Date of Award

8-1-1974

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Kinesiology & Public Health Education

Abstract

It has always been desired that the meal consumed prior to competition would enhance the athlete's performance. The problem is that no one knows how different pre-competition meals affect the performance of the athlete.

Sixty-eight Oklahoma State University football players ran a two-mile run after consuming one of four treatments-- steak and eggs, pancakes, oatmeal and eggs, and a control meal. Subjects were grouped by football position and blocked in fours based on a pre-test time. Subjects were assigned treatments randomly with each subject in each block having a different treatment. A questionnaire was filled out after testing by the subjects to get their feelings toward their performance with their assigned treatment. Using the analysis of variance, the data indicated that according to the requirements of the F value, the four treatments had no effect on performance in the two-mile run. The questionnaire indicated that a greater number of the subjects did not feel they were affected by their treatments. The majority of the subjects who ate steak and eggs showed a preference for that meal, whereas the subjects who ate the other meals disliked them or indicated that it did not matter to them what they ate.

The treatments did not have an effect on the subjects' performance in the two-mile run, and the questionnaire suggested that the psychological factors involving the precompetition meal may be more important than the meal itself.

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