Bin Naharudin, MN, Yusof, A, Shaw, H, Stockton, M, Clayton, DJ, and James, LJ. Breakfast omission reduces subsequent resistance exercise performance. J Strength Cond Res 33(7): 1766-1772, 2019-Although much research has examined the influence of morning carbohydrate intake (i.e., breakfast) on endurance performance, little is known about its effects on performance in resistance-type exercise. Sixteen resistance-trained men (age 23 ± 4 years, body mass 77.56 ± 7.13 kg, and height 1.75 ± 0.04 m) who regularly (≥3 day/wk) consumed breakfast completed this study. After assessment of 10 repetition maximum (10RM) and familiarization process, subjects completed 2 randomized trials. After an overnight fast, subjects consumed either a typical breakfast meal (containing 1.5 g of carbohydrate/kg; breakfast consumption [BC]) or a water-only breakfast (breakfast omission [BO]). Two hours later, subjects performed 4 sets to failure of back squat and bench press at 90% of their 10RM. Sensations of hunger, fullness, desire to eat, and prospective food consumption were collected before, as well as immediately, 1 hour and 2 hours after BC/BO using 100-mm visual analogue scales. Total repetitions completed were lower during BO for both back squat (BO: 58 ± 11 repetitions; BC: 68 ± 14 repetitions; effect size [ES] = 0.98; p < 0.001) and bench press (BO: 38 ± 5 repetitions; BC: 40 ± 5 repetitions; ES = 1.06; p < 0.001). Fullness was greater, whereas hunger, desire to eat, and prospective food consumption were lower after a meal for BC compared with BO (p < 0.001). The results of this study demonstrate that omission of a pre-exercise breakfast might impair resistance exercise performance in habitual breakfast consumers. Therefore, consumption of a high-carbohydrate meal before resistance exercise might be a prudent strategy to help maximize performance.
Given the common view that pre-exercise nutrition/breakfast is important for performance, the present study investigated whether breakfast influences resistance exercise performance via a physiological or psychological effect. Twenty-two resistance-trained, breakfast-consuming men completed three experimental trials, consuming water-only (WAT), or semi-solid breakfasts containing 0 g/kg (PLA) or 1·5 g/kg (CHO) maltodextrin. PLA and CHO meals contained xanthan gum and low-energy flavouring (approximately 122 kJ), and subjects were told both 'contained energy'. At 2 h post-meal, subjects completed four sets of back squat and bench press to failure at 90 % ten repetition maximum. Blood samples were taken pre-meal, 45 min and 105 min post-meal to measure serum/plasma glucose, insulin, ghrelin, glucagon-like peptide-1 and peptide tyrosine-tyrosine concentrations. Subjective hunger/fullness was also measured. Total back squat repetitions were greater in CHO (44 (sd 10) repetitions) and PLA (43 (sd 10) repetitions) than WAT (38 (sd 10) repetitions; P < 0·001). Total bench press repetitions were similar between trials (WAT 37 (sd 7) repetitions; CHO 39 (sd 7) repetitions; PLA 38 (sd 7) repetitions; P = 0·130). Performance was similar between CHO and PLA trials. Hunger was suppressed and fullness increased similarly in PLA and CHO, relative to WAT (P < 0·001). During CHO, plasma glucose was elevated at 45 min (P < 0·05), whilst serum insulin was elevated (P < 0·05) and plasma ghrelin suppressed at 45 and 105 min (P < 0·05). These results suggest that breakfast/pre-exercise nutrition enhances resistance exercise performance via a psychological effect, although a potential mediating role of hunger cannot be discounted.