weight training and baking soda

K

Karky

2
So I want to try to take some baking soda pre workout to see if I can get more reps. Mainly on the leg extensions, since that's where the acidity is killing me! Anyone heard of anyone else doing this with success? how much should I take and how long before training? Are there any downsides to this, can it be dangerous in the long run?

This might be a supplement question, but I nitted weight training in so I could post it here where there's more traffic :p
 
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??Never heard of doing that. It sure makes my fridge smell nice though:sport:
 
I remember my ex phys professor talking about athletes using baking soda for the bicarbonate in it. The problem that she said was the taste and the amount that you'd have to use to actually get results. I can't remember the actual amount, but it was a ton.
 
I've heard 200-300mg/kg body weight. About 27 grams for me, that is quite a bit.

And yes, it's for the bicarbonate.

For those who don't know. When you exercise anaerobically hydrogen +ions (protons, H+) accumilate to the point where it can interfere with some processes (mostly enzymes), which is one of the mechanisms for fatigue. Bicarbonate buffers H+.

It is said that it only helps for stuff that's 1 min and longer, but I think some of my sets might be that long, I dunno, but probably not.
 
I've heard of this as well. Bicarb gives me really bad burps and eventually I just puke (it's really foamy from the acid in your stomach, so the foamy crap comes out of your nose, too), so it's not an optimal supplement for my workouts.

But for those people who can stomach it, whatever works ... I think it's supposed to buffer lactic acid buildup.
 
Well it buffers H+ buildup, lactate isn't really bad in itself, is it? it's just an indicator of protons accumulating.

My book shows this equation:
Lactate + NaHCO3 -> Na lactate + H2CO3

Now, that is assuming lactate has a H+ to give, which would only be if there was an H in lactate's carboxyl group, which there is not. (remember the whole metabolic acidosis discussion a while back?)
So in reality it should be like this (I guess):
Lactate- + NaHCO3 + H+ -> Na lactate + H2CO3

Proton is taken from the solution, the sodium from the bicarbonate joins with lactate to form NA lactate. I'm no chemist though. And without the proton in the group, lactate would be a negatively charged ion.
 
Karky said:
Well it buffers H+ buildup, lactate isn't really bad in itself, is it? it's just an indicator of protons accumulating.

My book shows this equation:
Lactate + NaHCO3 -> Na lactate + H2CO3

Now, that is assuming lactate has a H+ to give, which would only be if there was an H in lactate's carboxyl group, which there is not. (remember the whole metabolic acidosis discussion a while back?)
So in reality it should be like this (I guess):
Lactate- + NaHCO3 + H+ -> Na lactate + H2CO3

Proton is taken from the solution, the sodium from the bicarbonate joins with lactate to form NA lactate. I'm no chemist though. And without the proton in the group, lactate would be a negatively charged ion.
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You mean to tell me the foaming at the mouth and nose didn't turn you off of bicarb yet, not to mention the potential risks of ingesting too much? :D

If you ingested enough, it would throw your electrolyte levels off.

Evo's right about being able to build up your lactate threshold. So I guess I'm wondering why somebody would take something that they really didn't need?
 
You can exercise harder. It's really that simple. Why do you take anything performance enhancing? It's like saying "why take creatine when you can just wait a month and get the same strength increase as the initial one you get from creatine?"

I can exercise more before H+ builds up to intolerable levels, but I can still have my H levels go up as high as before, but I can get more reps before it happens.
 
Karky said:
You can exercise harder. It's really that simple. Why do you take anything performance enhancing? It's like saying "why take creatine when you can just wait a month and get the same strength increase as the initial one you get from creatine?"

I can exercise more before H+ builds up to intolerable levels, but I can still have my H levels go up as high as before, but I can get more reps before it happens.
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Ah, OK ;) Then try it and see if it works for you. As long as you don't take very much and you drink a lot of water with it, you should be OK.

And please report back to us so we know whether or not you noticed a difference :)
 
Drinking Baking Soda.....:speechless: thats a stretch LOL Ill stick to getting my baking soda by baking a cake lol JK
 
i_love_muscle said:
Ah, OK ;) Then try it and see if it works for you. As long as you don't take very much and you drink a lot of water with it, you should be OK.

And please report back to us so we know whether or not you noticed a difference :)
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yeah, I kind of doubt it though, since weight training is more ATP-PCr than anaerobic glycolysis, but we'll see.
 
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