The Cocktail Report (sound really smart around your friends):
Inactive adults averaging 56 years old lifted weights twice a week for 12 weeks under a coach.
Half drank two nitrate-rich beet juice shots a day; the other half drank a placebo that looked and tasted the same.
As a group, lifters gained 31.4% in deadlift strength and 10.8% in thigh muscle size.
Beet juice gave no extra boost to strength, muscle size, or mitochondria, the parts of a cell that make energy.
An earlier report from the same trial found the beet group walked faster in daily life.
If you down a beet shot before the gym, you are betting that nitrate, a natural compound in beets and leafy greens, will help you build more muscle. A trial published October 3, 2026, in the European Journal of Applied Physiology tested that bet over 12 weeks.
The answer for muscle was no. The weights did the work, and the juice added nothing you could measure inside the muscle.
How the trial worked
Researchers at Auburn University recruited inactive adults who had exercised less than once a week for at least a year. Their average age was 56, and 28 people finished the program.
Everyone did supervised full-body weight training two days a week. Each person also drank two 70 mL Beet It Sport shots a day, either the regular version with about 12.8 mmol of nitrate or a placebo with nitrate stripped out, at about 0.08 mmol.
Neither the volunteers nor the testers knew who got which. The team took small needle samples of thigh muscle before and after to check mitochondria and oxidative stress, the wear caused by reactive oxygen molecules.
What the lifting did
For all participants together, lean body mass rose 1.5%, and the cross-section of the main front-thigh muscle grew 10.8%. Estimated hex-bar deadlift strength jumped 31.4%.
Inside the muscle, citrate synthase, an enzyme that tracks how many mitochondria a cell holds, rose 9.2%. That is a sign the training built new energy machinery.
What the beet juice did
None of those gains differed between the beet group and the placebo group. Knee strength measured on a machine, most mitochondrial proteins, and markers of oxidative stress also showed no beet effect.
Two small exceptions turned up. One leg-fatigue measure and one antioxidant enzyme, SOD2, crossed the statistical line, but follow-up tests found no clear group difference for SOD2.
The walking twist
This is not the whole story from this trial. In December 2025, the same team reported in GeroScience that beet drinkers walked faster at their normal pace, 1.38 meters per second versus 1.27 for placebo after adjusting for where they started.
The beet group's normal walking speed rose about 0.1 meters per second, which the authors say meets the standard for a change people notice. The placebo group showed no measurable change in walking or mobility tests.
What this means for you
If your goal is bigger, stronger muscles at 50 or 60, spend your effort on the lifting. Twice a week for 12 weeks produced large gains with or without beets.
If you already like beet juice, the walking result is a reason to keep watching, not a reason to buy more. A larger trial is needed to confirm it.
What this trial does and does not show
To be frank, 28 people is small, and the main paper was not pre-registered, meaning its plan was not posted publicly in advance. The nitrate dose was not adjusted for body weight, and supplements were stopped before final testing, which could hide a short-term effect.
The walking paper did not track background nitrate in people's diets or measure blood nitrate during the study. It also had no beet-only group without exercise, so it cannot separate the juice's effect from its interaction with training.
Why Should You Care?
Starting a weight program in midlife gave these beginners a 31% strength gain in three months, with no help needed from a bottle. Beet juice may still matter for how you move day to day, but it will not build the muscle for you
1. Mueller BJ, McIntosh MC, et al. "The effects of chronic beetroot juice supplementation with resistance training on skeletal muscle mitochondrial and redox markers in middle-aged and older adults." European Journal of Applied Physiology. Published October 3, 2026. DOI: 10.1007/s00421-026-06460-x. PMID: 42829363. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00421-026-06460-x
2. Peoples BM, McIntosh MC, et al. "Beyond strength: dietary nitrate augments self-selected functional mobility after resistance training in middle-aged adults." GeroScience. 2025. DOI: 10.1007/s11357-025-02048-z. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11357-025-02048-z
