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Is the Ultimate Pre-Workout Drink... Beet Juice?
This ruby-hued juice offers impressive benefits for your athletic performance—and your overall health.
By Stephanie Eckelkamp, RD•
Beet Juice Benefits
Can Beet Juice Before a Workout Enhance Athletic Performance?
How Much Beet Juice Should You Drink as a Pre-Workout, and When Should You Drink It?
Is Beet Juice Pre-Workout Right for Everyone?
The Takeaway
Sure, creatine and essential amino acids may be getting all the love from fitness enthusiasts lately. But the humble beet—yes, the ruby-hued root vegetable—is chock-full of helpful nitrates, antioxidants, and minerals that support workout performance and recovery. Specifically, drinking beet juice before a workout may be an efficient way to reap these rewards.
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But beet juice benefits aren’t just limited to athletic performance. Research suggests this beverage (as well as the whole, non-juiced veggie) may support healthy blood pressure, reduce inflammation, and have organ-protective effects as well.
Here’s what you need to know before you start a beet juice pre-workout ritual—the possible benefits and risks, who should try it, and exactly how much to drink.
Beet Juice Benefits
Beet juice has a range of full body benefits, thanks in large part to its nitrates and antioxidants. “Beyond performance, beet juice may help lower blood pressure; support brain health; reduce inflammation; and protect the heart, liver, and kidneys,” says Jennifer McDaniel, RDN, a registered dietitian and owner of McDaniel Nutrition Therapy. Here’s a quick breakdown of the potential benefits of beet juice.
1. Enhanced Athletic Performance
“Beet juice is rich in natural nitrates, which the body converts into nitric oxide—a compound that relaxes blood vessels and boosts blood flow,” McDaniel says. This means more oxygen and nutrients get delivered to your muscles when you need them most.
Beets are also rich in antioxidants, which may help athletes recover more efficiently. (More on what that means for performance in just a bit.)
2. Lower Blood Pressure
Beet juice also supports heart health. The conversion of nitrates to nitric oxide widens and relaxes blood vessels, which, in turn, lowers blood pressure levels.
A 2022 research review and meta-analysis of seven studies found that people with hypertension who consumed up to 8.5 ounces of beet juice per day for three to 60 days lowered systolic blood pressure (the top number, or the pressure against your arteries as your heart beats) by 4.95 points on average.
Other studies show potential benefits on systolic and diastolic blood pressure. But to maintain these benefits, researchers say you need to consume beet juice regularly—a glass every now and then will only yield temporary results.
3. Better Cognitive Function
The nitrates in beets may also support cognitive performance by improving blood flow to the brain. Specifically, studies suggest beet root juice improves blood flow to the frontal lobe, an area of the brain involved in reasoning, complex decision making, creativity, recalling information, and executive functions like attention span and working memory.
One small study showed improved reaction time to cognitive tests after two weeks of beet juice consumption; another showed improved cognitive performance 90 minutes after a single dose of beet juice.
4. Improved Liver Health
Beet juice may also reduce the buildup of dangerous fat in the liver. In one study, people with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (formerly known as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease) who consumed 8.5 ounces of beet juice daily for three months had significant reductions in liver fat levels. People who combined beet juice with a Mediterranean-style diet had even more impressive results.
This may be related to beet juice’s beneficial impact on blood lipids—some studies show it helps lower cholesterol and triglycerides, which are associated with fatty liver.
5. Reduced Inflammation
Beet juice may help curb inflammation, thanks to its antioxidant compounds like polyphenols and betalains. In one small study, drinking 8.5 ounces of beet juice daily for two weeks lowered levels of the inflammatory markers tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and high-sensitivity c-reactive protein (CRP). Elevations in these markers have been associated with various chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and autoimmune conditions such as inflammatory bowel diseases or rheumatoid arthritis.

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Can Beet Juice Before a Workout Enhance Athletic Performance?
The short answer: Yes, beet juice before a workout may enhance nearly all types of athletic performance.
“Research has shown that beetroot supplementation [aka adding more beets or beet juice to your diet] can improve stamina, decrease the rate of perceived exertion, and even reduce recovery times between tough training sessions,” says Dana Horton, RD, a dietitian at Eleat Sports Nutrition. “Supplementation has been shown to benefit performance and recovery in endurance and high-intensity exercise, making it beneficial for both strength and endurance athletes.”
Beet juice does this primarily thanks to its nitrate-induced effects, which may enhance both performance and recovery. Remember: The dietary nitrates in beets, which are converted to nitric oxide in the body, support several beneficial processes, including improved blood flow. “If we can circulate more blood, we’re getting more oxygen and nutrients to our muscles,” explains Emily Werner, PhD, RD, team dietitian for the Philadelphia 76ers. “With more oxygen and nutrients, our muscles can function better and for longer.”
This makes sense, since we know muscles need oxygen and nutrients to produce ATP, aka the energy that fuels all cellular processes. Improved oxygen and nutrient availability can also support recovery from fatigue. Additionally, dietary nitrates help regulate the movement of calcium within muscle cells, which may improve muscle efficiency and contractility.
