new studies on Lactic Acid (good read)

[VBigNate]

you all may already know this but it is something i just read up on...

Old theories on lactic acid(false):
- Lactic Acid is what makes your muscles burn
- Lactic Acid buildup causes your muscles to tire and give out
- Lactic Acid is a waste product
- Coaches and personal trainers tell athletes and exercisers that they have to workout at just below their "lactic threshold" so lactic acid doesnt accumulate
- Studies done by a Nobel laureate, Otto Myerhoff, have been proven false
- Myerhoff cut a frog in half and put its bottom half into a jar. The muscles had no circulation - no source of oxygen or energy.
- He then gave the frog's leg electric shocks to make the muscles contract, but after a few twitches, the muscles stopped contracting. He then discovered the muscles were bathed in lactic acid. So the theory that lack of oxygen to muscles leads to lactic acid, further leading to fatigue...

New Discoveries about lactic acid:
- George A. Brooks, a professor at the U of California, Berkeley, did a test on rats to to study the old hypothesis of lactic acid.
- He gave rats radioactive lactic acid, and found that they burned it faster than anything else he could give them.
- IT LOOKED AS IF LACTIC ACID WAS THERE FOR A REASON..HMMM...IT WAS A SOURCE OF ENERGY!!!
- He continued tests on rats and even on humans and every result was the same...
- L. Bruce Gladden, a professor of health and human performance at Auburn Univ., stated that the evidence has continued to mount, and it became clear that it is not so simple to say that lactic acid is a bad thing and causes fatigue. As far as the idea that lactic acid causes muscle soreness, Gladden said, that never made sense.
- Lactic acid is gone from your muscles within an hour of exercise, you get sore from 1-3 days later. The time frame isn't consistent, and the mechanisms have not been found.
-The understanding now is that muscle cells convert glucose or glycogen to lactic acid. The lactic acid is taken up and used as fuel by mitochondria(mitochondria are the "powerhouses" of the cell, they are the energy factories in the muscle cells. they even have a special transporter protein to move the substance(lactic acid) into them.
INTENSE TRAINING MAKES A DIFFERENCE BECAUSE IT CAN MAKE DOUBLE THE MITOCHONDRIAL MASS (MITOCHONDRIA GROW AND DOUBLE WHICH IS WHAT MAKES MUSCLES GROW...THE MORE YOU HAVE THE BIGGER YOUR MUSCLES ARE AND THE MORE ENERGY YOU CAN EXERT INTO A WORKOUT(GETTING STRONGER))


I summarized this info from an article from my anatomy teacher. The info can be found in the American Journal of Physiology - Endocrinology and Metabolism

[Cammo]

Originally Posted by iwannaplaylock

lol i also read about a study that drinking coffe before a workout and 3 days later the latic acid is cut in half or something like that... i almost never get sore so thats a plus i guess....

You obviously aren't working hard enough.

Nice read Nate.

[NiteHawk]

That is interesting. I remember reading an article about something similiar to that awhile back.


But dont go injecting lactic acid into your body just yet...

[VBigNate]

Originally Posted by iwannaplaylock

lol i also read about a study that drinking coffe before a workout and 3 days later the latic acid is cut in half or something like that... i almost never get sore so thats a plus i guess....

if you read correctly, you would know that lactic acid does NOT make you sore...lactic acid is burned up within an hour of working out, and by the time you are sore, the lactic acid is gone from your body. This would mean that lactic acid does not relate to soreness

[Zac--]

The problem with making a conclusion like this is that there aren't any other experiments like this that have proved the same thing..I'm sure this isn't the first study/experiment on lactic acid...we don't hear about when the experiment turns out to be as we expected(lactic acid causes soreness), but when something is assumed wrong, that's when all the speculation comes in. I think more closure is needed in a type of experiment like this..this is something that needs to be tested in a more widespread fashion(studies at different universities, etc.)

[VBigNate]

dude, they have been testing this theory since the late 70's i only summarized tha article..they have tested humans, mice, and frogs and every experiment the conduct, yields the same results...its been proven many times over

[CraigC]

Originally Posted by iwannaplaylock

nope... the only time i get sore is when i don't stretch after the workout... for some reason stretching really helps me get rid of the lactic acid...

Lactic acid has nothing to do with DOMS. So stretching can help reduce DOMS but has nothing to do with "getting rid of lactic acid". You have a lot of reading to do.

[Cammo]

DOMS is from tears in your muscle fibre, not lactic acid - listen to Craig & read.

[Cammo]

Originally Posted by iwannaplaylock

sorry i am an idiot....

Bump

[mitchcumstein]

This just in: Man lands on the moon.

On July 20, 1969, Commander Neil Armstrong became the first man on the moon. He said the historic words, "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
A camera in the Lunar Module provided live television coverage as Neil Armstrong climbed down the ladder to the surface of the moon.

The Lunar Module "Eagle" consisted of two parts: the descent stage and the ascent stage.
The descent state provided the engine used to land on the moon. It had four legs, a storage area for experimental gear, and a ladder for the crew to climb down to the moon's surface. The descent module also served as the launch platform for the ascent module when it came time to leave.

