Effects of Caffeine Supplementation on Anaerobic Performance, Reaction Time, and Fatigue in Team-Sport Athletes
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Purpose: Team-sport athletes must repeatedly generate short bursts of maximal power, recover quickly between efforts, interpret visual information under time pressure, and preserve decision quality as fatigue accumulates. This study examined whether acute caffeine supplementation improves anaerobic performance, reaction time, and fatigue-related responses in trained male team-sport athletes. Methods: Twenty-four male collegiate team-sport athletes completed a randomized, double-masked, placebo-controlled crossover trial. Participants ingested caffeine (5 mg·kg⁻¹) and an identical placebo 60 min before testing, with trials separated by a 7-day washout. Each visit included simple and choice reaction-time testing, a 30-s Wingate test, and a 6 × 30 m repeated-sprint protocol. Ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) and post-exercise blood lactate were also assessed. Paired-samples t tests were used for single-measure outcomes, while a two-way repeated-measures ANOVA examined sprint-by-sprint performance. Results: Compared with placebo, caffeine increased Wingate peak power (1088 ± 143 vs. 1047 ± 137 W, p < 0.001) and mean power (771 ± 93 vs. 736 ± 84 W, p < 0.001). Simple reaction time (229 ± 20 vs. 241 ± 20 ms, p < 0.001) and choice reaction time (359 ± 32 vs. 381 ± 28 ms, p < 0.001) were faster after caffeine. Repeated-sprint total time was reduced (29.06 ± 0.98 vs. 29.26 ± 0.99 s, p < 0.001), and a condition × sprint interaction showed that the benefit became more evident in the later sprints (p < 0.001). Caffeine also lowered sprint decrement and post-test RPE, while blood lactate was modestly higher. Conclusions: A moderate pre-exercise dose of caffeine improved anaerobic power, accelerated reaction time, and attenuated fatigue-related performance decline in trained male team-sport athletes. These findings support the targeted use of caffeine before activities that combine repeated sprinting with rapid perceptual processing.
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