In a large 2025 research review, scientists found that dietary nitrate supplementation, such as from beet juice, can improve time to exhaustion and peak power output, among other benefits for athletes. That means if you’re, say, running or cycling at a steady pace, beet juice may help you keep going longer before fatigue sets in. Beet juice may also, for example, help you generate more force or speed than usual in a single explosive sprint, jump, or lift.
But there’s more than just nitrates at play. Beet juice’s antioxidant compounds, betalains and polyphenols, further support recovery by reducing exercise-induced muscle damage, soreness, and inflammation—allowing for more consistent training, McDaniel says.
Research illustrates these benefits. In one small study, men who drank beet juice experienced reduced muscle pain following exercise compared to people who drank an isolated nitrate beverage. These pain-relieving effects may be a result of those antioxidant phytonutrients in beets (betalains and polyphenols), or an interaction between these and dietary nitrates, according to the study authors.
Of course, not all studies have found an association between beet juice and improved performance. But each of the four dietitians we spoke with—all of whom are board-certified specialists in sports dietetics—say it can be a valuable tool for elite athletes and recreational exercisers alike.
How Much Beet Juice Should You Drink as a Pre-Workout, and When Should You Drink It?
Consuming beet juice two to three hours before exercise in a quantity that provides about 300–600 milligrams (or 5–9 millimole, or mmol) of dietary nitrates can provide positive impacts on performance, according to a 2018 consensus statement from the International Olympic Committee (IOC). “This allows time for the dietary nitrates to be converted to nitric oxide and peak within the body,” says Mandy Tyler, RD, team dietitian for the San Antonio Spurs and owner of Nutrition by Mandy.
Even better, “the effects can last up to six hours, which means you may also get recovery perks, thanks to improved circulation and delivery of nutrients post-exercise,” McDaniel says.
Drinking beet juice at least three days leading up to a big event or competition may be helpful too—particularly for elite, highly trained athletes, who may find it harder to obtain performance benefits from more sporadic consumption, per the IOC.
Keep in mind: The nitrate content of beet juices and beet shots can vary widely. “For performance benefits, it is always best to choose a product with a known concentration of dietary nitrates,” Tyler says. (Not sure where to begin? One 2019 study measured the quantity of nitrates in 24 commercial beet juices, shots, and powders; the study includes a table you can browse to see which options contain the IOC-recommended range of 5–9 mmol of nitrate per serving.)
Do Whole Beets Offer the Same Workout Benefits?
Whole beets do offer similar workout benefits to beet juice, but they’re not always the practical choice. Nitrates from high-nitrate foods like beets are nearly 100 percent bioavailable (meaning, your body can absorb and utilize them efficiently), but you’d need to eat a lot of them.
“It would take about five medium-sized beets to reach the effective dose of nitrates, so it's usually more realistic for athletes to utilize beetroot juice or powder before training,” Horton says. Plus, eating that many beets close to an athletic event or workout could result in GI distress.
But incorporating some whole beets in your regular diet—whether they’re roasted, grated into a slaw, or blended into a smoothie—can still be a great strategy. “Whole beets offer the benefit of fiber and carbohydrate content,” Werner says. “If it were me, I’d consume beets in my daily diet but then use the juice, powder, or chews in that two-hour pre-training window.”
Is Beet Juice Pre-Workout Right for Everyone?
So long as you’re in generally good health, “anyone and everyone can benefit from beet juice, including recreational exercisers all the way up to Olympians,” Werner says. “Given the breadth of research in this area, we can say that beet supplementation is likely to improve performance in any variety of activities and sports, and durations ranging from short to long.” This includes endurance, strength, and stop-and-go type activities like running, cycling, triathlons, HIIT workouts, powerlifting, team sports, and more.
Consider avoiding beet juice (or talk to your doctor first) if you have a history of kidney stones or hypotension (low blood pressure. Beet juice is high in oxalates, natural compounds that are normally well tolerated but that may promote the formation of calcium-oxalate kidney stones in susceptible individuals. And because beet juice lowers blood pressure, people with existing low blood pressure may experience dizziness or more serious complications if they drink too much.
Beet juice also has the potential to cause gastrointestinal (GI) distress, like nausea or diarrhea. “I always recommend trialing it during a practice or training run before using it on race or game day to ensure it is well tolerated,” Horton says. Some people (about 10–14% of the population) might even notice that their urine turns a pink or reddish hue after consuming beet juice—a condition called beeturia—but this is typically benign and not a cause for concern.
The Takeaway
The experts agree: Beet juice before a workout can have very real benefits for recreational exercisers and trained athletes alike, and for all sorts of activities—whether endurance workouts like running or cycling, strength training sessions, or stop-and-go sports that involve quick bursts of movement. Your best bet is to drink beet juice with a known concentration of nitrates a couple hours before your workout; for highly trained athletes, doing this plus sipping on beet juice at least three days prior to a game or event may be the most effective strategy.

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This content is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute individualized advice. It is not intended to replace professional medical evaluation, diagnosis, or treatment. Seek the advice of your physician for questions you may have regarding your health or a medical condition. If you are having a medical emergency, call your physician or 911 immediately.
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