Today’s question is about getting the energy you need to work a full time job and still have a life, but doing so without caffeine…

i work a full time job.workout 3-4 days a week and play professional softball 2 weekends a month. is frs stuff for me because i hate the crash of red bull or any caffine thats out there. if so what do you recommend for me?

thanks,
Softball Sam

Hi Sam,

As for drinks to look at, I have an article about caffeine-free energy drinks that may help you pick something.

When it comes to FRS, I had no instances of an energy crash, but it does contain some caffeine. It’s not like a Monster energy drink, but you’d have to try it yourself to see what you think.

If you want to stay away from energy drinks completely, you could try supplements. One thing I’d recommend is just taking a B Complex or Vitamin B12 supplement each day. That gives you the same active ingredient as a caffeine-free energy drink, but at a much lower price.

There is more information on B vitamins and antioxidant supplements in my article about possible FRS energy drink substitutes.

Last but not least, make sure you get plenty of sleep and eat a healthy diet. If you’re not doing that, adding any sort of energy drink is a poor solution. I have found that a healthy diet (like one based on Precision Nutrition) and plenty of rest negate the need for frequent energy drink usage, unless you’re doing 12-30 hours of training per week.

More information on this can be found in my article, 3 Simple Ways to Get Energized – For FREE.

Today’s question is about Cytosport Fast Twitch and the drawbacks of caffeine in sports drinks and supplements…

I’ve been reading about caffiene online and can’t find any real evidence that supports it having negative effects. I’m considering supplementing with Cytosport’s Fast Twitch. It has 200mg of caffiene per serving. Can you tell me why this is “bad” for me for a pre-workout drink?

Thank you,
Caffeinated Christopher

Hi Christopher,

Before receiving your email, I was unfamiliar with Cytosport’s Cytomax Fast Twitch. I’ll get to that, but let’s talk caffeine first…

Caffeine: Good or Bad For Sports Performance?

It seems that whatever you want to think about caffeine, there’s a study to support it. If you like caffeine, just read the studies showing its performance enhancing benefits. If you don’t like caffeine, just look at studies showing that caffeine has a diuretic effect.

Quite a few of the studies I have seen are unreliable or too biased (in my opinion,) so I don’t even bother with them. But there certainly are a number of studies showing that caffeine has a positive effect on performance in more ways than one. I don’t doubt it.

From my experience, caffeine certainly has a positive benefit in the form of increased mental awareness. I haven’t really noticed increased strength or endurance, or noticed that it spares glycogen in favor of burning fat, but it’s possible that those improve with caffeine, but not quite enough to really notice it unless you’re doing somewhat of a scientific test.

Other claimed side effects, such as dehydration and caffeine withdrawal, I have not noticed. That doesn’t mean they’re not there, but they must be minimal.

So I don’t have a problem with caffeine.

However, I like to limit my caffeine intake to avoid building up a caffeine tolerance. My caffeine intake is usually limited to green tea and a few energy gels with low levels of caffeine.

The reason is so that I can get a big energy boost when I do take caffeine. As it stands, I can get a significant energy boost from one cup of coffee (about 80mg caffeine) or an energy gel containing 100mg caffeine.

I like it like that, because I don’t want to have to drink three cups of coffee during a bike race to get an edge.

Also, some of the latest studies show that even small amounts of caffeine (like 40mg) are enough to boost performance. That’s interesting.

My opinion on using caffeine is something like this: Once you test it and find it has positive results, save it for race day and other big workouts.

So that leads me to a couple questions for you…

The first question is, why do you want the caffeine? Will you take it before weight training? Or before bike rides?

If before bike rides, what kind of bike ride? A sprint workout? A long endurance ride? A race?

Some of the benefits would be better for certain types of workouts, so think about that.

Cytomax Fast Twitch: Good or Bad For Sports Performance?

Next question, what draws you to Cytomax Fast Twitch?

I looked at it, but I can’t see any reason to use it. Sure, the marketing is great and makes it look great for weight lifting where you’ll use your fast twitch muscle fibers and aim to increase muscle size.

But you know what’s better and cheaper – creatine monohydrate. It is time-tested and proven. I don’t see a need for “nitric oxide amplifiers” which is just a buzz word designed to sell products.

But that’s if you are weight lifting. If you’re biking or running, you rarely use fast twitch muscle fibers. Only if you’re doing a sprint workout would that have an effect. And even then, spinning a big gear on a bike is not the same as doing heavy squats.

