Department of Physical Education and Sports, Faculty of Sports Sciences, Sinop University, 57010 Sinop, Turkey.
Department of Coaching Education, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Ondokuz Mayıs University, 55280 Samsun, Turkey.
Nutrients. 2024 Apr 23;16(9):1253. doi: 10.3390/nu16091253.
Caffeine (CAF) has been shown to be an effective ergogenic aid in enhancing sports performance, including vertical jump (VJ), sprint, balance, agility, and freestyle swimming performance (FSP). However, whether acute CAF supplementation improves FSP in moderately trained female swimmers has not been well documented. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effects of CAF intake on vertical jump, balance, auditory reaction time (ART), and swimming performance in female swimmers. In a double-blind, cross-over design, eight moderately trained female swimmers (age: 21.3 ± 1.4 years, height: 161.2 ± 7.1 cm, body mass: 56.3 ± 6.7 kg, body mass index (BMI): 21.9 ± 1.3 kg/m, and habitual CAF intake: 246.4 ± 111.4 mg/day) ingested caffeine (CAF) (6 mg/kg) or a placebo (PLA) 60 min before completing VJ, balance, ART, and 25/50 m FSP. CAF supplementation resulted in a significantly lower time both in 25m ( = 0.032) and 50m ( = 0.033) FSP. However, CAF resulted in no significant difference in VJ, ART, and RPE ( > 0.05). Balance test results showed a non-significant moderate main effect (d = 0.58). In conclusion, CAF seems to reduce time in short-distance swimming performances, which could be the determinant of success considering the total time of the race. Thus, we recommend coaches and practitioners incorporate CAF into swimmers' nutrition plans before competitions, which may meet the high performance demands.
咖啡因（CAF）已被证明是一种有效的增强运动表现的辅助剂，包括垂直跳跃（VJ）、短跑、平衡、敏捷和自由泳表现（FSP）。然而，急性 CAF 补充是否能提高中等水平训练的女性游泳运动员的 FSP 尚未得到很好的记录。因此，本研究旨在调查 CAF 摄入对女性游泳运动员垂直跳跃、平衡、听觉反应时间（ART）和游泳表现的影响。在一项双盲、交叉设计中，8 名中等水平训练的女性游泳运动员（年龄：21.3±1.4 岁，身高：161.2±7.1cm，体重：56.3±6.7kg，体重指数（BMI）：21.9±1.3kg/m，习惯性 CAF 摄入量：246.4±111.4mg/天）在完成 VJ、平衡、ART 和 25/50m FSP 之前 60 分钟分别摄入咖啡因（CAF）（6mg/kg）或安慰剂（PLA）。CAF 补充剂显著降低了 25m（ = 0.032）和 50m（ = 0.033）的时间。然而，CAF 对 VJ、ART 和 RPE 没有显著差异（>0.05）。平衡测试结果显示出非显著的中等主要效应（d=0.58）。总之，CAF 似乎缩短了短距离游泳成绩的时间，这可能是成功的决定因素，因为比赛的总时间。因此，我们建议教练和从业者在比赛前将 CAF 纳入游泳运动员的营养计划中，以满足高表现的需求。
