The Best Caffeine Pills For Bodybuilders & Weightlifters 2021

It’s no secret that weightlifters and bodybuilders like caffeine.

Just take a look at the supplement facts labels of most pre-workouts on the market and you’ll see dosages of anywhere between 100-450mg caffeine anhydrous in pre-workout supplements (“anhydrous” simply meaning caffeine has been dehydrated into powder form).

Here’s the problem though:

• Taking huge dosages of caffeine can cause jittery side effects and energy crashes.
• Consuming caffeine too frequently leads to you building a tolerance to it, making caffeine less beneficial long-term.

The good news is that you can enjoy the benefits of this stimulant long-term if you don’t consume caffeine every day and choose to take smaller dosages each time – around 50-100mg instead of monstrous 300-400mg dosages per serving.

In fact, a study found that a total daily caffeine intake of around 200mg or lower has proven to deliver improvements in [1]:

1. Alertness & Mood
2. Cognition
3. Athletic Performance

All the above without side effects.

Since you’re here to learn about the Best Caffeine Pills on the market – whether it’s for weightlifting or bodybuilding, as an alternative to coffee, to boost your energy levels and focus more at work, we’ll show you our favorite product below…

Performance Lab Stim

Key Benefits

• Enhanced physical and mental performance whether taken pre-workout, as a coffee alterative, or to stay alert at work.
• No risks of side effects such as jitters, anxiety, or heart rate issues.
• Replenishes B-Vitamins that have shown to be depleted by caffeine intake to keep your body performing at its best.

Quick Summary

Whether you want a coffee alternative, pre-workout energy boosts, or to stay alert and focused at work, Performance Lab® Stim delivers something for everyone.

Delivering a safe-but-effective 50mg natural caffeine dosage combined with 100mg Suntheanine® L-Theanine (to form the optimal smart-caffeine 2:1 ratio), you’ll be sure to experience more mental and physical performance benefits, without the risk of jittery side effects associates with higher caffeine dosages. That means that you can safely “double-up” or even “triple-up” on servings if you have a higher tolerance, while still catering to those with lower caffeine tolerances.

The added 250mg of Ajipure® L-Tyrosine ensures that you benefit from enhanced cognition great to boost mind-muscle-connection in the gym or concentrate at work.

Completing the supplement facts label for Performance Lab® Stim are the highly bioavailable NutriGenesis® B-Vitamins to help restore what caffeine has shown to deplete in clinical studies.

Caffeine Pills for Bodybuilding: Should You Take Them?

Some of the main consumers of caffeine are weightlifters and bodybuilders. After all, caffeine anhydrous is a main ingredient in most pre-workout and fat burner supplements…of course, unless they’re “non-stim”. There’s even many gym goers that drink a cup of black coffee before heading to the gym for a quick energy boost, if they’re not into supplements. So, it’s been a fairly natural progression for athletes to look into caffeine supplements as a way to enhance their performance.

But Do Caffeine Pills Help Bodybuilders, Weightlifters, Or Powerlifters?

Caffeine was actually banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for use in Olympic games until 2004 [2]. This should show you how effective it really is at improving your performance. Let’s get more specific to bodybuilding, though. We found a study conducted in 2018 that proved caffeine’s ability to boost muscle strength and power, after participants consumed caffeine via capsule form [3]. Another clinical report in 2019 found that caffeine is able to improve both bench press and squat performance [4]. For this reason, it seems fair to say that caffeine is indeed beneficial to bodybuilders, casual weightlifters, or competitive powerlifters.

How Much Caffeine Should A Bodybuilder Take?

In terms of consuming stimulants and other nutrients, dosage per serving is extremely important.

• Take too little and you won’t feel a thing.
• Take too much and you could experience jittery side effects.

You need to get dosage right. But it’s not always easy. Every single person has a different tolerance to caffeine, meaning everyone needs to trial different dosages to see what works best for them. However, studies have shown that the huge dosages of caffeine often found in pre-workouts or caffeine supplements aren’t ideal. One study in particular found that higher caffeine dosages (6-9mg/kg bodyweight) delivered lower benefits than smaller dosages [5]

The above findings corresponded with a study undertaken by Harvard Medical School; it found that more frequent smaller dosages of 0.3mg caffeine per kg bodyweight was sufficient in keeping participants awake and alert [6]. As a result, a product that delivers around 50mg caffeine per serving should be ideal as an “all-in-one” caffeine supplement, whether you’re looking to stay alert and focused at work or enhance your gym workout.

Caffeine Pills vs Pre-Workout Supplements

Large dosages of caffeine (6-9mg/kg bodyweight) have not shown to deliver any more benefits than smaller dosages. Meaning there is a point of diminishing returns – more isn’t always better with caffeine intake. In fact, the very maximum caffeine dosage that delivers increasing benefits seems to be 200mg per serving [7].

