Why Baking Soda Is Making Headlines in HYROX
Baking soda has recently become part of a wider conversation around athletic performance, especially in HYROX after Australian competitor Joanna Wietrzyk apologised for continuing a race in Beijing after becoming unwell during the event. The incident led to criticism, hygiene concerns, and discussion about whether a performance strategy or supplement might have contributed to her reaction.
Currently these are rumors and there is no evidence. However, too much baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) can cause what happened here. Reason enough to take a closer look.
The story is a useful reminder that performance supplements are not automatically harmless simply because they are common or easy to buy. Sodium bicarbonate may support certain high-intensity efforts, but it can also cause bloating, nausea, cramping, diarrhea, and vomiting especially when taken in large amounts or without testing it first.
That is why this article looks at how baking soda works, which athletes may benefit, how it is typically used, and what to consider before adding it to a training or competition plan.
What is Baking Soda?
Baking soda is probably better known as a kitchen staple than a sports supplement. Most people use it for baking, cleaning, or the occasional household fix. But sodium bicarbonate (the scientific name for baking soda) has also been studied for its potential to support athletic performance.
The research is most promising for short, high-intensity efforts where fatigue builds quickly. In the right situation, baking soda may help athletes maintain performance for slightly longer or repeat hard efforts with less decline. However, it is not suitable for every workout, and it can cause significant stomach discomfort if used incorrectly.
So, can baking soda really improve exercise performance?
The answer is sometimes. It depends on the type of activity, how much you take, when you take it, and how your body responds. Let’s look at how it works, who may benefit, and the practical safety points you should know before trying it.
How Baking Soda Works During Exercise
During very intense exercise, your muscles produce energy partly through anaerobic pathways. These pathways allow you to work hard when your body cannot deliver oxygen quickly enough to meet the demand. The trade-off is that hydrogen ions build up as exercise continues.
As this happens, the environment inside the working muscle becomes more acidic. That increasing acidity is associated with the familiar burning sensation during hard intervals, sprints, and repeated efforts. It can also interfere with the muscle’s ability to keep contracting effectively, eventually forcing you to slow down.
This is where sodium bicarbonate may help. Baking soda is alkaline, and consuming it can raise bicarbonate levels in the blood. That creates an extracellular buffer (i.e., a buffering system outside the muscle cells) which may help move hydrogen ions out of the working muscles and into the bloodstream more efficiently.
In everyday language, baking soda may help your body manage one of the factors contributing to fatigue during intense exercise. It does not create energy, build muscle directly, or replace conditioning. Instead, it may help you tolerate high-intensity work for a little longer.
Research suggests that performance improvements may fall in the region of 1% to 3% for some short, intense events. That may sound modest, but a small improvement can matter in competitive sport. At the same time, not every athlete responds equally, and the effect is not guaranteed.
Who May Benefit Most?
Baking soda appears to be most relevant for exercise lasting roughly 30 seconds to 12 minutes, particularly when the effort is intense or repeated. This includes activities that depend heavily on anaerobic energy production and require athletes to tolerate a rapid buildup of fatigue.
Examples include 400-metre to 1500-metre running events, 100-metre to 400-metre swimming, rowing, high-intensity cycling, CrossFit-style workouts, and HYROX events. It may also be relevant to combat sports such as boxing, wrestling, judo, and jiu-jitsu, where athletes repeatedly produce hard efforts with only short recovery periods.
Team sports can also include situations where sodium bicarbonate may be useful. Football, hockey, basketball, rugby, and similar sports involve repeated sprints, changes of direction, and high-intensity bursts. The supplement may be more relevant to those repeated efforts than to steady, low-intensity movement.
On the other hand, baking soda is unlikely to be especially useful for every type of training. It may not offer much benefit for very short bursts under 30 seconds, such as a single heavy lift, because the effort may finish before buffering becomes a major limitation. It is also not a guaranteed solution for long, steady endurance events such as a marathon, where aerobic energy production plays the dominant role.
The most important question is not whether baking soda helps exercise in general. It is whether your particular sport or workout involves the kind of intense, sustained, or repeated efforts that research has examined.
What Benefits Can You Expect?
The potential benefit is better tolerance of high-intensity work. You may be able to maintain your pace for slightly longer, complete more work during repeated intervals, or experience a smaller drop in performance from one effort to the next.
For a runner, that might mean maintaining speed during the later stages of a middle-distance event. For a rower, it could mean holding power through the final portion of a hard interval. For a combat-sport athlete, it might help support repeated exchanges during a round.
For a HYROX athlete, the potential benefit may be most relevant to the repeated high-output efforts between stations, rather than to the entire event in a simple or guaranteed way. HYROX also places significant demands on pacing, strength endurance, fueling, hydration, and gastrointestinal tolerance. A supplement that improves one part of performance but causes stomach problems may ultimately make the event harder.
