Most people have heard of caffeine. 

It is in the coffee and tea you drink, cola and energy drinks, chocolate, and some of your supplements. 

Caffeine helps with energy by reducing feelings of tiredness and fatigue and it improves concentration and alertness, making it an excellent supplement for footballers. 

Caffeine is a stimulant found in plants and when used as a performance enhancing supplement it can be consumed as a powder or pill or as a constituent of a specially formulated sports drink, cereal bar or chewing gum. 

Pre-workout supplements (like Kick Off) and energy drinks containing caffeine have become popular in the last few years.

This is because of their benefits in improving performance.

Athletes are allowed to use caffeine, but there is a recommended amount for the athlete’s safety. This amount is less than 300 mg daily, which is the amount of caffeine in 3 cups of strong coffee. 

Caffeine has excellent benefits for games players and endurance athletes and should be used in recommended amounts. 

It has major performance benefits like better repeated sprint performance and improved agility, alertness, and endurance. This is because caffeine has direct effects on your brain and muscles. It can improve performance in tasks requiring sustained alertness and concentration and may also improve skill and fine motor control.

Many footballers have said that caffeine before games has helped with their performance as it wakes them up and gives them the extra energy to sustain performance at a higher level. 

Pre-game supplementation of caffeine has helped footballers combat fatigue throughout their games. 

If you feel sluggish near the beginning of the game or around half-time, taking a caffeine supplement like Kick Off can give you a significant boost when you need it. 

Kick Off is an excellent choice as it has the perfect amount of caffeine to wake you up and increase your alertness prior to a match.

If you want to increase your performance in a game with caffeine, it is best to take it 30-60 minutes before.  

This timing allows your body to absorb the caffeine and let the caffeine kick into your system. It usually takes about one hour for the blood caffeine concentration to reach its peak following ingestion.

The pre-workout supplement Kick Off is a great way to get a healthy amount of caffeine in your system before a game.

Kick Off has 200 mg of caffeine per serving which is enough for you to feel the effects for an entire match. 

Positive benefits have been reported with caffeine doses as small as 100-200 mg, allowing players to gain a performance advantage without some of the potential adverse effects of higher doses.

The usual recommendation by sport scientists is to take about 3 mg per kilogram of body weight (so that’s about 200 mg for a 70-kilogram person), consumed one hour prior to exercise, or lower caffeine doses (about 100 mg), provided both before and at half-time consumed with a carbohydrate source.

Higher doses of caffeine will not produce greater improvements in performance and are strongly discouraged as side effects can include anxiety, nausea, tremor and reduced sleep quality. More serious side effects include high heart rate and arrhythmias. 

Performance improvements with a pre-exercise dose of caffeine have been shown to be similar in people who already commonly take caffeine through coffee, tea, or energy drinks, so there is no need to abstain from your usual caffeine intake in the days leading up to a match.

Caffeine is a great supplement for footballers and has no bad side effects unless taken in huge amounts which do not have bigger performance benefits. 

The best time to take caffeine for increased performance is 30-60 minutes before your game. 

Take caffeine in safe amounts and use Kick Off to crush your next match!