During practice and competition: Drink 4 to 8 ounces of water or sports drinks every 15 minutes throughout the practice or competition.

Athletes should reload their bodies with fluids and food as soon as possible after a practice or game. Reloading is especially important when athletes are playing in multiple games in a short time frame, such as during a basketball or soccer tournament.

Eat well. A well-balanced meal with the right kinds of proteins and carbohydrates will help the muscles recover between practices and games. Well-balanced meals are especially important if athletes are recovering from an injury and want to return to practice and competition.

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Performance-Enhancing Supplements: Information for Parents. Page Content. A study done using green tea e xtract over a prolonged period of time 10 weeks indicated that it is beneficial for improving endurance capacity by burning more body fat for fuel. The amount of green tea extract used in the study is the equivalent of drinking about four cups of green tea a day.

MCTs have gained traction with athletes seeking to increase energy levels and improve endurance during high-intensity exercise. It can also serve as an alternative energy source through nutritional ketosis for athletes on high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets.

Additionally, MCTs can be quickly mobilized in the post-exercise recovery phase to rebuild muscles and prevent muscle breakdown. MCTs can cause nausea and gastric discomfort, so start low and increase dose only as tolerated. Watermelon is rich in l-citrulline, an amino acid that can be converted to l-arginine, an amino acid that is used in the synthesis of nitric oxide, a vasodilator.

Consuming watermelon or watermelon juice before exercise helps cut recovery time and boost performance.

BCAAs refer to the structure of three amino acids , leucine, isoleucine and valine, that have been studied to help improve strength, power and endurance. The best evidence seems to be with using BCAAs for endurance workouts, such as sipping on BCAA-enhanced water before and during a long workout session.

Taking 5 to 20 grams of BCAAs per day, in divided doses, appears to be safe. Larger text size Large text size Regular text size. What Are Sports Supplements?

Do Sports Supplements Work? Are Sports Supplements Safe for Teens? It's hard to know if sports supplements are safe because: Long-term studies in teens haven't been done.

Sports supplements may contain harmful drugs or additives not listed on the label. If you're considering taking a sports supplement, talk to your doctor first.

Are Sports Supplements Checked for Safety? If there is a problem with a supplement, the FDA will investigate it. What Are the Different Kinds of Sports Supplements? Many sports supplements are available. Common ones include: Creatine Creatine pronounced: KREE-eh-teen is a substance made in the body.

Even though creatine may have benefits, it can cause side effects such as: weight gain joint stiffness muscle cramping nausea headaches Few studies have looked at the long-term safety of creatine use by teens.

Amino Acid Supplements Amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, help build muscle. Protein Supplements Most protein supplements are made of the proteins casein and whey. This can happen: during periods of rapid growth when first starting to work out when increasing the intensity of workouts when recovering from injury if they are vegetarian or vegan In general, protein supplements do not seem to cause serious side effects.

In high doses, they can cause: thirst bloating cramps diarrhea poor appetite tiredness As with other supplements, long-term studies in teens haven't been done. Caffeine There is some evidence that caffeine can boost sports performance. Side effects vary from person to person but can include: headaches irritability nervousness dehydration stomach upset trouble sleeping racing heart irregular heartbeat The long-term effects of caffeine on teens aren't known, so it's best to avoid it.

What Can I Do to Get the Best Training Without Sports Supplements? To get the most out of athletic training without using sports supplements: Eat a healthy diet.

A dietitian or nutritionist can help plan a diet that is best for your age, weight, and activities. Train smart.

Sodium phosphate loading improves laboratory cycling time-trial performance in trained cyclists. French , C. Caffeine ingestion during exercise to exhaustion in elite distance runners. Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, 31 3 , — Ganio , M.

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Sports Medicine, 44 Suppl. Katz , A. Maximal exercise tolerance after induced alkalosis. International Journal of Sports Medicine, 5 2 , — Kopec , B. Effects of sodium phosphate and caffeine ingestion on repeated-sprint ability in male athletes.

