconstriction and negates the benefits of the NO boosters.
Published science says: Caffeine is actually a proven nitric oxide (NO) booster. In fact, researchers from Hiroshima University (Japan) gave healthy young men 300 mg of caffeine and then measured blood flow to the forearm muscles. They reported in the American Journal of Cardiology that the caffeine increased the dilation of the forearm blood vessels, which increased the amount of blood flow to the muscles. This increase in blood vessel dilation was due to a greater production in NO.
Winner: Published science
Do this: Tell the bros they have no clue when it comes to caffeine. With all the benefits that caffeine has to offer you in the gym, such as increased muscle strength, better pain tolerance, greater muscle endurance AND an NO-boost, you'd be foolish not to take 200-400 mg of 1 hour before every workout. Of course, the exception to this is when you train at night. But there are several caffeine-free NO-boosters and preworkout formulas out there. Dymatize has caffeine-free Xpand Xtreme and BSN has caffeine-free NO-Xplode. Or make your own preworkout and NO-booster stack sans the caffeine.

And remember the best way to get caffeine before workouts is NOT from coffee. Coffee contains other natural chemicals from the coffee bean that may interfere with caffeine's benefits. Plus, the majority of research showing caffeine's performance-enhancing benefits were done with the supplemental form of caffeine, typically caffeine anhydrous. It's easy to get this form in preworkout products, caffeine pills, such as NoDoz, or in most energy drinks.