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THE EFFECT OF AMMONIA INHALANTS ON STRENGTH PERFORMANCE IN MALE WEIGHT-LIFTERS

Abstract

Joseph Sherman, Adam Potts, Scott Richmond; Missouri State University

PURPOSE: Today athletes and weight lifters are going to extreme measures to gain an advantage in performance. As a result pre-workout supplements have become very popular. Ammonia Inhalants have been reported to have a similar effect to pre-workout supplements because they are suggested to increase consciousness and physical strength. Still the effect of Ammonia Inhalants on strength performance is unknown. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between two measures of strength performance with Ammonia Inhalants. METHODS: The participants in this study were 25 male weight lifters. Participants were tested in the back squat and bench press at 85 percent of their calculated 1 repetition max (1RM) during two different exercise sessions. The participants inhaled either the Ammonia Inhalant or the placebo prior to performing as many repetitions as possible in the back squat and bench press at 85 percent of their 1RM. RESULTS: A dependent T-Test and ANOVA were used to analyze differences between the placebo and the Ammonia Inhalant. There was no significant difference between the amount of repetitions performed in the back squat (p = 0.403) or the bench press (p = 0.422) after inhaling the AI compared to the placebo. There was also no significant difference between the calculated 1RM for both back squat and bench press when using AI, placebo or initial testing session (no substance inhaled).CONCLUSION: Although more research is needed on the effects of AIs relating to exercise performance, our data suggests that there is no significant link between the two. More research with a larger sample size may illicit different results. Also, testing the participants at a higher percentage of their 1RM or slightly increasing the dose of Ammonia could also bring about different results as well. We suggest that AIs be administered on a case to case basis, depending on the person’s health and personal preference. While there were no differences in performance, this study does not account for any potential psychological impact of AIs. Therefore, if an individual has no pre-existing medical conditions and feels that AIs do improve their performance then there are no reasons why they may not use them in low doses.

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