Sympathomimetics and exercise enhancement: all in the mind?

During the 1972 Olympic Games, a 16 year old American athlete was compelled to return a gold medal and was disqualified from further participation. Rick Demont had used a sympathomimetic drug (ephedrine) prior to competition for treatment of his asthma as prescribed by his physician. The present research was carried out to investigate whether the administration of a sympathomimetic drug enhances maximal performance in the normal healthy individual in terms of physiological and psychological processes? Ten subjects participated in a double-blind, cross-over, counterbalanced incremental cycle ergometer test on two different occasions, once after ingesting placebo, once after ingesting ephedrine. Repeated measures ANOVA's revealed no significant differences in any of the cardiopulmonary (VE, VO2, VCO2, RQ and AT), cardiovascular (HR, BP, O2 Pulse, RPP) and psychophysiological (RPE) variables between treatments. Findings in the current investigation suggest that no advantage is obtained with the use of sympathomimetic drugs to augment one's maximal aerobic capacity.