But taking 200mg caffeine in one serving may cause those with lower tolerance some issues, such as jitters, energy crashes, or anxiety. Especially if you plan on drinking coffee during your day too. Most pre-workouts contain around 200mg caffeine, but we’ve seen some that include dosages up to 450mg per serving. Due to these monstrous caffeine dosages causing issues, the supplements industry has seen a rise in the number of non-stimulant pre-workouts – for those that want to completely avoid any chances of jitters or anxiety problems.

But Which Is Better: Caffeine Pills Or Pre-Workouts?

Key Point: You shouldn’t really have to choose between a caffeine pill vs pre-workout supplement either – they both should deliver different benefits.

For example, pre-workouts should contain nitric oxide boosters to promote blood flow (and muscle pumps), as well as scientifically proven nutrients to improve your strength and endurance, such as creatine.

If you’re only taking a pre-workout for the energy boost, then you’ll probably be as satisfied with a caffeine supplement such as Performance Lab® Stim. You can then stack a caffeine pill with a non-stimulant pre-workout for times when you want extra performance benefits during your gym sessions.

Are Caffeine Pills Healthier Than Coffee?

First of all, we love coffee. And so does most of the world. Coffee is one of the main reasons why caffeine is one of the most consumed commodities available. Most people simply don’t care whether coffee is “healthy” or not. However, those that do often turn to caffeine supplements as an alternative to coffee. This is because advanced caffeine pills contain B-Complex vitamins, helping to restore your levels of B-Vitamins that caffeine intake depletes [8]. Taking into account the fact that coffee depletes your B-Vitamin levels without replenishing them, caffeine supplements containing B-Vitamins can be seen as ‘healthier’.

Why Performance Lab® Stim Is Our Top Caffeine Supplement

It’s not often we find a caffeine supplement that offers a sensible dosage of natural caffeine (sourced from coffea robusta seeds). A modest 50mg natural caffeine per serving is enough to deliver a small ‘kick’ in energy levels without going overboard – and you can take double servings if you’re looking for a bigger energy boost pre-workout.

A study concluded that 50mg caffeine, paired with 100mg L-theanine, significantly improved performance on cognitively demanding tasks [9]. So Performance Lab® Stim also comes with 100mg L-Theanine – everything is clinically backed.

Performance Lab® Stim also delivers the essential B-Complex Vitamins that are depleted from caffeine intake. As well as L-Tyrosine, which Nootropic Geek considers to be one of his favorite nootropic ingredients.

For us, Performance Lab® Stim is the full package. We call it ‘Caffeine 2.0’.

Conclusion

In terms of being a supplement that gym goers, bodybuilders, or powerlifters take, caffeine pills are pretty new to the party (compared to how long creatine and protein powder has been used for). Caffeine supplements were once associated with being synthetic, cheap, white pills that just delivered high amounts of caffeine and nothing else. The good news is that the industry has made huge leaps forward in creating “advanced caffeine supplements”.

Now, we see top quality supplements containing caffeine sourced from completely natural sources (coffea robusta seeds), paired with L-theanine for maximum effect. As well as providing B-Vitamins in the exact quantities that caffeine depletes your body of them with nootropic ingredients to ensure that you experience even more benefits to your mental performance. After trying and testing numerous caffeine supplements on the market, our top recommendation goes to Performance Lab® Stim.

Try Performance Lab Stim Today

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*Images courtesy of Performance Lab and Envato

References

[1] Spriet L. Exercise and Sport Performance with Low Doses of Caffeine. Sports Med. 2014; 44(Suppl 2): 175–184.

[2] Aguilar-Navarro M. Urine Caffeine Concentration in Doping Control Samples from 2004 to 2015. Nutrients. 2019 Feb; 11(2): 286.’

[3] Grgic J. Effects of caffeine intake on muscle strength and power: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2018; 15: 11.

[4]  Grgic J. Caffeine Supplementation for Powerlifting Competitions: An Evidence-Based Approach. Journal of Human Kinetics. 68. 10.2478/hukin-2019-0054.

[5] Graham T. Metabolic, Catecholamine, and Exercise Performance Responses to Various Doses of Caffeine. J Appl Physiol (1985). 1995 Mar;78(3):867-74.

[6] Harvard Medical School. Small, Frequent Doses Of Caffeine Best Strategy For Staying Awake, According To New Study. May 12, 2004

[7] Wildman R. Boost Your Workout with Caffeine. Nutrition; Supplementation. Oct 29 2018.

[8] Ulvik A. Coffee Consumption and Circulating B-vitamins in Healthy Middle-Aged Men and Women. Clin Chem. 2008 Sep;54(9):1489-96.

[9] Owen G. The Combined Effects of L-theanine and Caffeine on Cognitive Performance and Mood. Nutr Neurosci. 2008 Aug;11(4):193-8.