The ascent module carried the crew back to the Command Service Module.




Walking on the Moon

To walk on the moon's surface, the astronauts needed to wear a space suit with a back mounted, portable life support system. This controlled the oxygen, temperature and pressure inside the suit.
On the surface, the astronauts had to get used to the reduced gravity. They could jump very high compared to on Earth.

The crew spend a total of two and a half hours on the moon's surface. While on the moon's surface, the performed a variety of experiments and collected soil and rock samples to return to Earth.

An American flag was left on the moon's surface as a reminder of the accomplishment.

[HammerTech]

Good read, Nate...thanks.

I wouldn't run out and do the injections either, Nite...LOL

[Cammo]

Originally Posted by mitchcumstein

This just in: Man lands on the moon.

On July 20, 1969, Commander Neil Armstrong became the first man on the moon. He said the historic words, "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
A camera in the Lunar Module provided live television coverage as Neil Armstrong climbed down the ladder to the surface of the moon.

The Lunar Module "Eagle" consisted of two parts: the descent stage and the ascent stage.
The descent state provided the engine used to land on the moon. It had four legs, a storage area for experimental gear, and a ladder for the crew to climb down to the moon's surface. The descent module also served as the launch platform for the ascent module when it came time to leave.

The ascent module carried the crew back to the Command Service Module.




Walking on the Moon

To walk on the moon's surface, the astronauts needed to wear a space suit with a back mounted, portable life support system. This controlled the oxygen, temperature and pressure inside the suit.
On the surface, the astronauts had to get used to the reduced gravity. They could jump very high compared to on Earth.

The crew spend a total of two and a half hours on the moon's surface. While on the moon's surface, the performed a variety of experiments and collected soil and rock samples to return to Earth.

An American flag was left on the moon's surface as a reminder of the accomplishment.

Holy sh!t!!! - that's far out & radical dude - next you'll be telling us that Hitler wants to take over the world....pffft!

[mitchcumstein]

The acidosis that is associated with increases in lactate concentration during heavy exercise arises from a separate reaction. When ATP is hydrolysed, a hydrogen ion is released. ATP-derived hydrogen ions are primarily responsible for the decrease in pH. During intense exercise, aerobic metabolism cannot produce ATP quickly enough to supply the demands of the muscle. As a result, glycolysis (anaerobic metabolism) becomes the dominant energy producing pathway as it can form ATP at high rates. Due to the large amounts of ATP being produced and hydrolysed in a short period of time, the buffering systems of the tissues are overcome, causing pH to fall and creating a state of acidosis. This may be one factor, among many, that contributes to the acute muscular discomfort experienced shortly after intense exercise.

Thats a quote from wikipedia. That whole lactic acid-muscle burning myth has been debunked for some time. Seems like there was a big thread on here a while back about this.

[VBigNate]

well some of us on here, including myself, believed lactate to be the cause of muscle burning and breakdown...a-hole lol

[VBigNate]

and i dont think that quote pertained to the myths about lactic acid...acidosis is when the blood pH falls below 7.35 on the pH scale...besides, this statement is false because anaerobic respiration does NOT produce ATP at high rates(this is why you cant swim underwater for long) anaerobicrespiration occurs where there is an absence of oxygen and aerobic occurs when oxygen is present and is the most efficient way of producing ATP..i just aced a test over this material last week

Originally Posted by mitchcumstein

The acidosis that is associated with increases in lactate concentration during heavy exercise arises from a separate reaction. When ATP is hydrolysed, a hydrogen ion is released. ATP-derived hydrogen ions are primarily responsible for the decrease in pH. During intense exercise, aerobic metabolism cannot produce ATP quickly enough to supply the demands of the muscle. As a result, glycolysis (anaerobic metabolism) becomes the dominant energy producing pathway as it can form ATP at high rates. Due to the large amounts of ATP being produced and hydrolysed in a short period of time, the buffering systems of the tissues are overcome, causing pH to fall and creating a state of acidosis. This may be one factor, among many, that contributes to the acute muscular discomfort experienced shortly after intense exercise.

Thats a quote from wikipedia. That whole lactic acid-muscle burning myth has been debunked for some time. Seems like there was a big thread on here a while back about this.

[mitchcumstein]

Originally Posted by VBigNate

and i dont think that quote pertained to the myths about lactic acid...acidosis is when the blood pH falls below 7.35 on the pH scale...besides, this statement is false because anaerobic respiration does NOT produce ATP at high rates(this is why you cant swim underwater for long) anaerobicrespiration occurs where there is an absence of oxygen and aerobic occurs when oxygen is present and is the most efficient way of producing ATP..i just aced a test over this material last week

Im not here to argue the finer details of this process. Im just pointing out that this is not breaking news. Heres an article thats almost a year old.
Lactic Acid Is Not Muscles' Foe, It's Fuel - New York Times

[trunorth]

"you all may already know this but it is something i just read up on..."

first line of his thread