richie,
first, you do realize that caffeine is a BANNED substance by the IOC (international olympic committe) don't you? it is. sure, you have to drink like 400 cups of coffee to get that level, but it is on the banned list. guess why?
yes, it is a diruretic, but it is clearly a stimulant. it is under the stimulants heading on the banned list.
here is why:
the caffeine test that i did was injected directly into the blood stream via a cathater (can't spell it). we rode a stationary bike for 30 minutes during this test. data was gathered from a EKG, VO2 mask and blood samples as well for lattic acid and other profiles. in every test subject that was used, the abilities of the subject were enchanced in some way. typically it was greater endurance or more power or both. personally, i didn't feel any different than i did the 3 days prior when we did the baseline test run, but the data clearly showed that everyone was performing (muscle wise) at a much greater efficiency. now, afterward, i didn't feel as tired, but maybe that was mental and not physical? don't know. trying to sleep that night was very hard. we were wired BIG time! the test clearly showed WHY the IOC should ban caffeine in larger than coffee drinkable levels.
as far as being a guinie pig, yep i was. i was very interested in knowing how well my body performed and being on the teams that i was on and the caliber of swimmer i was, i had the chance to be in a lot of tests. um, if you don't have to ever do a biopsey, DON'T! taking a core muscle sample out of your thigh 3 inches in is NO FUN!!! at one of the training camps i was at, they took blood samples (for lattic acid tests) after every 200 meter swim on a set of 10. the tips of my fingers were black and blue from all the pricks (even with the gun style) and only my index finger on my right hand and that thumb didn't have any holes in it. picking up stuff was hard cause it hurt so much from the pricks. my coach, (mark schubert, now at USC) held to the theories of lattic acid saturation training. basically, this entails getting the muscles into heavy lattic acid build up and then continuing to work at hard levels for extended periods of time. i cannot remember a single person who did not improve under his coaching. sure, some took longer than others, but everyone did better. in 1984 he had 7 (i think that is correct) members of his own team make the US Olympic team and 6 others make Olympic teams for other countries. the two people i primarly trained with brought home 3 golds and 1 silver. if you ever get the chance to see an Olympic gold medal up close, do so. they are AWESOME! makes your heart race just holding one.
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Steve Unruh - V29 TCHSS
98yz250, 81yz125, 77yz80