Cardinal Gibbons High School Rockin’ Refuel Study
Introduction:
Dr. John Ivy, a noted expert in the field of sports nutrition, states “It’s not just what you eat it’s when you eat.” That statement explains the underlying associations that nutrient timing can have a positive impact on the physical development of post-pubertal athletes. Recovery nutrition for athletes is well documented (see Appendix, 1-6). Many research articles tout the benefits of timely nutritional intake, but little has been done in the population of 16-17 year old athletes. With this in mind, Cardinal Gibbons High School decided to embark on a research project that addresses this understudied high school population with the hope of gaining a better understanding of the possible positive outcomes of timely nutrition. The objective of this study is to explore the impact the timely intake of a nutritional supplement (Rockin’ Refuel) has on 16-17 year old athletes. Our hope is to establish a performance baseline that merits the investment in nutritional products that can be administered in the “golden window” just after a training session that Dr. Ivy has championed in his work.
Location and environment:
Cardinal Gibbons High School is located in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. It is a co-ed Roman Catholic high school of approximately 1300 students, 140 full-time staff and 100 part-time staff. There are 26 varsity athletic teams along with 40 junior varsity and freshman teams. 75% of the student body (approximately 850 students) is involved in the athletic program.
Description:
An e-mail letter was sent to families of football and wrestling players inviting them to participate in a 13 week study using a nutritional recovery drink called Rockin Refuel (7 Rockin’ Refuel) . Twenty-three high school football and wrestling athletes’ families chose to participate in the study by writing a personal check to CGHS for $50.
This price covered 40 training sessions three times per week from February 26th-May 23rd.
Twenty-one participants in the test group did an off-season program designed by the certified strength and conditioning staff. The mean grade is sophomore-junior years in school or around age 15-16 years old. The pre-testing data yielded a standing long jump result of 85 inches, parallel squat of 216 lbs, and bench press of 153 lbs for the test group. The strength training sessions happened either before school, during school, or after school three times per week. At the conclusion of each workout an 11oz Chocolate Lactose Free Aseptic with 2:1 carbohydrate to protein ratio was administered to the test group student (7, Rockin’ Refuel Website). This specially formulated recovery drink contains 20 grams of high quality, natural protein with the optimal ratio for muscle recovery. In addition, it is great tasting, real low fat milk and an excellent source of protein and calcium. This product can be stored for 6 months without refrigeration but should be served cold.
In the control group another twenty-four students in weight training classes did a similar strength training program 3 or 4 days per week. The pre-testing data for the control for standing long jump was 96 inches, parallel squat 263 lbs, and flat bench press 181 lbs. The main difference in the study is that the control group was not given a Rockin’ Refuel shake. All the participants included members of the football and wrestling team.
Analysis:
My analysis for the study is that the independent variable of Rockin’ Refuel positively influenced the strength gains during the 13 weeks/31 strength sessions. If any students of either the test group or control group missed more than 5 sessions they were excluded from the study. All participants were pretested for three tests including: standing long jump, parallel squat, and flat bench press. The dependent variable is the strength and power gained by individual students in each group. The independent variable is how the Rockin’ Refuel product influenced the strength and power gains during this time period. My experience of working with college student-athletes over the last 10 years has shown me that student-athletes can make approximately a 2-4” gain in standing long jump, 15-20 lbs in parallel squat, and 10-15 lbs in bench press during this time frame. I would consider the trends for Rockin’ Refuel to push up the strength and power gains slightly for the test group compared to the control group. My estimate is to the extent of a 1-3% increase in the performance test.
Results:
Observing and working with the data over the last few days has yielded some interesting results. There were many variables to consider in a study of this sort. The main hypothesis remained the same but further explanation of three key areas includes: the profile characteristics of the participants, the actual strength training that took place, and the final results of the study. It should be noted that the pre-testing and post-testing protocol was performed exactly the same. There was a written description that was followed by all coaches.
