Performance Starts in the Mind (Chocolate edition)
- Andrew J Calvert
- Jul 20
- 1 min read
Good news for anyone who has ever wished exercise involved more chocolate.
Researchers recently discovered that simply smelling dark chocolate between sets helped fasted gym-goers complete significantly more repetitions without feeling like they were working any harder.
Before you rush to replace your pre-workout with a family-sized block of 90% cacao, there are a few caveats.
The study involved just 23 young men performing leg extensions after fasting overnight and of those exposed to the smell of 90% dark chocolate completed around 18 more repetitions than when they smelled plain water.
Interestingly, they didn't report the exercise feeling any harder.
The researchers think the aroma may act as a learned signal to the brain, triggering expectations of a rich, satisfying meal and subtly changing motivation, appetite and effort.
So, if you see someone at the gym taking long appreciative sniffs of a bar of dark chocolate between sets... they may not have completely lost the plot. They may just be keeping up with the latest exercise science.
As always, it's one small study, so let's not get carried away. But it's another reminder that performance isn't just about muscles. Sometimes your brain gets there first.
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