Does sniffing ammonia increase strength?
Some strength athletes take a sniff of ammonia before a heavy lift (e.g. powerlifters or weightlifters). Smelling ammonia can increase heart rate and blood flow to the brain.
Almost 50% of international powerlifters use ammonia before a heavy lift. However, does it actually improve strength performance?
The current cross-over study investigated the effect of sniffing ammonia on maximal strength in the deadlift (1-repetition maximum: 1-RM). The subjects were college males (n=10) and females (n=10) that had at least 2 years of experience with resistance training and the deadlift.
The subjects performed a deadlift 1-RM test once at baseline, once after sniffing water, and once after sniffing ammonia (all on different occasions).
Sniffing ammonia right before the 1-RM deadlift did not increase the maximal weight lifted compared to baseline and sniffing water.
It should be noted that the subjects had deadlift experience, but not experience with 1-RM strength tests. It could be that their performance was more variable compared to more experienced lifters, which makes it more difficult to detect a possible effect of ammonia.
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