The Effect of Acute Pre-Workout Supplement Ingestion on Basketball-Specific Performance of Well-Trained Athletes

Athanasios Douligeris; Spyridon Methenitis; Antonia Lazou; George Panayiotou; Konstantinos Feidantsis; Gavriela Voulgaridou; Yannis Manios; Athanasios Z Jamurtas; Constantinos Giaginis; Sousana K Papadopoulou

doi:10.3390/nu15102304

The Effect of Acute Pre-Workout Supplement Ingestion on Basketball-Specific Performance of Well-Trained Athletes

Nutrients. 2023 May 14;15(10):2304. doi: 10.3390/nu15102304.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Nutrition Sciences and Dietetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, International Hellenic University, 57400 Thessaloniki, Greece.
² Sports Performance Laboratory, School of Physical Education & Sports Science, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15772 Athens, Greece.
³ Theseus, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Center, 17671 Athens, Greece.
⁴ Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Life and Medical Sciences, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield AL109AB, UK.
⁵ Laboratory of Exercise, Health and Human Performance, Applied Sport Science Postgraduate Program, Department of Life Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, 1516 Nicosia, Cyprus.
⁶ Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Health Sciences and Education, Harokopio University, 17671 Athens, Greece.
⁷ Institute of Agri-food and Life Sciences, Hellenic Mediterranean University Research Centre, 71410 Heraklion, Greece.
⁸ Department of Physical Education & Sport Science, University of Thessaly, 42100 Trikala, Greece.
⁹ Department of Food Science and Nutrition, School of Environment, University of the Aegean, 81400 Myrina, Greece.

Abstract

A pre-workout supplement's (PWS; 200 mg caffeine, 3.3 g creatine monohydrate, 3.2 g β-alanine, 6 g citrulline malate and 5 g branched chained amino acid (BCAA) per dose) acute effects on the alactic (jumping, sprinting, agility), lactic (Running-Based Anaerobic Sprint Test, RAST) and aerobic performance (Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test Level 1, Yo-Yo IRL1 VO_2max) of well-trained basketball players was investigated in this double-blind placebo-controlled study. Thirty players (age 18-31 years, height 166-195 cm, weight 70.2-116.7 kg, body fat 10.6-26.4%) were allocated to pre-workout (PWS, n = 15) or placebo (PL, n = 15) groups. Half of the participants in each group performed the evaluations without PWS or PL, while the rest consumed PWS or PL 30 min before the assessments (1st trial) and vice versa (2nd trial). Significant improvements in counter-movement jump (CMJ) (PWS: 4.3 ± 2.1%; PL: 1.2 ± 1.0%), agility (PWS: -2.9 ± 1.8%; PL: 1.8 ± 1.7%), RAST average (PWS: 18.3 ± 9.1%; PL: -2.2 ± 2.0%), minimum power (PWS: 13.7 ± 8.9%; PL: -7.5 ± 5.9%), and fatigue index (PWS: -25.0 ± 0.9%; PL: -4.6 ± 0.6%) were observed in the PWS group vs. the PL group (p < 0.05). No differences were found regarding sprinting, aerobic performance, and blood lactate concentrations. Thus, although players' alactic and lactic anaerobic performance could be improved, peak power, sprinting and aerobic performance are not.

Keywords: L-citrulline; aerobic performance; agility; anaerobic performance; branched chained amino acids jumping; caffeine; creatine; nitric oxide; sprint; β-alanine.

Publication types

Randomized Controlled Trial

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Athletes
Athletic Performance*
Basketball*
Eating
Humans
Physical Endurance
Young Adult

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.