2:10 There is actually no lactic acid buildup in the muscles-this is a common misconception. While there is a burning sensation during intense exercise, it’s not due to lactic acid. Instead, it’s caused by the accumulation of hydrogen ions that result from the breakdown of ATP, the energy molecule. This leads to a drop in pH levels, creating an acidic environment in the muscles, which causes the burn. Lactic acid is often mistakenly blamed, but it’s actually lactate that helps buffer acidity and serves as an important energy source during high-intensity efforts.
This is all semantics. Lactate is the conjugate base of lactic acid. In intense exercise lactate buffers the high acidity environment from lots of hydrogen ions from broken down ATP (like you’re talking about) by “accepting” them which converts lactate to its conjugate acid, lactic acid, hence the build up of lactic acid. It’s perfectly fine for lay people to say build up of lactic acid. It’s the same thing and probably easier for people without a chemistry background to make sense of.
This doesn't make any sense. I work in healthcare and regularly administer IV sodium bicarbonate to critically ill patients. Sodium bicarbonate is a buffer used to treat metabolic acidosis. I guess lactic acid buildup from endurance exercises could technically be considered a form of acute metabolic acidosis, and sodium bicarb should neutralize said lactic acid therefor improving performance, but obviously it is a temporary and expected condition in the healthy athlete. The problem is sodium bicarb is utilized rapidly and the oral ingestion route is very slow. Sodium bicarb administered IV will be fully utilized in about 15 minutes in a healthy patient. Oral administration per these performance studies requires 0.3g/KG of body weight. That's an insane amount of bicarb. The reason for these large volumes is because your stomach acid has a extremely low pH and, so drinking a alkaloid buffer is just going to neutralize in your stomach; Therefor one has to consume enough bicarb reach your small intestine. I understand they have added a binder to combat this and help get the bicarb to the small intestine for absorption without being neutralized, but i am skeptical of the actual effect. The oral route is very slow for absorption and one of the base functions of your body is to maintain a pH balance around 7.4. To summarize: While the theory is sound ( sodium bicarb is an effective buffer against lactic acid or more accurately the excess of hydrogen ions associated with lactate ) delivering bicarb into the bloodstream via the oral route is challenging. The GI tract is an inherently acidic environment and bicarb is short lived once in the body. Given that IV bicarb is utilized almost immediately, I just dont see oral bicarb ( the longest absorption route ) getting into your bloodstream to neutralize lactic acid in any efficient way. Oral bicarb has to survive an environment full of stomach acid, digestive enzymes, bile acid, then get through the small intestine wall and into your bloodstream where it is utilized almost immediately ( even at rest ) by several different processes. This is like trying to put a house fire out with water balloons... Finally, messing with your gut pH balance is not a good idea, and may have significant long term effects is consumed regularly. The sample size of many of these studies is less than 10-20 participants. Its just not good science. On reading the literature It looks like there is SOME effect, largely if an enteric ( GI acid resistant ) form of bicarb is used to bypass the acid in the stomach, but its unknown how much of those gains are placebo. Again, one of the core functions of your body's metabolic system is to maintain a healthy pH balance, its one of the last bodily systems to fail even in critically ill patients. "Additional analyses from this review showed that around 30% of the performance-enhancing benefits of buffering agents could be attributed to the placebo effect." "Sodium bicarbonate improves exercise performance primarily due to a range of its physiological effects. Still, a portion of the ergogenic effect of sodium bicarbonate seems to be placebo-driven." "Accordingly, the absence of an ergogenic effect in some studies might be due to the side-effects associated with sodium bicarbonate. Indeed, adverse gastrointestinal effects negated the performance benefits from sodium bicarbonate " Im chopping any performance gains more up to placebo than anything else. Thats just me. Here's the meta analysis, enjoy! Do your own research: J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2021; 18: 61. Published online 2021 Sep 9. doi: 10.1186/s12970-021-00458-w
When I started baking soda b4 the gym, I did it with water and salt, never really noticed a diff though... so now i only use it to brush my teeth, not a good idea to keep messing with stomach ph, but its the best remedy i find if u have gurd
I have a different hypothesis, but absolutely no experience in this field. Could it be that they're not actually using sodium bicarbonate. But rather that they're using an illegal substance that happens to leave a testable residue that would be hard to explain "unless they'd be consuming sodium bicarbonate"? So they just go with the "oh ye im definitely eating baking soda and definitely not using drugs".
Another performance addition to the arsenal. Bouncy Mondo tracks good for 1-2% gain, and of the course the super shoes which are even more advantageous to elite efficient runners. :)
Medical doctor - perspective here. I’ve followed some of the baking soda research for treatment of immune mediated conditions - some of the research methodology and even statistical reporting from some has not been sound in my opinion, but one of the things to consider is that certain compounds exert their effects by signaling cascades - so the amount of their effect actually is significantly higher than you would otherwise expect from the actual amount of compound used for example. So if baking soda is going to have an effect, my hypothesis is (as some have pointed out) potentially mediated by neurological and anti inflammatory pathway upregulation, and not the seemingly implausible (by dose and route administration) impact on acid buffering. Some thoughts for the discussion.
If you are a medical doctor then you should know that oral bicarbonate isn’t going to do anything for lactic acid and that your body is regulating blood pH to an extent where its not going to let some straggler molecules create a potentially life threatening blood chemistry change
That is an interesting perspective. That would make a lot of sense given the relatively small dosage, with the supposed affects. Very smart. I like the way you think!
I've watched videos of athletes who use sodium bicarbonate, but they've never explained why. I appreciate the research you did explaining how/why it works. Thank you for the time you put into making this video!
@@goranwinbladit'd be impossible to evaluate, you'd have no placebo control against which to compare, especially given the small improvement you could expect against the much larger effects of good training, sleep, diet, etc.
@@goranwinbladif you did 2 5ks around 4 days apart flat out the training affect in that time would be negligible and you'd hopefully be fresh enough on the 2nd effort
@@goranwinblad Do you have a friend of a similar level where you could both do exactly the same training for 4 weeks, where you use sodium bicarbonate and your friend does not. You perform a 5k race at the start and record your time. You then perform a 5k race after the 4 weeks on the same course and measure your time. Then compare the percentage change in time and see who makes a larger improvement. I realise this is far from a perfect study but it could make for an interesting video if nothing else!
The benefits are much more likely due to the sodium load and NOT the bicarb. The buffering of lactic acid is marginal at best. In fact, a lower pH at the muscle level is actually helpful in that it allows for the release/extraction of oxygen off of red blood cells as they pass through muscles. Also, the sodium component of the sodium bicarb if taken near workout time allows for an increase in overall blood volume and thus cardiac output (ie larger stroke volume and thus lower heart rate needed). THIS IS the real reason for the benefits seen. The same can be accomplished with sodium loading by a variety of ways.
This is becoming popular among off-road cycling as well. The marginal gains are very important to some people. Nice job man your videos are always interesting .
question is are there even marginal gains? because the acidity of the stomach is a ph of 2 (this is insanely acidic, approximately 250,000 times more acidic than a ph of 7.4). swallowing a few tablespoons of bicarb might not negate that. the marginal gains might all juts be placebo.
@@nu.wa.n If it really was a 3% gain you wouldn't really be able to notice it anyway and it would be put down to placebo probably but we cannot say for sure that it is from the data I have seen
Isn't that the same? A 70kg athlete would need 21g by the math. Not trying to take away from your main pain point of saving budget, makes total sense but the math seems to work, doesn't it?
@@AggroJordan86 all I meant was, 20g of bicarb is a lot to load into capsules manually. It's a lot to be taking anyway - I'm trying this for my interval sessions on the rowing machine and building up to it. An one fifth dose made me feel quite full (probably due to gas production in my stomach) but otherwise seemed okay. It's a large amount of sodium to be ingesting too. Honestly I'm unsure about whether it's worth it!
That expensive rate per serving wont last. 25kg bag of baking soda costs about 40€. Would love to see a 1000 people study with the system vs corn starch porridge and similar amount of baking soda.
Great video, Göran! Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experience. I was reminded of my active rowing days. In the 90s, as youth rowers, we had a lot of curiosity, too easy access to baking powder and a coach who let us do it, even after Mader's studies (one of the rowing sport scientists ever)... Being on the water at the start with a racing four is really no fun when everyone is struggling with really terrible digestive problems. Back then, that was the opposite of performance-enhancing ;-) And now, as an old hobby sportsman, I no longer need it of course ... But I just had to smile when the memories came flooding back...
