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Caffeine before games?

If you have had a long day and dont have a lot of energy i always just took some vitamins. Gameday I never drank beer or pop or caffine. Only water, a banana and a light pasta lunch at like 2. I took a nap around 230 if it was a home game or i just slept on the bus on the way there.

I never took caffine. Tried drinking some coffee one time and it messed me up that whole week, same with Mt. Dew I tried during a weekend tourny when I was preteen.

If your a weekend warior and play once a week it wont mess you up, it'll only mess you up hardcore for the games that same weekend afterwards (atleast for my immune system).
 
I like having an energy drink before games. I feel it adds a bit more to my game. I'm thinking I would play the exact same without it but I also like the taste!
 
I get enough just from the adrenaline rush of playing. Caffeine puts me over the edge. Being well rested, sometimes a nap a few hours before the game helps more than anything.
 
I've tried a number of things to get that extra bit of energy prior to a game. I even went the Red Bull route a few times.

One thing has really worked well for me over the past few months a large double-double from Tim Hortons. For whatever reason, I just feel good. Now I buy one before each ice-time.
 
Warm drinks like coffee or even a warm beer(or 5) are awesome between periods.
 
vivianmb said:
1 hour nap and then 3 tea bags before the game.
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What?? and That's what she said.


I sometimes have a red bull, but I never really found a difference. I do notice a difference if I eat pasta before though. I play much better for some reason, maybe superstitious. I play anywhere from 10:30 - 12:30 at night, so I usually have a sub for lunch, then pasta at around 6, then try and have a nap before we play.
 
bohlmeister said:
What?? and That's what she said.


I sometimes have a red bull, but I never really found a difference. I do notice a difference if I eat pasta before though. I play much better for some reason, maybe superstitious. I play anywhere from 10:30 - 12:30 at night, so I usually have a sub for lunch, then pasta at around 6, then try and have a nap before we play.
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It's the carbs.
 
Triguy said:
It's the carbs.
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I do know that. That is the reason I eat that way. I am just saying I do the same routine every game, and it is a mental boost for me as much as it is physical.

I guess carbs are more important than caffeine, is what I was getting at.
 
never gave it a thought until this past week.

I remembered when I'd do my runs for reserves that I'd try to slam a can of Red Bull before I ran, and that did nothing but have my heart jackhammering halfway through the run. So for the longest time I never touched caffeine before a game....until this past week. Just finished watching Pens vs Flyers and I was struggling to stay awake since I was up late the night before. I go through the fridge and find a 2xstrength Rockstar. I then realize I have a game that night at 8 (this was probably about 4ish). Instead of having my heart go nuts halfway through the game, I felt like I had energy that I usually didn't have.

Could it be a mental thing? It's very possible. I may even lean that it is more mental since I drank it several hours before hand. I'm gonna try it again just to make sure that my "Rockstar Theory" is the real deal.
 
DevsFan84 said:
I never go on the ice anymore without a 5 hour energy in me.
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I do, but I have one as much as possible before those 11pm games against good pickup competition. After a day of work, it's a tough grind to stay on your game at 11 o'clock at night. 5 Hour Energy is by far the most effective energy drink / supplement that I've tried. I usually drink it about 10-15 minutes before the game.
 
Clint said:
Interesting NYT article regarding the use of caffeine before athletic exercise:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/health/nutrition/26best.html?pagewanted=2&_r=3

Apparently there are real, tangible results associated with caffeine before exertion.

Does anyone here drink coffee, Red Bull/Monster, or take caffeine pills before games? I've never done this before and I'm considering trying it on Sunday.
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I read an articale in the New England Journal of Medicine several years ago about the effect of Lactic Acid on the working muscle.

Lactic Acid is the bi-product of used up sugar or energy within the muscle cells. In fact, about 85% of your urine in lactic acid.

Now, when you skate, about 8 seconds into your shift, you will start to feel a burn within your thigh muscle. This is Lactic Acid forming or collecting in the muscle. Now, this burn is not painful enough to keep you from skating.

After about 30 to 45 second, it becomes quite painful, that you will start to stand up to help relieve the pain. When this happens, the power in your stride goes out the window.

Now, according to the article, it takes about 2 minutes of rest for every minute of work to help flush this Lactic Acid out of the muscle and into the blabber. Now, they way you do this is with water. Water, helps push that Lactic Acid out of the muscle cell and into blood stream via the blood cells that go through the kidney to flush out this toxin.

So what does this mean for you and your energy drink? The best thing you can do is drink water after every shift. Don't just drink water when you need it after you have been skating for 25 minutes. drink water after every shift to help flush out the Lactic Acid you our muscle will recover faster, which means you will be able to skate faster...longer.

Now, in this article, they also taked about runners neutralizing this Lactic acid with baking power. They found that if you take some one tea spoon of baking power in 12 ounces of water, that the baking power will neutralize the lactic acid in the muscle for about 45 minutes.

They recommend that you take it 1 hour before you play. This should be able to make that power stride last a little longer than normal.

Good Luck
Head coach
 
In high school when I swam competitively, once I was drinking a Pepsi. I swam long distance and my coach scolded me. He basically implied I'd be decreasing my performance. That the caffeine would give me a quick jump but the carbonated water would dialate and contract my blood vessels. I swam the 500 at the time (20 laps) felt great for the first 5 laps that day the 15 after felt like a real drag and coach was right.

From that point on, I never took to drinking pop during a game. I suspect red bull is the same.

Honestly what I do is get a pre-game Jamba Juice. That works the best for me, usually with an energy kick added into it.

As others stated bananas are also pure gold. They have always helped me the best. I also agree a chicken pasta dish is also really good as well. Gives you that protein+carb combo. The fruit/fruit-juice gives you everything else.

If you read around on the web, a lot of NHLer say their pre-game meals usually consist of what I mentioned from above, after copying them I can see why.
 
I usually stick to water.

Sometimes I'll drink about 1/2 a bottle of gatorade (355ml) no more than 20 minutes before the game, and polish off the rest afterwards. I almost always take in a protein shake after the game.

If I've had a very long day and I feel like sleeping more than I feel like playing hockey, I'll take a Red Bull. To be fair though, I've only mixed Red Bull and hockey three times. Twice this season before a game, and once after a game a few years back (big party on Saturday night lol).
 
Soda or any carbonated drink is bad before physical activity.

Caffeine, IMO, is ok in small dosages, but too much can fog your thinking. I guess it depends what type of player you are. If you're a high energy, checker or just get your goals by working hard, then caffeine would be ok. But for a playmaker it's probably bad.
 
I had a late start (11PM) playoff game a couple of months ago that I wanted to play well in. I am up at 6:30 every day so I am usually dragging by that time. I took one of those 5 hour energy drinks and perhaps not surprisingly, I was WIDE awake until about 4:30 in the morning that night. I didn't notice any appreciable difference in my in-game energy, and the next day was awful because of the lack of sleep. Never again for me.
 
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