The Effect of Ingestion of Caffeine, Creatine, and Amino Acids On Anaerobic Performance

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Pre-workout supplementation has become a growing interest in the sports nutrition industry. Specifically, caffeine, creatine, and beta alanine have been combined in an effort to enhance performance. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of the consumption of the combination of caffeine (150mg), creatine (1g), and amino acids (1.6g) in habitual and non-habitual caffeine users in anaerobic performance. METHODS: 24 recreationally active college-age students (age 21.6 + 2 yr, ht. 176.8 + 16 cm, body mass 73.8 + 18.3 kg, 15♂) volunteered to participate in a randomized, double-blind crossover study. Two Wingate Anaerobic Power Test (WAPT) familiarization trials were conducted prior to entry into the study. Subjects refrained from vigorous activity 24 hours before testing, maintained their normal diet, and habitual caffeine users continued their habit, while non-habitual caffeine users did not ingest caffeine for 2 weeks prior to testing. Fasted subjects ingested either the supplement (SUP) or a taste, texture and color matched placebo (P), 30 minutes prior to WAPT with a minimum of 48 hrs between trials. Finger stick blood lactate was obtained three minutes post all trials. RESULTS: Means for Peak Power (PP) was 1082.1 + 326.1 and 1085.3 + 357.3 watts, Mean Power (MP) was 545.2 + 226.5 and 579.6 + 190.6 watts, Fatigue Index (FI) was 77.4 + 16 and 74.8 + 7.2% and Total Work (TW) was 17227.8 + 6211.3 was 17387.1 + 5718.5 joules for P and SUP trials, respectively. Statistical analysis by Factorial ANOVA (p<0.05) revealed no significant difference between habitual and non-habitual caffeine users across both conditions. CONCLUSION: SUP ingestion does not improve anaerobic performance regardless of previous caffeine ingestion history at the commercially available levels evaluated in this study.