The Effects of Energy Drinks on Concentration and Exercise Performance

Abstract

Athletes\' concentration, lower limbs explosive power, lower limbs muscle strength and anaerobic exercise capacity are closely related to sports performance. This study explores the concentration, lower limb explosive power, lower limb muscle strength and anaerobic exercise capacity of 19 martial arts athletes after ingesting brewed energy drinks. The double-blind experimental design was carried out by means of balanced sequential crossover method and random assignment. All subjects will undergo the same experiment three times, each time ingesting low-dose energy drink, high-dose energy drink or placebo, with an interval of 7 days between each experiment. For each experiment, the subjects first performed a concentration pre-test, and then after ingesting different doses of energy drinks or placebos according to groups, they rested for 1 hour, and then implemented a concentration post-test. After a standardized warm-up, the sports performance will be tested sequentially. All data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA with repeated measures. There were no significant differences in concentration, lower limbs explosive power, and lower limbs muscle strength. However, the jump height and peak power of the lower limbs explosive power showed an upward trend. In the part of anaerobic power, the anaerobic peak power (734.4±42.0W), anaerobic power (11.7±0.3W/kg) and anaerobic capacity (9.0±0.3W/kg) of the high-dose group compared with the placebo group, there were significant differences (p<0.05), but no significant difference in the fatigue index. Therefore, ingesting energy drinks before exercise can help improve the anaerobic performance of martial arts athletes. It is suggested that coaches and athletes can ingest energy drinks before training or competition as a supplement to improve exercise performance, which will help improve sports performance.