Supplementing With Caffeine For Combat Sports

The world’s most popular stimulant has been shown to improve exercise performance in runners, cyclists and other kinds of athletes. A recent analysis of studies published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition looks at what caffeine has to offer practitioners of combat sports.

Nine studies met the criteria from a search of 1,053 papers, and 3 of them showed no performance improvement after caffeine consumption. On the other hand, 6 studies found that supplementing with 3 to 6 mg of caffeine per kg of body weight significantly increased strength, power and upper body muscular endurance during real and simulated combat. These effects occurred without an increased in perceived exertion.