Caffeine helps athletes overcome moderate pain

The legendary American football trainer Vince Lombardi popularized the saying "No Pain, no Gain". Gains in muscle mass and strength, endurance, power and speed come from pushing yourself harder than before, and that hurts. If you can handle the pain of training, this will help you get to the next level.

Researchers from the University of Oklahoma, led by Alexander Gonglach and Christopher Black, found that caffeine helped cyclists cope better with moderate, but not severe, pain that accompanied training. During a workout that produced moderate pain, caffeine (5 milligrams per kilogram of body weight) allowed athletes to do more work, ride farther, release more power and achieve higher oxygen consumption. Caffeine had no effect on exercise performance at intensities that caused severe pain.

Caffeine will reduce the pain of exercise as long as the intensity is not too high.

(Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 48: 287 - 296, 2016)