My Grandfather in 1930 beat Otto Peltzer the World Champion 1500 Meters in the Australian Mile Championship .He was Lucky to have Jam Sandwiches for Breakfast .Mind you in those Days the Jam ,Butter and Bread was Homemade Made out of Natural Healthy Foods .
The consensus statement from IOC can be found here. Nitrate is one of the 5 performance accepted enhancing supplements next to Creatine, Sodium Bicarbonate, Beta Alanine and Caffeine. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5867441/
Here is an alternative you could try. No side effects. Celtic sea salt. For every 8oz glass of water you drink add around 4 to 5 grains of sea salt. Celtic sea salt has over 90 minerals present. I started using it because when filtering your drinking water for toxins and impurities you are also filtering out its mineral content so I started using celtic salt after watching a Barbara O neill speech where she was speaking about hydration. Started this last summer while it was hot and I noticed an increase in endurance performance and decrease in fatigue.
If you think about the math there is only minuscule amount of 90 minerals and you can't safely consume enough salt to get enough of them. Get your minerals from food and water not salt.
@JRP3 The idea is to remineralse filtered drinking water for hydration. The filtering also filters out its natural mineral content. You will also need minerals and micros from food.
@@JRP3 The water you drink is supposed to contain minerals. You will also need minerals from food. This is hydration and not energy. Hydration optimises joint health, your cartilage is 80% water, your ligaments, tendons and muscle fascias are all more than 50% water. Mineral rich water helps with this process.
Interesting video Goran. Thank you. As an 800m runner back in the 80s and 90s I tried taking sodium bicarbonate, very unscientifically I must add, and it just gave me stomach issues. Thankfully I only tried it a few times in training! Interesting to know athletes are still experimenting with this.
How many percent can you get through: bicarbonate, beetroot juice, strength training, norwegian 80/20, tailwind, caffeine, heat training, altitude training, ibuprofen etc? Should end up with like a 50% performance boost. Or could there be some max cheat level of performance boost where you can't actually perform any better?
I feel compelled to respond. As a physician an runner for 50 years, I would tell you to save your money! You could measure the effectiveness by monitoring blood lactate levels. However, there is a free solution which increases blood ph and definitely improves performance...and that is hyperventilating before your workout or race. However, you can over do it and pass out!
I will definitely try it. I was a great runner, but developed a condition that no one can help. I got so tired after a few miles that I stopped running.....
Very much appreciate you Goran, on trying the conconction in a run. But the basic function of the stomach is to neutralize acids and bases. So if bicarbonate were to be used in performance enhancement reliably, it would have to be injected in a very controlled enviorment. Not worth the risk if u'd ask me for most runners.
Baking soda is not only used by endurance athletes, but is widely used in the gym. I have not tried it because of my doubts regarding its possible negative effect in reducing stomach acid. A correct acidic environment in the stomach is crucial for the assimilation of many nutrients. Baking soda is very efficient at neutralizing any type of acid. In fact, our body produces it to, among other things, protect the stomach wall from acid that is also produced by our body. Murten's "system" seems too good to be true. "Playing" with changing the homeostasis of the body and, possibly, in that very important organ, the stomach, does not seem very prudent to me. But I could be wrong!
I started taking SB a long time ago, maybe 6 years. The reason I take this is to neutralise the acidity in my system after waking up and before my run. I used to get stomach cramp during the run. It helped in some way, I should say.
I'm no expert in anything running related, but I can only imagine the complexity which comes with testing out this sort of stuff and come to any reasonable conclusion. Same with shoes. Perhaps it's a bit easier to try it out on top elite athletes who are on that "fine tuning level", were small changes can make some differences. I don't know though. Placebo is a helluva drug.
Great stuff Goran...Elite athletes will increasingly be pressurized by promoters and event organizers to break records to bring in the crowds/money...many amateur athletes will always look for an advantage over others (legal/illegal)...some of us armed with only a T-Shirt, shorts, cheap shoes will have fun and do the best with what God gave us...
Given how indecisive (if anything, inconclusive) the research is on Sodium Bicarb, it's silly to entertain that this is somehow being considered the "defining" feature of an increase in running performance at the top level when there are way more ergogenic things that are already doing that. New Mondo tracks being specifically designed for fast times, the ever-evolving technology of supershoes/spikes, and of course, the development of designer PED's/peptides that do 10x more than the previous things I just listed. It might be beneficial for the average runner, but anabolics, blood builders, SARMs, and peptides will do 10x more at the elite level than any other natural performance enhancer could do. You just can't take a study that involves natty runners and assume it does much for professional/enhanced runners imo. Not that BiCarb won't do *anything*, but I'm 95% sure it's not causing any meaningful changes at the elite level.
@@yoeyyoey8937 the whole group had water bottles handed out to them, half the group with bicarb & half with something else I can’t remember what & obviously we didn’t know if we had drank the bicarb or the placebo
@@simonshakespeare82 the only way I can see that increasing performance is cause of the sodium not the carbonate (also if you have enough bicarbonate you should easily taste it)
@@yoeyyoey8937 yeah it tastes like salt water so I imagine that’s what the placebo was but I can’t remember 20 years ago lol plus as nobody had ever tasted it before that point nobody would probably know the difference It’s not something I ever do but I have done it on a few occasions It’s extremely alkaline so it helps buffer lactic acid & delays the onset of muscle fatigue. We tested it on repeated sprint times using time gates & the people who took the bicarb had better results ie less drop off in sprint times My main initial point was that this seems to of gained in popularity recently & it was something I was aware of 20 years ago so I’m surprised it’s not more widely known but maybe it is & it’s just more mainstream now🤷♂️
@@simonshakespeare82 I see what you’re saying. I think they just need to compare the bicarbonate to other sources of sodium because we do know for sure that sodium before a workout increases performance so it could be just that
I tested that twice, have still two packs unused, I got real bad stomach issues the firat time and was lucky to be running on track which had toilet facilities :| But it went down better than just mixing baking soda in water, tried that years ago and it felt immediately like there's something boiling inside me :D
I have done this for 5k races and mile races (and I even have a video on how to dose it in Australia with capsules). It 100% has a beneficial effect. The best way I can describe it is: It will make you feel sick, with some stomach pain, and the moment you start running very hard (where you would normally get that lactate feel) you start to feel better/normal. In a way it forces you to run as hard as you can because it starts making you feel less sick.
I found this very interesting. Thanks! However, after that comment on this leading to an unfair advantage to some runners, I would like to say that, even though this might be the case, it is not a more unfair advantage than being able to consume other gels, have a properly stablished meal plan with high quality foods or having better shoes... not to mention things like spending periods at altitude or paying for better coaches or medical analyses. In the end, elite sport will always try to maximize benefit with any potential gain they can find and these gains are always expensive. In some sports more than in others, but for sure in running this is the case.
Sodium bicarbonate is such an interesting topic I have seen several athletes taking all kind of pre race drinks with electronics energy drinks or baking power. I kinda never believed that there was actual evidence behind it. However a difference of around 2 seconds in the 800 is just crazy for fun runners that seems low but in the reality that means so much athletes train years just to get the last few seconds.
I use the beet method. It really has an effect that is tangible. I seem to get to the point of oxidative phosphorylation, or second wind quicker, making the runs easier.
I’ve started taking it on race days. I mostly run 10ks and half-marathons. I definitely felt a difference in terms of muscle pain at the end of the races and afterwards. However this is a double-edged sword, as feeling less pain may push you to empty your tank faster than you should and otherwise would. And it’s NOT expensive if you stick to good old baking soda... GI side effects come up when you take too much, too quickly. You first have to get your body used to it by progressively working your way up and then it’s all fine. I take 0.3g/kg bodyweight with no discomfort at all.
The reason I haven't tried sodium bicarbonate yet is that it will increase the pH in my stomach first, and this can lead to problems, such as a indirectly lowering absorbtion of fat soluble vitamins. Even if you don't feel anything, the effect might still be still there. The gel should solve this problem though.
On the cost of running and it getting out of the hand for ordinary people, I think that ship has sailed, with all kinds of supplements, coaching, sports psychologist, time to train, do strength work and free time rest in between, covering the fees for travelling and entering races. For the everyday runner you're going to be limited by free time and money, some of it will enter into common use, but the difference on what can be achieved will keep increasing.
