Has anyone tried Potassium Bicarb to help with Lactate buffering, I’ve seen a few things about it and wonder if it actually helps? what dose would you recommend if you have tried it?
I use sodium bicarbonate with (perceived) good results. Not tried potassium bicarbonate, but would assume the science is the same.
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Is this similar to baking soda?
I know some people were talking baking soda a few months ago.
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Yes, baking soda is sodium bicarb. So the buffering agent is the same but it is just bound to a different ion.
A quick google turned up this:
The test group received a mix of sodium bi-carbonate, potassium di-carbonate, calcium phosphate, potassium citrate, magnesium citrate, and calcium citrate. So I guess you aren’t able to see the individual contribution of any one of them but they did see increased anaerobic performance.
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@d_diston @mwglow15 @Joelrivera
Yeah I’ve seen the effects of sodium bicarb, but want to keep the sodium intake fairly low
Cheers for the help guys 
I used to be a regular consumer of potassium bicarb. Used to throw it in smoothies to get some extra potassium in my diet and give the smoothies an effervescent kick.
If you take too much potassium it will kill you. People will just think you’ve died of heart attack. I would say if you take enough potassium bicarb to have a material impact on blood buffering you are at risk of potassium overdose.
DO NOT DO IT! Opinions may vary…
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How much do you put in the smoothies?
Definitely safer to load sodium than an equal amount of potassium. It’s not that potassium bicarb is unsafe per-se, it’s that loading protocols involve taking pretty obscene amounts and it’s easy to take in too much potassium due to ignorance. To really lay it out… the drug given in lethal-injection is concentrated potassium for the purpose of stopping the heart. Obviously that’s a world apart from eating some, but overconsumption of potassium can easily lead to short-term heart rhythm problems and discomfort.
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1/8 tsp.
If I take sodium bicarb for ergogenic benefit I’ll take a scant tablespoon. Or something like 28 grams. A similar amount of potassium bicarb would concern me.
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carnosine performs much better. I’ve used AMP (sodium bicarb) but it’s like some days it works, other days it doesn’t. It’s because it’s trying to buffer hydrogen ions already in the blood stream.
Carnosine stops it in the cell…
Good luck!
Brendan
I expect the experimental protocol used a combination of sodium and potassium bicarbonate because the two ions balance each other out to some degree, so in theory you might avoid some of the risks associated with dumping a significant quantity of either into the system. That’s not something I would recommend without medical supervision though.
On a more practical note, my n=1 has been that it doesn’t really produce any measurable improvement, and it wasn’t really worth the side effects and overall nastiness. I do know several people who have had positive experiences with the AMP Human lotion though, so if you were looking into that avenue I think it’d be worth fronting the extra cost for a lower risk and somewhat more pleasant user experience.