Effects of acute carbohydrate ingestion on anaerobic exercise performance

Carbohydrate (CHO) supplementation during endurance exercises has been shown to increase performance, but there is limited research with CHO supplementation during strength and conditioning exercises. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of various levels of CHO ingestion during acute testing sessions requiring participants to complete a strength and conditioning program designed for collegiate athletes.

Participants (n = 7) performed a series of exercises while ingesting an amino-acid electrolyte control (CON) or CON plus varying levels of CHO. The CHO beverages delivered a 2:1 (glucose: fructose) ratio at rates of 15 g/h, 30 g/h, and 60 g/h. The exercise protocol consisted of a series of short sprints, full body resistance training exercises, jumping, and shuttle running. Performance measurements were taken for sprint times, repetitions until failure [bench press, bent over row, biceps curl, overhead triceps extension], summation of total repetitions for all repetitions until failure, repetitions in a set time for two-foot line jumps, and 137-m shuttle times.

A significant main effect (p < 0.05) was found in relation to CHO dose during the bench press final set repetitions to failure. Pairwise comparison with Bonferroni's correction identified that there was significant difference (p = 0.0024) between the dosage of 15 g/h and CON during bench press. Inferential statistics identified overall RT performance with a dosage of 15 g/h compared to 60 g/h and CON was 99.2 % (very likely) and 96.7 % (very likely) to have a beneficial effect.

The results from this study suggest acute ingestion of CHO does not result in decrements in performance and may provide a beneficial effect to strength and conditioning performance. Strength and conditioning coaches may recommend their athletes ingest CHO during training sessions in order to maximize muscular adaptations.