Caffeine Reduces Pain During Exercise, Study Shows

I would not have expected this. Although it does make sense and helps explain not only the habitual coffee many cyclists have pre-ride, but also the caffeine tablets I have seen some riders take mid way through a long hard ride (at least that is what they said the tablets were!) as well as the cans of coke that are ubiquitous in long stages of the Tour de France.

From Science Daily: Caffeine Reduces Pain During Exercise, Study Shows:

"Motl's latest published study on the effects of caffeine on pain during exercise appears in the April edition of the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism.....

This study looks at the effects of caffeine on muscle pain during high-intensity exercise as a function of habitual caffeine use,' he said. 'No one has examined that before.

'What we saw is something we didn't expect: caffeine-naïve individuals and habitual users have the same amount of reduction in pain during exercise after caffeine (consumption).'"

The study is from the University of Illinois.