Inhaling salbutamol may decrease time to exhaustion in some contexts of heavy endurance performances

Abstract

Purpose: To study the effect of inhaling a beta-agonist (salbutamol) compared to placebo on skiing and cycling performance in well-trained elite athletes. Methods: Three different exercise protocols were used, all with a cross-over double blind placebo-controlled design. Participants inhaled 800 µg salbutamol or a placebo prior to the test, which was repeated on a following day with the participants inhaling the other substance. Fifteen junior elite skiers performed four free-style high intensity sprints (1100 m/work time 3.5–4.5 min). Twelve elite cyclists carried out a short cycling protocol, starting with two 5 min submaximal workloads followed by a maximal intermittent performance test to exhaustion. Another 12 elite cyclists performed the maximal intermittent performance test to exhaustion after a 150 min long submaximal cycling protocol. Results: Group mean time for the ski sprints increased, with no difference between treatment groups. In the short cycling protocol time to exhaustion was 9.1% (95% CI 52–161) lower after inhaling salbutamol compared to placebo and in the long cycling protocol time to exhaustion was 9.1% (95% CI–121–267) lower after inhaling salbutamol compared to placebo. Blood lactate, heart rate and ventilation increased during submaximal exercise with salbutamol compared to placebo in the short cycling protocol (p