Nitric Oxide Supplements Australia: An Honest Guide for Endurance Athletes (2026)

TL;DR for athletes who just want the answer

Why nitric oxide matters (in one paragraph)

Nitric oxide (NO) is a signalling molecule that tells your blood vessels to dilate. Wider vessels mean more oxygen and nutrients reach your muscles, waste products clear faster, and your perceived effort drops at any given pace. For Australian endurance athletes, runners chasing a Gold Coast Marathon PB, triathletes prepping for Ironman Cairns, cyclists putting in long road hours, that’s a measurable performance edge. Research shows beetroot juice supplementation can reduce the oxygen cost of submaximal exercise by around 3% in trained athletes.¹²

But here’s the part most blogs skip: nitric oxide doesn’t fuel your muscles. It improves delivery. If you don’t have steady energy in the system, all the vasodilation in the world won’t stop you emptying out at 32km. That’s why this guide covers both halves: how to raise NO, and how to keep your fuel steady so the gain actually pays off.

The two pathways (and why this matters for what you buy)

There are two real ways to raise nitric oxide. Most products on shelves use one of them. Some try to be both and end up doing neither well.

Pathway 1: Nitrate to Nitrite to NO (the beetroot route)

You eat dietary nitrates, concentrated beetroot juice or leafy greens. Bacteria on the back of your tongue convert nitrate to nitrite. Stomach acid converts nitrite to NO, which enters the bloodstream.³ Slow build up, sustained effect, best for long endurance events.

Pathway 2: L-arginine / L-citrulline to NO (the amino acid route)

L-citrulline converts to L-arginine in your kidneys, which the enzyme eNOS turns directly into NO inside your blood vessels. Faster onset, stronger acute effect, best for high intensity sessions, intervals, criteriums and time trials.⁴

Why not just take L-arginine directly? Your gut and liver break it down before it can do its job. L-citrulline bypasses that and produces higher, more sustained arginine levels in the blood. This is settled science.

Beetroot juice: how to actually use it for an Australian A-race

The mistake I see constantly: athletes buy a beetroot shot the day before a race, drink it 2 hours before the start, and expect magic. That’s not how this works.

The protocol that’s backed by research:

• 7 days out: Start one concentrated beetroot shot per day, 70 to 140 ml depending on brand concentration. Stack it with breakfast so you don’t forget.
• Race morning: Final shot 2 to 3 hours before the gun, alongside your normal pre race breakfast.
• The reason: You’re saturating your body’s nitrate pool so NO production is primed when you need it. A single dose moves the needle a little. Seven days of loading moves it meaningfully.

This loading phase fits inside any standard race week plan. It doesn’t replace carb loading. It doesn’t replace your race morning fuelling. It runs alongside both.

What about race-morning fuelling?

This is where the post pivots, because beetroot is a delivery upgrade, not a fuel. On race morning you still need carbohydrate energy that’s going to last. Sugar based gels and drinks arrive fast and leave fast, usually 30 to 45 minutes later, which is exactly when most marathoners hit the wall.

UCAN Energy Powder and UCAN Energy + Protein use LIVSTEADY, a slow release carbohydrate originally developed as a medical food for children who could not reach the energy they had stored. It delivers energy at a steady rate across 75 minutes or more. Take it 30 to 45 minutes before your race, alongside your beetroot shot, and you’ve got both halves of the equation: dilated vessels carrying steady fuel.

Hydration matters more during a loading week

Seven days of consistent endurance training plus a daily concentrated nitrate dose pulls hard on your fluid and electrolyte balance. UCAN Hydrate is a sugar free electrolyte drink purpose built for this: sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium, zero added sugar, no jittery stimulants. A bottle on every long run during your loading phase keeps the rest of your system functioning while the nitrates do their work.

L-citrulline: the high-intensity tool

If beetroot is your endurance base layer, L-citrulline is your sharp end. It comes into its own when the session is short, hard, and demands repeat efforts: 5 to 10 km races, track repeats, criteriums, threshold blocks, hilly time trials.

The protocol:

• 60 to 90 minutes before warm up: Mix 6 to 8 g of L-citrulline malate with water and drink.
• 30 to 45 minutes before: Take your fuel. This is where a UCAN Edge gel earns its place, with 75 minutes or more of steady carbohydrate energy, no sugar, and very little demand on the stomach mid session.

A 2016 trial in trained cyclists showed 2.4 g/day of L-citrulline for 7 days improved 4 km time trial performance, and acute doses of 6 to 8 g around an hour pre session are well supported in the literature.⁴⁵

Why we suggest stacking L-citrulline with UCAN Edge

Two different jobs, complementary biochemistry:

• L-citrulline opens the blood vessels and clears ammonia, one of the drivers of fatigue.
• UCAN Edge holds your energy level so your concentration stays sharp through the hard reps.

A sugar based gel with a high intensity NO product is a poor combination. You get the vasodilation, then the fuel is gone twenty minutes in and you’re back where you started partway through the session it was meant to sharpen. Slow release fuel holds across the whole block. That’s the whole point of the product.

