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22g Baking Soda 60min Before a Old-School 4 x 12RM LegWorkout Allow for a 22 Rep Volume Increase on HypertrophyOriented Squat + Leg Press + Leg Extension Quads Routine

As a diligent student of the SuppVersity you are no stranger to the

ergogenic value of sodium bicarbonate, NaHCO(3) or bak ing

soda, and though I still believe that I have to do a lot of persuading

in terms of its stand-alone benefits (click here to read more),

many of you will at least have been impressed by its ability to

boost the uptake and subsequent performance benefits from

creatine supplements (cf. "Supercharging Creatine With Baking

Soda"). And while I am not sure if the soon-to-be-published study

by Carr et al. will be last straw that's finally going to break your

back... ah, I mean your resistance, or I should say, unwillingness

to accept that something as cheap and simple as baking soda

could outperform 90% of the overpriced supplemental non-starters

on the market and will not make you draw water or increase your

blood pressure, although it has the bad word "sodium" in its

name, I cannot tell, what I can tell you though, is that Benjamin

M. Carr and his colleagues from the School of Human

Performance and Recreation at the University of Southern

Mississippi in Hattiesburg are spot on, when they say (or write)

that their "findings demonstrate ergogenic efficacy for NaHCO(3)

during [hypertrophy-type resistance training]" (Kerr. 2012).

The benefits of baking soda start at high intensity aerobic

exercise, and end right where your willpower ends ;-)

That baking soda can be an effective ergogenic aid, especially

when it comes to high volume workouts has actually long been

established. Still many, if not most of the trials involved sprinters

or cyclists performing HIIT-esque protocols on the track or cycle ergometer (e.g. 11.5% increase in

sprint performance in Price. 2003), whereas researchers such as Portington et al. or Webster et al.

totally missed the boat or, I should say, what it means to train, when they had their study participants

perform laughable 5 sets of leg presses and measured nothing but a (yet significant) difference in blood

pH in response to pre-supplementation (105 min before the test) with sodium bicarbonate (Webster,

1993; Portington. 1998).

With four sets of three exercises at the 12RM (not yet Serge Nubret style, I know; see image 1 ;-) and

the king of all leg exercises, the squat being one of them, as well as resistance trained study

participants who were actually able to lift a weight that would be taxing enough to see a difference, the

study design of the Carr study (see figure 1) is yet more of what I would expect to yield results with real

world significance for trainees who are not at the gym to chat and show off their latest gymwear, but to

train... and as the data in figure 2 goes to show, the results were what these very trainees are looking

for:

Image 1: Squats, 8 x 12, Leg Press 6

x 12, Leg Ext. 6 x 12; that's the

Quads routine Serge Nubret trained

twice a week in conjunction with

chest – it stands out of question that

this is the kind of workout that

benefits most from an acid buffer

like NaHCO(3)!

Figure 1: Overview of the experimental protocol that was used in the study (based on Carr. 2012)

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3/28/13 22g Baking Soda 60min Before a Old-School 4 x 12RM Leg Workout Allow for a 22 Rep Volume Increase on Hypertrophy Oriented Squat + Leg Press + Leg…

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I freely admit, an overall plus of ~22reps, in other words 1.83 reps per set does not sound like much,

but if you think about how long you would have to train to achieve this improvement and/or compare it to

the median effect size of weeks of beta alanine supplementation, of which you can hardly say that it

was one of the aforementioned supplemental non-starters, and still offers a performance increment of

only 2.87% (Hobson. 2012), the 22 +/- 13 reps or 4% increase in total volume the participants in the

Carr study achieved within about 2min (by drinking their 22-32g of baking soda) are more than just a bit

of alright.

"But isn't the increase in lactate a bad thing?"

"Lactate...?" I knew this would be your next question. I mean it is already hard enough to believe that

anything that has the word "sodium" (by the way you Americans are the only ones who don't get that

this ought to be "natrium" and not "sodium" ;-) in its name is not per se bad for you, and now the guys

in the baking soda group had higher lactate levels!

