THE EFFECTS OF CAFFEINE ON JUMPING PERFORMANCE AND MAXIMAL STRENGTH IN FEMALE COLLEGIATE ATHLETES
Burke, Benjamin Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise: August 2021 - Volume 53 - Issue 8S - p 286
Caffeine is often used to enhance athletic performance. Caffeine's effects on endurance performance have been thoroughly examined; however, research regarding caffeine’s effects on strength and power performance is lacking, especially in female athletes.
PURPOSE: To analyze the acute effects of caffeine (6 mg/kg of body mass) on jumping performance and maximal strength in female collegiate athletes.
METHODS: Eleven female collegiate athletes performed two testing sessions separated by one week, and randomly received a caffeine (CAF) or placebo (PLA) condition using a double-blind approach. After receiving the CAF of PLA, athletes sat quietly for 60 minutes. Following a standardized warm-up, athletes were assessed on squat jump (SJ) and countermovement jump (CMJ) jump height (JH) and peak power (PP) and isometric mid-thigh pull isometric peak force (IPF) and rate of force development (RFD) on force platforms. A paired samples t-test with Hedge’s g (g) effect size was used to compare performance results between conditions. Alpha level for all analyses was set at p < 0.05.
RESULTS: There were small to moderate differences in SJ-JH (p = 0.02,g = 0.35), SJ-PP (p = 0.005,g = 0.77), CMJ-JH (p = 0.007,g = 0.20), CMJ-PP (p = 0.08,g = 0.25), IPF (p = 0.18,g = 0.12), and RFD (p = 0.12,g = 0.32) in favor of caffeine over placebo.
CONCLUSIONS: Caffeine ingestion produced small to moderate improvements in jumping performance; however, caffeine failed to significantly affect maximal strength when compared with the placebo. Therefore, caffeine appears to be an effective ergogenic aid when used to enhance jumping performance, but not maximal strength in female collegiate athletes. Future studies examining such effects should aim to amass a larger sample size, as this is a major limitation to the current body of literature.