How Pre-Training Dietary Nitrate From Non-Beet Sources Can Boost High-Intensity Performance and Blood Pressure
You do not need beetroot juice to use nitrate well. Spinach, arugula, and celery can support high-intensity output and blood pressure when you dose and time them correctly.
If you’ve ever choked down beet juice before intervals and thought, “there has to be a better way,” there is. A standard pre-training nitrate dose can be hit with everyday vegetables—especially arugula, spinach, lettuce, celery, and Swiss chard—while still targeting the nitric oxide pathway linked to better exercise efficiency and lower blood pressure (Larsen et al., 2007; Siervo et al., 2013).
The practical point is simple: you’re not chasing beetroot specifically. You’re chasing nitrate. In the mouth, nitrate is reduced to nitrite by bacteria, then converted to nitric oxide, which helps regulate vasodilation, blood flow, and mitochondrial efficiency during hard work (Lundberg et al., 2008). That matters for repeated sprints, hard intervals, mixed-modality training, and aerobic sessions where small efficiency gains add up.
Why nitrate works for athletes
Dietary nitrate can improve exercise economy and reduce the oxygen cost of submaximal work, especially when taken consistently enough to raise circulating nitrate and nitrite before training (Bailey et al., 2009). In practical terms, that can mean holding pace with slightly less perceived effort, or sustaining repeated high-intensity bouts with less drop-off.
For blood pressure, the evidence is even cleaner. Nitrate-rich foods have repeatedly shown reductions in systolic and diastolic blood pressure, particularly in people with elevated baseline pressure or suboptimal vascular function (Siervo et al., 2013; Hord et al., 2011). That does not make nitrate a substitute for medical treatment, but it is a useful nutritional lever.
For performance, the most reliable benefits show up when the dose is adequate and the athlete is a responder. People often underdose, use products with inconsistent nitrate content, or sabotage the oral bacteria pathway with antibacterial mouthwash and aggressive tooth-brushing right before dosing (Kapil et al., 2013). If you’re going to use nitrate, use it correctly.
Non-beet sources that actually matter
The best non-beet sources are leafy greens and select vegetables with naturally high nitrate content. Exact nitrate content varies by soil, season, and storage, so labels are rarely enough. Still, these are the most practical options:
- Arugula: one of the richest common food sources
- Spinach: easy to dose in salads, smoothies, or cooked dishes
- Celery: convenient in large portions and easy to combine with other foods
- Lettuce, especially romaine and darker varieties
- Swiss chard and other nitrate-containing leafy greens
Arugula is the standout because it can deliver a lot of nitrate in a small serving, which makes dosing easier than trying to stuff down a mountain of spinach. Spinach is usually the most versatile for athletes because it is cheap, widely available, and can be paired with a carb-focused pre-workout meal without much GI drama.
The target most studies use is roughly 5 to 9 mmol of nitrate, which is about 310 to 560 mg nitrate, taken before exercise (Jones et al., 2018). That dose range is the one worth building around. Going much lower often produces a weak or inconsistent effect.
How to hit an effective dose without beetroot juice
Most athletes should use food-first nitrate when possible, then use a standardized supplement only if food volume is impractical. A realistic food-based pre-training protocol looks like this:
Option 1: Arugula-based dose
- 75 to 100 g fresh arugula
- Add to a meal 2 to 3 hours before training
- Pair with 50 to 100 g carbohydrate and 20 to 40 g protein
This is the easiest way to get a meaningful nitrate hit without chugging juice. Use it in a sandwich, pasta bowl, rice bowl, or wrap.
Option 2: Spinach-based dose
- 150 to 250 g raw spinach, or a cooked equivalent that preserves a large serving size
- Eat 2 to 3 hours pre-session
- Combine with a carb-heavy meal if the workout is intense or long
Spinach is convenient, but you often need a bigger volume than arugula to reach the same nitrate range.
Option 3: Mixed greens protocol
- 1 large bowl of mixed nitrate-rich greens
- Include arugula as the base, then add spinach and romaine
- Consume 2 to 3 hours pre-training
This is the most practical option for athletes who don’t want to micromanage grams. It is less precise, but still effective if the serving is large enough.
