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

To study the effect of inhaling a beta-agonist (salbutamol) compared to placebo on skiing and cycling performance in well-trained elite athletes.

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.

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 < .05).

This study could not confirm any positive performance effects from inhaling 800 µg salbutamol compared to placebo in skiing and high-intensity intermittent cycling performance. Instead, time to exhaustion in the maximal intermittent performance test was lower in both cycling protocols.HighlightsThere was no difference in performance time between salbutamol and placebo treatment in real-life applicable repeated ski sprints.Time to exhaustion in the maximal intermittent performance test was 9.1% lower after inhaling salbutamol compared to placebo, both when performed after 10 and 150 min of submaximal cycling.