2.7. Participant Allocation
RECRUITMENT
After baseline testing was complete, participants were stratified by sex (male or female), training status (resistance-trained, endurance-trained, or concurrently trained), and body fat percentage (greater or less than 20% for males, and greater or less than 25% for females) and were allocated to an intervention using a randomly generated sequence unique to each of the 12 possible permutations of the stratification approach. The sequences were developed using the “sample” randomization function within the R software package. Participants were either allocated to the control condition (CON) or to one of two intervention groups—protein and fat burner supplementation (PRO + FB) or protein alongside a placebo supplement powder (PRO)—at a 1:2:2 ratio, respectively. The placebo was designed to look identical to the active supplement and was provided to the participants in unlabeled containers marked A or B. All participants and laboratory personnel were blinded as to which canisters contained the placebo versus the active supplement. The sole investigator who was not blinded to the identity of the supplements (GMT) did not take part in participant recruitment, communication, or data collection at any time during the study.