Caffeine Abstinence in Habituated Users: Cardiovascular Responses to Exercise With Blood Flow Restriction

Abstract

Context: Blood flow restriction resistance exercise studies often require caffeine abstinence to avoid cardiovascular effects that could change the blood flow restriction stimulus. However, effects may be attenuated for habituated users. Objective: To compare cardiovascular responses to blood flow restriction resistance exercise when habituated users consume or abstain from caffeine. Design: Thirty participants completed a 3-visit within-subject study beginning with familiarization and caffeine intake questionnaire. Methods: Visits 2 and 3 consisted of blood flow restriction resistance exercise (3 sets bicep curls to failure, 30% 1-repetition max, 40% arterial occlusion pressure [AOP]), following participants’ normal caffeine consumption (CAFF) or abstaining (ABS). AOP, systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure, and heart rate were measured preexercise and postexercise. Prevalues and preexercise to postexercise change scores for SBP, DBP, AOP (all millimeters of mercury), heart rate (in beats per minute), and repetitions were compared between conditions. Results are represented as mean (SD). Results: Preexercise AOP was similar for CAFF (137.8 [14.4]) and ABS (137.1 [14.9], BF10 = 0.2), although pre-SBP was higher for CAFF (115.4 [9.8]) than ABS (112.3 [9.4], BF10 = 1.9). Pre-DBP was similar between conditions. The exercise-induced change in AOP was greater for CAFF (18.4 [11.2]) than ABS (13.2 [14.9]), though evidence was anecdotal (BF10 = 0.7). Exercise-induced changes in SBP, DBP, and heart rate were similar between conditions (all BF10 ≤ 0.40). More repetitions were completed for CAFF (63 [26]) than ABS (57 [17], BF10 = 2.1). Conclusions: The findings of this study suggest that for habituated users, maintaining daily caffeine habits will not have substantial effects on common cardiovascular variables relevant to blood flow restriction.