Caffeine, lactic acid, or nothing: What effect does expectation have on men's performance and perceived exertion during an upper body muscular endurance task?

Objective: We tested the impact of subjects' belief in an ingested substance's ergogenic or ergolytic properties on muscular endurance performance and perceived exertion. Methods: ≤ 0.05. Subjects who performed more repetitions with Placebo tended to perform fewer repetitions under the Nocebo condition (Spearman's Rho =-0.578). Conclusion: This study believes that the ergogenic or ergolytic properties of a substance can measurably impact upper-body muscular endurance performance and RPE in trained men.