A note on the dangers of "salt": Firstly, bak ing soda

is "only" ~28% sodium, which means that for every 4

grams you ingest you get roughly 1 g of sodium.

Secondly, it is arguable how much of the sodium is

effectively taken up and will be floating around in

your blood. As T. Lakhanisky points out in his

dossier for the Belgian government: "The uptake of

sodium, via exposure to sodium carbonate, is much

less than the uptake of sodium via food. Therefore,

sodium carbonate is not expected to be systemically

available in the body." (Lakhanisky. 2002) And

thirdly, there is more and more evidence that

suggests that the chloride rather than the sodium

content of common table salt (NaCl = Natrium +

Chloride) is the root cause of "sodium induced

hypertension" in "sodium sensitive" individuals /

animal models. Only recently, a study by Schmidlin et al. showed that chloride loading

induced hypertension in the stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rat despite profound

sodium depletion (Schmidlin. 2010). So, if you asked me, rather than pointing at salt as the #2

on the list of greatest evils (obviously cholesterol is still #1, here) the medical orthodoxy would

be better advised to address the imbalances between sodium and potassium (click here to

learn more about the ratios), which are so characteristic of the western diet, instead of

painting yet another black and white picture where sodium is the bad guy and potassium the

dangerous mineral that cannot be sold OTC in dosages >80mg.... but hey, this would be the

topic for a whole new blogpost and as gross as it may sound, the chance that you get

diarrhea from the baking soda is probably 1000x higher than the remote possibility of

increases in blood pressure. A 1990 study by Luft et al. even found that the blood pressure of

10 mildly hypertensive and normal subjects decreased by 5mmHg after 7 days in the course

of which they drank 3 liters of sodium bicarbonate containing water per day (Luft. 1990)

Now, you would have reason to be concerned if we were talking about lactic acid, which is basically

lactate + a proton (you can also say, lactate is the negative ion of lactate acid if you want to). Contrary

to the latter, which increases during exercise when the acid buffer of your musculature is exhausted,

lactate is however not just benign, but actually beneficial.

"So lactate is a bonus... really?"

While it's still debated whether lactate is only a beneficial co-

factor in the mitochondrial energy chain, as Van Hall

Figure 2: Lactate, pH, ratio of hydrogen carbonate ions to NaHCO(3) and base excess in blood after, as well as number of

total reps performed during the leg workout (data adapted from Carr. 2012)

Image 2: "Cholesterol is the devil and

sodium is his l ittle brother!" Everyone who

stil l believes everything the medical

orthodoxy says, please raise your hands!

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Primalkid wrote...I have no idea, but my guess would be help

with the Thermicarb or give a slight alkalineeffect to the drink (similar to lemon juice).

River Dakota wrote...In the article, "Adelfo Cerame: Is

Intermittent Fasting 'Bulk-Compatible'? Plus: Adelfo's 3-

Months Intermittent Bulking Plan With

Macronutrient Ratios, Meal-Timing andSample Plan"...

Continue >>

Anonymous wrote...How did they take the carnitine? Oral or IM?

Was it L-carnitine or was it a salt?

Purposelessness wrote...I never understood the fuss about insulin

resistance. It's just a mechanism, can be

good, can be bad. If I don't eat carbs or

don't eat, I want my muscle tissue tobecome insulin resistant. Failure to develop

insulin resistance in such...

Continue >>

garymar wrote...+M = no instruction-M = plus instructionThat's really confusing.

What Students SayWhat Students Say

As just mentioned on the Science Round-Up on Super Human Radio Network: Fish /C...

Are you unhappy guys? Maybeyou're taking an aromatase inhibitor?Why are you co...

Beta Alanine Thwarts Baking Soda:Increased Sprint Performance WithNaCHO3 - "Ve...

