I was just surfin' the net today when I stumbled upon this article, or essay this guy wrote... I found it interesting and TRUE.

Boxing, Coffee, and Popping My Cherry

by Aaron Luhning

Three hours ago, I would have disputed the idea that drinking coffee can be good for a boxer. I have long been of the belief that coffee causes all sorts of maladies from hypertension, to irritability, to heart disease, and it can even stunt your growth (as my grandma used to tell me). My not drinking coffee is even part of who I am and of the type of person I'm known to be. I am one of few infantry officers or military personnel of all trades for that matter who doesn't drink coffee. Even in the field after being awake for days on end, I have vehemently denied myself the pleasure of downing a cup of java.

In terms of my effectiveness, and staying awake, it may have made things harder - I don't know, because I never succumbed to the temptation. I am a freak of nature in the military, a world where the daily trip to Tim Horton's is an orgiastic ritual. (Tim Horton's, for those of you not from Canada, is supposed to have the best coffee in the world, and every military base has one. To own a Tim Hortons next to a Canadian Forces military base is like printing money.)

It is impossible for people to believe I don't drink coffee when they ask if I want to go for a cup - "What! You're in the infantry, how can you not drink coffee?" I have always had the will power to resist based on my assumptions that it was doing nothing for me physically.

That was three hours ago, then I picked up a copy of Time that arrived at our house today and read the article "Measuring IQ Points By The Cupful" by Michael D. Lemonick. That article led to three hours of reading various scientific journals and the latest research on caffeine consumption as it relates to athletic performance. Guess what, right now, I am sipping on a cup of black coffee. My cherry has been popped, I am no longer a coffee virgin. After 31 years of abstinence, here's why:

The General Benefits of Coffee:

1. Memory Enhancing Ability: Evidence has shown coffee can significantly boost short term memory. ^1,2
   
2. Protection Against Disease: There is evidence coffee can protect against a host of health maladies and diseases such as liver damage, Parkinson's disease, diabetes, Alzheimer's, gallstones, depression, and even some forms of cancer. ¹
   
3. Brainpower Boost: It can heighten mental performance whether you are well rested or sleep deprived. In each state of sleepiness, tests have proven beyond a reasonable doubt, that coffee signficantly improves the brains ability to function. It is especially effective, and this may be obvious, when you are very sleepy. It gives you an extra boost of alertness, but most you probably already knew that.

Benefits of Coffee for Boxers:

1. Reaction Time Decreases: Coffee affects the CNS (Central Nervous System) and has been shown to increase neuronal excitability which heightens one's reflexes. ⁴ That's good news when you're trying to slip a flurry of punches.
2. Increases Endurance: Coffee increases lipolytic activity (fat breakdown) and increased fatty acids. These fatty acids are readily used as energy by your body in the place of muscle glycogen. Basically your body is able to last longer because it uses fat as energy as well as the energy found in your muscles - thus you don't burn out as soon. ⁴
   
3. Reduces Muscle Pain During Exercise: If you've done the workouts here or boxing workouts anywhere, you know your muscles take a beating. Tests have shown that people with caffeine in their systems during workouts have reported less muscle pain afterwards. ³
4. Increased Oxygen Consumption: One test showed a small but significant increase in oxygen consumption after 15 minutes of exercise. For a boxer, this means that you need to warmup at least 15 minutes before a fight in order to reap the benefits from your coffee in terms of your bodies ability to absorb more oxygen. ⁵
   

Alrighty, those are the major benefits I found, but isn't coffee a drug, and aren't drugs bad and addictive for you. Some studies have shown that caffeine behaves differently from other stimulants. The addiction isn't there. Tell that to a regular coffee drinker and they may disagree. But seriously, what are the bad things about coffee.

Coffee's Bad Side:

1. Increase in Blood Pressure: Coffee can increase blood pressure temporarily. If you are a normal, healthy person, this isn't a problem.
2. Problems in Females: Some studies have suggested coffee presents a higher risk of miscarriage in pregnant women and benign breast cysts. (highly controversial)
3. Heart Rate: Some studies seem to support an elevated heart rate, some don't (inconclusive). Too much coffee, though, does increase the heart rate, cause irritability, and can be harmful because of its diuretic and vasoconstricting properties. (means you have to pee and your arteries and blood vessels shrink

That's it. That's all I found worth mentioning. There were numerous older studies which suggested coffee might lead to bladder cancer, high blood pressure and heart disease, but every one of them has since been shown to be wrong. Being a healthy, male, boxer, I saw no reason not to try out the benefits of caffeine, so I popped my cherry.

How Much Coffee Should a Boxer Drink and When?

According to the research, ideally, you reap the most performance benefit from coffee if you drink 2-3 cups 1 hour before your match.⁴ There is also a benefit to having 2-3 cups of coffee spread throughout the day to keep you alert and focused (increased mental performance). Here's where it gets a little tricky. The human body will build up a tolerance (physiological tolerance) to the caffeine which means if you use it regularly, it eventually will not be as effective.

Here's the solution:

• When you are just training, have 2-3 cups a day spread throughout being careful to drink some an hour before your workouts to maximize the benefit there.
  
• When you are scheduled for a fight, go cold turkey for 2-3 weeks before the fight. (you will be motivated to train hard anyways.). Then an hour before your fight, drink maximum 2-3 cups. As well, be sure to warmup for at least 15 minutes prior to your fight to stimulate the oxygen absorbing enhancement.

There you have it. Disagree? I'd love to hear it before I do something evil to my body, but in the meantime, I'm giving coffee a chance.

References
¹Lemonick, Michael D., "Measuring IQ Points by the Cupful", Time Magazine: Canadian Edition, 16 Jan 2006.
²Radiological Society of North America, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/12/051212091544.htm, 12 Dec 2005.
³University of Georgia, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/09/030916073934.htm, 16 Sept 2003.
⁴Johnston, Syd, "Caffeine: More Than Just Your Morning Juice", http://www.afpafitness.com/articles/CaffeineAthletes.htm.
⁵American Physiological Society, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/07/020716075936.htm, 16 Jul 2002.