For years now, you
could walk into a gym and hear an idiot PT/Strength Coach shouting “feel the
burn”, and then proceeding to tell their clients/athletes that the reason why
their muscles hurt during and after a workout, is because of lactic acid. Now,
the majority of those trainers have yet to read a single study on the reasons
for muscle soreness and the onset of fatigue during a workout, which
unfortunately for them, means they are automatically put into large group of
ignorant trainers who think they can get by in the fitness industry by not
thinking for themselves, or progressing.
Its not all bad news
for the idiots though. In past research, it has been stated that during higher
intensities and higher workloads there is more lactate that builds up in the
blood. Simply put; the harder and
longer you workout for (at high intensity) the more lactate will build up.
Eventually, and
recently, research has allowed us to realise that this is definitely not true,
and lactic acid does not even exist in body in any useful amounts. To most
definitely stamp out the idiot trainers comments, scientists have found that
the lactate that is produced during a workout is gone within an hour; so
stating that lactic acid is the reason for DOMS is ignorant.
I can hear a faint
whisper…… the whisper of uneducated trainers…… “If its not lactic acid, what is
it?”
Well, brace yourself,
I’m going to get all sciencey on your ass!! During the bodies breakdown of
glucose into lactate there is a production of hydrogen ions (H+). It is this
production of H+ that lowers the pH of the cell, and hinders muscular
contraction. Its has nothing to do with lactate or lactic acid, but rather the
production of hydrogen ions which follows the same chemical pathway as
lactate. I would forgive those
trainers for believing the lactic acid myth, due to the fact that the hydrogen
ions follow the same pathway as lactate, hence the correlation between lactate
accumulation and fatigue.
On the complete flip
side to this myth, scientists have found that the production of lactate (NOT
lactic acid) may actually prevent the onset of fatigue. Some research has shown
that lactate (NOT lactic acid… I will keep saying this until you get the point)
is the energy bridge between an athletes anaerobic and aerobic systems.
Hopefully by now, you
may be starting to realise that you shouldn’t believe everything you read or
hear. Don’t believe me if you don’t want to, but at least read some research
and create your own ideas. The way I’m thinking, we need to move on from
thoughts born in the 80’s and 90’s. The affects of lactate and H+ is a topic which
few trainers know much about!
So please, if your one
of these trainers… stop wielding the lactic acid myth around as loosely as an
aging working woman.
Until next time
Stay Strong