Effects of caffeine supplementation on physical performance and mood dimensions in elite and trained-recreational athletes

Abstract

Background

Caffeine supplementation (CAFF) has an established ergogenic effect on physical performance and the psychological response to exercise. However, few studies have compared the response to CAFF intake among athletes of different competition level. This study compares the acute effects of CAFF on anaerobic performance, mood and perceived effort in elite and moderately-trained recreational athletes.

Methods

Participants for this randomized, controlled, crossover study were 8 elite athletes (in the senior boxing national team) and 10 trained-recreational athletes. Under two experimental conditions, CAFF supplementation (6 mg/kg) or placebo (PLAC), the athletes completed a Wingate test. Subjective exertion during the test was recorded as the rating of perceived exertion (RPE) both at the general level (RPE_general) and at the levels muscular (RPE_muscular) and cardiorespiratory (RPE_cardio). Before the Wingate test, participants completed the questionnaires Profiles of Moods States (POMS) and Subjective Vitality Scale (SVS).

Results

In response to CAFF intake, improvements were noted in W_peak (11.22 ± 0.65 vs 10.70 ± 0.84; p = 0.003; ${\eta }_p^2$ =0.44), W_avg (8.75 ± 0.55 vs 8.41 0.46; p = 0.001; ${\eta }_p^2$ =0.53) and time taken to reach W_peak (7.56 ± 1.58 vs 9.11 ± 1.53; p <  0.001; ${\eta }_p^2$ =0.57) both in the elite and trained-recreational athletes. However, only the elite athletes showed significant increases in tension (+ 325%), vigor (+ 31%) and SVS (+ 28%) scores after the intake of CAFF compared to levels recorded under the condition PLAC (p <  0.05). Similarly, levels of vigor after consuming CAFF were significantly higher in the elite than the trained-recreational athletes (+ 5.8%).

Conclusions

CAFF supplementation improved anaerobic performance in both the elite and recreational athletes. However, the ergogenic effect of CAFF on several mood dimensions and subjective vitality was greater in the elite athletes.

Keywords:

• Caffeine
• Sport supplementation
• Athletes
• Boxing
• Ergogenic aid

P. Jodra, A. Lago-Rodríguez, A. F. San Juan and R. Domínguez contributed equally to this work.

P. Jodra, A. Lago-Rodríguez, A. F. San Juan and R. Domínguez contributed equally to this work.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Spanish Boxing Federation (Federación Española de Boxeo) especially Rafael Lozano and Teresa, who gave their permission for their elite athletes to complete the test sessions for this study, and ensured that all diet and resting criteria for participation were fulfilled. We also thank Ana Burton for help with translating the text from Spanish.

Authors’ contributions

R.D. and P.J. designed the experiment; R.D., P.J., P.V.H. and A.F.S.J. recruited the subjects, R.D., P.J., P.V.H., A.L.-S., A.P.-L. and A.F.S.J. held the informative session; A.J.S.-O. and P.V.-H. checked that subjects followed the diet guidelines and the timing of supplement ingestion; P.V.-H. prepared the supplements and ensured their randomization; R.D., P.J., A.L.-S., A.P.-L. and A.F.S.J. performed the experiments; P.J., A.L.-S., A.P.-L., A.J.S.-O., P.V.-H. and A.S.J.F. analyzed the data; A.L.-R. conducted the statistical analysis; A.L.-S. elaborated the figure; P.J., A.L.-R. and R.D., wrote the manuscript; P.J., A.L.-R., A.J.S.-O., A.L.-S., A.P.-L., P.V.H., and R.D. revised the manuscript; P.J., A.L.-R., A.J.S.-O., A.L.-S., A.P.-L., P.V.H., and R.D. approved the final version of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Funding

This study was financed (supplementation, translation and publication costs) by a grant for the project Effects of caffeine supplementation on psychophysiological responses of performance and fatigue in the Olympic boxing team of the X Call for Research Projects of the UAX and Banco Santander.

Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This original research study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Universidad Alfonso X El Sabio, Madrid, Spain.

Consent for publication

An informed consent was provided to ensure that the subjects had voluntarily expressed his intention to participate in the investigation, after having understood the information given to him, about the objectives of the study, the benefits, the inconvenience, the possible risks and the alternatives, their rights and responsibilities.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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