4. Discussion
acidosis, fatigue
METABOLIC ACIDOSIS, ACIDOSIS
The main objective of the present study was to evaluate the effects of seven days of BMW supplementation on selected anaerobic performance variables in recreationally trained men and women. The key findings of the present study were that seven days of BMW ingestion exerted no improvements in any measure of exercise performance as measured in the present study. Along these lines, BMW ingestion led to unfavorable increases in blood pH levels immediately, five minutes, and ten minutes after exercise. Finally, BMW ingestion significantly decreased blood lactate concentrations five minutes after completing an intermittent, high-intensity bout of cycling sprints.Results from the present study differ from previous investigations involving bicarbonate supplementation; several studies have reported significant improvements in anaerobic performance following bicarbonate supplementation [While bicarbonate ingestion appears to exert performance improvements for single-bout exercise, its ergogenic potential appears to be more pronounced in multiple bouts of maximal exercise, likely due to the increased acidosis and the drastic perturbations to homeostasis that occur with subsequent exercise bouts [Several limitations are worthy of discussion that may have impacted our outcomes. First and most importantly, the dose of bicarbonate (~3 g/d) utilized in the BMW was lower than the doses most commonly reported to show an ergogenic outcome. The current consensus suggests that achieving ergogenic effects with bicarbonate supplementation requires a dose of 0.3 g/kg body mass [Furthermore, and as mentioned previously, our investigation employed a multi-day dosing protocol for bicarbonate supplementation. While the majority of studies employed an acute bicarbonate ingestion protocol [Another primary consideration for our findings relates to the training status of our recruited cohort. Many studies involving bicarbonate supplementation recruited highly trained, elite competitors, while we selectively recruited recreationally active men and women. In consideration of this, it is possible that the intensity of the exercise employed in our study overwhelmed the body’s buffering systems, potentially attenuating the supplement’s capacity to exert a performance-enhancing influence (not withstanding any shortcomings brought forth with our supplementation protocol). To this point, the exercise bout resulted in an exceptional increase in fatigue and the activation of the anaerobic exercise systems, underscoring the effectiveness of our chosen exercise protocol at inducing metabolic acidosis. Our findings align with earlier evidence from several studies involving recreationally trained populations which likewise demonstrated no discernible improvements in performance. For instance, Brisola et al. [Changes in dietary intake or poor compliance can safely be ruled out as confounding factors as there were no significant differences in energy or macronutrient intake during the day prior to the pre-supplementation testing period during the supplementation testing period, and compliance with the supplementation protocol was excellent, as observed in the self-reported supplement diaries of the participants. Moreover, two familiarization trials of the repeated sprint exercise were implemented to help reduce the potential impact of a learning effect for the exercise protocol. Finally, the effectiveness of the supplement condition blinding from participants may be questioned as nearly 75% of the participants were able to correctly identify whether they were on placebo or bicarbonate water when asked which supplemental condition they thought they were assigned. This was likely due to the taste and texture of the bicarbonate water as it offered a more “mineralated” mouth feel when compared to standard water. The extent to which this impacted how hard a participant did or did not strive to complete the post-testing session remains unknown; however previous scientific reviews have highlighted the power of the placebo effect [