Nice video. I get that it could work for racing but I would be interested whether it would have a negative effect on training by buffering the acidity that the body needs to learn to buffer and potentially limiting the fuel source itself.
I’m a rugby player and started using sodium bicarbonate last year before matches. It seemed to reduce the burn in my legs and side aches I would feel during multiple phases of play. I mix the massive amount suggested with a massive amount of Gatorade to mask the taste, and start drinking it about an hour before kick off. It’s worth a try if your stomach can handle it.
This is interesting as it is the opposite mechanism used in attempts to better adapt to altitude. Acetazolamide is used to increase blood ph levels, making the body automatically breathe more in order to rid the body of excess CO2. This has the effect of increased adaptation to altitude and is useful for the treatment of altitude sickness. As a result the body increases the proportion of red blood cells, which increases oxygen carrying capacity and athletic performance. I find it interesting that what appear completely opposed approaches are both finding athletic performance.
This should come with an extremely strong warning: hyperalkalinity - too much alkalinity in the body - is an extremely dangerous, life-threatening condition that is much harder for emergency physicians to treat than hyperacidity. The sodium bicarbonate "solution" is actually very old - an old-time ultrarunner used it in a drink he called his "corpse restorer." I never got much relief in my long runs from baking soda - that's anecdotal, of course. In general, pills and powders in my experience are rarely useful, long-term. One notable exception I found was Sustained Energy; another was Recoverite. Both are from Hammer Nutrition.
I tried it last year noticed it more in the training (I tested it once) than the actual race which was a marathon. I think my main concern would be what the side effects are of putting industrial ingredients into your body on a regular basis, it can’t be healthy and there are lots of studies out about negative effects of UPFs
I guest it’s aright for elite runners to consume this as most of the time they have sponsors that will take care of the costs. Plus winning races are their goal to begin with so if sodium bicarbonate helps to achieve that without giving gastro issue especially during the race, why not.
It is so funny, that i had my I pad on me,and youtube open. Then this Video started playing in the background automatically. Well, well ,well I am a Running Nerd. And recently I’ve been struggling with my running due to some Back-Discs issues. I Am getting back to form slowly. But this is vey interesting. I will surely try it in this Morning Run. Thanks for The Insight GÖRAN
been soda doping for years. it works. i ride. i also used distilled water and baking soda in an inhaling rig i made to get rid of lung cancer. three weeks. worked like a charm. its a ph thing. i hope this is useful.
for an everyday joe/athlete, this is waaaaay down the road on something to use. Getting the low lying fruit first like baseline training and getting your weight under control is far more effective.
Very Interesting.. Its coming into Track season here in Sydney I haven't run track for the last two seasons due to injury. I'm currently on recovery from a marathon but will look to start tuning up for track in a few weeks I think I'll give this a go and see what happens
Taking sodium bicarbonate regularly to reduce blood pH ahead of a hard run seems to very dangerous. Physiologically, our bodies modulate pH through breathing and renal function. So when pH is high, breathing rate decreases. But what happens to the brain cells, when the muscles burn through the oxygen, but respiration is chemically slowed down? Do the runners' brain cells quietly suffocate and die?
Nah. The increase in lactic acid build up in your muscles will eat through the increase in blood pH that you had through ingesting the bicarbonate. It wouldn’t be a problem. Plus…you can breath in rhythm with your run.
@@yoeyyoey8937 not exactly. That isn’t really how it works. The lactic acid build up would be compensated for by the alkalinity of the blood chemistry. This is why it would be a fairly modest improvement in performance
@@rickbaker261 yeah but I’m saying that your blood pH is not effected by ingesting bicarbonate that way, your body has a lot of mechanisms to regulate blood pH because your hemoglobin is highly pH sensitive. If you took enough baking soda where it lowered your blood pH then you would alter your blood chemistry and hemoglobin function before you even need it to buffer the lactic acid.
Thank you for your bravery and testing this for us, the running community that follow you. I personally wont give it a try, but 3% off of my times would be minutes! 😂
I totally agree with your conclusion! It's getting stupidly costly to run... shoes, watch, HR monitor belt, gels, recovery powder, muscle recovery tools... Let's keep it simple and find pleasure in training hard without too many technological high-ends add-ons
Very interesting video on a topic that seems to be on everyone's agenda now, as many have pointed out. I have a couple of further questions on the issue, perhaps someone here knows the answers. 1) as many have pointed out, the oral administration of sodium bicarb is a difficult route. Can it be measured from the bloodstream that some of it has actually made it through? In other words, is there direct evidence of this route of administration working, or do we need to rely on subjective reports of less muscle fatigue, which has all the placebo effect problems etc. 2) Are there studies of long-term effects of regular use of sodium bicarb at these large doses? As many in the comments have pointed out, the body tries to maintain a steady pH level, and I'm wondering if there's any research on such repeated efforts to tilt this balance. Thanks!
Sounds very similar to the effects of beta-alanin which increases carnosin and delays the lactic acid build-up. Might be worth looking into it as well.
Great Video Goran. I have seen quite a lot of arguing in the comments about exactly how the sodium bicarbonate will induce a performance enhancing effect, but you explain it in a way that is accessible to the majority of people and they are missing the part about the double blind trials! 😂. I will have to try this for my next 800m 1.5 seconds is huge!
Thank you for sharing a truly independent review where you put critical thinking and research into it, opposite to the usual influencer "I'm obsessed!" straight after opening the package. 😂My question was whether it makes any difference if I run just for fun and whether it could impact my half marathon effort when I run way over 2 hours, but you answered that in the video. Thanks for that! :)
Sodium bicarbonate was widely used by athletes in the early to mid 1990s. As a 21s 200m & 47s 400m runner, my group and I used it to good effect to help with high intensity intervals sessions - to assist the ability to run multiple reps. As a sports science student at that time, I'd read strong evidence of the efficacy of its use. Placebo effect or not, who knows? I just remember that it tasted awful 😁
Im > 60 and I like to work out. When I super set deads and squats, for example, Im sore as hell. Same goes for HIIT workouts. That level of exercise brings a lot of soreness at my age. If this would allow me to crush some workouts and not be so sore I would seriously consider it. If it helps with training load then they got something. that alone will shave more than a few seconds off your time
Hey there, great video once again. I would like to share my view regarding the last part in which you mentioned your concerns. Although I agree that running as a discipline can be characterized as simple, pure and raw, I would argue that in the present moment every athlete competing on a professional level (and even a lot of amateur athletes) are utilizing money for better results. That means that athletes choose to invest their money on training coaches, nutrition coaches, good gear, tracking devices, supplements, training-specific nutrition etc. Of course, all those elements mentioned do not simply make you a better/faster runner in an day. But I would dare to say, it's a fact that utilizing every "tool" available and turning the conditions in your favor will grant you the chances for a better result. For better or worse, we live in capitalism and money is one of the primary ways to achieve this. Maurtens new patent for Sodium and whatever new patent from whatever company might come up, is no different than every other "tool" that already exists. Brands retailing their race shoes at >300€ is the simplest example that an athlete that can't afford them is standing in the starting line with a slight disadvantage. Another example that applies more to ultra races is crewing. Although having a crew for many athletes is all about friends and family, as Walmsley once said about WSER "it takes a whole village, and the village has got to eat". Let alone paying for a crew. Once again, having the resources - which is basically transferred in money - is crucial. I hope it's clear that I am not implying that money equals a good result, or that running is a sport that needs an ton of money or whatever. I do believe that running is easily accessible for the vast majority of people and that we are capable of identifying the difference between pro runners utilizing every available tool and amateur runners putting great results with not necessarily having the best means to do so. Afterall, we are the ones creating meaning out of our sport, and maybe we should admire more the everyday runner instead of exalting elite runners as if they are gods, failing to understand the material terms that exist behind every effort.
We where using this in the late 1980's and 1990's to help buffer latic acid. Everyone thought it was nonsense but those of us that where wanting to stay drug free in wrestling latched on to it in spite of the experts saying it did not work. For all we know it does something totaly different in the body but it works! It is also great to take 1/2 to 1 teaspoon eachnight before bed for kidney health and to help with complications related to diabetes!
Lactic acid is an acid though. When it loses a proton, it becomes lactate (which, when converted either to pyruvate or glucose, is indeed a fuel) but the proton lingers and causes acidosis in the muscle tissue.