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Reactions: interesting (8) boring (0) understandable (1) too complicated (0)

Labels: baking soda, bicarbonate, build muscle, hypertrophy, lactate, NAHCO3, performance, sodium

bicarbonate, volume training

proposes in his Y2K review of the research (Van Hall. 2000)

or rather a mitochondrial energy substrate in its own right that

cannot be used only in the mitochondria of your skeletal and

heart muscle but also in your brain, as Pellerin et al. suggest

(Pellerin. 2007), it is indisputable that the decreased

formation of lactic acid, due to the perseverance of an overall

higher alkalinity in the presence of a 4% higher workout

volume is a beneficial things. Not the least, by virtue of the its

ability to trigger the release of growth hormone (cf. figure 3;

Luger. 1992), which could - in conjunction with the increased

workout capacity and the supposedly faster post-workout

recovery give trainees on a hypertrophy-oriented volume

training regimen an edge over the salt-o-phobic competition.

In view of the fact that Carr et al. arrive at the exact same

conclusion, before they state that the "ergogenic efficacy" of

sodium bicarbonate during "hypertrophy-type resistance exercise" would "warrant further investigation

into chronic training applications" (Carr. 2012), we can expect to see a future trial investigating exactly

that: How much more will you gain if you repeat this practice for 6-8 weeks? ... I guess, I don't have to

tell you that the SuppVersity is going to be the place, where you are going to read about the results of

that study, first!

References:

Carr BM, Webster MJ, Boyd JC, Hudson GM, Scheett TP. Sodium bicarbonate

supplementation improves hypertrophy-type resistance exercise performance. Eur J Appl

Physiol. 2012 Sep 4.

Lakhanisky T. Sodium Bicarbonate. OECD SIDS. UNEP Publications. 2002.

Luger A, Watschinger B, Deuster P, Svoboda T, Clodi M, Chrousos GP. Plasma growth

hormone and prolactin responses to graded levels of acute exercise and to a lactate

infusion. Neuroendocrinology. 1992 Jul;56(1):112-7.

Luft FC, Zemel MB, Sowers JA, Fineberg NS, Weinberger MH. Sodium bicarbonate and

sodium chloride: effects on blood pressure and electrolyte homeostasis in normal and

hypertensive man. J Hypertens. 1990 Jul;8(7):663-70.

Pellerin, L., Bouzier- Sore, A.-K., Aubert, A., Serres, S., Merle, M., Costalat, R. &

Magistretti, P. 2007. Activity-dependent regulation of energy metabolism by astrocytes: an

update. Glia 55, 1251–1262.

Price M, Moss P, Rance S. Effects of sodium bicarbonate ingestion on prolonged

intermittent exercise. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2003 Aug;35(8):1303-8.

Portington KJ, Pascoe DD, Webster MJ, Anderson LH, Rutland RR, Gladden LB. Effect of

induced alkalosis on exhaustive leg press performance. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1998

Apr;30(4):523-8.

Schmidlin O, Tanaka M, Sebastian A, Morris RC Jr. Selective chloride loading is pressor in

the stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rat despite hydrochlorothiazide-induced

natriuresis. J Hypertens. 2010 Jan;28(1):87-94.

Van Hall G. Lactate as a fuel for mitochondrial respiration. Acta Physiol Scand. 2000

Apr;168(4):643-56.

Figure 3: Mean plasma lactate, GH, and

prolactin responses to intravenous infusion

of 250ml 1M sodium lactate in 7

untrained healthy volunteer; note: the

respective increase in GH is more

pronounced with natural = exercise

induced increases in lactate.

+3 Recommend this on Google

44 comments:

Kevin September 5, 2012 at 6:47 PM

Hi Prof Dr, Andro

How should the dosing be taken? Is it best to split up the 22g into smaller portions or to take

it all at once pre-workout? Do you recommend saving some to take with a peri-workout

shake? Also, is it a good idea to take the 0.3/kg dosing along with creatine pre-workout?

Thanks and keep up the great work.

Reply

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Prof. Dr. Andro September 6, 2012 at 8:34 PM

the maximal alkalizing effect SHOULD be achieve when you ingest those all at

onece; if your stomach does not tolerate that (=diarrhea) you can start you at

90min, 60min, 30min... on the other hand, there are also studies showing

benefits from a "chronic" supplementation regimen. I am still waiting for a well-

conducted study that would probe not so much the immediate perfomance

effects, but rather the metabolic effects of taking 20g in say serving over the

day and thus staying more alkaline, but unfortunately I cannot pay for it ;-)

Anonymous September 5, 2012 at 10:44 PM

Possible GI disturbances? I remember a couple years ago I took a large dosage of baking

soda for its performance benefits and had a case of the runs.

