Condition
Football Performance
Football, whether soccer or American, asks the body for endurance, speed, power, agility and the ability to repeat hard efforts again and again. Creatine has the strongest evidence among supplements for those explosive, repeated efforts, and in a small study of 20 people beta-alanine eased fatigue symptoms. Still, findings here are sparse and small, and HMB showed no clear difference in anaerobic capacity in 28 people, so the picture is far from settled.
Sources: PMID 22270875
- Supplements studied
- 4
- Graded outcomes
- 4
- Trials
- 6
- People studied
- 176
Evidence by supplement
- Strong
- Moderate
- Limited
- Very limited
| Grade | Outcome | Effect | Size | Studies | People | Studies list |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilirubin No effect | NoneNo effect | 1 study | 23 people | |||
Studies that measured bilirubin | ||||||
| Creatinine | Improves (the measure goes up) | 3 studies | 23 people | |||
Studies that measured creatinine
| ||||||
| Urea | Improves (the measure goes up) | 23 people | ||||
HMB
- Anaerobic Capacity
- Muscle Mass: improves
- Muscle Soreness: improves
| Grade | Outcome | Effect | Size | Studies | People | Studies list |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anaerobic Capacity No effect | NoneNo effect | 28 people | ||||
| Muscle Mass | Improves (the measure goes up) | 8 studies | 28 people | |||
Studies that measured muscle mass
| ||||||
| Muscle Soreness | Improves (the measure goes down) | 2 studies | 26 people | |||
Studies that measured muscle soreness | ||||||
| Power Output | Improves (the measure goes up) | 2 studies | 54 people | |||
| Body Fat | Improves (the measure goes down) | 1 study | 28 people | |||
| Muscle Damage | Changes; see studies | 1 study | 26 people | |||
| Cortisol | Improves (the measure goes down) | 26 people | ||||
| Fatigue Symptoms | Improves (the measure goes down) | 26 people | ||||
| Testosterone | Improves (the measure goes up) | 26 people | ||||
| Training Volume | Improves (the measure goes up) | 26 people | ||||
Pyruvate
- Power Output: improves
| Grade | Outcome | Effect | Size | Studies | People | Studies list |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Power Output | Improves (the measure goes up) | 1 study | 42 people | |||
Key findings
- Fatigue SymptomsImproves (the measure goes down)
- Bilirubin
- Anaerobic Capacity
The Football Performance Enhancement protocol
2 primary supplements · 6 supporting supplements
- Creatine Monohydrate3–5 g daily (or 20 g/day x 5–7 days loading, then 3–5 g maintenance)
- Beta-Alanine3–6 g daily (divided doses to reduce tingling)
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Studies cited
30 studies from PubMed
- Effects of in-season (5 weeks) creatine and pyruvate supplementation on anaerobic performance and body composition in American football players
- The effects of β-hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate or HMB-rich nutritional supplements on sarcopenia patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
- β-Hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate free acid reduces markers of exercise-induced muscle damage and improves recovery in resistance-trained men
- Exercise-induced muscle damage is not attenuated by beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate and alpha-ketoisocaproic acid supplementation
- Effects of beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate supplementation on strength and body composition in trained and competitive athletes: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
- Supplementation with the Leucine Metabolite β-hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate (HMB) does not Improve Resistance Exercise-Induced Changes in Body Composition or Strength in Young Subjects: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
- Effects of oral administration of β-hydroxy β-methylbutyrate on lean body mass in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis
- Effects of oral supplementation of β -hydroxy-β -methylbutyrate on muscle mass and strength in individuals over the age of 50: a meta-analysis.
- The Effects of Beta-Hydroxy-Beta-Methylbutyrate Supplementation on Recovery Following Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
- Beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate ingestion, Part I: effects on strength and fat free mass
- Effects of beta-hydroxy beta-methylbutyrate on power performance and indices of muscle damage and stress during high-intensity training
- Effects of nine weeks of beta-hydroxy-beta- methylbutyrate supplementation on strength and body composition in resistance trained men
- Beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (HMB) supplementation does not affect changes in strength or body composition during resistance training in trained men
- The effect of HMB supplementation on body composition, fitness, hormonal and inflammatory mediators in elite adolescent volleyball players: a prospective randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study
- Body composition in 70-year-old adults responds to dietary beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate similarly to that of young adults
- Creatine monohydrate supplementation does not improve functional recovery after total knee arthroplasty
- Effects of long-term creatine supplementation on liver and kidney functions in American college football players
- Creatine has no beneficial effect on skeletal muscle energy metabolism in patients with single mitochondrial DNA deletions: a placebo-controlled, double-blind 31P-MRS crossover study
- Effects of creatine supplementation on oxidative stress and inflammatory markers after repeated-sprint exercise in humans
- Short-duration beta-alanine supplementation increases training volume and reduces subjective feelings of fatigue in college football players
- Effects of β-alanine supplementation on performance and body composition in collegiate wrestlers and football players
- Important role of muscle carnosine in rowing performance
- Six weeks of high-intensity interval training with and without beta-alanine supplementation for improving cardiovascular fitness in women
- Effects of beta-alanine supplementation on body composition: a GRADE-assessed systematic review and meta-analysis.
- Effects of beta-alanine supplementation on the onset of neuromuscular fatigue and ventilatory threshold in women
- Effect of beta-alanine supplementation on the onset of blood lactate accumulation (OBLA) during treadmill running: Pre/post 2 treatment experimental design
- Beta-alanine and the hormonal response to exercise
- beta-Alanine supplementation augments muscle carnosine content and attenuates fatigue during repeated isokinetic contraction bouts in trained sprinters
- Effects of β-alanine supplementation on exercise performance: a meta-analysis
- Effects of 28 days of beta-alanine and creatine monohydrate supplementation on aerobic power, ventilatory and lactate thresholds, and time to exhaustion