The tiredness is caused by depletion of energy sources, accumulation of metabolic byproducts including hydrogen ions as a byproduct of lactic acid dissociating. The burn is associated with these byproducts and hydrogen ions. You have to consider the scale of energy required and the time in which you need it - lactate as the byproduct of lactic acid from glyolytic energy production is not going to be sufficient to cycle back into fueling your current activity.
Michael Colgans old nutrition bible recommended this back in the lpearly 90's and I know rugby league have been using it since, both in training and matches. The effects cab be ameliorated by taking with a small low fibre meal, which is ideal about 90 mins pre warm up, and adding to an in game drink can help with the hardest part of the game, the last 20 minutes.
i take 1/2 tsp of baking soda in water with 1/4 tsp of vitamin c powder in water every morning. it really is amazing. It can be overwhelming if you do too much at first so i would recommend most people starting around there but it has been shown in studies that professional atheletes in hockey, football, and wrestling have taken up to 25 grams a day broken into small servings with amazing benefits to performance and recovery
i think a lot of side effects come from how much you dilute it with extra water intake as well as salt and other minerals. It can be tough on your kidneys if you do not drink enough water to help filter out any excess
as a Physician Marathoner i agree with my colleagues in the comments section. Your kidneys constantly filter out and reabsorb bicarbonate and handle your overall organic acid load which is why during renal failure, you develop a net acidosis. We do give sodium bicarb tabs to some patients who have near or complete kidney failure but the effect is minor and the degree of kidney failure has to be extreme. By far, the best way to buffer your Ph in an endurance race is to maintain adequate hydration so your kidneys can optimize this constant secretion, filtration, and reabsorption process of acids and bases.
@Goran I hear what you say about how it seems like it complicates running and puts people, without the money to put into it, at disadvantage. I looked at the price of the product and yes, it is prohibitive. Don't you think that running is already complicated though? Aren't people spending a lot on running shoes, some that seems to give a noticeable performance advantage over those who can't spend that much money on shoes? Let us not even get into watches and heart rate monitors... I do think that comparing oneself to other runners takes the joy out of running, precisely because there are so many variables that is out of your control. Should the long term goal for most runners not be that you were better than you were yesterday, a few months ago or a years ago?
I think the issue is an error in UNITS - at least 1-2 studies may have mistakenly referenced 0.3 mg/kg when it should be 0.3 mEq/kg. Then the milliequivalents needs to converted to milligrams. 1 mEq = 84mg. Thus: (1) A male weighing 100kg needs 0.3mEq per kilogram. That = 30mEq. (2) Now time to convert. We know 1 mEq = 84mg. Therefore, 30mEq x 84mg = 2,520 mg of sodium bicarbonate. 2,520 mg of NaHCO3 is about 4 Alka-Seltzer tabs.
If it is actually helping elite athletes perform then it's a great product for them. I see this being the same as all these hyper racing shoes that cost hundreds of dollars/euros/pounds/won/etc.... If you want to spend the money go for it, I've run so many races in the middle pack and pass so many people wearing those shoes. Running should always be easy to do. Shoes, shorts, and shirt and you are good to go.
So clumped up Sodium Bicorbonate + Some sort of water thickening agent (similar to what they use for ppl that can't swallow regular water). OR: there is a shell surrounding the Bicarbo. Clumps.
They banned the use of sodium bicarbonate in horse racing in NZ years ago. Horse trainers would give the horses a large dose a few hours before racing and the horses managed to maintain a fast pace for longer. I would never have thought it would catch on with runners! It is easy to detect high amounts of bicarbonate in the blood.
As a coach I got questions about the potential benefits from the 'a bit above average' athletes I coach - think about 1.20 - 1.25 for a half or around 2h Oly Triathlon - so before recommending anything I've tried it out myself. It's not cheap, as none of the Maurten stuff is - and I found it absolutely horrid to eat, but everything for science :-). Tested it on a 5K and 10K run. The good thing, no stomach issues - the bad thing - didn't feel any faster or less fatigued. Obviously not a very scientific test, but I think there are much better ways to go faster as a recreational athlete. 3 or 4 packs of the maurten bicarb loading will get you a pair of super shoes which will enhance your performance way more (even for the average Joe the Runner). By the way - buying alginate and pectin at any health store (or even Amz) and mixing it with bicarbonate will create the same substance and is quite a bit cheaper......
Messing with your stomachs ph is not a good idea. Your stomach needs to be very acidic as a part of your immune defense as well as to have optimal digestion.
Much like people drinking alkaline water, it will not end up hitting the bloodstream, it will merely be in a buffering battle in the stomach. As blood pH is tightly regulated by your body, you can't simply drink something basic and shift your blood pH much at all, unless you have a delivery vehicle that delivers it intact to the blood later on in the gut
2:10 There is actually no lactic acid buildup in the muscles-this is a common misconception. While there is a burning sensation during intense exercise, it’s not due to lactic acid. Instead, it’s caused by the accumulation of hydrogen ions that result from the breakdown of ATP, the energy molecule. This leads to a drop in pH levels, creating an acidic environment in the muscles, which causes the burn. Lactic acid is often mistakenly blamed, but it’s actually lactate that helps buffer acidity and serves as an important energy source during high-intensity efforts.
Katching!
Bngo
yes!!! i've learned this in my exercise physiology class
Thank you...I totally agree.
This is all semantics. Lactate is the conjugate base of lactic acid. In intense exercise lactate buffers the high acidity environment from lots of hydrogen ions from broken down ATP (like you’re talking about) by “accepting” them which converts lactate to its conjugate acid, lactic acid, hence the build up of lactic acid. It’s perfectly fine for lay people to say build up of lactic acid. It’s the same thing and probably easier for people without a chemistry background to make sense of.
This doesn't make any sense. I work in healthcare and regularly administer IV sodium bicarbonate to critically ill patients. Sodium bicarbonate is a buffer used to treat metabolic acidosis. I guess lactic acid buildup from endurance exercises could technically be considered a form of acute metabolic acidosis, and sodium bicarb should neutralize said lactic acid therefor improving performance, but obviously it is a temporary and expected condition in the healthy athlete. The problem is sodium bicarb is utilized rapidly and the oral ingestion route is very slow.
Sodium bicarb administered IV will be fully utilized in about 15 minutes in a healthy patient. Oral administration per these performance studies requires 0.3g/KG of body weight. That's an insane amount of bicarb. The reason for these large volumes is because your stomach acid has a extremely low pH and, so drinking a alkaloid buffer is just going to neutralize in your stomach; Therefor one has to consume enough bicarb reach your small intestine. I understand they have added a binder to combat this and help get the bicarb to the small intestine for absorption without being neutralized, but i am skeptical of the actual effect. The oral route is very slow for absorption and one of the base functions of your body is to maintain a pH balance around 7.4.
To summarize: While the theory is sound ( sodium bicarb is an effective buffer against lactic acid or more accurately the excess of hydrogen ions associated with lactate ) delivering bicarb into the bloodstream via the oral route is challenging. The GI tract is an inherently acidic environment and bicarb is short lived once in the body. Given that IV bicarb is utilized almost immediately, I just dont see oral bicarb ( the longest absorption route ) getting into your bloodstream to neutralize lactic acid in any efficient way. Oral bicarb has to survive an environment full of stomach acid, digestive enzymes, bile acid, then get through the small intestine wall and into your bloodstream where it is utilized almost immediately ( even at rest ) by several different processes. This is like trying to put a house fire out with water balloons... Finally, messing with your gut pH balance is not a good idea, and may have significant long term effects is consumed regularly. The sample size of many of these studies is less than 10-20 participants. Its just not good science.
On reading the literature It looks like there is SOME effect, largely if an enteric ( GI acid resistant ) form of bicarb is used to bypass the acid in the stomach, but its unknown how much of those gains are placebo. Again, one of the core functions of your body's metabolic system is to maintain a healthy pH balance, its one of the last bodily systems to fail even in critically ill patients.
"Additional analyses from this review showed that around 30% of the performance-enhancing benefits of buffering agents could be attributed to the placebo effect."
"Sodium bicarbonate improves exercise performance primarily due to a range of its physiological effects. Still, a portion of the ergogenic effect of sodium bicarbonate seems to be placebo-driven."
