Logan Staunton 

Abstract

Ingestion of Beetroot juice (BRJ) has been shown to have improvements on endurance performance and resistance training, but there's scarce evidence of its effectiveness on jumping ability. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of BRJ when compared to a placebo (PLA) on cardiorespiratory endurance, upper body muscular strength, and jumping ability. 16 high school athletes, 11 males and 5 females, performed a countermovement jump test (CMJ), 3 medicine ball throws, and a 20m shuttle run (SRT). Each participant had 2 sessions, one where they ingested 70mL of BRJ and another where they ingested 70mL of PLA (Blackcurrant juice). BRJ when compared to PLA showed on average to have a small improvement, but non-significant difference when looking at CMJ (BRJ AVG, 14.63; BCJ AVG, 14.40, p<0.89). When looking at medicine ball throw, BRJ showed no improvements, and there was no significant difference (BRJ AVG, 5.30; BCJ AVG, 5.38, p<0.89).When looking at the 20mSRT, BRJ shows no improvements and there is no significant difference (BRJ AVG, 4:39; BCJ AVG, 4:50, p<0.81). Due to all the p-values >0.80, across 3 different exercises, the supplemental groups data showed no difference and/or no correlation. BRJ shows no improvements in cardiorespiratory endurance, upper body muscular strength, or jumping ability. Future studies should be conducted in order to solidify the results.