Effects of Carbohydrate Mouth Rinsing on Upper Body Resistance Exercise Performance

Carbohydrate mouth rinsing has been shown to enhance aerobic exercise performance, but there is limited research with resistance exercise (RE). Therefore, the purpose of this investigation was to examine the effects of carbohydrate mouth rinsing during a high-volume upper body RE protocol on performance, heart rate responses, ratings of perceived exertion, and felt arousal. Recreationally experienced resistance-trained males (N = 17, age: 21 ± 1 years, height: 177.3 ± 5.2 cm, mass: 83.5 ± 9.3 kg) completed three experimental sessions, with the first serving as familiarization to the RE protocol. During the final two trials, the participants rinsed a 25-ml solution containing either a 6% carbohydrate solution or an artificially flavored placebo in a randomized, counterbalanced, and double-blinded fashion. The participants rinsed a total of nine times immediately before beginning the protocol and 20 s before repetitions to failure with the exercises bench press, bent-over row, incline bench press, close-grip row, hammer curls, skull crushers (all completed at 70% one-repetition maximum), push-ups, and pull-ups. Heart rate, ratings of perceived exertion, and felt arousal were measured at the baseline and immediately after each set of repetitions to failure. There were no differences for the total repetitions completed (carbohydrate = 203 ± 25 repetitions vs. placebo = 201 ± 23 repetitions, p = .46, Cohen's d = 0.10). No treatment differences were observed for heart rate, ratings of perceived exertion, or felt arousal (p > .05). Although carbohydrate mouth rinsing has been shown to be effective in increasing aerobic performance, the results from this investigation show no benefit in RE performance in resistance-trained males.