Sodium bicarbonate, the popular baking soda, is a chemical compound that is used not only in the kitchen, but also in sports! It turns out that sodium bicarbonate consumed before training can significantly increase our performance and improve athletic performance. The properties of baking soda can be surprising. Learn more about baking soda in sports training.

Contents:

  1. Baking soda in training - how it works for muscles
  2. Baking soda in training - running and other disciplines
  3. Baking soda in training - how to use
  4. Baking soda in training - side effects

Baking soda is known mainly as an ingredient added to dishes and is hidden in food compositions under the abbreviation E500b. When used for food, it regulates the pH of a given product and is also often used as an ingredient in carbonated drinks and effervescent tablets. In pharmacology, soda is used to neutralize stomach acids.

What does all this have to do with sports and the use of baking soda in training? You may be surprised, but a lot. Sodium bicarbonate surprises not only with its properties, but also with its price - soda is probably the cheapest supplement with a proven effect!

Baking soda in training - how it works for muscles

Soda (sodium bicarbonate - NaHCO3) is an inorganic chemical compound from the bicarbonate group, hydrogen s alt of carbonic acid and sodium. Soda is known to be a popular product in the food industry. Recent studies show that soda can also be used in sports - the Australian Institute of Sport has reached such conclusions. According to scientists, sodium bicarbonate has an erogenous effect on the body, while the body under strain is limited by acid-base imbalance caused by high levels of anaerobic glycolysis.

Sodium bicarbonate gives really satisfactory results and has a lot of useful properties in sports training. During high-intensity exercise, acid (H +) and carbon dioxide (CO2) build up in the working muscles and blood. However, the main system in which the body gets rid of acidity and CO2 is the bicarbonate system.

This is done by converting sodium bicarbonate before it is later removed through the lungs. Induring intense exercise, a process takes place in the cells that increases the accumulation of metabolites such as inorganic phosphates, hydrogen ions, ADP and others. What does baking soda have to do with it?

Baking soda acts as an extracellular buffer belonging to the blood buffer system and helps regulate the pH inside cells by increasing the extracellular pH and bicarbonate (HCO3) concentration. This means that the pH gradient created between the intracellular and extracellular environment leads to the influence of H + and La- ions, i.e. lactate ions, from the muscles working during a specific training unit.

Baking soda in training - running and other disciplines

The use of sodium carbohydrate is used in efforts characterized by high training intensity. These should be repetitive, intense activities lasting from 1 to 7 minutes (e.g. sprints).

Read: Supplements for runners. What dietary supplements should I take before and after running?

Baking soda is most often used in rowing and short-distance running, although recently more and more athletes are using baking soda also in strength training. Researchers from Coventry University showed that soda taken before strength exertion helped athletes increase the number of repetitions performed in a weighted squat.

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As sodium bicarbonate increases physical performance in athletes who perform repetitive intense movements, it also works in other disciplines. It has been observed that bicarbonate can improve the performance of trained swimmers over 200 m freestyle and exercise capacity in short runs of 400-800 meters or cycling over 3 km.

Baking soda in training - how to use

In order for the soda to work effectively, it should be consumed 1-2 hours before the planned exercise. The measure should reach 0.2-0.4 g / kg bw. Then the soda will increase the extracellular buffer capacity and our cellular efficiency will increase. Professional literature also suggests the possibility of dividing the dose of soda into several smaller portions, but so that the last dose is taken at least 30 minutes before exercise.

Baking soda can also be used immediately before a sports event. In this case, 3-4 small doses are consumed daily for two to four days before a competition or other important sporting event.

There are also reports in the scientific literature suggesting a synergistic effect of ß-alanine and sodium bicarbonate supplementation with regard to the improvement of physical fitness in athletes.

Baking soda in training - side effects

Soda, despite its positive effect on sports efficiency, is unfortunately not well tolerated by our body. Consumed once before targeted physical exertion and in large amounts it requires, it can irritate our digestive system. In many cases, there are allergies and intolerances to this chemical compound, which in turn leads to acute gastrointestinal ailments.

There is, however, a way to minimize digestive ailments. In order for the soda not to have a negative effect on us, it should be eaten with a meal rich in carbohydrates. Such a meal should contain approximately 1.5 g of carbohydrate per kg of total body weight. Another way to benefit from baking soda is to consume it with sodium citrate.

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Before we use baking soda and want to find out about its he alth-promoting properties on our own skin, we should do a soda tolerance test. It is not recommended to use sodium bicarbonate for the first time before an important sports event - it may turn out to be, contrary to the intended purpose, a great inconvenience and reduce sports performance, or even disqualify us from the competition.

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