Lactate: Friend or Foe?

Lactate: Friend or Foe?

By David Kathmann, MS, RSCC, CSCS, NSCA-CPT

Written on November 14, 2013

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Lactate is not an evil super villain wrecking havoc on your body causing you to be sore for days after your killer workout.  Lactate is Robin to your body’s glycolytic Batman (use of sugar for energy) during intense exercise. Lactate is necessary in order to keep the process of glycolysis going and your ability to sustain high intensity activity.

The chemistry of lactate production. It goes both ways!

             Like a dressed up wookiee at a Star Wars convention, NERD ALERT! (skip this part if you aren’t in touch with your nerdy science side). Lactate is a product of anaerobic glycolysis. Glycolysis is the metabolism of glucose (sugar), which is especially necessary when energy demands (the demand for ATP) are high and can no longer be fulfilled by the decreased availability of phosphocreatine (PCr); or be met by the slower metabolism of fat. Hydrogen ions are shuttled from pyruvate (via NADH) to free up NAD⁺  (which is needed to continue helping in glycolysis) and, with the help of a catalytic enzyme (lactate dehydrogenase; LDH), produces lactate.  Lactate is essential for glycolysis to occur anaerobically and be able to continue to meet the demands of intense exercise for a short period of time (e.g. 90 seconds). When your body isn’t able to clear lactate at the same rate it is being produced (lactate threshold) lactate begins to build up. Lactate build-up is also associated with hydrogen ion build-up, which acts to decrease pH levels (e.g. “feeling the burn”) and, consequently, disrupts enzyme and muscle contractility activity.

            As soon as lactate is produced it is being shuttled out of the muscle to be oxidized else where for energy. Even though lactate builds up during intense activity and you start to feel the “burn”, lactate is cleared out once you begin your recovery. One example I hear about the “evils” of lactate is with baseball players.  Baseball players believe that lactate builds up when they pitch and that lactate hangs out in their shoulder for days on end causing soreness. However, pitching doesn’t produce any lactate build up because there is ample time between each pitch to recovery; and pitching utilizes phosphocreatine for energy, not glycogen. Shoulder soreness from pitching comes from the eccentric slowing of the throwing arm.

              There is a significant benefit that may be associated with feeling the "burn". That benefit is the release of growth hormone (GH; 1,2). The release of GH in the body leads to muscle growth, an increase in strength and a decrease in body fat. There appears to be a threshold of 10 minutes working at a high intensity (above the lactate threshold) to get a significant GH release.

           

              It is this (high intensity) type of conditioning we train here at Pro Fit Strength and Conditioning; in combination with heavy strength training. The combination of these high intensity activities helps in the release of GH and testosterone to get an incredible training effect that burns fat, builds muscle, and increases strength.  Contact us today to get your training started and get the results you want!

Disclaimer: Some photos in this article are not property of Pro Fit Strength and Conditioning and are intended only for visual entertainment.

REFERENCES

1     1. Godfrey, R.J., Madgwick, Z., and Whyte, G.P. The Exercise-Induced Growth Hormone Response in Athletes. Sports Medicine 33(8):599+, 2003.

2    2. Godfrey, R.J., Whyte, G.P., Buckley, J., and Quinlivan, R. The Role of Lactate in the Exercise-Induced Human Growth Hormone Response: Evidence from McArdle Disease. BR J Sports Med 43(7):521-525, 2009.

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