"Accordingly, the absence of an ergogenic effect in some studies might be due to the side-effects associated with sodium bicarbonate. Indeed, adverse gastrointestinal effects negated the performance benefits from sodium bicarbonate "
Im chopping any performance gains more up to placebo than anything else. Thats just me.
Here's the meta analysis, enjoy! Do your own research: J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2021; 18: 61.
Published online 2021 Sep 9. doi: 10.1186/s12970-021-00458-w
Good critics
When I started baking soda b4 the gym, I did it with water and salt, never really noticed a diff though... so now i only use it to brush my teeth, not a good idea to keep messing with stomach ph, but its the best remedy i find if u have gurd
Damn. Well done. Thank you.
scientific studies disagress...
I have a different hypothesis, but absolutely no experience in this field.
Could it be that they're not actually using sodium bicarbonate. But rather that they're using an illegal substance that happens to leave a testable residue that would be hard to explain "unless they'd be consuming sodium bicarbonate"?
So they just go with the "oh ye im definitely eating baking soda and definitely not using drugs".
3% increase in performance is a lot when you're running 800m in olympia, but for a local schmuck like me I see no reason to spend money for that
Yeah I agree for most of us if you don’t think it is super fun to experiment with things like this you can spend your money more wisely 😊
Baking soda should be in your fridge anyway to help neutralize odors
Another performance addition to the arsenal. Bouncy Mondo tracks good for 1-2% gain, and of the course the super shoes which are even more advantageous to elite efficient runners. :)
Was a bit surprised this was a news story, swimmers were pretty widely using it at the 2000 games.
SPEND MONEY??? Are you kidding? It costs 5.5 US pennies per oz or $3.50 per 64 oz bag.
Medical doctor - perspective here. I’ve followed some of the baking soda research for treatment of immune mediated conditions - some of the research methodology and even statistical reporting from some has not been sound in my opinion, but one of the things to consider is that certain compounds exert their effects by signaling cascades - so the amount of their effect actually is significantly higher than you would otherwise expect from the actual amount of compound used for example. So if baking soda is going to have an effect, my hypothesis is (as some have pointed out) potentially mediated by neurological and anti inflammatory pathway upregulation, and not the seemingly implausible (by dose and route administration) impact on acid buffering. Some thoughts for the discussion.
If you are a medical doctor then you should know that oral bicarbonate isn’t going to do anything for lactic acid and that your body is regulating blood pH to an extent where its not going to let some straggler molecules create a potentially life threatening blood chemistry change
👆
That is an interesting perspective. That would make a lot of sense given the relatively small dosage, with the supposed affects. Very smart. I like the way you think!
The cakes rise faster too! :D Performance of cake increases!
Haha yeah true 😅
Don't forget adding some acid for that! Or use baking powder instead of baking soda (as that already includes an acid)
😂😂😂❤🎉
I've watched videos of athletes who use sodium bicarbonate, but they've never explained why. I appreciate the research you did explaining how/why it works. Thank you for the time you put into making this video!
Then there's also GOOGLE
@@hikerJohn Hello hikerJohn. Yes, there's also google, but I'd rather watch an interesting video :)
It’s a safe placebo and it increases sodium which can help with performance that’s why
@@PatriciaStewart-u9z Yes me too. Far more interesting!
It's nice to see someone not arguing in the comments of this video and being appreciative. Much respect to you Patricia
Happy to have experimented it 1 hour before my training because it ended up in stomach cramps and diarrhea
i spoke to a respected coach about this in 1985 so not so new he said yes can give boost but may also give diarrhea at the time its benefit is at max
I think, for the sake of science, you should tryout on your next 5K race. It would be interesting to see if there will be any difference 😊
Good suggestion will probably do that but will be impossible to evaluate since the training I have done prior will play a bigger role.
@@goranwinbladit'd be impossible to evaluate, you'd have no placebo control against which to compare, especially given the small improvement you could expect against the much larger effects of good training, sleep, diet, etc.
@@goranwinbladif you did 2 5ks around 4 days apart flat out the training affect in that time would be negligible and you'd hopefully be fresh enough on the 2nd effort
@@goranwinblad Do you have a friend of a similar level where you could both do exactly the same training for 4 weeks, where you use sodium bicarbonate and your friend does not. You perform a 5k race at the start and record your time. You then perform a 5k race after the 4 weeks on the same course and measure your time. Then compare the percentage change in time and see who makes a larger improvement. I realise this is far from a perfect study but it could make for an interesting video if nothing else!
The benefits are much more likely due to the sodium load and NOT the bicarb. The buffering of lactic acid is marginal at best. In fact, a lower pH at the muscle level is actually helpful in that it allows for the release/extraction of oxygen off of red blood cells as they pass through muscles. Also, the sodium component of the sodium bicarb if taken near workout time allows for an increase in overall blood volume and thus cardiac output (ie larger stroke volume and thus lower heart rate needed). THIS IS the real reason for the benefits seen. The same can be accomplished with sodium loading by a variety of ways.
This is becoming popular among off-road cycling as well. The marginal gains are very important to some people. Nice job man your videos are always interesting .
question is are there even marginal gains? because the acidity of the stomach is a ph of 2 (this is insanely acidic, approximately 250,000 times more acidic than a ph of 7.4). swallowing a few tablespoons of bicarb might not negate that. the marginal gains might all juts be placebo.
Thanks glad you like my videos!
It’s all in your head your physiology doesn’t work that way
@@nu.wa.n If it really was a 3% gain you wouldn't really be able to notice it anyway and it would be put down to placebo probably but we cannot say for sure that it is from the data I have seen
@@nu.wa.n Placebo has been an effective medical treatment and if it works then might as well use it
Manually load bicarbonate into gastro resistant capsules. Job done. 20 grams or so is quite a lot though (I've seen 0.3g/kg used in various studies).
do you sh!t yourself though? I hear it's very common
Isn't that the same? A 70kg athlete would need 21g by the math.
Not trying to take away from your main pain point of saving budget, makes total sense but the math seems to work, doesn't it?
@@AggroJordan86 all I meant was, 20g of bicarb is a lot to load into capsules manually. It's a lot to be taking anyway - I'm trying this for my interval sessions on the rowing machine and building up to it. An one fifth dose made me feel quite full (probably due to gas production in my stomach) but otherwise seemed okay. It's a large amount of sodium to be ingesting too. Honestly I'm unsure about whether it's worth it!
@@putrid.p aaah sorry then I just misunderstood. Yes, shoveling 20g into capsules would be a nightmare 😅
That expensive rate per serving wont last. 25kg bag of baking soda costs about 40€. Would love to see a 1000 people study with the system vs corn starch porridge and similar amount of baking soda.
Yeah that would be really interesting!
10:14 The goopy slop and the expression on Goran's face...! More power to elites who endure this 'for the win', but I'm happy just to watch and LOL!
😅
Great video, Göran! Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experience.
I was reminded of my active rowing days.
In the 90s, as youth rowers, we had a lot of curiosity, too easy access to baking powder and a coach who let us do it, even after Mader's studies (one of the rowing sport scientists ever)...
Being on the water at the start with a racing four is really no fun when everyone is struggling with really terrible digestive problems.
Back then, that was the opposite of performance-enhancing ;-)
And now, as an old hobby sportsman, I no longer need it of course ... But I just had to smile when the memories came flooding back...
I use an ancient supplement called dihydrogen monoxide. Before, during, and after exercise.
Be careful with that, I have heard stories of people dying of it by overdosing during inhalation.
Underrated comment!
love the dad jokes
😂😂😂😂😂
There were people that overdosed on that too
My Grandfather in 1930 beat Otto Peltzer the World Champion 1500 Meters in the Australian Mile Championship .He was Lucky to have Jam Sandwiches for Breakfast .Mind you in those Days the Jam ,Butter and Bread was Homemade Made out of Natural Healthy Foods .
As an eighty-one year old cyclist I have found Nitric Oxide to be a remarkable performance enhancer aerobically. And, as far as I know, it is "Legal"!
You should try beetjuice. It is the best way to create nitric oxide in our system. Cheers.
I use nitric oxide for other uses.
High nitric oxide smoothies are also a key ingredient to longevity.
