Smelling Salts in Powerlifting and Strength Sports

Part of our series: Smelling Salts — The Complete Guide.

A fixture, not an innovation

Ammonia inhalants have been around strength sport for a long time — long enough that most lifters first meet them as an object someone hands them at a meet rather than as a product they researched. The bottle on the corner of the platform is part of the furniture.

This article is about that culture and the rules that now sit around it. It is not about whether salts help you lift more. We do not make that claim and this article does not contain it — for the reasons set out in Are Smelling Salts Bad for You? What the FDA Actually Says.

How they arrived

The route into strength sport ran through boxing. Sports-medicine literature documents ammonia inhalants as long-standing corner equipment used to revive dazed fighters — and documents why that use fell from favour: reviving an athlete who may have a head injury can mask the symptoms that matter, and a sharp head-jerk away from the inhalant carries its own neck-injury concern, which is why many boxing jurisdictions came to prohibit corner use (McCrory, "Smelling salts," British Journal of Sports Medicine 2006;40(8):659–660 — full text). From the fight trades the habit spread through contact sport into the wider gym culture that borrowed from it. Notably, the same paper's conclusion — tradition, not clinical evidence — is the reason this site makes no performance claims.

The fuller story, from Victorian hartshorn to the modern bottle, is in The History of Smelling Salts.

What governing bodies say

This is the part lifters actually need before a meet, and it is the part most often answered wrongly on forums.

Every position below was checked against the federation's own current rulebook on 26 August 2026 (full quotes and links: 01 Research/2026-08-26 Federation Positions — VERIFIED.md). Rulebooks revise annually — recheck before relying on this at a meet.

• IPF — permitted, but not in public view. The 2026 IPF Technical Rulebook states a lifter "shall not wrap, adjust his costume or use ammonia within view of the public." Use them in the warm-up area, not on the platform.
• USPA — permitted, with the same boundary drawn wider. USPA Technical Rules §3.16.5: ammonia caps and smelling salts "cannot be used anywhere near the lifting platform or in view of the audience."
• USAPL — the current rulebook (v2026.1) does not address ammonia inhalants at all. You will find claims online that USAPL has a "not in public view" rule; that is the IPF's line misattributed to a federation that left the IPF in 2021. Silence is not permission — where the book says nothing, meet directors and venues decide.
• Strongman and highland games — events typically run on promoter and event rules rather than one international rulebook, so there is no single position to quote. Check your event's athlete information.
• WADA — ammonia inhalants are not named on the WADA Prohibited List. That means "not prohibited"; there is no such thing as WADA-approved.

One general point holds regardless of federation: an inhalant is a substance you are bringing into a competition venue, and venue staff, not the internet, have the final say on the day.

The 2025 NFL decision

The clearest recent ruling in American sport, and it is worth understanding precisely because it is widely misreported.

In 2025 the NFL instructed its 32 clubs that they may no longer administer ammonia in any form to players, citing the FDA's 2024 warning and the risk of masking concussion symptoms. After pushback, the NFLPA clarified the scope: teams cannot supply smelling salts; players may still use their own.

Two things follow.

It is not a ban on the products. It is a rule about what a club's medical and training staff may hand a player. Retail sale is untouched.

The reasoning is the important part. The concern was that an ammonia inhalant used at the sideline could obscure the presentation of a head injury at the exact moment the assessment matters. That reasoning does not stop at the NFL. It applies to any lifter, any coach and any training partner considering using a bottle on someone who has just been hit, dropped a bar on themselves, or gone unsteady — which is why "not for use to treat or assess a head injury, concussion, fainting or any medical event" is a fixed line in our safety information and not a legal formality.

Meet-day practicalities

Assuming your federation and venue permit them:

• Check the rules for your specific meet, not the federation in general. Venue and promoter rules stack on top.
• Do not hand one to someone who has just been hurt. See above; this is the one that matters.
• They are personal equipment. After 2025 the direction of travel across organised sport is clearly away from officials and staff supplying inhalants to athletes. Do not expect to be handed one, and think carefully before handing one to somebody else.
• Bring it capped and take it home capped. An open bottle in a gym bag is a mess and loses ammonia continuously — see Storage and Shelf Life.
• Six inches from the nose, one brief inhale, recap. Full technique in How to Use Smelling Salts Safely.

The honest note

There is a lot of folklore in this corner of strength sport, and much of it is about effect. We have deliberately not repeated any of it. What we can tell you is what is in the bottle, what the rules say, and how to use one correctly. What happens on a platform is not something we are going to make claims about.

Spinto Smelling Salts are sold as single bottles and 2–6 bottle packs, shipped from Duluth, GA.

Spinto Fitness USA, the company behind these salts, also makes lifting belts for training and meet day.

FAQ

Are smelling salts allowed in powerlifting competition? Generally yes, with location rules. The IPF permits them but not within view of the public; the USPA permits them but not near the platform or in audience view; the current USAPL rulebook is silent, which leaves it to meet directors and venues. Always check your specific meet's rules — venue and promoter rules stack on top of the federation's.

Did the NFL ban smelling salts? The NFL told clubs in 2025 they may no longer administer ammonia in any form to players. The NFLPA confirmed teams cannot supply them, while players may still use their own.

Why did the NFL make that change? It cited the FDA's 2024 warning and the risk that an inhalant could mask concussion symptoms.

Should I use smelling salts on a training partner who has been hurt? No. Ammonia inhalants must not be used to treat or assess a head injury, suspected concussion or fainting. That is a situation for medical attention.