Use of a mixture of amino acids, caffeine and botanical extracts pre-workout in tennis athletes: a preliminary study

Abstract

Multi-ingredient pre-workout supplements (MIPS) are a category of nutraceutical products that aim to improve acute performance and, to favour physical and psychomotor adaptations to following training, with a sufficiently prolonged continuous intake [1–3] but. the data available are rather limited. The purpose of this pre-clinical crossover trial is to analyze the results of 14 training sessions where ten adult amateur tennis athletes (eight men, two women) alternated seven training sessions where they consumed a MIPS nutraceutical product before training (L-Arginine, L-Glycine, L-Alanine, Taurine, L-Carnitine, Glucuronolactone, Eleutherococcus senticosus Rupr. & Maxim. Panax ginseng C.A.Mey, caffeine and bromelain – marketed under the name of StartUp) with seven training sessions where they consumed a control product before training (based on carbohydrates and magnesium). This alternation was separated with a seven-day washout period. Evaluated athletes regularly practising tennis for at least three years. Each athlete had to train for a minimum of three to a maximum of four times per week, carrying out a 90-minute match in each session. For each training session, the perception of effort was assessed using the Borg CR-10 scale. In the control group, the mean perceived effort was 4.51(SD 1.05), while in the treated group, the mean was 4.16 (SD 0.99). We conclude that treatment with the formulation allows a variation of -8% in the perception of fatigue during training, with Levene test value (p>0.05) and Student's t value of 2.097 and a p-value of 0.039. No participant dropped out of the study. The data obtained demonstrate how the intake of StartUp over seven training sessions compared to a control product interspersed with a seven-day wash-out period, correlates with an 8% reduction in Borg CR-10 rated Ratings of Perceived Exertion (RPE), Further longer evaluations with a larger and more circumscribed sample, will be necessary to further clarify the application potential of this MIPS nutraceutical blend.