The total number of participants in the test group was twenty-one and the control group was twenty-four. The average grade in the test group was 10.6 (half way through sophomore year) and the average control group was 11.4 (half way through junior year). The general maturation stage all participant were in ranged from pre-puberty to after puberty. The test group had a slight tendency toward pre-puberty and the control group to circum (during) or even post-puberty. The test group performed strength training three times per week in the morning or after school for a total of 31 sessions. These sessions consisted of progressive lower body pushing and upper body pulling on Monday and Friday with lower body pulling and upper body pushing on Wednesday. The control group performed strength during the same time period but more sessions totaling 50 training sessions. The control group followed a similar methodology with 3 days strength training through mid-April with agility and plyometrics on Tuesday and Thursday. In mid-April the control transitioned to 4 strength training sessions per week with Wednesdays being an agility and plyometrics day. The control group was required to attend all sessions as it was required for their weight training class grade. In regards to the test group all sessions were voluntary. One observation is that the test group had a high participation rate even though it was voluntary with 14 participants not missing even one session. Using the Rockin’ Refuel product enhanced the commitment pushing up the participation level.
The raw data for the control group was 97.5 inches, 282 lbs., and 211 lbs. for standing long jump, parallel squat, and flat bench press respectively. The test group raw data was 92.3 inches, 242 lbs., and 178 lbs. respectively on each performance test.
The re-testing results showed a positive difference in performance for the test group and the control group. The control group demonstrated an increased performance of 1%, 7%, and 14% in the standing long jump, parallel squat, and flat bench press exercises respectively. The test group demonstrated an increase of 7%,14%, and 14.5% on the same respective exercises. The data for the test group yielded a greater performance while using the Rockin’ Refuel product with an additional 6%, 7%, and less than 1% on the three performance tests of standing long jump, parallel squat, and flat bench press.
Discussion/Conclusion:
Most coaches recognize the most important meal of the day but what is the second most important? As a strength and conditioning coach I would say the meal that comes right after the training session is the second most important. Recovery nutrition can increase blood insulin levels, lower cortisol and other catabolic hormones, restore glycogen in the liver and muscle, increase substrate availability, and stimulate muscle catabolic state and tissue repair (4 Ivey, 2013 Slide 6).
Time of day for the training sessions should be considered in this study. Many of the test group participants worked out before or after school and had a full 60 minutes to finish their training session. The control group had a limited time of 45 minutes during school to finish their training session so not as much time per day would have been available. The control group did have an additional two days per week to do training which would have been given a total of 4.5 hours or 270 minutes. The test group had a total of 3 hours per week with one day between sessions for a total of 180 minutes. It is worth noting the additional time training did not seem to enhance the performance gains during this 13 week study between the groups.
One additional aspect to consider in the current study includes the younger relative age of the test group compared to the control group. It can be seen that athletes with less experience make greater performance gains when beginning an exercise program. This gives even further evidence for the need of a good nutritional supplement during the transition to puberty. Further studies using this type of population should be done with random selection of groups as a basis to verify the results experienced here.
Chris Morland, MS, CSCS, SCCC, USAW
Appendix:
- Rockwell, Michelle Recovery Nutrition mini-presentation for High School athletes by Michelle Rockwell of RK Team Nutrition for SportDrill project (see below) Michelle’s Bio: http://rkteamnutrition.com/michelle-rockwell/bio/
- Rockwell, Michelle RK Team Nutrition Optimum Performance Series (see below)
- Rockwell, Michelle Fueling Strength from RK Team Nutrition Optimum Performance Series. (see below)
- Ivy, L. John Nutrient Timing, the importance of Post Exercise Supplement Coaches College at East Tennessee State University, Power Point Presentation.
- Lloyd, S. Rhodri and Oliver, L. Jon Strength and Conditioning for Young athletes, Science and Application Chapter 13, Nutritional Strategies to optimize youth development.
- Faigenbaum, et. all Youth Resistance Training: Updated Position Statement paper from the National Strength and Conditioning Association.
- Rockin’ Refuel Website: http://rockinrefuel.com/products/muscle-recovery-chocolate-11oz-aseptic/
