Smelling salts are ammonia-based inhalants that gym-goers, especially powerlifters and strongman competitors, sniff before a heavy lift to feel more alert and fired up. They work by releasing ammonia gas, which irritates the lining of your nose and lungs and triggers a sharp inhalation reflex. This jolt activates your body’s fight-or-flight response, spiking your heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate within seconds. The result feels like a sudden rush of adrenaline and focus, which is why you’ll see lifters crack open a capsule right before stepping up to the bar.
How Smelling Salts Work
The active ingredient is ammonia gas. When you inhale it, the gas irritates the mucous membranes inside your nose and lungs. Your nervous system treats this as an alarm signal and fires up your sympathetic nervous system, the same system that kicks in when you’re startled or in danger. Heart rate climbs, breathing deepens, and blood pressure rises. Subjectively, you feel a wave of alertness and aggression that peaks almost immediately.
Most products sold for gym use are technically “aromatic spirits of ammonia,” which is dilute ammonia dissolved in a mixture of water and ethanol. You’ll also find single-use capsules made from ammonium carbonate that release ammonia gas when crushed. Both formats deliver the same basic effect: a controlled burst of ammonia to the nasal passages.
Do They Actually Improve Performance?
This is where the evidence gets interesting, because it doesn’t match the hype. A study tested 25 resistance-trained men on back squats and bench presses at 85% of their one-rep max after inhaling either ammonia or a placebo (Vicks VapoRub, which produces a strong scent without ammonia). The ammonia group averaged 6.7 reps on the squat versus 6.4 for placebo, and 5.4 reps on bench versus 5.2. Neither difference was statistically significant. Predicted one-rep max values were also virtually identical across conditions.
What ammonia inhalants do reliably change is how you feel. Research on non-resistance-trained men found that ammonia significantly increased heart rate, self-reported alertness, and perceived performance. In other words, lifters genuinely feel like they performed better, even when the numbers don’t back it up. That psychological boost may still matter in competition settings where confidence and aggression help you commit fully to a max attempt, but the salts themselves aren’t making your muscles stronger.
How to Use Them Safely
Product labeling from pharmaceutical-grade ammonia inhalants is specific: hold the bottle or capsule 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 cm) from your nostrils. Inhale gently for no more than two seconds. Never place the capsule directly inside your nose. Limit use to once every 60 minutes, and no more than 10 times per day.
Most gym users break these guidelines without knowing they exist. Holding a freshly cracked capsule right under your nose or taking a long, deep inhale dramatically increases the amount of ammonia hitting your airways. At high concentrations, ammonia can burn the tissues in your nose, throat, and lungs. Over time, repeated exposure to ammonia is associated with chronic coughs, respiratory tract irritation, and in extreme cases, scarring and thickening of lung tissue.
People with asthma or other breathing conditions face extra risk. The irritation that causes a sharp inhale in a healthy person can trigger a much more severe reaction, including prolonged coughing fits or difficulty breathing, in someone with reactive airways.
What the NFL and FDA Say
Smelling salts occupy a gray area in sports regulation. The NFL banned team personnel from distributing ammonia inhalants on sidelines, in locker rooms, or during pregame activities. Players can still bring and use their own, but teams can’t supply them. The league’s concern centered on the fact that trainers were handing out smelling salts to players who had just taken a hit, potentially masking signs of concussion and allowing them to return to play when they shouldn’t.
The FDA has issued warnings about inhalant products marketed for “alertness and energy boosting” that primarily contain ammonia, stating that manufacturers have not demonstrated these products to be safe or effective for their intended uses. Traditional pharmaceutical smelling salts designed to revive someone who has fainted are a recognized product, but the newer gym-oriented versions making performance claims don’t carry the same approval.
Who Uses Them and Why
Powerlifters and strongman competitors are the most common users. You’ll also see them in CrossFit boxes, Olympic weightlifting platforms, and increasingly in regular commercial gyms. The appeal is straightforward: competition lifting demands that you summon maximum effort for a single repetition, and the adrenaline surge from ammonia helps you lock in mentally. Many lifters describe it as flipping a switch from calm to fully committed in under a second.
Hockey players have been longtime users as well, sniffing salts on the bench between shifts. The practice spread to football, where it became common enough that the NFL felt compelled to step in with its distribution ban.
The Bottom Line on Smelling Salts
Smelling salts are a psychological tool, not a physiological one. They spike your alertness, heart rate, and sense of readiness, but controlled studies haven’t found measurable improvements in actual strength output. If the mental jolt helps you approach a max-effort lift with more confidence and aggression, that has value, especially in competition. But the effect is coming from your nervous system’s alarm response, not from any enhancement of muscle function. Used occasionally and at the recommended distance, the risks are low for healthy people. Used frequently, held too close, or inhaled too deeply, they can damage your airways over time.