The effects of sodium bicarbonate ingestion on swimming interval performance in trained competitive swimmers

L A Gough; J W Newbury; M Price

doi:10.1007/s00421-023-05192-6

The effects of sodium bicarbonate ingestion on swimming interval performance in trained competitive swimmers

L A Gough, J W Newbury, M Price

Centre for Physical Activity, Sport and Exercise Sciences

Birmingham City University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

123 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The use of sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO ₃) supplementation to improve repeated high-intensity performance is recommended; however, most swimming performance studies examine time trial efforts rather than repeated swims with interspersed recovery that are more indicative of training sessions. The aim of this study, therefore, was to investigate the effects of 0.3 g.kg ⁻¹ BM NaHCO ₃ supplementation on sprint interval swimming (8 × 50 m) in regionally trained swimmers. Fourteen regionally competitive male swimmers (body mass (BM): 73 ± 8 kg) volunteered for this double-blind, randomised, crossover designed study. Each participant was asked to swim 8 × 50 m (front crawl) at a maximum intensity from a diving block, interspersed with 50 m active recovery swimming. After one familiarisation trial, this was repeated on two separate occasions whereby participants ingested either 0.3 g.kg ⁻¹ BM NaHCO ₃ or 0.05 g.kg ⁻¹ BM sodium chloride (placebo) in solution 60 min prior to exercise. Whilst there were no differences in time to complete between sprints 1–4 (p > 0.05), improvements were observed in sprint 5 (p = 0.011; ES = 0.26), 6 (p = 0.014; ES = 0.39), 7 (p = 0.005; ES = 0.60), and 8 (p = 0.004; ES = 0.79). Following NaHCO ₃ supplementation, pH was greater at 60 min (p < 0.001; ES = 3.09), whilst HCO ₃ ⁻ was greater at 60 min (p < 0.001; ES = 3.23) and post-exercise (p = 0.016; ES = 0.53) compared to placebo. These findings suggest NaHCO ₃ supplementation can improve the latter stages of sprint interval swimming performance, which is likely due to the augmentation of pH and HCO ₃ ⁻ prior to exercise and the subsequent increase in buffering capacity during exercise.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1763-1771
Number of pages	9
Journal	European Journal of Applied Physiology
Volume	123
Issue number	8
Early online date	7 Apr 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-023-05192-6
Publication status	Published - Aug 2023

Bibliographical note

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated
otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.

Keywords

Buffering
Supplements
High-performance
Training
Alkalosis

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title = "The effects of sodium bicarbonate ingestion on swimming interval performance in trained competitive swimmers",

abstract = "The use of sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO 3) supplementation to improve repeated high-intensity performance is recommended; however, most swimming performance studies examine time trial efforts rather than repeated swims with interspersed recovery that are more indicative of training sessions. The aim of this study, therefore, was to investigate the effects of 0.3 g.kg −1 BM NaHCO 3 supplementation on sprint interval swimming (8 × 50 m) in regionally trained swimmers. Fourteen regionally competitive male swimmers (body mass (BM): 73 ± 8 kg) volunteered for this double-blind, randomised, crossover designed study. Each participant was asked to swim 8 × 50 m (front crawl) at a maximum intensity from a diving block, interspersed with 50 m active recovery swimming. After one familiarisation trial, this was repeated on two separate occasions whereby participants ingested either 0.3 g.kg −1 BM NaHCO 3 or 0.05 g.kg −1 BM sodium chloride (placebo) in solution 60 min prior to exercise. Whilst there were no differences in time to complete between sprints 1–4 (p > 0.05), improvements were observed in sprint 5 (p = 0.011; ES = 0.26), 6 (p = 0.014; ES = 0.39), 7 (p = 0.005; ES = 0.60), and 8 (p = 0.004; ES = 0.79). Following NaHCO 3 supplementation, pH was greater at 60 min (p < 0.001; ES = 3.09), whilst HCO 3 − was greater at 60 min (p < 0.001; ES = 3.23) and post-exercise (p = 0.016; ES = 0.53) compared to placebo. These findings suggest NaHCO 3 supplementation can improve the latter stages of sprint interval swimming performance, which is likely due to the augmentation of pH and HCO 3 − prior to exercise and the subsequent increase in buffering capacity during exercise.",

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The effects of sodium bicarbonate ingestion on swimming interval performance in trained competitive swimmers

Abstract

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