Sodium Bicarbonate, Caffeine, and Their Combination Does Not Enhance Repeated 200-m Freestyle Performance
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| Year of publication | 2015 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
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| Description | Ingestion of sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) before short-term, high-intensity exercise has previously been found to enhance performance in repeated exercise bouts. The benefits of caffeine ingestion before high-intensity exercise appear to be limited. Not much is known about potential synergy between both supplements. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of NaHCO3, caffeine, and their combination on repeated 200-m swimming freestyle performance. Seven elite male freestyle swimmers ingested NaHCO3 (0.3 g/kg; B), caffeine (3 mg/kg; C), a combination of both (B+C), and placebo (P, lactose) on 4 separate occasions. A supplementation was orally administered in a double-blind randomized research manner 90 min before completing 2 maximal 200-m freestyle time trials (TT1 and TT2) separated by 15 min. No significant treatment effect was observed in the drop-off in performance time between B, C, B+C and P. The findings suggest that the ergogenic benefit of taking B, C or combination for repeated 200-m swimming performance is to be questioned. A small performance increase is mainly attributed to poor gastrointestinal tolerance of dietary supplements. |