The ingestion of a caffeinated energy drink improves jump performance and activity patterns in elite badminton players

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a caffeine-containing energy drink to enhance physical and match performance in elite badminton players. Sixteen male and elite badminton players (25.4 ± 7.3 year; 71.8 ± 7.9 kg) participated in a double-blind, placebo-controlled and randomised experiment. On two different sessions, badminton players ingested 3 mg of caffeine per kg of body mass in the form of an energy drink or the same drink without caffeine (placebo). After 60 min, participants performed the following tests: handgrip maximal force production, smash jump without and with shuttlecock, squat jump, countermovement jump and the agility T-test. Later, a 45-min simulated badminton match was played. Players' number of impacts and heart rate was measured during the match. The ingestion of the caffeinated energy drink increased squat jump height (34.5 ± 4.7 vs. 36.4 ± 4.3 cm; P < 0.05), squat jump peak power (P < 0.05), countermovement jump height (37.7 ± 4.5 vs. 39.5 ± 5.1 cm; P < 0.05) and countermovement jump peak power (P < 0.05). In addition, an increased number of total impacts was found during the badminton match (7395 ± 1594 vs. 7707 ± 2033 impacts; P < 0.05). In conclusion, the results show that the use of caffeine-containing energy drink may be an effective nutritional aid to increase jump performance and activity patterns during game in elite badminton players.

The Effect of Ergogenic Supplements and Mediterranean Diet on Cycling Performance. Differences According to Duration and Intensity.

“…Regarding the impact of supplementation on cycling performance, the present study concluded that energy drinks' consumption was associated with better performance in both endurance (p = 0.001) and speed races (p = 0.001), a finding which comes in agreement with other studies in cyclists showing that performance was improved with energy drinks comparing to placebo [1,24,37]. We should bare in mind that energy drinks should be consumed in rational proportions as to act in favor of exercise, otherwise they may become dangerous, causing hypertension, cardiac dysrhythmias, tachycardia or heart failure [17,24,71].…”

Effects of Caffeine Supplementation on Performance in Ball Games

“…The duration and degree of the standardization protocols differed among studies. The duration whereby participants had to abstain from all dietary sources of alcohol, caffeine and other stimulants ranged from the day itself [36,40] to 24 hours [35][36][37][41][42][43][44][45], 48 hours [34,38,39,[46][47][48][49][50] and the entire study duration (2 sessions separated by 1 week) [51]. Participants were also asked to adopt a similar diet and fluid intake level the day before each experimental trial.…”

“…In terms of activity levels, participants were advised to avoid all strenuous exercise the day before each trial to minimize any muscle soreness and fatigue. Only in studies were participants involved in a light and standardized training session the day before each trial [44,49,50]. No information on pre-trial standardization and procedures was reported in 3 studies [34,37,45].…”

Effects of caffeine on neuromuscular function in a non‐fatigued state and during fatiguing exercise

“…performing a squat jump). Previous studies (Abian et al., 2015; Bloms, Fitzgerald, Short, & Whitehead, 2016; Del Coso et al., 2014; Pérez‐López et al., 2015) have shown an increased squat jump height after caffeine ingestion. However, these studies did not include a pre‐capsule measurement and, therefore, these data should be interpreted with caution, because day‐to‐day variability was not controlled (for example, in our study squat jump height had a day‐to‐day coefficient of variation of 5.2%).…”