Nicotine Before a Workout: What the Trials Found
Nicotine Before a Workout: What the Trials Found
Probably not much. A 2017 review in Sports Medicine found 10 controlled trials that gave nicotine or smokeless tobacco before exercise. Two reported an ergogenic effect, one found worse performance, and seven found no change. The clearest consistent finding is that nicotine raises heart rate. WADA monitors nicotine in competition but does not prohibit it. Caffeine, by contrast, carries a full ISSN position stand supporting its use at 3 to 6 mg/kg.
Key Takeaways
- Of ten controlled trials on nicotine before exercise, seven showed no performance effect, two showed a benefit, and one showed a decrement.
- Nicotine reliably raises resting heart rate, and in one heat study of 10 trained men it raised core temperature; two could not finish the hot nicotine trial.
- WADA includes nicotine on its 2026 Monitoring Program (in-competition only), meaning it is tracked for potential misuse but not banned.
- Caffeine has far stronger trial support for exercise performance, with the ISSN citing effective doses of 3 to 6 mg/kg body mass.
What the Controlled Trials Measured
The seven trials below are all small, between 9 and 16 participants where the abstract gives a number, and most enrolled people who did not use nicotine.
| Study | Who | Nicotine product and timing | Compared with | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mündel and Jones, Exp Physiol 2006 | 12 non-smoking men | 7 mg patch | Placebo patch | Cycled 17% longer to exhaustion at 65% peak power; no change in heart rate or effort ratings |
| Morente-Sánchez et al., Scand J Med Sci Sports 2015 | Amateur footballers, non-users | Snus, 40 min before | Placebo | No change in handgrip, jump, agility or Yo-Yo test; more mental fatigue, lower readiness |
| Mündel et al., Sports Med Open 2017 | 9 active, nicotine-naive men | 2 mg or 4 mg gum, 20 min before | Flavor-matched placebo gum | 2 mg raised peak isometric and eccentric leg torque; jump and 30-second sprint unchanged; heart rate higher |
| Zandonai et al., J Sport Health Sci 2018 | 14 male non-users | Snus | Placebo snus | No change in time to exhaustion or effort ratings |
| Mündel et al., Front Physiol 2019 | 10 trained male cyclists | 2 mg gum (about 30 min) or 7 mg patch (about 10 h) | Placebo | No change in a 1-hour time trial: 62.9 and 62.6 vs 63.3 min |
| Zandonai et al., Scand J Med Sci Sports 2019 | 16 male snus-using athletes | 1 g snus (about 8 mg/g nicotine), 25 min before | Same athletes after 12 h abstinence vs nicotine satiety | 13.1% longer to exhaustion when dosed after abstinence |
| Moyen et al., J Appl Physiol 2024 | 10 trained men | Overnight 7 mg patch | Placebo, in 20 °C and 30 °C | More heat strain in 30 °C; time-trial power unchanged; 2 could not finish the hot nicotine trial |
Source: PubMed abstracts linked in Sources. Small crossover trials; most participants were non-users of nicotine.
Does Nicotine Help Strength or Power?
One trial of 9 men found a narrow benefit. Mündel et al. (2017) gave nicotine-naive participants 2 mg gum twenty minutes before testing. Peak isometric and eccentric leg torque rose compared with placebo, but countermovement jump height and 30-second Wingate sprint did not change. Heart rate was higher with both the 2 mg and 4 mg doses.
Morente-Sánchez et al. (2015) gave non-user amateur footballers snus 40 minutes before a battery of tests. Handgrip strength, jump height, agility, and Yo-Yo recovery were unchanged. Participants reported more mental fatigue and lower perceived readiness. A single 9-person trial showing higher torque on one measure is not a basis for calling nicotine a strength aid.
Does Nicotine Help Endurance?
Mündel and Jones (2006) found that 10 of 12 non-smoking men cycled longer to exhaustion with a 7 mg patch, averaging a 17% improvement. But riding until you give up is a lab test, not a race.
When the same lead author used a more realistic 1-hour time trial, the result was null. Mündel et al. (2019): 10 trained cyclists finished in 62.9 min (gum), 62.6 min (patch), and 63.3 min (placebo), p = 0.73. Zandonai et al. (2018) also found no change with snus in 14 non-users. The better-designed trial showed nothing.
What About Athletes Who Already Use Pouches?
Zandonai et al. (2019) tested 16 male snus-using athletes at 80% VO₂max after 12 hours of overnight abstinence. A snus dose extended time to exhaustion by 13.1% compared with the abstinence condition. That sounds impressive, but the authors noted that abstinence itself shifted cardiovascular and metabolic baselines. The comparison is between a user in withdrawal and a user restored to normal, not between baseline and a boost.
For long-term effects of nicotine on muscle growth and recovery, see does nicotine affect muscle growth.
Heart Rate, Blood Pressure, and Heat
Even when performance does not move, nicotine changes cardiovascular load. Mallock-Ohnesorg et al. (2024) gave 15 regular smokers nicotine pouches at 6, 20, and 30 mg. Heart rate rose about 12 bpm with the 20 mg pouch and 25 bpm with the 30 mg pouch, close to the roughly 27 bpm rise after a cigarette. Arterial stiffness measures also increased.
In hot conditions the stakes are higher. Moyen et al. (2024) applied an overnight 7 mg patch to 10 trained, nicotine-naive men cycling in 30 °C heat. Core temperature rose more with nicotine, skin blood flow was blunted, and two participants could not finish (one hit the 40.0 °C ethical safety limit). The authors concluded that acute nicotine increases heat exhaustion risk in naive users.
