^^ the caffeine addicts thread
It took me like 4 months to completely lose my addiction to caffeine. I had started taking it daily (in the form of milk+cappuccino drinks) in the morning, before work, for my job from ~2013-2015. Getting out of bed was impossible without it. Then when I quit, it took me 4 months at least before I started feeling normal again.
fastdontlie: the most potent use of caffeine as a performance enhancer, in my experience, comes when you don't take it normally, and instead take large doses before important sessions (PR attempts, dunk sessions, etc).
When you start to feel very jittery/shaky soon after taking it, and it makes you shit non-stop, that usually means you're ready to "fly".
Sometimes it can overload you though, and you just feel like you're going to have a heart attack. For example, after high doses of caffeine then a dunk session, it wasn't uncommon for me to go home and pass out.. So here I am amp'd up like crazy on caffeine, but I can't stay awake. It really helps you tap into "that much more CNS" than you normally would have .... and that becomes very draining.
I tried caffeine for running (distance), but it just makes me go to the bathroom so much (prior to running), that it cancels out the effect. Worrying about using the bathroom before a race, during a race, etc .. is not worth it. Dunk/sprint sessions however, i'd still use it on occasion to tap into some more power.
Caffeine also feels like an "artificial crowd".. Amps me up as if "people are watching".
FWIW, I sometimes put 2-3 scoops of instant coffee/cappuccino into some milk with a little honey, ~~30-60 minutes before an important dunk session. That would amp me up real good. Way better than a "monster energy" drink or anything like that.
I still get some caffeine now-days through my raw green tea, but doesn't feel like much. I try and go ~3 days without it each week, so not to be completely dependent on it.. feels like it works.
pC