This study examined the effect of simultaneous supplementation of creatine and sodium bicarbonate on consecutive maximal swims. Sixteen competitive male and female swimmers completed, in a randomized order, 2 different treatments (placebo and a combination of creatine and sodium bicarbonate) with 30 days of washout period between treatments in a double-blind crossover procedure. Both treatments consisted of placebo or creatine supplementation (20 g per day) in 6 days. In the morning of the seventh day, there was placebo or sodium bicarbonate supplementation (0.3 g per kg body weight) during 2 hours before a warm-up for 2 maximal 100-m freestyle swims that were performed with a passive recovery of 10 minutes in between. The first swims were similar, but the increase in time of the second versus the first 100-m swimming time was 0.9 seconds less (p < 0.05) in the combination group than in placebo. Mean blood pH was higher (p < 0.01-0.001) in the combination group than in placebo after supplementation on the test day. Mean blood pH decreased (p < 0.05) similarly during the swims in both groups. Mean blood lactate increased (p < 0.001) during the swims, but there were no differences in peak blood lactate between the combination group (14.9 ± 0.9 mmol·L-1) and placebo (13.4 ± 1.0 mmol·L-1). The data indicate that simultaneous supplementation of creatine and sodium bicarbonate enhances performance in consecutive maximal swims.
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