The consensus statement from IOC can be found here. Nitrate is one of the 5 performance accepted enhancing supplements next to Creatine, Sodium Bicarbonate, Beta Alanine and Caffeine. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5867441/
@@johnbaehr6407 some scientists think nitric oxide is the primary cause of aging so saying it supports longevity is not so great
I want to use this stuff, as a deathmetal drummer, I bet I could play even longer shows
make sure you have shit loads of water to drink all the time
You will turn death metal into live metal Praise Christ for baking soda. 🙌🕊️
Here is an alternative you could try. No side effects. Celtic sea salt. For every 8oz glass of water you drink add around 4 to 5 grains of sea salt. Celtic sea salt has over 90 minerals present. I started using it because when filtering your drinking water for toxins and impurities you are also filtering out its mineral content so I started using celtic salt after watching a Barbara O neill speech where she was speaking about hydration. Started this last summer while it was hot and I noticed an increase in endurance performance and decrease in fatigue.
Same
If you think about the math there is only minuscule amount of 90 minerals and you can't safely consume enough salt to get enough of them. Get your minerals from food and water not salt.
@JRP3 The idea is to remineralse filtered drinking water for hydration. The filtering also filters out its natural mineral content. You will also need minerals and micros from food.
@@TotalEquilibrium1 You still can't replace any meaningful amount of minerals from using the salt.
@@JRP3 The water you drink is supposed to contain minerals. You will also need minerals from food. This is hydration and not energy. Hydration optimises joint health, your cartilage is 80% water, your ligaments, tendons and muscle fascias are all more than 50% water. Mineral rich water helps with this process.
Interesting video Goran. Thank you. As an 800m runner back in the 80s and 90s I tried taking sodium bicarbonate, very unscientifically I must add, and it just gave me stomach issues. Thankfully I only tried it a few times in training! Interesting to know athletes are still experimenting with this.
Same here. To me it was as worthless as carbo-loading. That too just upset my stomach.
How many percent can you get through: bicarbonate, beetroot juice, strength training, norwegian 80/20, tailwind, caffeine, heat training, altitude training, ibuprofen etc? Should end up with like a 50% performance boost. Or could there be some max cheat level of performance boost where you can't actually perform any better?
I feel compelled to respond. As a physician an runner for 50 years, I would tell you to save your money! You could measure the effectiveness by monitoring blood lactate levels. However, there is a free solution which increases blood ph and definitely improves performance...and that is hyperventilating before your workout or race. However, you can over do it and pass out!
I will definitely try it. I was a great runner, but developed a condition that no one can help. I got so tired after a few miles that I stopped running.....
Very much appreciate you Goran, on trying the conconction in a run. But the basic function of the stomach is to neutralize acids and bases. So if bicarbonate were to be used in performance enhancement reliably, it would have to be injected in a very controlled enviorment. Not worth the risk if u'd ask me for most runners.
It’s coated like many pills and supplements as to not be degraded until it enters the intestines.
Baking soda is not only used by endurance athletes, but is widely used in the gym. I have not tried it because of my doubts regarding its possible negative effect in reducing stomach acid. A correct acidic environment in the stomach is crucial for the assimilation of many nutrients.
Baking soda is very efficient at neutralizing any type of acid. In fact, our body produces it to, among other things, protect the stomach wall from acid that is also produced by our body.
Murten's "system" seems too good to be true.
"Playing" with changing the homeostasis of the body and, possibly, in that very important organ, the stomach, does not seem very prudent to me.
But I could be wrong!
Sodium bicarbonate is actually shown to increase gastric acid production (which decreases with age)
I started taking SB a long time ago, maybe 6 years. The reason I take this is to neutralise the acidity in my system after waking up and before my run. I used to get stomach cramp during the run. It helped in some way, I should say.
Thank you for starting up such a fantastic debate.
I'm no expert in anything running related, but I can only imagine the complexity which comes with testing out this sort of stuff and come to any reasonable conclusion. Same with shoes. Perhaps it's a bit easier to try it out on top elite athletes who are on that "fine tuning level", were small changes can make some differences. I don't know though. Placebo is a helluva drug.
Great stuff Goran...Elite athletes will increasingly be pressurized by promoters and event organizers to break records to bring in the crowds/money...many amateur athletes will always look for an advantage over others (legal/illegal)...some of us armed with only a T-Shirt, shorts, cheap shoes will have fun and do the best with what God gave us...
Given how indecisive (if anything, inconclusive) the research is on Sodium Bicarb, it's silly to entertain that this is somehow being considered the "defining" feature of an increase in running performance at the top level when there are way more ergogenic things that are already doing that. New Mondo tracks being specifically designed for fast times, the ever-evolving technology of supershoes/spikes, and of course, the development of designer PED's/peptides that do 10x more than the previous things I just listed.
It might be beneficial for the average runner, but anabolics, blood builders, SARMs, and peptides will do 10x more at the elite level than any other natural performance enhancer could do. You just can't take a study that involves natty runners and assume it does much for professional/enhanced runners imo. Not that BiCarb won't do *anything*, but I'm 95% sure it's not causing any meaningful changes at the elite level.
We studied this when I was at Uni back in the early 2000’s I’m surprised it’s not more widely known by all fitness enthusiasts/ professionals
How did you control for placebo?
@@yoeyyoey8937 the whole group had water bottles handed out to them, half the group with bicarb & half with something else I can’t remember what & obviously we didn’t know if we had drank the bicarb or the placebo
@@simonshakespeare82 the only way I can see that increasing performance is cause of the sodium not the carbonate (also if you have enough bicarbonate you should easily taste it)
@@yoeyyoey8937 yeah it tastes like salt water so I imagine that’s what the placebo was but I can’t remember 20 years ago lol plus as nobody had ever tasted it before that point nobody would probably know the difference
It’s not something I ever do but I have done it on a few occasions
It’s extremely alkaline so it helps buffer lactic acid & delays the onset of muscle fatigue.
We tested it on repeated sprint times using time gates & the people who took the bicarb had better results ie less drop off in sprint times
My main initial point was that this seems to of gained in popularity recently & it was something I was aware of 20 years ago so I’m surprised it’s not more widely known but maybe it is & it’s just more mainstream now🤷♂️
@@simonshakespeare82 I see what you’re saying. I think they just need to compare the bicarbonate to other sources of sodium because we do know for sure that sodium before a workout increases performance so it could be just that
I tested that twice, have still two packs unused, I got real bad stomach issues the firat time and was lucky to be running on track which had toilet facilities :| But it went down better than just mixing baking soda in water, tried that years ago and it felt immediately like there's something boiling inside me :D
Ok thanks for sharing 😅 interesting that it doesn’t seem to get rid of the side effects for everyone.
can u pls make a video on creatine mono hydrate.
I love your videos! They’re very unique and always catch my attention!
I have done this for 5k races and mile races (and I even have a video on how to dose it in Australia with capsules). It 100% has a beneficial effect. The best way I can describe it is: It will make you feel sick, with some stomach pain, and the moment you start running very hard (where you would normally get that lactate feel) you start to feel better/normal.
In a way it forces you to run as hard as you can because it starts making you feel less sick.
Placebo mate
i followed u before 2 yrs from INDIA🇮🇳🙏🔥 SUUUPPEB ALL tips
Thanks for your support!
I found this very interesting. Thanks!
However, after that comment on this leading to an unfair advantage to some runners, I would like to say that, even though this might be the case, it is not a more unfair advantage than being able to consume other gels, have a properly stablished meal plan with high quality foods or having better shoes... not to mention things like spending periods at altitude or paying for better coaches or medical analyses. In the end, elite sport will always try to maximize benefit with any potential gain they can find and these gains are always expensive. In some sports more than in others, but for sure in running this is the case.
Sodium bicarbonate is such an interesting topic I have seen several athletes taking all kind of pre race drinks with electronics energy drinks or baking power. I kinda never believed that there was actual evidence behind it. However a difference of around 2 seconds in the 800 is just crazy for fun runners that seems low but in the reality that means so much athletes train years just to get the last few seconds.
Concentrated beet juice does the trick. Or Beet capsules
Dwight K. Schrute is that you?
Yeah that is a potent performance enhancer as well!
Beetroot shots work for me too. 1 shot a day 6 days before a race. Apparently in studies it actually doesn't work for everyone.
@@kevinclark5086 Capsules work most often for me, but those shots, when they work, are superior. Not as reliable though and too costly.
I use the beet method. It really has an effect that is tangible. I seem to get to the point of oxidative phosphorylation, or second wind quicker, making the runs easier.
I’ve started taking it on race days. I mostly run 10ks and half-marathons. I definitely felt a difference in terms of muscle pain at the end of the races and afterwards.
