Anecdotal reports suggest that many athletes use high energy supplements prior to an athletic contest to enhance these specific components. Although the ergogenic benefits associated with high energy supplements have been demonstrated, the ability to improve subjective feelings of focus, awareness or improve reaction time is not clear. The enhanced exercise performance resulted in a significantly greater increase in both growth hormone and insulin concentrations, indicating an augmented anabolic hormone response to this pre-exercise supplement. A recent study showed that a pre-exercise high energy supplement consumed 10 minutes before resistance exercise can enhance acute exercise performance by increasing the number of repetitions performed and the total volume of exercise. Several papers have been published showing that a pre-exercise, high energy supplement can delay fatigue and/or improve the quality of a resistance training workout. Unfortunately, most information available is based upon empirical evidence. They believe that using high energy supplements prior to performance will result in greater focus, reaction time and power. However, many athletes use these high energy supplements for its potential ergogenic effect. The primary reason for use of these supplements is thought to be related to their desire to reduce or control body fat. More than 30% of all American male and female adolescents are reported to use these supplements on a regular basis.
High energy drinks and capsules have recently been shown to be the most popular supplement besides multivitamins in the American adolescent and young adult population. In addition, ingestion of this supplement significantly improves subjective feelings of focus and energy in male strength/power athletes. Results indicate a significant increase in reaction performance, with no effect on anaerobic power performance. In addition, a trend towards an increase in average alertness (p = 0.06) was seen in SUP compared to P. Subjective feelings of energy (3.5 ± 0.5 versus 3.1 ± 0.5) and focus (3.8 ± 0.5 versus 3.3 ± 0.7) were significantly higher during SUP compared to PL, respectively. No significant differences between trials were seen in any anaerobic power measure.
Significant difference in reaction performance was seen between SUP and PL in both average number of targets struck (55.8 ± 7.4 versus 51.9 ± 7.4, respectively) and percent of targets struck (71.9 ± 10.5% versus 66.8 ± 10.9%, respectively). The Makoto testing device consisted of subjects reacting to both a visual and auditory stimulus and striking one out of 30 potential targets on three towers. Following a 10-minute rest subjects repeated the testing sequence and after a similar rest period a third and final testing sequence was performed. Following the completion of the questionnaire subjects performed a 2-minute quickness and reaction test on the Makoto testing device (Makoto USA, Centennial CO) and a 20-second Wingate Anaerobic Power test. The survey consisted of 4 questions asking each subject to describe their feelings of energy, fatigue, alertness and focus for that moment. Following consumption of the supplement or placebo subjects rested quietly for 10-minutes prior to completing a survey and commencing exercise. During each session, subjects reported to the Human Performance Laboratory and were provided with either 120 ml of a high energy drink (SUP), commercially marketed as Redline Extreme ® or 120 ml of a placebo (PL) that was similar in taste and appearance but contained no active ingredients.
Twelve male strength/power athletes (21.1 ± 1.3 y 179.8 ± 7.1 cm 88.6 ± 12.1 kg 17.6 ± 3.3% body fat) underwent two testing sessions administered in a randomized and double-blind fashion. In addition, the effect of the pre-exercise drink on subjective feelings of energy, fatigue, alertness and focus was also explored. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a pre-exercise high energy drink on reaction time and anaerobic power in competitive strength/power athletes.
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