Ok so I keep reading that Caffeine promotes Cortisol and stress hormones. That’s why I figure it may be bad for mass gain and muscle build, right ?
I found studies saying that regular coffee drinkers develop a small tolerance but still, cortisol level are elevated.
Recently, my caffeine intake increased a lot as I have trouble with attention. I drink something like 2 cups + 3 expressos a day. However I am trying to quit, but cant do cold turkey (headaches are awfully awful) and I am seeking replacement (modafinil ?) for this. I noticed that with caffeine increase, my belly fat increased (a lot). But as I stopped to smoke at nearly the same time, I don’t really know the culprit.
Questions :
1/ Anyone felt that muscle gain was easier when stopping coffee ?
2/ Anyone got a good nootropic replacement for caff ?
I think caffeine is really a substance that we need to look at in terms of a balance of pros-and-cons: for most people, a moderate amount of caffeine/coffee over the course of the day can have cardiovascular/cardiopulmonary, attention-related and – most importantly for athletes – performance-related benefits. You’ve mentioned a lot of the negative aspects of excessive caffeine intake, although I’d find it difficult to directly attribute fat gain to an increase in cortisol caused by a higher caffeine input.
I don’t see any reason to go “cold turkey” on coffee, unless you’re in the minority of individuals who really can’t process caffeine very well, resulting in chronic sleeplessness, heart palpitations and/or other cardiovascular problems. Keep your intake to about two cups a day or two to three espressi and see how you feel. Be sure to only consume coffee in the morning and/or before training, try not to reach for a cup after the early afternoon.
But again, don’t overthink the situation. I was into the barista scene a few years ago and used to drink as much coffee as you do; my performance did suffer in the aftermath of severe “caffeine jitters”, but I really don’t think that a cup too much on some days ever hampered anyone’s muscle growth. Enjoy your coffee. Just be sure to know your limits and to realize that – like any drug – caffeine indeed has negative side-effects, mostly associated with overconsumption.
Yeah I got some memory problems when I was highly stressed, slept little, and drank 300mg caffeine per day for a few weeks. I’m still recovering. I bet my cortisol was sky high n damaged my hippocampus :<
can you give link for studies regarding cortisol and caffeine?
Best way for me to quit caffeine is just to take little. If you drink 3 cups usually lower it to 2cups after 5days lower it to 1cup. Then you can choose occassionally not to drink one…
I don’t think a little elevated cortisol is going to make you as fat as you think.
Last year during my cut my 24 hour cortisol tested 2.5x normal levels.
I still lost bodyfat just fine.
Cortisol more so will influence how/where your bodyfat it stored. (the gut)
I also drink 2-4 cups of coffee a day on my cut, I’ve been doing this for a few months and I’ve only noticed positive effects. I won’t go to the gym without it.
Btw, Modafinil is quite a different beast than caffeine. I don’t think I would use it as a substitute for caf but it might be a useful tool for concentration issues. Read up on user experiences on other forums before taking it.
[quote]infinite_shore wrote:
Btw, Modafinil is quite a different beast than caffeine. I don’t think I would use it as a substitute for caf but it might be a useful tool for concentration issues. Read up on user experiences on other forums before taking it. [/quote]
Going off the original topic here…
There were some excellent threads regarding nootropics here a few years ago. Modafinil was talked about a lot. Caffeine was talked about some.