I have seen strongmen like Eddie Hall sniff a small bottle of what seems to be a salt solution before performing a very heavy lift. Why is this beneficial?
In: Biology
Not been highly studied; but the casual results (copied because “the pros do it”) are something like this:
Lifting has a mental component; focusing on the muscles and joints needed (often called recruitment) and a physical component….muscle strength, breathing, stability, cardiovascular
Smelling salts help to trigger a flight or fight response; increasing breathing and heart rate; chemicals for alertness are released to the brain….similar effects to adrenaline being released
It is not regular table salt but smelling salts that contain ammonium. The ammonia will irritate mucous membranes. It activates your inhalation reflect and increases your breath in heart rate. That will activate your flight-or-fight response and release adrenaline and other hormones. This will make you muscle preformed better if they are requited to do hard work like living weight.
If you have suddenly been afraid of something and you suddenly feel more awake and alert you have had the same flight-or-fight response trigger. It is an artificial way to activate the same thing.
It basically wakes you up and pumps adrenaline through your body. Gets your heart pumping and shit like that. All that just equals for a better performance, it’s like a cheat code for warming up before doing something. I’ve never tried them or attempted to lift heavy weights but that is my understanding of smelling salts.
so, smelling salts basically give a quick jolt of alertness. they contain ammonia, which triggers your body’s fight or flight response, making you feel more awake and focused. for heavy lifts, that boost in mental clarity and energy can help with motivation and maybe even improve performance. but it’s kinda like a caffeine hit, not a miracle drug, and not everyone swears by it. folks just gotta figure out what works for them, ya know?
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