Although you might think otherwise, not all ergogenic aids come from bottles or tubs! According to some sports psychologists, the right sounds and images at the right time are not only uplifting for the spirit, they also help you train and perform better, and can therefore also be thought of as ergogenic aids. In particular, new research suggests that listening to carefully selected music and watching personal motivational videos can be especially valuable for athletes seeking to boost performances both in training and competition Andy Lane. a sports psychologist who has carried out some research in the area of these new techniques, and explains how they can be assessed and suggests ways in which they can be incorporated into training. Some of his findings have include the following: music can be used to enhance emotions and emotions have a powerful ergogenic effect on performance and an athlete’s response to music is highly individualised but can be assessed using the ‘music mood regulation’ scale. It has also been said that music can be as an ergogenic aid, but what is this music/mood regulation scale, how can you determine what types of music are most likely to enhance performance and what are the techniques required for putting together your own music and video sequence?

Research Round-up The latest research on ergogenic aids, with new studies different ergogenic aids have included:

Creatine serum and running

In recent years, other more exotic and expensive forms of creatine have appeared, which claim to offer performance benefits over standard creatine. One of these is ‘creatine serum’, a liquid form of creatine that is claimed to offer a number of other advantages over powdered creatine. Californian researchers examined the effects of ingesting creatine serum on cross-country runners; their findings noted that runners taking the serum had significantly lower perceived rates of exertion and better endurance. However, there was no noticeable improvement in the 5000m run times of those taking the serum, which lead them to conclude that their findings did not support creatine serum as an ergogenic aid.