The Effect of Carbohydrate Supplementation on Pistol Shooting Performance of Police Officers after Exhaustive Acute Exercise

Pistol shooting performance in police officers is very important during chasing the suspects. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of carbohydrate supplementation on pistol shooting performance, pulse rate (PR), systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) of police officers after exhaustive acute exercise.  In this semi- experimental study, 40 male officers with mean age of 30.12±2.21 years and more than eight years of police experience were divided into five groups of eight subjects including 1) control (C), 2) placebo consumption before exercise (PBE), 3) placebo consumption during exercise (PDE), (4) carbohydrate consumption before exercise (CBE), and 5) carbohydrate consumption during exercise (CDE). All subjects performed an exhaustive acute exercise on the treadmill between two shooting trails and according to the protocol; they consumed carbohydrates and placebo supplementation. Pistol shooting performance, PR, SBP and DBP were measured before and after exercise.  Pistol shooting performance in PBE and PDE groups significantly decreased after exercise (P≤0.05) nevertheless in CDE group significantly increased (P≤0.05) also PR and SBP in PBE, PDE, CBE, and CDE groups significantly increased after exercise (P≤0.05).  It appears that carbohydrates supplementation during exhaustive acute exercise can enhance pistol shooting performance in police officers.