Effect of sodium bicarbonate and beta-alanine supplementation on maximal sprint swimming.
BACKGROUND
This study examined the effect of simultaneous supplementation of extracellular buffer sodium bicarbonate (SB) and intracellular buffer beta-alanine (BA) on maximal sprint swimming.


METHODS
Thirteen competitive male swimmers completed 4 different treatments (placebo [PL], SB, BA + PL, and BA + SB) in a crossover procedure. PL or SB supplementation (0.3 g/kg body weight) was ingested 60 min before two maximal 100-m freestyle swims that were performed with a passive recovery of 12-min between each swim. Because of the known long washout period for carnosine, four weeks of BA supplementation (4.8 g per day) was started after the first week of PL or SB supplementation and performance testing.


RESULTS
The first maximal swims were similar, but the increase in time of the second versus the first 100-m swimming time was 1.5 s more (p < 0.05) in PL than in SB. Blood pH values were significantly (p < 0.05) greater in the SB and in the BA + SB groups compared to the PL and BA + PL values. There were no differences in peak blood lactate between the treatments.


CONCLUSIONS
Supplementing with SB prior to performing maximal sprint swimming with repetitions under 60 s improves performance. However, co-supplementation with SB and BA did not confer any added benefit on maximal swim performance.
Department of Biology of Physical Activity, University of Jyväskylä, P,O, Box 35, Jyväskylä 40351, Finland. antti.a.mero@jyu.fi.
Antti A
AA
Mero
Petri
P
Hirvonen
Janne
J
Saarela
Juha J
JJ
Hulmi
Jay R
JR
Hoffman
Jeffrey R
JR
Stout