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Citrate for Performance: Can This Overlooked Supplement Help You Train Harder and Recover Better?

July 21, 2026 - Admin

Key Takeaway

Elite fitness challenge athletes who consumed sodium citrate before competition improved performance across every event tested and showed lower post-exercise lactate levels compared with placebo.

Why Athletes Are Looking Beyond Traditional Performance Supplements

When it comes to improving performance during intense training and competition, most athletes are familiar with supplements such as creatine, caffeine, beta-alanine, and sodium bicarbonate. However, sodium citrate is gaining attention for its potential ability to delay fatigue and enhance performance during demanding workouts.

What Is Sodium Citrate?

Sodium citrate is a naturally occurring salt of citric acid that acts as an alkalizing agent in the body. Potassium and magnesium citrate are also alkalizing salts just like sodium citrate. Unlike sodium bicarbonate, it may offer similar buffering benefits with fewer digestive side effects.

The Study

Researchers recruited 20 elite male fitness challenge athletes and compared sodium citrate supplementation with a placebo using a randomized crossover design.

Performance Improvements

Sodium citrate improved performance across all six fitness challenge events, with the largest gains seen in walking lunges, burpees and devil presses, and chin-ups.

Lower Lactate Levels After Exercise

Athletes who consumed sodium citrate demonstrated lower post-exercise lactate concentrations than during the placebo condition.

How Sodium Citrate May Reduce Fatigue

Potential mechanisms include enhanced buffering capacity, reduced muscle acidosis, improved electrolyte balance, and sustained energy production.

Sodium Citrate vs. Sodium Bicarbonate

Both supplements support buffering during intense exercise, but sodium citrate may be better tolerated by athletes who experience gastrointestinal discomfort from sodium bicarbonate.

Who May Benefit Most?

High intensity athletes, CrossFit competitors, wrestlers, rowers, combat sport athletes, and team-sport athletes performing repeated high-intensity efforts may benefit most.

Limitations of the Research

The study included only 20 elite male athletes and did not evaluate long-term supplementation effects.

Bottom Line

Sodium citrate appears to be a promising performance supplement for high-intensity exercise, offering potential improvements in performance while reducing post-exercise lactate accumulation.


REFERENCE:
Acute effects of sodium citrate supplementation on competitive performance and lactate level of elite fitness challenge athletes: A crossover, placebo-controlled, double-blind study
Journal of Exercise Science & Fitness
February 5, 2024
Magshoud Nabilpour et al.