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Castell , S. Burke Eds. New York, NY : Routledge. Beetroot juice improves on-water m time-trial performance, and laboratory-based paddling economy in national and international-level kayak athletes.

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Journal of Sports Sciences, 24 11 , — Wylie , L. Influence of beetroot juice supplementation on intermittent exercise performance. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 2 , — Peeling, Binnie, and Goods are with the Western Australian Institute of Sport, Mount Claremont, Western Australia, Australia.

Sim is with the School of Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, Western Australia, Australia. Burke is with the Australian Institute of Sport, Bruce, Australia; and with the Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia.

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in International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism. Peter Peeling Peter Peeling The University of Western Australia Western Australian Institute of Sport Search for other papers by Peter Peeling in Current site Google Scholar PubMed Close. Martyn J. Binnie Martyn J.

Binnie The University of Western Australia Western Australian Institute of Sport Search for other papers by Martyn J. Binnie in Current site Google Scholar PubMed Close. Paul S. Goods Paul S. Goods Western Australian Institute of Sport Search for other papers by Paul S.

Goods in Current site Google Scholar PubMed Close. Marc Sim Marc Sim Edith Cowan University Search for other papers by Marc Sim in Current site Google Scholar PubMed Close.

Louise M. Burke Louise M. Burke Australian Institute of Sport Australian Catholic University Search for other papers by Louise M. Burke in Current site Google Scholar PubMed Close. In Print: Volume Issue 2. Page Range: — Open access. Get Citation Alerts.

Download PDF. Abstract Full Text PDF Author Notes. Established Performance Supplements There is robust evidence that the following supplements can enhance sports performance when used according to established protocols. Caffeine Caffeine, a stimulant that is ubiquitously consumed in the diets of most adults, has well-established benefits for athletic performance.

Endurance performance Caffeine supplementation is known to improve endurance capacity during time to fatigue exercise tasks—for instance, during activities such as treadmill running to exhaustion French et al. Short-term, supramaximal, and repeated sprint tasks The effects of caffeine on short-term, supramaximal, and repeated sprint tasks have been less well studied.

Creatine Creatine is another widely-researched supplement, with creatine monohydrate CM being the most common form used to supplement dietary intake from meats. Nitrate Dietary nitrate NO 3 — is a popular supplement initially found to improve oxygen uptake VO 2 kinetics during prolonged submaximal exercise Bailey et al.

Beta-Alanine Beta-alanine is the rate-limiting precursor to carnosine, an endogenous intracellular muscle buffer, and one of the immediate defenses against the accumulation of protons in the contracting musculature during exercise Lancha Junior et al.

Sodium Bicarbonate Ingestion of sodium bicarbonate NaHCO 3 is proposed to enhance high-intensity exercise performance as an extracellular blood buffer; however, the mechanisms of action are complex Siegler et al.

Equivocal Performance Supplements The following supplements are also used by athletes; however, the evidence-base for their potential to enhance athletic performance is less clear.

Sodium Citrate Similar to NaHCO 3 , sodium citrate acts as a blood buffer by increasing pH in the extracellular environment, and increasing the gradient between the blood and the active muscle. Phosphates Numerous hypotheses have been proposed to support the potential benefits of phosphate supplementation on athletic performance see Buck et al.

Developing Performance Supplements This section covers supplements which are emerging in both their popularity and the evidence base for athletic performance benefits.

Concluding Remarks This review summarizes the evidence for a number of commonly-used supplements, ingested with the aim of enhancing athletic performance. PubMed Brewer , C. PubMed false. PubMed Burke , L.

In the 20th century, testosterone was isolated and characterized by scientists. In the s, the main PEDs were cortisone and anabolic steroids. Adolescents are the most vulnerable group when it comes to taking performance-enhancing substances.