Is Nicotine Banned in Sport?
Nicotine is not prohibited. WADA's 2026 Monitoring Program lists it alongside caffeine and bupropion as a stimulant monitored in-competition only. The Monitoring Program covers substances WADA tracks to detect potential misuse patterns, not substances that trigger a violation.
Zandonai et al. (2023) analyzed 60,802 in-competition urine samples from a WADA-accredited Italian lab (2012 to 2020). Of those, 22.7% showed nicotine intake above the 50 ng/mL cutoff, about one in five: 24.1% in males, 18.5% in females, with higher rates in team sports.
Caffeine vs. Nicotine Before Training
The ISSN position stand (Guest et al., 2021) says caffeine improves performance in many but not all studies, most consistently at 3 to 6 mg/kg body mass, with a minimal effective dose possibly as low as 2 mg/kg. The most common timing is about 60 minutes before exercise, and gums may need less time. For a 70 kg adult, 3 to 6 mg/kg is 210 to 420 mg. For scale, two Roon pouches (160 mg) come to about 2.3 mg/kg at 70 kg; Roon is built for focus and a longer window, not as a performance dose, and we make no performance claim for it. More on caffeine timing: how long before a workout to take caffeine and caffeine pouches for the gym.
Who Should Skip Nicotine Around Exercise
- Anyone not already using nicotine. Nicotine is addictive. No trial result here justifies starting.
- Heart rhythm problems, high blood pressure, or heart disease. Nicotine raises heart rate and arterial stiffness at rest; exercise adds to the load.
- Training in heat. The Moyen 2024 data showed blunted skin blood flow and higher core temperature in naive users.
- Pregnant individuals. Talk to your clinician before using any nicotine product.
- Under 21. The federal minimum age to purchase nicotine products is 21.
- Stacking with high-caffeine pre-workouts. Nicotine and caffeine both raise heart rate, so the effects stack.
If you want to stop using nicotine: 1-800-QUIT-NOW (CDC quitline, free coaching).
Related from Roon
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I take a ZYN before the gym?
No controlled trial has shown that a nicotine pouch reliably improves gym performance. The most consistent acute effect is a rise in heart rate, which adds cardiovascular load on top of training. If you already use nicotine, the safety section above applies. If you do not, the evidence does not justify starting.
Does nicotine increase strength?
One trial of 9 nicotine-naive men found that 2 mg gum raised peak isometric and eccentric leg torque, but jump height and sprint power were unchanged (Mündel et al., 2017). A separate snus trial in footballers found no change in handgrip or jump. That is not enough to call nicotine a strength enhancer.
Does nicotine show up in sports drug tests?
WADA tracks nicotine in-competition through the 2026 Monitoring Program, but nicotine is not on the Prohibited List, so its presence alone is not a doping violation under the 2026 rules.
Is snus a performance enhancer?
Two crossover trials in non-users found no ergogenic effect (Zandonai et al., 2018; Morente-Sánchez et al., 2015). The study that showed a 13.1% benefit tested snus users after overnight abstinence, so it may show the cost of going without rather than a boost above normal.
Training Focus Without the Nicotine
If you want the pouch habit and a clear head for the session without nicotine's heart-rate load, Roon delivers 80 mg caffeine, 60 mg L-theanine, 25 mg methylliberine (Dynamine), and 5 mg theacrine (TeaCrine) in a zero-nicotine pouch. Onset runs 5 to 10 minutes.
At 80 mg, a single pouch is about 1.1 mg/kg for a 70 kg person, honestly below the ISSN's performance range. It is not meant to reach that range; it is built for a longer focus window: in a randomized crossover PK study (n = 12), methylliberine extended caffeine's half-life from 7.2 to 15 hours and cut oral clearance from 41.9 to 17.1 L/hr with no increase in peak concentration. That study dosed 100 mg methylliberine with 150 mg caffeine, about 4x and 1.9x what a Roon pouch contains, so the mechanism points the same direction but the magnitude may differ. That half-life figure describes clearance, not perceived energy; the actual focus window runs 6 to 8 hours. Doubling up to 160 mg is fine if that suits you; cap it at 4 pouches and 400 mg of caffeine from everything you take in a day, and skip pouches within 8 hours of bed.
If you want nicotine out of your pre-workout routine but still like something in your lip before a session, try Roon. Prices begin at $9.16 per tin on the 12-tin subscription.
Sources
- Mündel T. Nicotine: Sporting Friend or Foe? Sports Med 2017;47(12):2497-506. PubMed
- Mündel T et al. Sports Med Open 2017;3(1):5. PubMed
- Mündel T, Jones DA. Exp Physiol 2006;91(4):705-13. PubMed
- Mündel T et al. Front Physiol 2019;10:292. PubMed
- Zandonai T et al. J Sport Health Sci 2018;7(4):465-72. PubMed
- Zandonai T et al. Scand J Med Sci Sports 2019;29(3):430-9. PubMed
- Morente-Sánchez J et al. Scand J Med Sci Sports 2015;25(4):e423-31. PubMed
- Moyen NE et al. J Appl Physiol 2024;137(2):421-8. PubMed
- Mallock-Ohnesorg N et al. Front Pharmacol 2024;15:1392027. PubMed
- Zandonai T et al. Sports Med 2023;53(6):1273-9. PubMed
- Guest NS et al. ISSN position stand. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 2021;18(1):1. PubMed
- WADA 2026 Monitoring Program. PDF
- FDA Tobacco 21. FDA
- CDC Quitline. CDC
Written by Roon Team
