With all the talk about anabolic steroids, human growth hormones and other banned performance enhancing substances and drugs, athletes may have very well overlooked that there are “natural” uppers or boosters that they can turn to without fear of being reprimanded or suspended by the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) and their respective sporting teams. A recent article from the New York Times, which was subsequently reprinted by the Arkansas Times-Democrat, discussed the use of caffeine as a performance enhancing drug. The article’s opening paragraphs retold the account of running advocate Weldon Johnson, a Yale University graduate who trained under the fabled coach John Kellogg. Johnson is the founder of www.letrsun.com who extols the benefits of taking caffeine before a race.

According to the news story, Weldon Johnson first discovered the effects of coffee as a performance enhancer or booster way back 1998. The one time representative of the US to the Pan American games admitted to not being a fan of coffee, but he had heard somewhere that caffeine could improve his training. So one time, before a race, Johnson said he passed by a convenience store and took a cup of coffee. The results, he said, were astounding: he was able to run 10 kilometers in under 30 minutes, which was a first for him.

Johnson retells the experience of being “really wired” before running the race. He added that his whole body was shaking. The “supercharged” feeling immediately made him a coffee convert. Soon after, Johnson wanted to maximize the effects of caffeine in his system before a race. He then purposely avoided any form of caffeine, be it teas or sodas weeks before a scheduled competition. He would only take coffee an hour before running, to experience the full stimulant effect, he recounted. According to Johnson, having a cup of coffee exactly one hour before a race became part of his routine.

Skeptics have raised eyebrows over Johnson’s claim, but the athlete swears by its performance enhancing abilities. It is not surprising too that more runners, cyclists, sprinters, rowers, swimmers and power walkers are swearing by the boosting effects of caffeine during competitions. And their one great advantage is this: no matter how much coffee or soda they take before a competition, they wouldn’t be meted any sanctions or suspensions by the World Anti Doping Agency as well as other drug policing bodies.

From a medical standpoint, exercise physiologists have affirmed the positive stimulant effect of caffeine in sporting events whose nature is stopping and starting. Caffeine is known to act on dopamine receptors, which then produces stimulation and affects the muscles as well to go on working for extended periods of time. Caffeine stimulates the muscles to produce and release calcium, thereby increasing its power output.

Moreover, caffeine also delays the sensation of exhaustion, thereby tricking the brain and the body to keep on working more. But as with anything, too much caffeine can also cause health problems. The good thing about it though, is that athletes can freely use caffeine prior to competitions without fear of testing positive for banned substances. They can simply avoid taking too much caffeine when they’re not competing.

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