Pre-workout Supplementation and Basketball

The Effect of a Pre-workout Supplement on Basketball-specific Performance and Biochemical Profile of Well-trained Athletes

Pre-workout supplements (PWS) consumption in recreationally or physically trained males lead to many performance-enhancing benefits, including improvements in mean power output during single and repeated sprints, agility, reaction times, lower body muscular endurance and reduced fatigue. PWS ingestion also improves anaerobic performance and prolongs time to exhaustion during high-intensity intermittent exercise. However, PWSs' effectiveness is not constant, as they do not alter anaerobic power, jumping performance or blood lactate concentrations after a training session, at least in recreationally trained males and strength-power athletes. Moreover, the effects of long-term PWS supplementation, where some nutritional agents were combined (e.g., β-alanine, creatine, citrulline malate, etc.) to assess endurance-trained runners or elite cyclists' performance, are mixed and less clear. Even though the popularity of PWS use has increased among trained/professional athletes, most of the data in this area are derived from recreationally and not from well-trained athletes of a competitive level (especially in team sports). Therefore, the present study aimed to examine the acute and chronic effects of a PWS, containing 200 mg caffeine, 3.3 g creatine monohydrate, 3.2 g βalanine, 6 g citrulline malate and 5 g BCAA per dose, on shooting, jumping, sprinting, agility, aerobic and anaerobic performance in well-trained basketball players.

Study Overview

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Conditions: Sport Performance
• Intervention / Treatment: Dietary supplement: Multi-ingredient dietary supplement (caffeine, creatine monohydrate, β-alanine, citrulline malate, BCAA); Dietary supplement: Placebo dietary supplement (97% maltodextrin)

Detailed Description

According to a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, research design, 36 well-trained male basketball players will be recruited. During their first visit, they will complete a health history and exercise questionnaire and will sign a written informed consent. Participants' dietary profile will be evaluated using 3- day diet recalls and they will be instructed to follow the same dietary scheme for 3 days prior to the subsequent evaluations. During the second visit, participants will be familiarized with the performance evaluations (shooting, jumping, sprinting, agility, running-based anaerobic sprint test and Yo-Yo intermittent recovery level 1 test).

(Acute phase) One week later, Moreover, they will randomly be assigned in two groups (PWS and placebo) by a research member not involved in data collection. After that participants will visit the basketball court in the morning and a blood sample will be collected after overnight fasting. Afterward, the participants in each group will perform the evaluations without PWS or PL. The evaluations will be performed according to National Strength and Conditioning Association standards. Body composition, resting heart rate, blood pressure, basketball-specific shooting exercise, counter-movement jump, 20-m sprint, agility T-Test, running-based anaerobic sprint test and Yo-Yo intermittent recovery level 1 test. One week later, all participants will visit the same basketball court at the same hour and will consume the PWS or placebo supplement and 30 minutes later their physiological characteristics and performance will be evaluated in the same sequence.

(Chronic phase) Following the evaluations of the acute phase, participants will continue the consumption of the PWS or placebo, according to their allocation group, daily for a period of 4 weeks. At the end of the supplementation period, participants will visit the basketball court and a second blood sample will be collected after overnight fasting (the first blood sample, collected before the acute phase evaluations, will serve as baseline). Then, participants' performance will be evaluated in the same sequence as the previous visit.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 36
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Greece
  • Thessaloníki, Greece
    • Sports Nutrition Laboratory, International Hellenic University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Male participants, 18-41 years old
2. Absence of drugs, abuse or medications, which are known to affect the Shooting, sprinting, jumping, agility, anaerobic and endurance performance
3. Consent to follow a regular dietary plan for basketball players

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Restraining orthopedic/neuromuscular problems
2. Caffeine hypersensitivity
3. Consumption of more than three servings of coffee per day
4. Use of any supplement or steroids prior to the study
5. Use of creatine, β-alanine, citrulline malate or BCAA-protein supplementation at least six months before the initiation of the study

