Inconsistent swimming performances are often observed following sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO) ingestion, possibly because the time taken to reach peak blood buffering capacity is highly variable between individuals. Personalising NaHCO ingestion based on time-to-peak blood bicarbonate (HCO) could be a solution; however, this strategy is yet to be explored in swimming, or adequately compared to standardised NaHCO approaches. Therefore, six highly trained female swimmers ingested 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of this study was to observe the nutritional supplement practices of highly trained swimmers on a national talent pathway, since it is often reported that swimmers engage in widespread supplement use at the elite level. Thus, this study employed a validated supplement intake questionnaire with forty-four swimmers from a high-performance swimming club, which had three distinct talent stages: development (aged 11-14 years, = 20), age-group (aged 13-17 years, = 13), and national level (aged ≥ 16 years, = 11). Ninety-eight percent of the interviewed swimmers reported using at least one supplement, with performance (34%) and recovery (19%) cited as the primary reasons.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab
November 2022
The potential ergogenic benefits of caffeine (CAF) are well known within the athletic community, often leading to its use in adolescent swimming cohorts to enhance their performance. However, it has previously been reported that CAF has sleep-disturbing effects, which could be detrimental to performance over consecutive days in multiday competitions. Moreover, the effects that evening CAF ingestion has on sleep, side effects, and next-day performances are yet to be researched in trained adolescents.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStrict lockdown measures were introduced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused mass disruption to adolescent swimmers' daily routines. To measure how lockdown impacted nutritional practices in this cohort, three-day photograph food diaries were analysed at three time points: before (January), during (April), and after (September) the first UK lockdown. Thirteen swimmers (aged 15 ± 1 years) from a high-performance swimming club submitted satisfactory food diaries at all time points.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe purpose of this study was to explore the effect of individualised sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO) supplementation according to a pre-established individual time-to-peak (TTP) blood bicarbonate (HCO) on 4-km cycling time trial (TT) performance in the heat. Eleven recreationally trained male cyclists (age: 28 ± 6 years, height: 180 ± 6 cm, body mass: 80.5 ± 8.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a seven-week nutrition education intervention on the sports nutrition knowledge (SNK) of highly trained UK adolescent swimmers. Fifteen national and international adolescent swimmers (males = 5; females = 10, 15.5 ± 1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAs a nitric oxide (NO) enhancer, citrulline malate (CM) has recently been touted as a potential ergogenic aid to both resistance and high-intensity exercise performance, as well as the recovery of muscular performance. The mechanism has been associated with enhanced blood flow to active musculature, however, it might be more far-reaching as either ammonia homeostasis could be improved, or ATP production could be increased via greater availability of malate. Moreover, CM might improve muscle recovery via increased nutrient delivery and/or removal of waste products.
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