Reply

Prof. Dr. Andro September 6, 2012 at 8:35 PM

as mentioned before. Some people are unfortunately very susceptible. For me

it did go away with ramping up, though.... try starting with a teaspoon and work

your way up, if you want to try it

Gabriel Sanchez September 5, 2012 at 11:37 PM

Great post. I always love to read the latest NaHCO(3) research, and know this is just the

place to find it!

Reply

Prof. Dr. Andro September 6, 2012 at 8:36 PM

let's hope it does not take too long for the next study; also, as mentioned

above, I wold love to see a study on the metabolic effects instead of the

performance effects.

Unknown September 6, 2012 at 10:59 AM

Hello Dr. Andro

Thanks again for these good articles! I found this study in pubmed from 1993 though:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8396707

Effect of sodium bicarbonate ingestion on exhaustive resistance exercise performance.

Six weight trained males were studied prior to, during, and in recovery from exhaustive

resistance exercise, 105 min after ingesting 300 mg.kg-1 of either a placebo or NaHCO3. The

exercise test consisted of four sets of 12 repetitions with a fifth set to volitional fatigue on a

Universal leg press machine at a resistance equaling approximately 70% of the subjects 1-

repetition maximum.

Repetitions performed in the final exercise set were not significantly different between groups

(NaHCO3: 19.6 +/- 1.6, placebo: 18.2 +/- 1.1 repetitions).

Reply

Prof. Dr. Andro September 6, 2012 at 8:37 PM

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I did mention those study explicitly - the workload is too low to see an effect.

Kevin Holleran September 6, 2012 at 5:35 PM

Hello,

Thank you for all your amazing articles. I used to use a regiment of Beta-Alanine, AAKG, &

Creatine as my pre-workout, sometimes mixed from individual supplements, sometime in the

form of N.O.Xplode.

After reading many of your articles, it was illustrated that AAKG has no real value in

increasing NO production. So basically, it seems that my supplement regiment should be

something like: creatine, baking soda, beta-alanine, & BCAA's pre-workout. Typically, post

workout I hit a Progenex protein shake, & sweet potatoes. I am follow a pretty strict primal

diet & do Crossfit & heavy lifting.

How much and how should I schedule the supplements above? Do those go together well?

Thank you very much for your time & your blog.

Kevin

Reply

Primalkid September 6, 2012 at 8:08 PM

Kevin,

Pre-workout I would recommend 1-3g Tyrosine, 2g Glutamine, 5-10g BCAAs,

and 5g creatine. The baking soda is optional and will only benefit you if you do

high volume training. If you are also trying to cut, you could add in Yohimbine

HCL (.2mg/kg bodyweight), and 200mg caffeine (more or less depending on

tolerance).

Post-workout you want some fast and slow digesting proteins (.3-.5g/kg lean

body mass), as well as some fast and slow carbs (.5-1.5g/kg lean body mass

depending on amount of volume performed during workout). I recommend either

milk protein isolate, or a 50/50 mix of whey isolate and casein. As for carbs,

sweet potatoes are great, but i personally prefer bananas since they have the

ideal 2:1 glucose:fructose ratio (they are also delicious ;-)

Take the pre-workout about 30 minutes beforehand, and the post-workout

within an hour. Hope this helps.