In sports, the term performance-enhancing drugs is popularly used in reference to anabolic steroids or their precursors hence the colloquial term "steroids" ; anti-doping organizations apply the term broadly.

When medical exemptions are granted they are called therapeutic use exemptions. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history.

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Download as PDF Printable version. Substance used to improve any form of activity performance in humans. Main article: Anabolic steroid. Main article: Stimulant. Main articles: Human growth hormone , Creatine , and Beta-Hydroxy-Beta-methylbutyrate.

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Amphetamines and caffeine are stimulants that increase alertness, improve focus, decrease reaction time, and delay fatigue, allowing for an increased intensity and duration of training Current Neuropharmacology. The first aim of this paper was to review current trends in the misuse of smart drugs also known as Nootropics presently available on the market focusing in detail on methylphenidate, trying to evaluate the potential risk in healthy individuals, especially teenagers and young adults.

Better Fighting Through Chemistry? The Role of FDA Regulation in Crafting the Warrior of the Future. Food and Drug Law: Final Paper. Retrieved 4 March British Journal of Pharmacology.

ISSN Retrieved 12 April Substance Abuse and Rehabilitation. Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology. Clinics in Sports Medicine. In , Chandler and Blair 47 showed significant increases in knee extension strength, acceleration, anaerobic capacity, time to exhaustion during exercise, pre-exercise and maximum heart rates, and time to exhaustion during maximal oxygen consumption VO2 max testing after administration of 15 mg of dextroamphetamine versus placebo.

Most of the information to answer this question has been obtained in the past decade through studies of fatigue rather than an attempt to systematically investigate the effect of ADHD drugs on exercise. In , Roelands and colleagues 53 studied the effect of reboxetine, a pure NE reuptake inhibitor, similar to atomoxetine, in 9 healthy, well-trained cyclists.

They too exercised in both temperate and warm environments. They showed decreased power output and exercise performance at both 18 and 30 degrees centigrade. Their conclusion was that DA reuptake inhibition was the cause of the increased exercise performance seen with drugs that affect both DA and NE MPH, amphetamine, and bupropion.

Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience. Manipulations of dopaminergic signaling profoundly influence interval timing, leading to the hypothesis that dopamine influences internal pacemaker, or "clock," activity.

For instance, amphetamine, which increases concentrations of dopamine at the synaptic cleft advances the start of responding during interval timing, whereas antagonists of D2 type dopamine receptors typically slow timing; Depletion of dopamine in healthy volunteers impairs timing, while amphetamine releases synaptic dopamine and speeds up timing.

Sports Medicine. S2CID Frontiers in Physiology. Aside from accounting for the reduced performance of mentally fatigued participants, this model rationalizes the reduced RPE and hence improved cycling time trial performance of athletes using a glucose mouthwash Chambers et al.

Dopamine stimulating drugs are known to enhance aspects of exercise performance Roelands et al. Sports Medicine Auckland, N. ISSN X. World Anti-Doping Agency.

In recent decennia however, it became clear that the central nervous system plays an important role in the onset of fatigue during prolonged exercise Klass et al. This indicates that subjects did not feel they were producing more power and consequently more heat.

The authors concluded that the "safety switch" or the mechanisms existing in the body to prevent harmful effects are overridden by the drug administration Roelands et al. Taken together, these data indicate strong ergogenic effects of an increased DA concentration in the brain, without any change in the perception of effort.

The combined effects of DA and NA on performance in the heat were studied by our research group on a number of occasions. Coinciding with this ergogenic effect, the authors observed core temperatures that were much higher compared with the placebo situation.

Interestingly, this occurred without any change in the subjective feelings of thermal sensation or perceived exertion. Similar to the methylphenidate study Roelands et al. Sports Health.

February Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry. December International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance. British Journal of Sports Medicine. Molecular Pathology. October April Endocrine Reviews.

Current Drug Targets. European Medicines Agency Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.