The placebo effect has long been a successful add-on to all kinds of medical treatment — even a fake treatment can have a huge effect if you believe in it, and there’s a growing body of research suggesting there can be a similar effect when it comes to exercise.

A study by scientists at the University of Agder in Norway showed that simply telling people they were getting a special type of physical training led to greater improvement.

The study involved 40 men and women in their 20s. One group was told they were being put on a specially designed training programme, while the other group was told they were being put on the usual training programme.

In fact, all 40 volunteers followed the same regimen which involved a mixture of 20 metre  sprints, leg-press exercises and squats. The experiment lasted ten weeks, and the results, published in April 2023 in the journal Scientific Reports, showed that those who believed they were following the tailored training programme achieved greater increases in muscle size and were able to do more squats.

The success of participants might have been because they exercised with greater intensity because they expected the training plan to have the desired effect. On the other hand, they might have felt compelled to work hard to show the regimen produced good results because they believe the training was personally tailored to their own needs. But it could also be because the placebo effect made them believe that having a tailored exercise plan reduced anxiety, which in turn reduced muscle tension and made movements more efficient. In other words, if you believe the training programme is optimised for you, then you will probably reap the benefit.

People who drink coffee, which contains caffeine, also experience marginal gains in physical performance because caffeine helps muscles produce more force by stimulating the release of calcium into muscle tissue, thus allowing them to contract with greater force.

According to a 2019 study published in the International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, it seems the same effects can be achieved by simply telling people they have consumed caffeine.

Researchers at Canterbury Christ Church University asked 11 athletes to run 1km as fast as they could. The athletes did this three times. Prior to the first two runs, they were given a drink they were told contained caffeine… in fact, the second one did not contain any. Prior to the third run, they had no drink at all. All 11 participants did run faster after a caffeine drink than after no drink at all. But they ran almost as fast in the second run, when they believed their drink contained caffeine.

Dr Philip Hurst, a senior lecturer in sports and exercise psychiatry, who was involved in the study said that ‘If someone thinks they’re having caffeine and it’s going to help them, then they may try a bit harder. Studies show the placebo effect in sports can improve performance by 1% and 3%… that might not seem a lot but it could mean the difference between winning a medal at the Olympic Games and not making the final.‘

Non-athletes can also benefit. A study carried out by Harvard University found that simply changing the way we think about exercise can boost fitness. Psychologist Ellen Langer monitored 84 hotel maids who did physically demanding work such as vacuuming, changing bed linen and cleaning bathrooms. Langer explained to one half of the group how they were actually meeting recommended exercise levels just by doing their job, whilst letting the other half believing they were largely inactive.

A month later, the results showed that the women who’d been told they were exercising had experienced an average 10% drop in blood pressure, while for the rest, there was no change.The researchers, writing in the journal Psychological Science in 2007, concluded that if you believe you are exercising, your body will respond as if it is.

One way to capitalise on this power of the mind would be to exercise with people who you think are fitter than you are. A 2012 study at Kansas State University found that volunteers who did this increased their workout time and intensity by up to 200%, compared to training alone.

A 2010 study by Santa Clara University, California, and reported the Journal of Social Sciences showed that people who exercised with more physically fit friends tried harder to be as active as them, but those who exercised with less fit friends reduced their own efforts.

The placebo effect can be a social phenomenon… you’re simply more likely to respond to it if you are with people who have the same goals.