Prof. Dr. Andro September 6, 2012 at 8:49 PM

Primalkid's recommendations are good - aside from the yohimbine, where the

science on fat loss benefits are nonexistent (I discard the one existent study

on soccer players because it is not methodologically flawed, but simply lacks

all information / control of the methods) - the rest is guesswork based on

molecular mechanisms that have been misleading us time and again and my

personal experience says that if anything it leads to bloating (water retention)

and thus makes you looked f*** up.

if you want an NO boost you could try citrulline that can actually make it to

your muscle and wont get stuck in the cells of the gut, but even here it is not

exactly like you would miss the substrate for the pump... esp. if you are going

low carb you just won't produce so much nitric oxide as one of the patways

that increases skeletal muscle NO production is insulin (>

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC295191/pdf/jcinvest00021-

0270.pdf)

Ah, I also usually don't recommend tyrosine, not because it cannot work, but

because it does not work in 80% of the people I know who have tried it.

And looking back at your original stack, I would always prefer taurine over beta

alanine - you can cycle the latter by the way, like taking 4 weeks off; it takes

some time for the carnosine levels to go back to normal

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Reply

Kevin Holleran September 7, 2012 at 5:23 AM

So a good formula might be, an hour before training:

Pre-workout:

? of Taurine

5g Creatine

? of Baking Soda

5g of BCAA's

2g of Glutamine

I usually train on an empty stomach, either at the end of a fast from the

previous night (lunch right after), or 4 hours after lunch and prior to dinner.

Would this have any affect?

Thanks again, I love reading your articles, even though much of the science

sails over my head.

Kevin

Primalkid September 7, 2012 at 6:41 AM

Look up the intermittent thoughts on intermittent fasting series that Adel did a

while back. It covers IF and breaking the fast and the roles of AMPK, mTOR,

etc. And yes your formula looks fine to me. I personally only take the BCAAs

which take me into a semifasted state since they are insulin stimulating.

However the following exercise session is a natural AMPK stimulus so it

doesn't matter.

Kevin Holleran September 7, 2012 at 3:50 PM

Thanks. If I take this concoction on a fasted/empty stomach, should I skip the

baking soda due to the pH being low or will I still have a benefit?

Sorry to be asking so many questions, thanks for answering.

Primalkid September 7, 2012 at 6:26 PM

Ideally you want to be slightly alkaline (which is why you should always eat

your veggies ;-) but I am unsure wrt baking soda. Hopefully Adel will chime in,

but my guess is that if you want to take baking soda then go for it. Just see

how you feel and go from there. If you start throwing up everywhere or have a

bad stomach ache, then maybe not the best plan.

Prof. Dr. Andro September 9, 2012 at 4:47 AM

the fasting is all he more reason to take the baking Soda, at least in theory it

is... the Taurine up there has still a ? - if you want to take that I suggest ~3g

as for the baking soda, start with 1-2 teaspoons if that doesn't bother you go

ahead and increase the dose

RickP September 19, 2012 at 12:28 AM

I'm one of those who noticed nothing from tyrosine, to Dr. Andro's point.

Prof. Dr. Andro September 19, 2012 at 5:06 AM

probably didn't talk to enough bros about how effective it is to get the placebo

effect into the P<0.05 zone ;)

Daron September 6, 2012 at 7:28 PM

Hopefully this helps and hopefully I do not get intestinal discomfort.

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http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?

i=1+tablespoon+of+baking+soda+is+how+many+grams+of+sodium+bicarbonate

Reply

Daron September 6, 2012 at 8:48 PM

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?

i=how+many+teaspoons+of+sodium+bicarbonate+is+22g

Reply

Prof. Dr. Andro September 6, 2012 at 8:52 PM

I really don't like those tablespoon measures, I mean most people don't have

one of those standardized measuring spoons and if you dont you never know

how heaped those have to be... I usually buy "Kaiser Natron" (obviously not

available in the US), which comes in 50g sachets. Regardless of what size you

have, if its relatively small you can simply try how much 22g is (in my case 1/2

a sachet)

HutchMan September 7, 2012 at 9:28 PM

Prof. Dr. Andro...

So for a 88kg body weight what would you recommend pre workout stack (including baking

soda) first thing in the morn fasted 5X5 protocol trainee.

Reply

Primalkid September 8, 2012 at 12:50 AM

Hutch,

I would say 5-10g BCAA is the only requirement because training in a purely

fasted state is not beneficial.

Read the thread above between Kevin, Adel, and I. That should give you some

ideas.

