Just five years earlier, strongmen were struggling to break 460 kg (1,010 lbs.), and Eddie's record was a monumental feat. But it didn't come easy, and some of the most memorable images from that event show the Stoke-on-Trend native with a red face and a bleeding nose. According to an article published in the US National Library of Medicine, there are zero recorded cases of adverse reactions related to sniffing ammonia smelling salts in the context of athletics. As for Eddie Hall's epic record, it was performed at Strongest Man/World Deadlift Championship in front of 10,000 spectators. You can watch the full video here, along with some of the brutal aftermath.

As a powerlifter, this is important because you want to be able to exert as much force as possible during your lifts! Not only that, but having highly oxygenated muscles can help reduce muscle soreness. Second, sniffing ammonia smelling salts increases your breathing rate. Breathing rate is the number of times you complete a full inhale and exhale in a certain amount of time. The funny thing is that, before smelling salts were utilized by top athletes, they were used in the Victorian era to prevent women wearing tight clothes from fainting! Gone are the days that ammonia capsules were used to keep women who wore corsets breathing. Now, you'll find them in almost all of the gym bags at a Strongman competition! Quite the dichotomy! What is the Science Behind Smelling Salts For Improving Strength Performance? Second, powerlifters and athletes sniff smelling salts to help reduce body aches and pains. Specifically, they use it to reduce muscle soreness. Alleviating soreness indirectly enables them to lift heavier weights and improve their athletic performance even more. The ammonia gas gets turned into a powder form and then gets put into capsules. Smelling salt capsules are widely available. These days, you can find the exact same capsules that athletes use at your local drugstore. How and Why Powerlifters Use Smelling SaltsWant to do as the powerlifting pros do and try smelling salts yourself? If so, then just be sure to do it safely!

If you have any medical conditions, we recommend talking to a healthcare professional such as your doctor before using ammonia capsules! ​​​​Smelling Salt Substitutes When it goes off, that extra adrenaline pumping through your system can help take your lifting to the next level! It gives you a rush of energy that you can harness and put into your lifting. First off, sniffing ammonia smelling salts triggers an inhalation reflex. When you take a whiff of the ammonia, the mucous membranes in your nose become irritated. That irritation leads to the inhalation reflex, which causes you to take deeper and longer breaths. As a result, more oxygen flows throughout your body.Ammonia smelling salts are notorious in powerlifting, and they are not just a sham! There is real hard evidence that they improve powerlifting performance and take powerlifters to the next level. Generally speaking, a high-level competitor performing a deadlift will do everything it takes to make that lift, even if it means suffering a nosebleed, passing out, or putting their body under immense strain. The good news is that while it makes for a pretty gory sight, the nosebleeds experienced by powerlifters are rarely serious. If you want to see the aforementioned record-breaking lifts for yourself, you can find them on YouTube. Hafthor Bjornsson, who played Gregor " The Mountain" Clegane in Game of Thrones and is also a world-renowned strongman, holds the current record following a 2020 lift. Are you a little skeptical about ammonia? You won’t be for much longer! We are breaking down everything you need to know about sniffing it for improved exercise performance, including: The Valsalva maneuver, for instance, requires them to exhale forcefully while holding their breath, essentially exhaling through the mouth while holding their nose. It slows the heart rate and creates the force that lifters need, but the Valsalva maneuver also increases blood pressure.

Our World's Strongest Smelling Salts are our highest-level formula and SHOULD NOT be used by beginners! Everyone should start with our Strong Smelling Salts to assess their tolerance and then progress onto our Stronger Smelling Salts product once they are confident. Only then are you ready for the World's Strongest Smelling Salts! That's not all, as there are things that powerlifters and weightlifters do while performing the deadlift that can increase the risk. Have you ever been to a weightlifting or powerlifting competition before? If so, did you see a lifter or two inhale from a small bottle right before hitting a big lift, then suddenly exhibit super-human strength?Powerlifters, heavy weightlifters, and even professional football players are well known for sniffing ammonia. The specific type of ammonia that they sniff is a powder version that we have come to call smelling salts. We know what you are thinking. You are thinking that this is all just a bunch of hype and sniffing smelling salts does not actually improve performance, reduce pain, or increase focus. Before coming to any conclusions, let’s look at what scientific research says about smelling salts and their effectiveness! Here is everything you need to know about why powerlifters and athletes sniff ammonia smelling salts! What is Ammonia (Smelling Salts)? It is always better to be safe than sorry, especially if there is a large amount of blood loss or it's happening every time you lift heavy weights. Record-Breaking Deadlifts Our World's Strongest Smelling Salts are our highest-level formula and SHOULD NOT be used by beginners! Everyone should start with our Strong Smelling Salts to assess their tolerance and then progress onto our Stronger Smelling Salts product once they are confident. Only then are you ready for the World's Strongest Smelling Salts!