Also see:
Protective Carbon Dioxide, Exercise, and Performance
Benefits of Aspirin
Exercise Induced Stress
Lactate Paradox: High Altitude and Exercise
Ray Peat, PhD on Carbon Dioxide, Longevity, and Regeneration
Carbohydrate Lowers Exercise Induced Stress
Protective Altitude
Bicarbonate For Strength Athletes: 25g of Baking Soda Up Your Squat (+27%) & Bench Press (+6%) Within 60 Min
J Strength Cond Res. 2004 May;18(2):306-10.
Combined creatine and sodium bicarbonate supplementation enhances interval swimming.
Mero AA, Keskinen KL, Malvela MT, Sallinen JM.
This study examined the effect of simultaneous supplementation of creatine and sodium bicarbonate on consecutive maximal swims. Sixteen competitive male and female swimmers completed, in a randomized order, 2 different treatments (placebo and a combination of creatine and sodium bicarbonate) with 30 days of washout period between treatments in a double-blind crossover procedure. Both treatments consisted of placebo or creatine supplementation (20 g per day) in 6 days. In the morning of the seventh day, there was placebo or sodium bicarbonate supplementation (0.3 g per kg body weight) during 2 hours before a warm-up for 2 maximal 100-m freestyle swims that were performed with a passive recovery of 10 minutes in between. The first swims were similar, but the increase in time of the second versus the first 100-m swimming time was 0.9 seconds less (p < 0.05) in the combination group than in placebo. Mean blood pH was higher (p < 0.01-0.001) in the combination group than in placebo after supplementation on the test day. Mean blood pH decreased (p < 0.05) similarly during the swims in both groups. Mean blood lactate increased (p < 0.001) during the swims, but there were no differences in peak blood lactate between the combination group (14.9 +/- 0.9 mmol.L(-1)) and placebo (13.4 +/- 1.0 mmol.L(-1)). The data indicate that simultaneous supplementation of creatine and sodium bicarbonate enhances performance in consecutive maximal swims.
Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research: POST AUTHOR CORRECTIONS, 23 March 2012
Original Investigation: PDF Only
Effects of combined creatine and sodium bicarbonate supplementation on repeated sprint performance in trained men
Barber, James J; McDermott, Ann Y; McGaughey, Karen J; Olmstead, Jennifer D; Hagobian, Todd A
Creatine and sodium bicarbonate supplementation independently increase exercise performance, but it remains unclear whether combining these two supplements is more beneficial on exercise performance. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of combining creatine monohydrate and sodium bicarbonate supplementation on exercise performance. Thirteen healthy, trained men (21.1 +/- 0.6 yr, 23.5 +/- 0.5 kg/m2, 66.7 +/- 5.7 ml/kg-min) completed 3 conditions in a double-blinded, crossover fashion: 1) Placebo (Pl; 20 g maltodextrin + 0.5 g/kg maltodextrin), 2) Creatine (Cr; 20 g + 0.5 g/kg maltodextrin), and 3) Creatine plus sodium bicarbonate (Cr+Sb; 20g + 0.5 g/kg sodium bicarbonate). Each condition consisted of supplementation for 2 days followed by a 3-week washout. Peak power, mean power, relative peak power, and bicarbonate concentrations were assessed during six 10-second repeated Wingate sprint tests on a cycle ergometer with a 60-second rest period between each sprint. Compared to Pl, relative peak power was significantly higher in Cr (4%) and Cr+Sb (7%). Relative peak power was significantly lower in sprints 4-6, compared to sprint 1, in both Pl and Cr. However, in Cr+Sb, sprint 6 was the only sprint significantly lower compared to sprint 1. Pre-Wingate bicarbonate concentrations were significantly higher in Cr+Sb (10%), compared to Pl and Cr, and mean concentrations remained higher after sprint 6, although not significantly. Combining creatine and sodium bicarbonate supplementation increased peak and mean power, and had the greatest attenuation of decline in relative peak power over the six repeated sprints. These data suggest that combining these two supplements may be advantageous for athletes participating in high-intensity, intermittent exercise.
