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Effect of topical sodium bicarbonate on exercise performance and recovery in team sports

Will’s PhD is examining the effectiveness of topical sodium bicarbonate for improving exercise performance and recovery in team sport athletes. The PhD is a collaboration with Momentous who have developed a novel muscle cream called PR Lotion that transports sodium bicarbonate into the body via a topical delivery system. Oral sodium bicarbonate has been accepted as an ergogenic aid during high-intensity exercise, but Will's work is the first to investigate whether PR Lotion might be an effective strategy for improving performance and recovery in team sports.

Will completed BSc Sport and Exercise Science at the University of Essex before obtaining MRes Exercise Physiology from Nottingham Trent University. He has previously worked as a Sport Science Technician at Canterbury Christ Church University where he also gained the Associate Fellowship of Higher Education Academy qualification. He is now an Associate Lecturer in Physiology and Nutrition at Ï㽶ÊÓƵ, teaching on the undergraduate programmes. Outside of his PhD work, Will collaborates with colleagues at other higher education institutions on research studies examining ergogenic aids and the placebo effect.

In his spare time, Will is an active tennis player, competing for Ï㽶ÊÓƵ and Rustlings LTC. He is also the chairman of the Hallam Tennis student club for the 2023/24 season.

Ï㽶ÊÓƵ outputs

King, D. G., Stride, E., Mendis, J., Gurton, W. H., Macrae, H., Jones, L., & Hunt, J. (2023). A Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Pilot Study examining an Oxygen Nanobubble Beverage for 16.1-km Time Trial and Repeated Sprint Cycling Performance. Journal of Dietary Supplements, 1-15.

Gurton, W. H., Matta, G. G., Gough, L. A., & Hurst, P. (2022). Efficacy of sodium bicarbonate ingestion strategies for protecting blinding. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 122(12), 2555-2563.

Gough, L. A., Williams, J. J., Newbury, J. W., & Gurton, W. H. (2022). The effects of sodium bicarbonate supplementation at individual time-to-peak blood bicarbonate on 4-km cycling time trial performance in the heat. European Journal of Sport Science, 22(12), 1856-1864.

Hunt, J. E., Coelho, M. O., Buxton, S., Butcher, R., Foran, D., Rowland, D., Gurton, W., Macrae, H., Jones, L., Gapper, K., Manders, J. F., & King, D. G. (2021). Consumption of New Zealand Blackcurrant Extract Improves Recovery from Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage in Non-Resistance Trained Men and Women: A Double-Blind Randomised Trial. Nutrients, 13(8), 2875.

Gurton, W., Macrae, H., Gough, L., & King, D. G. (2021). Effects of post-exercise sodium bicarbonate ingestion on acid-base balance recovery and time-to-exhaustion running performance: a randomised crossover trial in recreational athletes. Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, 46(9), 1111-1118.

Gurton, W. H., Faulkner, S. H., & James, R. M. (2021). Effect of warm-up and sodium bicarbonate ingestion on 4-km cycling time-trial performance. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 16(11), 1573-1579.

Gurton, W. H., Gough, L. A., Sparks, S. A., Faghy, M. A., & Reed, K. E. (2020). Sodium bicarbonate ingestion improves time-to-exhaustion cycling performance and alters estimated energy system contribution: a dose-response investigation. Frontiers in Nutrition, 7, 154.