THE SECRET TO WEIGHT-LIFTING ... SMELLING CHOCOLATE
The secret to Popeye’s strength was a can of spinach, but scientists have suggested just a whiff of something sweeter may do the trick.
Getting an extra boost when lifting weights in the gym may be as simple as smelling chocolate, a study has suggested.
New research has found that the scent of dark chocolate in particular helped people perform more leg extension reps.
The small study involved 23 healthy men in their early to mid-20s, all of whom had not eaten for 10 hours before the workout.
The researchers from the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, said the scent of familiar and appealing food could trigger the psychological shift in appetite needed to boost gym performance without actually eating the food.
The men were divided into three groups and asked to sniff one of three samples: liquefied dark chocolate containing 90 per cent cocoa, liquefied milk chocolate containing 60 per cent cocoa or a water sample that acted as a control for the study.
They were then asked to perform leg extensions, which involve sitting down and extending the lower legs upwards to lift a weight.
More reps without training harder
Researchers assessed their performance before and during the training, with levels of hunger, fullness, desire to eat and plans to eat in the near future considered beforehand.
During the sets, hunger and desire to eat were also measured 30 seconds after the odour sample had been sniffed.
Those who sniffed dark chocolate were able to do around 18 more reps on average than those who had only smelt plain water. For the participants who were given milk chocolate, they did nine more reps.
The results also suggested that, compared with the water control and milk chocolate samples, sniffing dark chocolate consistently led to people feeling more satiated and less hungry.
Both groups who had smelt chocolate also did not feel as though they were training any harder, the study said.
Dr Mohamed Nashrudin bin Naharudin, the senior author of the study, said: “Exposing moderately trained men to chocolate odours right before and between sets of resistance exercise significantly increased their overall training volume without increasing their perceived exertion.
“Seeing a substantial increase in repetitions without the athletes feeling like they were exerting themselves any harder is a fascinating psychobiological outcome.”
Recommended
How dark chocolate can protect your heart, gut and brain (and the healthiest bars to buy)
The researchers suggested the changes in appetite perception could be related to what people had learnt about smells from a young age.
Anticipating food might have similar effects to when it is actually eaten, they suggested.
Previous research has suggested that people get a spike in the feel-good hormone dopamine in anticipation of a reward such as eating chocolate, but without having to eat it.
“The dark chocolate scent serves as a learned cue for a rich, bitter and highly satiating food, which essentially tricks the system into an anticipatory state of fullness,” Dr Nashrudin bin Naharudin said.
“Conversely, the sweeter milk chocolate scent acts more like a hedonic reward cue, enhancing training volume by creating a highly pleasant sensory environment rather than by shifting basic metabolic hunger signals.”
Although it has not been tested yet, other appealing foods could also have an effect, the team believes. However, they said more work was needed, including on larger samples.
2026-07-09T05:05:35Z