It is important to keep expectations realistic. Baking soda is not a shortcut to fitness, and it will not compensate for poor training or insufficient recovery. It is better viewed as a possible small performance aid for athletes who already have the fundamentals in place.
Training quality, adequate carbohydrates, hydration, sleep, and a sensible program will have a much greater influence on long-term progress. If those areas are not consistent, baking soda is unlikely to make a meaningful difference.
How Athletes Typically Use It
Sports nutrition research has examined two broad approaches: taking one larger dose before exercise or using smaller doses over several days.
The acute approach involves taking sodium bicarbonate before a high-intensity event or workout. The amount is usually calculated according to body weight and timed within a specific window before exercise. Because large doses can cause digestive problems, athletes generally dissolve the baking soda in an appropriate amount of water and consume it gradually rather than drinking it quickly.
The second approach involves chronic or multi-day loading. In this type of protocol, daily amounts are divided into several smaller portions and taken over a short period leading up to an event. Some protocols avoid taking the supplement on the actual day of competition, although the precise method depends on the research protocol and the athlete’s individual plan.
These approaches are not interchangeable, and neither should be improvised. Dosage, timing, meal composition, and body weight all matter. Anyone seriously considering sodium bicarbonate should work with a qualified sports dietitian, doctor, or other appropriate healthcare professional rather than relying on a kitchen spoon or a social-media recommendation.
Digestive Side Effects Are the Main Drawback
The biggest problem with baking soda is gastrointestinal distress. Sodium bicarbonate reacts with stomach acid and releases carbon dioxide gas. That can lead to bloating, gas, nausea, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, or vomiting.
For some athletes, these side effects are mild. For others, they are severe enough to ruin the workout or competition. This is why baking soda should never be tested for the first time on race day or before an important event.
Taking it alongside a meal may help some people tolerate it better. Another option sometimes used in sports supplementation is an enteric-coated capsule, designed to dissolve beyond the stomach. However, capsules do not eliminate the sodium content or guarantee that side effects will disappear. They should still be used cautiously and with professional guidance.
Start by testing any protocol during ordinary training. Keep track of the dose, timing, food eaten, fluid intake, energy levels, performance, and digestive symptoms. If the supplement causes more problems than benefits, there is no reason to continue using it.
Sodium Content and Health Considerations
Baking soda contains a large amount of sodium, which is an important safety consideration. A performance dose can add a substantial amount of sodium to your daily intake.
People with high blood pressure, kidney disease, heart disease, fluid-retention problems, or conditions that require sodium restriction should avoid using baking soda for performance unless a doctor specifically approves it. Sodium bicarbonate may also interact with certain medicines or affect fluid and electrolyte balance.
Even healthy athletes should be cautious about treating baking soda as harmless simply because it is available in the kitchen. “Natural” or familiar does not automatically mean risk-free. A supplement that changes your sodium intake significantly deserves proper planning.
Seek medical advice before trying it if you have a medical condition, take regular medication, or have experienced problems with electrolytes, blood pressure, or digestion.
Practical Tips for Trying It Safely
If a healthcare professional agrees that sodium bicarbonate may be suitable for you, keep the first trial simple. Use it during a normal training session rather than a competition. Do not take more than 0.2 - 0.3 grams of sodium bicarbonate per kilogram of body weight. Avoid combining it with several new supplements at the same time, because you will not know which product caused an unwanted reaction.
Follow a measured protocol instead of guessing. Consume it with enough fluid, consider taking it with food if advised, and allow enough time before exercise for the protocol to take effect. Do not increase the dose simply because you did not notice an immediate difference.
Most importantly, judge the supplement by both performance and tolerance. If you complete slightly more work but spend the rest of the day dealing with nausea and stomach pain, the overall result may not be worthwhile.
For athletes preparing for HYROX or another event, practice the full strategy during training. Test your meal timing, hydration, pacing, and any supplement well before race day. A competition is not the place to find out that your stomach does not tolerate a particular protocol.
The Bottom Line
Baking soda may improve athletic performance by helping the body buffer hydrogen ions during short, intense, or repeated efforts. The potential benefit is most relevant to sports such as middle-distance racing, rowing, swimming, high-intensity cycling, CrossFit, HYROX, obstacle course races, and combat sports.
The possible improvement is modest, and individual responses vary. The main drawback is digestive distress, while the high sodium content makes sodium bicarbonate unsuitable for some people. It should be tested during training, never introduced for the first time on competition day, and discussed with a qualified professional if you have any health concerns.
For most people, the best performance strategy is still the simple one: train consistently, eat enough, sleep well, hydrate properly, and allow your body to recover. Baking soda may be a useful tool for the right athlete, but it is an optional extra, not the foundation of athletic performance.
This article is for general informational purposes only and does not replace medical advice. Speak with a qualified healthcare professional before using baking soda as a performance supplement, especially if you have a medical condition or take medication.