I guess the “endo-thermogenic” selling point would apply to anyone. But… any kind of food you eat has a thermogenic effect. Eat some broccoli and guess what happens – your body digests it, creating body heat and raising your metabolic rate.

No need to pay extra for the buzz words.

What I’m saying is that I think this product is 90% marketing, 10% useful. For endurance sports, it’s pointless. For weight lifting, stick with basic creatine and you’ll save money and get the same results.

And as far as the caffeine, 200mg in one serving seems too high for my liking. Personally I’d stick with a lower dose of caffeine, and I’d spend my money on healthy foods (such as organic fruits and vegetables) and more useful supplements, like fish oil.

Let’s look at caffeine content in energy drinks today…

Hi Coach Levi,
How much caffiene is in the low cal berry FRS drink? Are there energy drinks on the market with no caffiene? Thanks so much for taking the time to answer!
Grace

Hi Grace,

A can of wild berry FRS will have 48mg caffeine while a cup you mix yourself (the powder) is 35 mg.

FRS has a fairly low caffeine content compared to other energy drinks, so it’s not a bad choice, considering an actual energy drink without caffeine is hard to find…

But, there are a few to check out:

First, the ACT Energy Drink I have reviewed is said to be caffeine free, because it doesn’t have any added caffeine. But it still uses guarana seed as a stimulant, and guarana contains naturally occurring caffeine.

For more information, take a look at this FRS vs ACT comparison.

Next up, there is actually a decaf version of 5 Hour Energy, which has a low 6mg caffeine. See the 5 Hour Energy decaf page for more info.

One of the more interesting choices is Adina Coffee Energy, which does not contain added caffeine, since it is based on coffee beans. Coffee beans are high in antioxidants and contain natural caffeine, so that’s pretty cool.

Take a look at the Adina World beverage site for more info.

Next is the XS Energy Drink, which has a Tropical Blast flavor that is caffeine free. The energy boost comes from the “high powered adaptogenic herbs mixed with potent levels of B-vitamins and key amino acids,” although it seems the caffeine-free version does away with most of the herbs.

See more at XSblast.com.

Another drink that looks like a typical energy drink is the E10 Energy Drink, but it’s actually caffeine-free and contains a selection of vitamins and healthy nutrients to give you an energy boost.

Learn more at the E10 energy drink website.

Moving on, I’m pretty sure “Cranergy” from Ocean Spray is low in caffeine, only containing the natural caffeine from the added green tea. I don’t know how much energy you could possibly get from green tea and cranberry juice (plus a few vitamins,) but if that’s your thing, here is the Cranergy website.

Finally, I’ll end with a little-known drink called SEA2O that takes the organic/natural angle to energy drinks. The website says it is 100% organic, caffeine-free, and high in fiber and antioxidants.

(It’s available at Amazon.com but you have to take the plunge and buy an entire case at once.)

And that is it! If anyone knows of more caffeine-free energy drinks, please list them below in the comments section.

FRS Healthy Energy is still being hotly debated. I was recently asked about the caffeine content in FRS, and although I touched on that when I wrote about FRS and high blood pressure, I’ll expand on that today.

To start with, FRS is not based on caffeine like many other energy drinks. It just contains a small amount of caffeine to help you absorb the nutrients it contains.

I don’t know all the science behind the ‘caffeine as a metabolic enhancer’ idea, but it’s not a new concept. For example, Tylenol for migraines actually contains caffeine to speed your body’s absorption of the active ingredients.

In other words, FRS shouldn’t turn you into a caffeine zombie (pictured above.)

Now I think the easiest way to do this is to chart out caffeine content of typical drinks, including FRS. So here is a chart of drinks ranked by caffeine content:

As you can see, regular green tea (my favorite) is at the bottom of the list, FRS Healthy Energy is slightly above that, and a plethora of common energy drinks top the charts!

Be wary of all the drinks in the top half (Mountain Dew and above.) The only exception would be the plain black coffee, if consumed in moderation, without excess cream and sugar.

And for the bottom half of the list, the two drinks I recommend are the FRS all natural concentrate and the green tea you brew yourself.

Sources: I pulled the caffeine values for FRS straight from the packaging, but I found the comparison energy drink details via The Caffeine Database. Values are “per serving” values, which is usually half a 16 oz can or a full 8 or 12 oz can.

Photo credit: bingbing