Research
Mixed
Acute supplementation with capsaicin or capsiate (typically 12 mg, 45 minutes pre-exercise) significantly enhances muscular endurance (volume load/repetitions to failure) in resistance training.
If you are doing resistance training, taking 12 mg of capsaicin or capsiate 45 minutes before your workout may help you squeeze out a few more reps or sets. This effect is likely due to reduced perceived effort (RPE) and potentially better muscle contraction mechanics. It does not appear to help with cardio/endurance tasks like running or cycling.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
In the meta-analysis for muscular endurance, a significant ergogenic effect of capsaicin/capsiate was found (Cohen’s d: 0.27; 95% confidence interval: 0.10, 0.43; p = 0.002).
Why this rating
Meta-analysis of 14 human studies, though risk of bias was 'some concerns' or 'high risk' in several.
Source
Effects of Capsaicin and Capsiate on Endurance Performance: A Meta-Analysis
Jozo Grgić et al. · Nutrients · 2022
DOI 10.3390/nu14214531
Meta-analysis · 14 studiesCited 17×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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