If you've spent any amount of time training, or reading literature on training, I'm sure you've heard about the evils of lactic acid, that it's responsible for muscle fatigue and soreness. Over the years lactic acid has been framed for many crimes it did not commit. We'll now try to clear lactic acid of all pending charges.
Researchers from Denmark have uncovered evidence that shows that lactic acid may not only be helpful, but a crucial source of energy that may even help reduce fatigue.
As you exercise your body produces something called pyruvic acid, which undergoes a process called the Krebs cycle in order to produce energy. The unused pyruvic acid that remains is converted into lactic acid. The more intense your training is the more pyruvic acid is produced, the more that is produced the more pyruvic acid goes unused, and the more that builds up, the more it increases the amount of lactic acid produced as well.
The general consensus was that this build up of lactic acid was a waste product that was responsible for muscle fatigue and soreness and could only be cleared through rest and recovery. This conclusion was reached when chemists in the 19th century discovered that acid was produced when juice was fermented without sufficient oxygen. The same scientists also discovered some years later that when muscles were worked to failure they produced lactic acid as well. They then deduced that the acid must be responsible for making the muscles weak and tired.
Later research concerning lactic acid and its effects on muscle performance revealed a process called the ''lactic shuttle''; the research showed that lactic acid is able to move uninhibited through muscle cells, thus providing energy and producing glycogen.
During the lactate shuttle, lactate leaving muscle cells can provide energy a couple of different ways. The lactate can either be picked up by muscle cells that are close by, or can be transported through the bloodstream to other muscle cells or tissue. Cells that need lactate can convert the lactate back to pyruvic acid and will then enter the Krebs cycle to produce energy or be be converted into glucose or glycogen.
We can now use what we know about lactic acid to improve our training and fitness--we can enhance our bodies response to, and use of, lactic acid by training at an intensity that floods the body with lactate.
Choosing proper exercise routines that take lactate into consideration, or choosing a trainer that understands the importance of lactic acid, will increase your fitness level and help you to lose weight.
