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Definition: "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance "
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07.05.2012 |
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Sodium bicarbonate-creatine combo keeps sprint times up to the mark
If you do a sport that requires repeated short bursts of explosive movement, you may benefit from a supplement that combines sodium bicarbonate and creatine. Sports scientist James Barber of California Polytechnic State University San Luis discovered this and described the effect in his thesis [Link]. An article will appear soon in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.
Barber used 13 fit male students, who had to cycle on three occasions. On each occasion they had to sprint six times for 10 seconds as hard as they could, and between the sprints they had to cycle slowly enough to be able to recover.
The students were given supplements two days before the exertion test. On one occasion they were given a placebo, the second time 20 g creatine per day, and the third time the students took 20 g creatine [Cr] and 0.5 g sodium bicarbonate [Sb] per kg bodyweight. The students took their supplements every day at 9:00, 12:00, 18:00 and 22:00. The supplements consisted of powder, which the students took with two glasses of water. The researchers also impressed upon the students that they should drink two litres of water every day.
The combined supplement worked better than creatine on its own. Peak power increased by a significant amount in the combined group but not in the creatine group. The figure below also shows that the relative peak power [peak power per kg bodyweight] is maintained better in the combined group than in the other groups.
The students did not have serious stomach pain or gut problems.
"Using a convenient, acute 2-day supplement of creatine and sodium bicarbonate, we observed increased relative peak power (+7%) during the repeated sprints", Barber concludes in his article. "Although this may seem minimal, it may have a profound impact on increasing high intensity exercise performance in a real-world competition. At the elite or collegiate level in athletics, seconds (or less) may be the difference in winning an event, and a 7% increase in power output may play a pivotal role in deciding the outcome."
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