However this is a double-edged sword, as feeling less pain may push you to empty your tank faster than you should and otherwise would.
And it’s NOT expensive if you stick to good old baking soda... GI side effects come up when you take too much, too quickly. You first have to get your body used to it by progressively working your way up and then it’s all fine. I take 0.3g/kg bodyweight with no discomfort at all.
The reason I haven't tried sodium bicarbonate yet is that it will increase the pH in my stomach first, and this can lead to problems, such as a indirectly lowering absorbtion of fat soluble vitamins. Even if you don't feel anything, the effect might still be still there. The gel should solve this problem though.
LOVE your top quality concern! Keep going and you’ll hit half a mill subs by end of the year!
Thanks!
On the cost of running and it getting out of the hand for ordinary people, I think that ship has sailed, with all kinds of supplements, coaching, sports psychologist, time to train, do strength work and free time rest in between, covering the fees for travelling and entering races. For the everyday runner you're going to be limited by free time and money, some of it will enter into common use, but the difference on what can be achieved will keep increasing.
Good quality content!!!!
3% means 1-2.5" improvement and at that level is a lot.
Nice video. I get that it could work for racing but I would be interested whether it would have a negative effect on training by buffering the acidity that the body needs to learn to buffer and potentially limiting the fuel source itself.
I’m a rugby player and started using sodium bicarbonate last year before matches. It seemed to reduce the burn in my legs and side aches I would feel during multiple phases of play. I mix the massive amount suggested with a massive amount of Gatorade to mask the taste, and start drinking it about an hour before kick off. It’s worth a try if your stomach can handle it.
This is interesting as it is the opposite mechanism used in attempts to better adapt to altitude. Acetazolamide is used to increase blood ph levels, making the body automatically breathe more in order to rid the body of excess CO2. This has the effect of increased adaptation to altitude and is useful for the treatment of altitude sickness. As a result the body increases the proportion of red blood cells, which increases oxygen carrying capacity and athletic performance. I find it interesting that what appear completely opposed approaches are both finding athletic performance.
I did some things in college that I'm not particularly proud of that would make ingesting that goop very familiar...almost comforting.
This should come with an extremely strong warning: hyperalkalinity - too much alkalinity in the body - is an extremely dangerous, life-threatening condition that is much harder for emergency physicians to treat than hyperacidity. The sodium bicarbonate "solution" is actually very old - an old-time ultrarunner used it in a drink he called his "corpse restorer." I never got much relief in my long runs from baking soda - that's anecdotal, of course. In general, pills and powders in my experience are rarely useful, long-term. One notable exception I found was Sustained Energy; another was Recoverite. Both are from Hammer Nutrition.
I tried it last year noticed it more in the training (I tested it once) than the actual race which was a marathon. I think my main concern would be what the side effects are of putting industrial ingredients into your body on a regular basis, it can’t be healthy and there are lots of studies out about negative effects of UPFs
I guest it’s aright for elite runners to consume this as most of the time they have sponsors that will take care of the costs. Plus winning races are their goal to begin with so if sodium bicarbonate helps to achieve that without giving gastro issue especially during the race, why not.
It is so funny, that i had my I pad on me,and youtube open. Then this Video started playing in the background automatically. Well, well ,well I am a Running Nerd. And recently I’ve been struggling with my running due to some Back-Discs issues. I Am getting back to form slowly. But this is vey interesting. I will surely try it in this Morning Run.
Thanks for The Insight GÖRAN
Tack för videon!
I will try this one out.
been soda doping for years. it works. i ride. i also used distilled water and baking soda in an inhaling rig i made to get rid of lung cancer. three weeks. worked like a charm. its a ph thing. i hope this is useful.
for an everyday joe/athlete, this is waaaaay down the road on something to use. Getting the low lying fruit first like baseline training and getting your weight under control is far more effective.
Very Interesting.. Its coming into Track season here in Sydney I haven't run track for the last two seasons due to injury. I'm currently on recovery from a marathon but will look to start tuning up for track in a few weeks I think I'll give this a go and see what happens
Taking sodium bicarbonate regularly to reduce blood pH ahead of a hard run seems to very dangerous. Physiologically, our bodies modulate pH through breathing and renal function. So when pH is high, breathing rate decreases. But what happens to the brain cells, when the muscles burn through the oxygen, but respiration is chemically slowed down? Do the runners' brain cells quietly suffocate and die?
Exactly. If you manage to succeed in actually taking this much then you could get worse performance or die
Nah. The increase in lactic acid build up in your muscles will eat through the increase in blood pH that you had through ingesting the bicarbonate. It wouldn’t be a problem. Plus…you can breath in rhythm with your run.
@@rickbaker261 yeah but until then your blood chemistry would be compromised and you’d have lower performance
@@yoeyyoey8937 not exactly. That isn’t really how it works. The lactic acid build up would be compensated for by the alkalinity of the blood chemistry. This is why it would be a fairly modest improvement in performance
@@rickbaker261 yeah but I’m saying that your blood pH is not effected by ingesting bicarbonate that way, your body has a lot of mechanisms to regulate blood pH because your hemoglobin is highly pH sensitive. If you took enough baking soda where it lowered your blood pH then you would alter your blood chemistry and hemoglobin function before you even need it to buffer the lactic acid.
Hi
Well explained
A very honest opinion
Well received
Cheers from NYC 🗽
Thank you for your bravery and testing this for us, the running community that follow you. I personally wont give it a try, but 3% off of my times would be minutes! 😂
I totally agree with your conclusion! It's getting stupidly costly to run... shoes, watch, HR monitor belt, gels, recovery powder, muscle recovery tools... Let's keep it simple and find pleasure in training hard without too many technological high-ends add-ons
I use it to take away odor from my sports shoes : ))
Very interesting video on a topic that seems to be on everyone's agenda now, as many have pointed out. I have a couple of further questions on the issue, perhaps someone here knows the answers. 1) as many have pointed out, the oral administration of sodium bicarb is a difficult route. Can it be measured from the bloodstream that some of it has actually made it through? In other words, is there direct evidence of this route of administration working, or do we need to rely on subjective reports of less muscle fatigue, which has all the placebo effect problems etc. 2) Are there studies of long-term effects of regular use of sodium bicarb at these large doses? As many in the comments have pointed out, the body tries to maintain a steady pH level, and I'm wondering if there's any research on such repeated efforts to tilt this balance. Thanks!
Sounds very similar to the effects of beta-alanin which increases carnosin and delays the lactic acid build-up. Might be worth looking into it as well.
Great Video Goran. I have seen quite a lot of arguing in the comments about exactly how the sodium bicarbonate will induce a performance enhancing effect, but you explain it in a way that is accessible to the majority of people and they are missing the part about the double blind trials! 😂. I will have to try this for my next 800m 1.5 seconds is huge!
Thank you for sharing a truly independent review where you put critical thinking and research into it, opposite to the usual influencer "I'm obsessed!" straight after opening the package. 😂My question was whether it makes any difference if I run just for fun and whether it could impact my half marathon effort when I run way over 2 hours, but you answered that in the video. Thanks for that! :)
Sodium bicarbonate was widely used by athletes in the early to mid 1990s. As a 21s 200m & 47s 400m runner, my group and I used it to good effect to help with high intensity intervals sessions - to assist the ability to run multiple reps. As a sports science student at that time, I'd read strong evidence of the efficacy of its use. Placebo effect or not, who knows? I just remember that it tasted awful 😁
Did you use the Maurten product or make your own mix?
Thanks. Very well presented.
When I ran in competitions (a very long time ago), I used to eat Ugali. Purely anecdotal but it certainly gave me some pep!
Im > 60 and I like to work out.
When I super set deads and squats, for example, Im sore as hell.
Same goes for HIIT workouts. That level of exercise brings a lot of soreness at my age.
If this would allow me to crush some workouts and not be so sore I would seriously consider it.
If it helps with training load then they got something.
that alone will shave more than a few seconds off your time
The older you get, the more animal sourced quality protein you need. I intake 1g/lb bodyweight/day, spring and lift hard and am rarely sore at age 68.
Hey there, great video once again. I would like to share my view regarding the last part in which you mentioned your concerns.
