Research

Mixed

A low dose of caffeine (2 mg/kg) significantly enhances lower-body muscle endurance, with effect sizes comparable to higher doses (4-6 mg/kg).

If you are resistance-trained and want to boost your lower-body endurance (like squats), you do not need high doses of caffeine. A low dose of 2 mg/kg (roughly 1-2 cups of coffee for an 80kg person) is sufficient to get moderate improvements in repetitions, matching the benefits of higher doses (4-6 mg/kg). This minimizes potential side effects while maintaining performance gains.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
A low dose of caffeine (2 mg.kg−1)—for an 80kg individual, this dose of caffeine contained in one to two cups of coffee—may produce substantial improvements in lower-body muscle endurance with the magnitude of the effect being similar to that attained using higher doses of caffeine.
Jozo Grgić et al. · International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance · 2019

Why this rating

Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover design with resistance-trained participants.

Source

What Dose of Caffeine to Use: Acute Effects of 3 Doses of Caffeine on Muscle Endurance and Strength

Jozo Grgić et al. · International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance · 2019

crossover · n=28Cited 47×
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