ELJ Supplementation and Recovery
Description
Eurycoma longifolia Jack or Tongkat Ali is a popular Malaysian ginseng and used for medical purposes for thousands of years mainly in Southeast Asian countries. It contains several compounds that are reported to be effective for anti-aging, and enhance androgen hormones such as testosterone. No previous study has investigated the effects of Tongkat Ali supplementation on exercise-induced muscle damage that is indicated by muscle soreness and a prolonged loss of muscle function. We expected that muscle function would recover faster and soreness would be less after exercise, when Tongkat Ali was supplemented in comparison to placebo condition.
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Steps to reproduce
The independent variable was the supplementation (Tongkat Ali vs Placebo) and the dependent variables included: eccentric contractions (leg press exercise) to failure, countermovement jump, drop jump, plasma creatine kinase activity, muscle soreness, and hormones (testosterone, cortisol). The eccentric exercise (leg press) was preceded by one-week daily supplementation of either Tongkat Ali or Placebo (maltodextrin), and the dependent variables were measured at 24 hours before, immediately after, 24, 48, 72 and 96 hours after the exercise.