# Not Just For Papier Mache Volcanoes: Baking Soda Is Apparently Helping Athletes Smash Records

## Written by Matt Reigle

Athletes are always looking for that one little thing that will help them get an edge over the competition.

Unfortunately, that sometimes means performance-enhancing drugs, but occasionally you'll come across some enterprising athletes who claim to have found an edge thanks to a quick look through their pantry.

Their secret weapon: one of the key ingredients in a papier mache volcano — everyone's favorite half-assed science fair project — baking soda.

Runner Grant Fisher, 27, has been racking up records as of late, including a world indoor  record in the 5,000m and also won a couple of silver medals last summer at the Paris Olympics.

He recently talked about how baking soda is to thank for his successes… or at least, he thinks it is.

"I think it makes an impact, and if that impact is 1 percent, that would be massive," Fisher said, per . "It’s probably more like 0.1 percent if there is one. And if it is just mental, then I’ll take that, too."

That's the same reasoning I gave my fiancée when I said I needed a pinball machine in my office because it would make me write better.

One percent worth of improvement would be massive, but even if I can trick myself into being 0.1% better the investment would be worth it.

That's just how the best think about these things. *self-satisfied sniff*



But it sounds like this may not be in Fisher's head, and in fact, athletes have been ingesting sodium bicarbonate — that's science speak for baking soda — with many of them following "systems. It's believed that two-thirds of the runners who medaled at the Paris Olympics were "bicarb"-ing, which is not against any anti-doping rules.

This is believed to have led to world records getting smashed left and right with seven coming in an eight-day stretch back in February alone. A study in the UK found that cyclists who used baking soda were able to go faster than those that didn't.

This is because the baking soda acts as "buffer" and counteracts hydrogen ions that build up in muscles during exercise, which creates acidity and fatigue.

Interesting stuff for sure.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go crush some Arm & Hammer and see if I can't smash my PR for the walk down to the mailbox.
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