If you want a tighter protocol, use 5 to 8 mmol nitrate and time it 2 to 3 hours pre-workout. That window aligns with the rise in plasma nitrite seen after ingestion (Webb et al., 2008). For some athletes, a second smaller dose the day before a key session or race may help maintain elevated nitrate availability, but the core strategy is still the pre-session dose.
What to pair it with, and what to avoid
Nitrate is not magic by itself. It works best when the rest of the pre-training setup is sane.
Pair it with carbohydrate
For intervals, tempo work, and competition, nitrate should ride on top of a normal pre-training carbohydrate meal. That means about 1 to 2 g/kg carbohydrate 2 to 4 hours pre-session, adjusted to tolerance and session length. The nitrate does not replace fueling; it complements it.
Keep mouthwash out of the way
Avoid antibacterial mouthwash, chlorhexidine rinses, or anything that meaningfully suppresses oral bacteria in the hours before and after ingestion. The nitrate-to-nitrite conversion depends on those bacteria, and mouthwash can blunt the response (Kapil et al., 2013).
Don’t panic about cooking, but respect storage
Cooking and storage can change nitrate content. Long storage, wilting, and poor handling can reduce consistency. If you are serious about performance, buy fresh, use it quickly, and rotate products rather than letting greens sit for a week.
Watch GI tolerance
Large raw salads before hard training can backfire. If you bloat from raw greens, shift the protocol earlier in the day, choose arugula in a smaller volume, or lightly cook spinach and pair it with low-fiber carbs.
What the performance data actually support
The evidence supports a modest but meaningful benefit for some athletes, especially in repeated high-intensity efforts, time-to-exhaustion tasks, and exercise economy. The effect is not guaranteed, and trained athletes sometimes show smaller gains than recreational athletes, but that is not a reason to dismiss the strategy (Jones, 2014).
A good coach does not sell nitrate as a replacement for sleep, carbohydrate availability, creatine, or good programming. Instead, nitrate is a small edge that can matter when the session is already demanding and the athlete needs every percentage point.
For strength athletes doing conditioning finishers, sled work, circuits, or hybrid sessions, nitrate may help you tolerate more quality work. For runners, it may improve running economy and allow slightly better repeatability in threshold and interval sessions. For team sport athletes, the strongest case is repeated-sprint and stop-start performance.
Blood pressure: a useful side benefit, not the only reason to use it
Nitrate-rich vegetables can meaningfully lower blood pressure, and that matters even if your primary goal is performance. A diet that regularly includes these foods supports vascular function and can improve cardiovascular risk markers over time (Siervo et al., 2013).
If you lift hard, run hard, and carry a lot of training stress, that matters. Elevated blood pressure is common in strength-trained and heavier athletes, especially when body mass is high and sodium intake is high. A nitrate-rich vegetable pattern is a low-cost way to support vascular health without adding junk calories.
The most useful mental model is this: if you can get a performance benefit and a cardiovascular benefit from the same food strategy, that strategy deserves a place in the plan.
How to apply this
Use this simple weekly setup:
For 2 key training days per week
- Eat a nitrate-rich meal 2 to 3 hours before the session
- Aim for a large serving of arugula, or a mixed greens bowl anchored by arugula and spinach
- Pair with 1 to 2 g/kg carbohydrate and 20 to 40 g protein
- Avoid antibacterial mouthwash that morning and before training
For race day or testing day
- Test the exact meal in training first
- Use the same dose 2 to 3 hours before the event
- Keep fiber moderate if you are prone to GI upset
- Do not introduce a new green, new seasoning, or new timing on race day
For blood pressure support across the week
- Include nitrate-rich greens once daily, 4 to 7 days per week
- Rotate arugula, spinach, romaine, celery, and Swiss chard
- Keep the vegetable serving large enough to matter, not decorative
Quick checklist
- [ ] Dose: 5 to 9 mmol nitrate, food-based if possible
- [ ] Timing: 2 to 3 hours pre-training
- [ ] Source: arugula first, spinach second, mixed greens as backup
- [ ] Pair with carbs for performance sessions
- [ ] Avoid antibacterial mouthwash around the dose
- [ ] Test GI tolerance before competition
If you want one rule to follow, use this: build your pre-training nitrate around a large serving of arugula or spinach, eat it two to three hours before hard work, and protect the oral bacteria pathway. That gets you most of the benefit without ever opening a beetroot bottle.