http://www.humankinetics.com/p...mance?associate=5314
According to tweet I got from Human Kinetics, you can apparently spray the stuff on your skin now to boost performance.
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A couple random thoughts as I drink my morning coffee (half awake on a Sat AM)
Starbucks has to be all over this. They could sell millions of copies just by merchandising this book right at the cash register next to the mints and CDs.....Without caffeine there is no performance in my job or at my company. Our stock would plummet. Is my workplace that much different from a professional athlete? I don't think so. Why not a book on caffeine to boost sports performance, and a spray (we won't call it "The Clear") ?
Why do anything or take anything to boost your performance synthetically? You may get caught, jeopardize you, your team and your career.
Some of these kids that have died on the field due to heart problems, I wonder if caffeine had anything to do with it.
FYI caffeine is a banned substance in NCAA and a lot of other organizations.
I can say when I was running track in college back in the late 80s and early 90s a lot of athletes were using caffeine and pseudoephedrine. I believe pseudoephedrine is now legal but it was banned back then. Caffeine was banned back then.
I am not sure of how much of a help caffeine would be to a baseball player. Its effect is more of a benefit to the endurance athlete. The line of thought is caffeine helps your body to more effectively utilize glycogen (muscle sugar). Pseudoephedrine would allow the body to more effectively utilize it oxygen intake. This would give the endurance athlete a boost when it came to using the bodies resources. That's why you would see the two combined.
There are some pretty serious side effects to using caffeine. First of all its a diuretic so you need to make sure you are sufficiently hydrated when using it. In addition you need to take it in higher dosages then you get from coffee or a coke and this can lead to nausea in a lot of people. In addition it tends to lead to more muscle cramping and tightness. Finally to use it properly you need to be caffeine free for 4 or 5 days before using it for performance enhancement which most people are not.
From experience (I am sad to admit) I will say that it can be a boost to the higher level endurance athlete (track, swimming, soccer(?)) but I don't think it would have much affect on a non-endurance athlete. Also its use as a performance enhancer is illegal and means you are cheating.
Caffeine if concentrations in urine exceed 15 micrograms/ml...