Smelling chocolate could make your leg day workout easier, even on an empty stomach

Smelling chocolate between sets at the gym pushed men to complete far more repetitions than they managed with no scent at all, a new study has found. The men had not eaten for at least ten hours. Yet the boost showed up anyway, and it was strongest with dark chocolate. They did not feel like they were working any harder, even as their rep counts climbed. That gap suggests the brain, not the muscles, is where the smell did its work, hinting that a simple sensory trick could help people train on an empty stomach.