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Comment by nerdponx | Hacker News Reader

Back when I was rowing, I heard of a way to boost your performance in sprint races called "soda doping". The idea was that lactic acid buildup (leading to fatigue and pain) limits rowing performance. Therefore, consuming something basic should help, right? Apparently, drinking a baking soda solution right before a race could make you go a lot faster -- the caveat was that you would have be shitting like crazy soon after.

I have no idea if this is true or even plausible, but it seems somewhat relevant.

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Here comes the Science:

"The effect of chronic progressive-dose sodium bicarbonate [baking soda] ingestion on CrossFit-like performance: A double-blind, randomized cross-over trial."

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29771966

"CONCLUSIONS: Progressive-dose SB [baking soda] ingestion regimen eliminated GI side effects and improved CrossFit-like performance, as well as delayed ventilatory threshold occurrence."

This sounded like BS to me so I looked it up, but it seems like there is some genuine scientific evidence that this is a real thing. The baking soda doesn't actually make it into your muscles, but it does lower the pH of your blood, which in turn pulls the lactic acid out of your muscles.

http://doctoroffitness.com/resources/fitness-articles/item/q... . Checked a couple of the referenced articles and they seemed pretty legit.

It can also induce diarrhoea. And taking substances for performance enhancement is essentially doping (as in: not permitted for most sports).

Yes, it can have pretty explosive side effects...

But it's not on the WADA banned list so you are free to try it.

Caffeine is also an ergogenic and is not banned by WADA, either in or out of competition.

Naturally occurring salts available as commodity food ingredients at every grocery store? Eating is essentially doping? Brushing your teeth is doping?

Wearing corrective lenses improves performance. Is wearing glasses considered doping too?

The list of things not allowed exists: it's official for every sport association that adheres to it. There's authorities, rules and processes for testing them.

So it's not really obscure and doping only matters under those terms. Outside that scope whatever you use is on your conscience alone.