THE EFFECT OF A CARBOHYDRATE MOUTH-WASH ON SOCCER SKILL PERFORMANCE, FOLLOWING A FATIGUE-INDUCING SOCCER-SPECIFIC SIMULATION

Abstract

CHO ingestion has been shown to improve steady state exercise, sport-specific intermittent exercise and soccer skill performance, whereas the examination of a CHO mouthwash has mainly focused on the performance benefits to steady state exercise. Therefore, the study aimed to establish whether using a carbohydrate (CHO) mouthwash would affect physical and skill performance following a fatigue-inducing soccer simulation protocol (SSP). Eleven male semi-professional soccer players performed the Loughborough soccer shooting test (LSST) and the slalom dribble test before and after the SSP on three separate occasions. In a double-blind randomised, cross-over design, participants we given a 6.4% CHO mouthwash, a placebo (PLA) mouthwash or no treatment (CON). Participants in the CHO and PLA trials were required to swill the solution around the mouth for 5s at the start of every exercise block. Block 1 mean repeated sprint (RS) times were significantly quicker than all other blocks (P < 0.001). Post-SSP shooting accuracy was significantly lower (13.84%) than pre-SSP values (P < 0.05). There were no significant differences between pre- and post-SSP slalom dribble times (P > 0.05). There were no between-condition differences in any measures (P > 0.05). Despite no statistically significant findings there was a tendency for decrements in performance for RS, LSST and slalom dribble times to be smaller in the CHO trial. The findings of the study show that using a CHO mouthwash did not attenuate declines in RS times or performance of soccer-specific skills.