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Quadruple

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Multi-ingredient dietary supplement; 20 g of a multi-ingredient dietary supplement. Composition: 200 mg caffeine, 3.3 g creatine monohydrate, 3.2 g β-alanine, 6 g citrulline malate and 5 g BCAA	Dietary supplement: Multi-ingredient dietary supplement (caffeine, creatine monohydrate, β-alanine, citrulline malate, BCAA); Administration of a multi-ingredient dietary supplement consisting of 200 mg caffeine, 3.3 g creatine monohydrate, 3.2 g β-alanine, 6 g citrulline malate and 5 g branched chain amino acids
Placebo Comparator: Placebo dietary supplement (97% maltodextrin); 20 g of isoenergetic placebo dietary supplement. Composition: 97% flavored maltodextrin, similar in color, flavor, taste and energy to the experimental multi-ingredient supplement	Dietary supplement: Placebo dietary supplement (97% maltodextrin); Administration of an isoenergetic placebo comparator dietary supplement consisting of 97% maltodextrin

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Countermovement jump height	Jumping performance will be evaluated using a contact platform	baseline and up to 4 weeks
20 meters sprint running time	Sprint performance will be evaluated using photocell gates	baseline and up to 4 weeks
Rate of agility T-test performance	Agility T-test will be evaluated using photocell gates	baseline and up to 4 weeks
Rate of running-based anaerobic sprint test performance	Running-based anaerobic sprint test performance will be evaluated using photocell gates	baseline and up to 4 weeks
Rate of Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test level 1 test performance	Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test level 1 test performance will be evaluated using a field-based test	baseline and up to 4 weeks
Rate of basketball-specific shooting performance	Basketball-specific shooting performance will be evaluated with a test consisting of 30 free shoots, 30 middle-distance shoots and 30 long-distance shoots	baseline and up to 4 weeks
Blood lactate concentartion	Blood lactate concentration will be measured using a portable blood lactate analyzer	baseline and up to 4 weeks
Urea concentration	Urea will be measured on a clinical chemistry analyzer	baseline and up to 4 weeks
Creatinine concentration	Creatinine will be measured on a clinical chemistry analyzer	baseline and up to 4 weeks
Serum glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase activity	Serum glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase will be measured on a clinical chemistry analyzer	baseline and up to 4 weeks
Serum glutamate-pyruvate transaminase activity	Serum glutamate-pyruvate transaminase will be measured on a clinical chemistry analyzer	baseline and up to 4 weeks
Creatine kinase concentration	Creatine kinase activity will be measured on a clinical chemistry analyzer	baseline and up to 4 weeks
Lactate dehydrogenase concentration	Lactate dehydrogenase will be measured on a clinical chemistry analyzer	baseline and up to 4 weeks
Alkaline phosphatase concentration	Alkaline phosphatase will be measured on a clinical chemistry analyzer	baseline and up to 4 weeks
Gamma-glutamyltransferase concentration	Gamma-glutamyltransferase will be measured on a clinical chemistry analyzer	baseline and up to 4 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Body mass	Body mass will be measured using a calibrated digital scale	baseline and up to 4 weeks
Body height	Body height will be measured using a stadiometer	baseline and up to 4 weeks
Body fat mass	Body fat mass will be measured using a calibrated digital scale via bioelectrical impedance analysis	baseline and up to 4 weeks
Systolic and diastolic blood pressure	Systolic and diastolic blood pressure will be measured using a blood pressure monitor	baseline and up to 4 weeks
Heart rate	Heart rate will be measured using a heart rate monitor	baseline and up to 4 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Athanasios Z. Jamurtas
• Investigators: Study Director: Sousana K Papadopoulou, International Hellenic University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): June 15, 2022
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 15, 2023
• Study Completion (Estimated): June 15, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 15, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 22, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): September 29, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): October 3, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 30, 2023
• Last Verified: September 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Physiological Effects of Drugs; Neurotransmitter Agents; Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action; Enzyme Inhibitors; Purinergic Antagonists; Purinergic Agents; Phosphodiesterase Inhibitors; Purinergic P1 Receptor Antagonists; Central Nervous System Stimulants; Caffeine
• Other Study ID Numbers: Douligeris Study

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No