Prof. Dr. Andro September 9, 2012 at 4:58 AM

In view of the debate I am having with Kamil, here >

http://suppversity.blogspot.com/2012/01/sugar-addicted-or-just-stressed-

out.html?showComment=1347118303346#c3469473572251174586

you may consider using an EAA product instead, although I am not sure about

how much of a thread the BCAA depletes neurotransmitter issue really is for

someone who is not already whacked up (my best bet is VERY LOW).

A good stack to start out with is

200mg of caffeine

5-10g of BCAAs (optionally 5g before 10g intra, if your workouts are long)

2.5g- of creatine monohydrate (+2.5g after the workout)

if you like you can add

3g of taurine

1.5g of beta alanine

when you got energy issue (which should not happen, if your adrenals are

working properly), add

coconut oil, or even

some carbs (you are breaking the fast after the workout anyway)

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and to be honest, even training in a truly fasted state is not so much of a

problem if you are not one of those who will pass out due to low blood glucose

jkeiffer September 10, 2012 at 5:40 AM

Any reason 3gms Creatine and 1 teaspoon Baking Soda with water in the morning wouldn't be

a good idea?

Reply

Prof. Dr. Andro September 10, 2012 at 3:19 PM

no, I don't see one...

Anonymous September 11, 2012 at 5:54 AM

Why not use potassium bicarbonate?

Reply

Prof. Dr. Andro September 11, 2012 at 6:54 AM

if you want to risk fainting, try it... you could combine them at a 3/1 ratio,

maybe but potassium is not exactly what you need in your blood stream, when

you work out, as it will leech from the cells during the workout anyway

Rachid September 13, 2012 at 9:09 AM

From my understanding and from what i've read elsewhere, the goal of baking

soda supplementation is to alcalinize. And if I am correct, potassium

bicarbonate will do the job as well and may help to have a better

sodium/potassium balance?

I am taking approx. 10g with water during workout (I've progressively increased

up to this dose) and I feel good while lifting.

Do you think I should switch to baking soda??

Btw, your site and articles are awesome!

Rachid September 15, 2012 at 5:20 PM

And one more thing:

The benefit of baking soda is coming from its alcalizing properties or I am

wrong?

Bomb Jack September 17, 2012 at 4:26 PM

I follow Rachid about the question: should I avoid potassium?

Until now I used more potassium than sodium pre-/during my workouts and my

days: isn't it better for a healthy sodium/potassium ratio or not? And why

potassium could be harmful?

Prof. Dr. Andro September 18, 2012 at 8:09 PM

sorry, I forgot to answer this question. The thing about potassium is that your

body conserves it very well.

Your loss during exercise is (compared to sodium) minimal, you lose no more

than 100-200 mg potassium per hour and in view of the fact that the potassium

level in your blood will already rise while you work out (potassium is the ion IN

the cell) and your sodium level will decrease (sodium is the ion OUTSIDE of

the cell) you risk to skew the sodium to potassium ratio and end up in a state

of mild or even serious hyperkalemia, which is associated with muscular hyper-

3/28/13 22g Baking Soda 60min Before a Old-School 4 x 12RM Leg Workout Allow for a 22 Rep Volume Increase on Hypertrophy Oriented Squat + Leg Press + Leg…

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excitability and electrical impulse disturbances that may cause irregular heart

beat or worse...

that said you are ill-advised focusing solely on potassium bicarbonate, also

because sodium bicarbonate is actually used to "drive" potassium back into

the cells in states of hyperkalemia. You can combine them if you want, but

don't ask me for the optimal ratio... certainly >1 sodium:potassium, though

(around workouts)

Bomb Jack September 19, 2012 at 4:26 PM

...didn't know anything about this, very interesting, thank you Doc.! :-)

Rachid September 19, 2012 at 8:36 AM

Thank you for your answer, it is very instructive and I'll try to combine both in a 3:1 ratio (that's

what is used into rehydradation solutions I think).

