Does Beet Juice Really Improve Your Athletic Performance?

April 29, 2024By Roman Lanon

Beet juice is gaining traction among athletes as an effective ergogenic aid for supporting and improving athletic performance.

It's trusted by a wide range of athlete types—from endurance athletes like cyclists and marathon runners to strength-focused weightlifters and functional athletes in sports like CrossFit and HYROX. Beet juice also helps Olympians and professionals in the NHL, NBA, NFL, and Premier League perform their best—and the list doesn't stop there.

At the heart of beet juice’s benefits is its key ingredient, nitrates, known for their positive impacts on athletic performance.

After reading this article, you'll understand:

The science behind beet juice and its key ingredient—nitrates
How nitrates work in your body to improve your athletic performance
The best nitrate supplements for improving your athletic performance

The Science Behind Beet Juice

When you drink beet juice, nitrates are absorbed into your bloodstream and transported to your salivary glands, where bacteria in your mouth convert them into nitrite. Once you swallow the nitrite-rich saliva, it’s reabsorbed back into your bloodstream and transported throughout your body, and most importantly, your muscles.

In your muscles, nitrite is further converted into nitric oxide, a compound shown to enhance athletic performance due to its role in vasodilation (widening of the blood vessels) and muscle contractility (increasing the force of contractions).

The boost in nitric oxide production from drinking beet juice facilitates several other important physiological enhancements:

Increased blood flow to your muscles, which provides them with more oxygen and nutrients
Enhanced muscle waste and toxin removal as a result of additional blood cycling through your muscles
Improved oxygen efficiency, meaning your muscles can utilize oxygen more effectively

The Benefits of Nitrates from Beet Juice

The overall performance benefit of the nitrates found in beet juice is that they help you perform at a higher intensity for longer in almost any sporting discipline

Nitrates reduce the oxygen demand of exercise by between 5–16%, meaning your muscles need less oxygen to maintain a given work rate, improving your exercise efficiency, fatigue resistance, and overall performance.

This primary benefit leads to greater endurance, faster sprints, more explosive movements, improved time trial results and more. And while the benefits of beet juice are more pronounced in endurance athletes and athletes playing team sports, it has also been shown to help strength athletes do more reps before becoming fatigued.

Adding to the mix, some studies even show that beet juice positively impacts recovery after intense exercise by protecting against muscle damage.

What Are the Best Nitrate Supplements for Athletes?

We’ll always tell you that a balanced diet is the best way to fuel your performance, but priming your body to perform its best through diet alone isn’t always realistic. While you can increase your nitrate intake by eating vegetables like beets, spinach, and arugula, these foods aren’t always convenient or available when you need them, like before a competition.

So, that's why we offer nitrate-containing supplements from Beet It. We recommend going for a beet juice supplement instead of making your own as it’s incredibly challenging to ensure a homemade alternative contains enough nitrates to actually benefit your performance.

Beet It Sport Nitrate 400 Shots

Our favourite way to get more nitrates in a pinch is with a product like Beet It Sport Nitrate 400—the gold standard for nitrate supplementation. Each 70ml shot provides a consistent 400mg dose of nitrates, the dose recommended by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for improving athletic performance, and Beet It Sport Nitrate 400 is the used in countless studies on nitrate supplementation in training athletes.

Beet It Sport Top Up 100 Energy Gels

For intra-session nitrate replenishment, our go-to is the Beet It Sport Top Up 100 energy gel, which is the only gel in the world that enhances your athletic performance with dietary nitrates. Each one contains 100mg of nitrates from beet juice and 30g of fast-acting carbohydrates with a 2:1 glucose-to-fructose ratio that improves carb delivery to working muscles by up to 40% compared to glucose alone. It's even been found that consuming 100mg of nitrates during training slows the rate of glycogen depletion by 24% and reduces your muscle’s need for oxygen.

Beet It Regen Cherry+ Shots

Nitrates also play a role after you train, and Beet It Regen Cherry+ combines the power of tart cherry and beet juice to enhance recovery and muscle health. The anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties of tart cherry juice reduce muscle damage, alleviate soreness, and manage post-exercise fatigue, while the nitrates in beet juice improve muscle efficiency, increase blood flow, and enhance oxygen delivery to muscles—everything needed to further improve your recovery.

For more information about how to use a beet juice products like those from Beet it optimally, check out our detailed product user guides:

Key Takeaways

Drinking beet juice is a proven way to improve your athletic performance. By incorporating it into your routine, you can enhance your stamina, improve your endurance, reduce muscle fatigue and recover faster. Beet juice can significantly alter how your body responds to physical stress, allowing you to push harder and achieve better results.

If you plan to incorporate beet juice into your sports nutrition plan, don’t forget to continue improving other aspects of your routine alongside it. Remember, as with any supplement, you’ll only get the maximum benefit if your body is primed and ready to take advantage of it.

If you learned something new from this article and are curious to know more, head to the Blonyx Blog or our growing list of weekly research summaries where we help you further improve your athletic performance by keeping you up to date on the latest findings from the world of sports nutrition.