Beetroots, Nitrates, & Exercise Performance
In sports nutrition research, new supplements and compounds are constantly being tested.
Every now and then, one starts to show real promise.
Beetroot extract, or beetroot juice, is one that fits this bill.
However, what also seems to be the case is that its utility is specific.
So, my aim with this article is to help you understand what it does and where it can help, so that you know whether or not it’s worth it for you.
As always, if you have questions left unanswered, you are welcome to email me at info@FitnessSimplified.org or comment below.
WARNING: do not take beetroots if…
Nitrate supplementation should be avoided in individuals who are taking sildenafil (viagra).
This article is not medical advice and I do not seek to provide you with medical advice today, but the combination of these two compounds is an absolute contraindication. [1,2]
If you have any concern related to this, please speak to a licensed physician.
Why beetroots? How do beetroots help?
Beetroots are a particularly good source of a compound call Nitrates (NO3-).
Other common sources include turnip, pomegranate, and dark leafy greens. Beetroots are emphasized in this article because beetroot extract is the most common means of supplementing with nitrates.
At various points in the digestive process, nitrates turn into nitrites (NO2-) and eventually nitric oxide (NO).
Nitric oxide is a powerful vasodilator. This simply means it helps to make your blood vessels wider, which helps blood flow more easily.
If blood can flow more easily, then more oxygen & nutrients can be delivered to bodily tissue.
This delivery of blood, oxygen, and nutrients is the limiting factor for many aspects of exercise and fitness.
It is for this reason that beetroots and other sources of nitrates have become a topic of investigation.
So, let’s discuss some areas where beetroot extract or nitrate supplementation.
Effect on endurance performance
Endurance exercise is primarily fueled by energy systems that require oxygen to function.
Many of the physiological adaptations that occur in response to endurance training simply make your body more efficient at delivering blood, oxygen, and nutrients to the working muscles.
As we previously stated, nitrates primarily work by making it easier for blood to get to your working muscles.
A recent umbrella review of the literature suggests a clear benefit of nitrate supplementation to endurance performance of all kinds. [3]
There seemed to be a greater benefit to endurance exercise that was longer in duration and of lower intensity as opposed to endurance exercise that is shorter in duration and higher in intensity.
For instance, nitrate supplementation provided a greater benefit to time-to-exhaustion trials as opposed to time time-trial studies.
Time-to-exhaustion: subjects perform steady state exercise until they reach exhaustion
Time trial: subjects perform as much work as possible within a specified period of time
This makes sense, as the higher intensity you go, the less you rely on energy systems that are oxygen dependent.
For a deeper dive into energy systems in general, go here.
So, for your true aerobic training, you can expect nitrate supplementation to provide a real benefit.
For higher intensity conditioning, sodium bicarbonate or beta-alanine would be better options.
That said, two recent review demonstrated that, for most endurance goals, spending most of your training at a low intensity and high volume is best practice. [4,5]
As a result, if you had to pick just one supplement for your endurance pursuits, nitrates might be a good first choice.
Effects on muscular performance
Muscular performance typically refers to the following:
Power: the ability to move a moderate amount of weight very quickly
Strength: the ability to move a high amount of weight
Local muscular endurance: the ability for a particular muscle to resist fatigue (think really high repetition sets)
This differs from the normal definition of endurance as you’re typically referring to the endurance capacity of a single muscle as opposed to your system at large
The same review as mentioned previously [3] also explored how nitrate supplementation might affect these performance measures.
A clear benefit was found for local muscular endurance in response to nitrate supplementation.
This makes sense, as one of the limiting factors to such a fitness test is your ability to get blood and oxygen into the specific muscle at hand.
There was also a clear benefit for power production, and this was true no matter how power production was measured.
At face value, this might not make as much sense as the improvements in local muscular endurance does.
However, the recovery process in between sets of power training is largely driven by aerobic (oxygen-requiring) processes. So, if between-set recovery improves, you can expect average performance to improve as well.
Furthermore, there is some evidence to suggest that nitrate supplementation is especially beneficial for muscle fibers that are moving at very high speeds; as is the case during power training.
In contrast to the previous two points, there were no significant improves to muscular strength from nitrate supplementation.
Beetroot & nitrate dosing
As I write this, there isn’t much research comparing specific dosing strategies.
In the research cited previously, there is great variance in what doses are used.
Some studies used a daily supplementation strategy, others used single-doses pre-training.
Both have shown performance enhancements, but there does seem to be a greater benefit to daily dosing strategies.
Overall doses range from about 200 mg of nitrates to 800 mg of nitrates.
In one study, they looked at beetroot’s effects on blood pressure in people with hypertension (high blood pressure).
One group was given 400 mg every other day, another was given 400 mg every day, and the third group was given 800 mg daily.
All improved symptoms & endothelial (blood vessel) function, but there was no differences between groups in terms of the magnitude of improvement.
Furthermore, because nitrate serves to widen your blood vessels, you’d expect a greater improvement from baseline in hypertensive people as opposed to normal blood pressure people.
Based on this, it seems reasonable to go with 400 mg of nitrates per day; as going higher than this may not confer greater benefit.
Questions?
If I left anything unanswered, feel free to comment below and I will get back to you as soon as I am able to.
References
Padma-nathan H, Eardley I, Kloner RA, Laties AM, Montorsi F. A 4-year update on the safety of sildenafil citrate (Viagra). Urology. 2002;60(2 Suppl 2):67-90. doi:10.1016/s0090-4295(02)01752-1
Kloner RA. Viagra: what every physician should know. Ear Nose Throat J. 1998;77(9):783-786.
Poon, E.TC., Iu, J.CK., Sum, W.MK. et al. Dietary Nitrate Supplementation and Exercise Performance: An Umbrella Review of 20 Published Systematic Reviews with Meta-analyses. Sports Med (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-025-02194-6
Muniz-Pumares, D., Hunter, B., Meyler, S. et al. The Training Intensity Distribution of Marathon Runners Across Performance Levels. Sports Med (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-024-02137-7
Rosenblat, M.A., Watt, J.A., Arnold, J.I. et al. Which Training Intensity Distribution Intervention will Produce the Greatest Improvements in Maximal Oxygen Uptake and Time-Trial Performance in Endurance Athletes? A Systematic Review and Network Meta-analysis of Individual Participant Data. Sports Med (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-024-02149-3