One thing that is very surprising is that on the biggest French bodybuilding websites (and only

French ones strangely), they all advice the use of bicarbonate potassium instead of sodium

around workout (with doses up to 20g!) and it is even sold into pills to be more convenient to

take http://www.nutrimuscle.com/bicarbonate-potassium/400/#presentation.

I'm really confident in your knowledge and I don't want to troll but I'm confused.

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Prof. Dr. Andro September 19, 2012 at 11:22 AM

probably an outgrowth of the sodium scare within the BB-world... trust me:

Nothing draws more water than not getting enough sodium. And on BB's and

potassium I suggest you read this case report before you ever trust a

"Bodybuilder's" judgement on anything >

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0735675710004274

cogrick2 September 19, 2012 at 11:26 AM

Why are they suggesting the use of bicarbonate potassium? I am suspicious

given the extracellular hyperkalmeia concerns Adel expressed.

cogrick2 September 19, 2012 at 11:21 AM

Adel, I might be reading too fast, but can you help me understand the last paragraph and

graph with respect to growth hormone levels? In particular, you write that the decreased lactic

acid formation is a good thing and then, "Not the least, by virtue of the its ability to trigger the

release of growth hormone." How do I interpret the graph given these sentences? It looks like

mean lactate went down and yet lactate was infused(huh?), and then growth hormone spiked

and dropped precipitously. The drop concerns me. One core problem may be that I do not

understand the boxed language in the figure. Thanks!

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Prof. Dr. Andro September 19, 2012 at 11:24 AM

you need to be aware of the meaning of the greek letter "delta", which is

"change in" when the "delta"-graph goes down this means that lactate is still

increasing as long as it's not going into the negative. If you have some basic

skills in math telling you that this is "delta lactate / delta time" should answer

your question

Prof. Dr. Andro September 19, 2012 at 11:26 AM

if you don't have the math skill read it like that: at 20min you got an increase of

3/28/13 22g Baking Soda 60min Before a Old-School 4 x 12RM Leg Workout Allow for a 22 Rep Volume Increase on Hypertrophy Oriented Squat + Leg Press + Leg…

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5 units per time unit, at 40min you got only 1.3 units increase in lactate per

time unit, but this means that the lactate concentration IS STILL RISING

Tomas September 25, 2012 at 3:11 PM

Tried this for a few months. I did notice positive benefits from it (be it placebo effect or not, not

important really), nothing huge but well worth the money. Couldn't stand it though. I've never

had any problem eating boring and tasteless food to get my gains, but 20 g and even 15 g in

the end was more than I could take. The taste was too vile. I remember flinching before taking

it and more or less whenever I thought about it. GI tract didn't love it, either.

But for all of you with iron stomach and determination, go for it! Certainly worth a try.

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Prof. Dr. Andro September 25, 2012 at 7:25 PM

I don't know why some people can't stand the taste, for me it's not an issue.

And in fact, if you mix it with some BCAAs most brands taste actually better. I

must say though that I am not adding 20g into a single glass, but rather

~750ml of water and I don't drink it in one gulp

Rachid November 19, 2012 at 10:52 AM

Sorry to comment an "old" topic but one question is blowing my mind:

For a bodybuilding purpose (hypertrophy), do we know if this muscle alcalinization could be

detrimental because it could remove some stress on the myocites (acidity is a stressor that

belongs to mechanical growth factors like heat and mechanical load).

Thank you

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Prof. Dr. Andro November 19, 2012 at 11:14 AM

if it was you better avoid all beta-alanine and deplete your carnitine levels to

zero, 'cause the H+ buffer in the cell would be even more detrimental ... given

the fact that I am not aware of a single bodybuilder who is "undertraining" the

chances that a systemic buffer will hamper your gains are about zero

Rachid November 20, 2012 at 8:13 AM

I'm still not sure but you've just published that: "COX-2 the inflammatory

muscle builder?" Is it not just the contrary of what you're saying?

Thank you very much for your answer

3/28/13 22g Baking Soda 60min Before a Old-School 4 x 12RM Leg Workout Allow for a 22 Rep Volume Increase on Hypertrophy Oriented Squat + Leg Press + Leg…

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