Pre-workout supplements have been gaining popularity amongst young athletes and fitness enthusiasts, due to their flavours that mimic candy and other treats, as well as the performance enhancements that are said to follow ingestion (Shoshan & Post, 2021). Pre-workout has also seen a spike in use more recently due to the growing population of young athletes wanting to increase their performance quickly and succeed with less difficulty (Çetin et al., 2018). More specifically, multi-ingredient pre-workout supplements are seen more and more, containing ingredients like creatine, amino acids, caffeine, and many more (Harty et al., 2018). When combined, these ingredients are meant to complement each other to enhance the body's ergogenic performance during exercise (Harty et al., 2018). Multi-ingredient pre-workouts are said to enhance sympathetic response, substrate availability, and muscle contraction during exercise (Figueiredo et al., 2020). Many pre-workout supplements promise positive effects like extreme energy, increased focus, increased endurance and more. The question is, are the benefits that pre-workout supplements pose really worth their cost? In this study we will be observing the effects of a recommended dose of C4 (a popular multi-ingredient pre-workout supplement) on anaerobic performance. Douglas College student research essay submitted as partial requirement for Sports Science 4256 course.
Multi-ingredient pre-workout supplements have gained popularity amongst athletes and fitness enthusiasts of all ages. These supplements advertise performance enhancing benefits such as increases in anaerobic and aerobic performance, strength, focus and more (Shoshan & Post, 2021). The results from this study showed that the C4 pre workout supplement had no statistically significant influences on anaerobic performance, however, small improvements were observed. There could be other potential physical and psychological benefits that pre workout supplements pose to individuals consuming it. Limitations include a small sample size made up of active college students and this study only observed short duration, high intensity exercise. Future research should be warranted to observe the influence that pre workout has on different exercise types as well as on different populations. This poster was presented at the Douglas College Student Research Day 2022 on April 15, 2022.