Although I agree that running as a discipline can be characterized as simple, pure and raw, I would argue that in the present moment every athlete competing on a professional level (and even a lot of amateur athletes) are utilizing money for better results. That means that athletes choose to invest their money on training coaches, nutrition coaches, good gear, tracking devices, supplements, training-specific nutrition etc. Of course, all those elements mentioned do not simply make you a better/faster runner in an day.
But I would dare to say, it's a fact that utilizing every "tool" available and turning the conditions in your favor will grant you the chances for a better result. For better or worse, we live in capitalism and money is one of the primary ways to achieve this. Maurtens new patent for Sodium and whatever new patent from whatever company might come up, is no different than every other "tool" that already exists.
Brands retailing their race shoes at >300€ is the simplest example that an athlete that can't afford them is standing in the starting line with a slight disadvantage.
Another example that applies more to ultra races is crewing. Although having a crew for many athletes is all about friends and family, as Walmsley once said about WSER "it takes a whole village, and the village has got to eat". Let alone paying for a crew. Once again, having the resources - which is basically transferred in money - is crucial.
I hope it's clear that I am not implying that money equals a good result, or that running is a sport that needs an ton of money or whatever.
I do believe that running is easily accessible for the vast majority of people and that we are capable of identifying the difference between pro runners utilizing every available tool and amateur runners putting great results with not necessarily having the best means to do so. Afterall, we are the ones creating meaning out of our sport, and maybe we should admire more the everyday runner instead of exalting elite runners as if they are gods, failing to understand the material terms that exist behind every effort.
We where using this in the late 1980's and 1990's to help buffer latic acid. Everyone thought it was nonsense but those of us that where wanting to stay drug free in wrestling latched on to it in spite of the experts saying it did not work. For all we know it does something totaly different in the body but it works! It is also great to take 1/2 to 1 teaspoon eachnight before bed for kidney health and to help with complications related to diabetes!
Cook and run video. Nice!
Lactat is not acid. And it’s not causing tiredness. It’s fuel for muscles.
Lactic acid is an acid though. When it loses a proton, it becomes lactate (which, when converted either to pyruvate or glucose, is indeed a fuel) but the proton lingers and causes acidosis in the muscle tissue.
It's a byproduct of hydrogen that causes the burn.
The tiredness is caused by depletion of energy sources, accumulation of metabolic byproducts including hydrogen ions as a byproduct of lactic acid dissociating. The burn is associated with these byproducts and hydrogen ions. You have to consider the scale of energy required and the time in which you need it - lactate as the byproduct of lactic acid from glyolytic energy production is not going to be sufficient to cycle back into fueling your current activity.
Michael Colgans old nutrition bible recommended this back in the lpearly 90's and I know rugby league have been using it since, both in training and matches. The effects cab be ameliorated by taking with a small low fibre meal, which is ideal about 90 mins pre warm up, and adding to an in game drink can help with the hardest part of the game, the last 20 minutes.
going to test tomorrow in Oslo Marathon, thanks for tip 😆
The other trendy big nutrition supplement in endurance sport is exogenous ketones.
Will it raise your stomach pH and thus work against your stomach's ability to extract nutrients from food?
I used to use this daily over 25 years ago. It certainly helped in getting my hr down to 34 bpm !
i take 1/2 tsp of baking soda in water with 1/4 tsp of vitamin c powder in water every morning. it really is amazing. It can be overwhelming if you do too much at first so i would recommend most people starting around there but it has been shown in studies that professional atheletes in hockey, football, and wrestling have taken up to 25 grams a day broken into small servings with amazing benefits to performance and recovery
i think a lot of side effects come from how much you dilute it with extra water intake as well as salt and other minerals. It can be tough on your kidneys if you do not drink enough water to help filter out any excess
Used it extensively over the years as a cycle racer, people /armies have been using it for endurance since the 1st WW
Remember reading and seeing this 40 years ago- usually the athletes that vomited at the end of the race, not for champions
Thank you for this information.
Thanks for watching 😊
Sodium bicarbonate is no secret I’m 55 and I know it’s been about in athletics since the 80s.
Great content as always! Do you have any thoughts on the usage of sodium bicarbonate vs beta alanine?
as a Physician Marathoner i agree with my colleagues in the comments section. Your kidneys constantly filter out and reabsorb bicarbonate and handle your overall organic acid load which is why during renal failure, you develop a net acidosis. We do give sodium bicarb tabs to some patients who have near or complete kidney failure but the effect is minor and the degree of kidney failure has to be extreme. By far, the best way to buffer your Ph in an endurance race is to maintain adequate hydration so your kidneys can optimize this constant secretion, filtration, and reabsorption process of acids and bases.
Great explainer! True though, that's an insane price point for what looks like, 1-3 sessions/races worth mind !
@Goran I hear what you say about how it seems like it complicates running and puts people, without the money to put into it, at disadvantage. I looked at the price of the product and yes, it is prohibitive. Don't you think that running is already complicated though? Aren't people spending a lot on running shoes, some that seems to give a noticeable performance advantage over those who can't spend that much money on shoes? Let us not even get into watches and heart rate monitors... I do think that comparing oneself to other runners takes the joy out of running, precisely because there are so many variables that is out of your control. Should the long term goal for most runners not be that you were better than you were yesterday, a few months ago or a years ago?
Great video but please share the studies in description next time. It will give more seriousness to your video ;)
I think the issue is an error in UNITS - at least 1-2 studies may have mistakenly referenced 0.3 mg/kg when it should be 0.3 mEq/kg. Then the milliequivalents needs to converted to milligrams. 1 mEq = 84mg. Thus:
(1) A male weighing 100kg needs 0.3mEq per kilogram. That = 30mEq.
(2) Now time to convert. We know 1 mEq = 84mg. Therefore, 30mEq x 84mg = 2,520 mg of sodium bicarbonate.
2,520 mg of NaHCO3 is about 4 Alka-Seltzer tabs.
If it is actually helping elite athletes perform then it's a great product for them. I see this being the same as all these hyper racing shoes that cost hundreds of dollars/euros/pounds/won/etc.... If you want to spend the money go for it, I've run so many races in the middle pack and pass so many people wearing those shoes. Running should always be easy to do. Shoes, shorts, and shirt and you are good to go.
Great video! Thoughtful, thorough, and you have a really lovely, relaxed manner. Thanks, i'll definitely be back. Liked, subbed, bell'd 🍻👍🏾👏🏾
So clumped up Sodium Bicorbonate + Some sort of water thickening agent (similar to what they use for ppl that can't swallow regular water). OR: there is a shell surrounding the Bicarbo. Clumps.
Sodium bicarb has been used to relieve acid reflux in the past. A sudden drop in stomach acid levels can cause rebound worsened symptoms though.
They banned the use of sodium bicarbonate in horse racing in NZ years ago. Horse trainers would give the horses a large dose a few hours before racing and the horses managed to maintain a fast pace for longer. I would never have thought it would catch on with runners! It is easy to detect high amounts of bicarbonate in the blood.
Could you do a video about this study? IOC consensus statement: dietary supplements and the high-performance athlete.
Nuun has bicarb as well, helps with the absorption of the electrolytes.
As a coach I got questions about the potential benefits from the 'a bit above average' athletes I coach - think about 1.20 - 1.25 for a half or around 2h Oly Triathlon - so before recommending anything I've tried it out myself. It's not cheap, as none of the Maurten stuff is - and I found it absolutely horrid to eat, but everything for science :-). Tested it on a 5K and 10K run. The good thing, no stomach issues - the bad thing - didn't feel any faster or less fatigued. Obviously not a very scientific test, but I think there are much better ways to go faster as a recreational athlete. 3 or 4 packs of the maurten bicarb loading will get you a pair of super shoes which will enhance your performance way more (even for the average Joe the Runner). By the way - buying alginate and pectin at any health store (or even Amz) and mixing it with bicarbonate will create the same substance and is quite a bit cheaper......
Messing with your stomachs ph is not a good idea. Your stomach needs to be very acidic as a part of your immune defense as well as to have optimal digestion.
Take some straight up arm and hammer baking soda mix it with water and drink and see how long you can run without having to run to the bathroom
8:50 okay, that was my question, because obviously having exposed bicarbonate hitting hydrochloric acid in the stomach...
Much like people drinking alkaline water, it will not end up hitting the bloodstream, it will merely be in a buffering battle in the stomach. As blood pH is tightly regulated by your body, you can't simply drink something basic and shift your blood pH much at all, unless you have a delivery vehicle that delivers it intact to the blood later on in the gut