Nitric oxide as a caffeine free pre workout

Most pre workout products in Australia are stimulant delivery systems with other ingredients along for the ride. If you train in the evening, react badly to caffeine, or are already at your daily limit from coffee, that whole category is closed to you.

Beetroot and L-citrulline are the honest caffeine free pre workout. Neither is a stimulant, neither touches your sleep, and both have a mechanism you can point at and a dose you can measure.

Pair either with a serve of UCAN Energy Powder 30 to 45 minutes out and you have a complete stimulant free pre session routine: delivery from the nitric oxide side, fuel from the carbohydrate side, and nothing in it that will still be in your system at bedtime.

The mistake that wipes out everything: antiseptic mouthwash

Remember pathway 1? It depends on bacteria on the back of your tongue converting nitrate to nitrite. Antiseptic mouthwash, anything with chlorhexidine or alcohol, kills those bacteria indiscriminately. You can spend $40 on a week of beetroot shots and wipe the entire effect out with one swish.⁶

Studies of the oral microbiome have repeatedly linked regular antiseptic mouthwash use to reduced nitric oxide production in athletes. The action is simple:

• Drop antiseptic mouthwash for the 5 to 7 days of your loading phase.
• Check labels. Alcohol and chlorhexidine are the two to avoid.
• If you can’t go without, switch to an alcohol free product.

How to build your nitric oxide plan: two scenarios

Scenario 1: Marathon, half-Ironman, or long-distance event

Scenario 2: High-intensity session (intervals, crit, time trial)

Coach’s rule, no exceptions: Never trial a new supplement on race day. Test the full protocol, beetroot, the mouthwash swap and the fuel timing, during your hardest training week first.

What we sell, what we don’t, and why we wrote this

We’re the official Australian reseller of UCAN. We don’t sell beetroot or L-citrulline. UCAN doesn’t make those products and we don’t on sell other brands. So if you came here looking for an Australian source of beetroot powder, this isn’t it. You’ll find good options at most supplement retailers.

What we do sell is the steady energy half of the equation. Most athletes treat fuel as an afterthought to the supplement they’re excited about, whether that’s NO products, beta alanine or creatine. That’s backwards. Your fuel is the foundation. Everything else stacks on top.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I just eat beetroot and skip the shots?

Theoretically, yes. Practically, you’d need 300 to 600 mg of nitrates daily, which is a lot of beetroot, rocket or spinach, and the volume causes most athletes gut problems. Concentrated shots exist for a reason.

Are there side effects?

Beeturia, meaning pink urine and stools, is the most common and it’s harmless. L-citrulline above 8 to 10 g may cause minor stomach upset in some people. Trial in training, never on race day.

Can I take beetroot and L-citrulline together?

Yes. They use different biological pathways and don’t interfere with each other. A common A race protocol: load beetroot for the week, take L-citrulline 60 minutes before the gun for an extra lift.

How quickly will I feel the effect?

L-citrulline acts in 60 to 90 minutes. Beetroot is a 5 to 7 day build up, so you won’t feel a single dose meaningfully.

Is there a caffeine free pre workout that actually works?

Beetroot and L-citrulline are the two with real evidence behind them, and neither is a stimulant. Pair either with a serve of UCAN Energy Powder 30 to 45 minutes before the session and you have a complete stimulant free routine that won’t still be in your system at bedtime.

Does UCAN contain nitric oxide boosters?

No. UCAN is a slow release carbohydrate fuel based on LIVSTEADY. It’s designed to deliver energy at a steady rate rather than all at once, and it works alongside NO supplements rather than instead of them.

Will this help me on shorter races (parkrun, 5 km)?

L-citrulline can help. Beetroot loading is overkill for anything under 60 minutes, since the loading effort isn’t worth the marginal gain.

Ready to lock in the fuel half of the equation?

Beetroot and L-citrulline improve the delivery system. Your engine still needs fuel that holds through the session. That’s where UCAN comes in.

References

1. Jones AM (2014). Dietary nitrate supplementation and exercise performance. Sports Medicine, 44(Suppl 1), 35 to 45.
2. Domínguez R et al (2017). Effects of beetroot juice supplementation on cardiorespiratory endurance in athletes: a systematic review. Nutrients, 9(1), 43.
3. Lundberg JO, Weitzberg E, Gladwin MT (2008). The nitrate nitrite nitric oxide pathway in physiology and therapeutics. Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, 7(2), 156 to 167.
4. Suzuki T et al (2016). Oral L-citrulline supplementation enhances cycling time trial performance in healthy trained men. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 13(1).
5. Bailey SJ et al (2015). L-citrulline supplementation improves oxygen uptake kinetics and high intensity exercise performance in humans. Journal of Applied Physiology, 119(4), 385 to 395.
6. Burleigh M et al (2018). The oral microbiome, nitric oxide and exercise performance. Nitric Oxide, 80, 50 to 58.

Read more on the fuel half

Four guides on what goes in alongside the supplement.