Background
The purpose of this investigation was to examine the acute effects of a commercially available multi-ingredient performance supplement (MIPS) in comparison to caffeine, on reactive agility and jump height, in recreationally-trained handball male players.
Methods
The study followed a randomized double-blind, crossover design. Twenty-four individuals were treated with placebo, caffeine or multi-ingredient performance supplement (MIPS). Dosage of caffeine in caffeine supplement and MIPS contain the same amounts of caffeine for each subject (5 mg/kg) . All subjects attended a familiarization session 1 week before testing. Participants underwent reactive agility test (Y-test: 1-1-2 test) on three separate days with 72 h apart between test days. Just after accomplishing of each repetition of reactive agility tests participants were asked to perform countermovement jump (CMJ; 2 repetitions separated by one minute break) to establish the average height of jump, that is directly related to lower body power. To assess the significance of differences between the groups studied, Friedmann ANOVA test was used, the chi-square value (χ2) calculated and the p value of statistical significance estimated.
Results
The research indicated significant inter-group differences in 1-1-2 agility test (p=0.04). The time was significantly shorter for MIPS supplement group in comparison to placebo (-3.4%; p=0.02) and to caffeine (-2.8%; p=0.004) group. Significant improvements (p<0.01) were observed in jump height for MIPS supplement group in comparison to placebo (+5.2%; p=0.001) and caffeine (+5.1%; p=0.001) groups, but not in caffeine to placebo comparison (p=0.84).
Conclusions
The results of these study may contribute to the assessment of the usefulness of multi-ingredient performance type supplementation in comparison to the ingestion of identical amounts of caffeine only in enhancing reactive agility and jump performance.