Counteracting Static Stretching-Induced Anaerobic Performance Impairment: The Role of Caffeine

Static stretching (SS) practices can result in acute anaerobic performance reductions with an associated reduction in neural muscle input. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the neural stimulus of caffeine intake would sufficiently minimize or remove the potential inhibitory effect of acute SS on anaerobic performance measured by a 30-s all-out Wingate Anaerobic Test (WAnT). Twelve (12) recreational male athletes performed the WAnT under six conditions, namely a no-treatment control condition, an SS condition (nine lower-body SS exercises), a placebo condition (6 mg∙kg-1 maltodextrin), a placebo combined with SS condition, a caffeine condition (6 mg∙kg-1) and a caffeine combined with SS condition. Peak power output (PPO), average power output (AvPO) and maximal revolutions per minute (RPMmax) were measured. SS resulted in significantly lower PPO values (p = 0.005), RPMmax values (p = 0.014), and longer tPPO (p = 0.036) compared to the control condition. The condition of SS in combination with caffeine intake resulted in significantly higher PPO (p = 0.004), AvPO (p = 0.025) and RPMmax (p = 0.000) values compared to the condition of SS only. In addition, the control condition showed significantly lower values in PPO (p = 0.029), AvPO (p = 0.008), and RPMmax (p = 0.018) variables compared to the caffeine condition, whereas no significant difference (p = 0.260–0.567) was observed when compared with the caffeine and SS combination condition. The results of this study confirm the negative effects of SS on anaerobic performance while demonstrating that caffeine intake may minimize or counterbalance these effects. Additionally, the potential risk that SS may partially diminish the positive effects of caffeine should not be overlooked.