Lactic acid gets a bad rap. This chemical compound also referred to as lactate, builds up in muscle cells during intense exercise. It’s often blamed for causing fatigue and muscle soreness and thought of as little more than a waste product. But lactic acid may have some positive training benefits that are only beginning to be recognized. Instead of being little more than a waste product, lactic acid may help you in your quest to build lean body mass.
How is Lactic Acid Created?
Lactic acid builds up during intense exercise that exceeds the aerobic threshold. At lower exercise intensity levels such as walking or jogging at a steady pace, cells can obtain energy from fat stores to fuel exercise because there’s plenty of oxygen around.
When exercise intensity increases beyond the body’s ability to supply oxygen to cells quickly enough, during a sprint, for example, hydrogen ions start to accumulate in cells, causing muscle cells to become more acidic. This build-up of acid leads to muscle burning and fatigue.
During this time it’s actually lactate that reduces muscle cell acidity by accepting some of the excess hydrogen ions that have built up. Thus, lactate actually helps to ease muscle burning and fatigue and is not the cause of it, as many people think. But there’s more.
Lactate has other fitness benefits as well. There’s evidence that lactate can also be used as a source of fuel during intense exercise by being converted back to glucose through a pathway called gluconeogenesis. So, lactate can “come to the rescue” when cells need additional energy.
But there’s more. Lactate also stimulates the release of testosterone and growth hormone, two anabolic hormones that can help you in your quest to build lean body mass and burn fat. There’s even some question as to whether lactate is a hormone itself. What seems clear is that lactate isn’t the “bad guy” it’s often made out to be but a hormone-like molecule that has benefits.
How to Get the Benefits of Lactic Acid
Kick up your training to the point that you’re breathing very hard and your muscles are burning will bring lactate into the picture, and when lactate comes on the scene, you’ll get the benefits of the after-burn effect long after you’ve finished your workout. The after-burn is the additional calories your body will need to burn to recover from intense exercise that exceeds the aerobic threshold. You can do this through high-intensity interval training or by doing heavy resistance training targeting the large, lower body muscles.
There are other rewards too for pushing your body into the anaerobic zone where oxygen is in short supply and lactate is called into play. You’ll boost levels of growth hormone and testosterone, which can help you build lean body mass and burn fat. You won’t get the same benefits when you work out at a steady pace at a lower intensity level.
The Bottom Line?
Now that you know that lactate is your friend, kick up your workout by doing high-intensity interval training or challenge yourself with heavier weights – and reap the benefits. Two DVD workouts of mine you may want to try where this comes into play are AfterBurn and HiiT.
References:
On Fitness. January/February 2011. “Lean Muscle Machine: Embrace the Burn”
Exercise Physiology. Theory and Application to Fitness and Performance. Seventh edition. 2009.
Related Articles By Cathe:
Ouch! Should You Work Out with Sore Muscles or Take a Rest Day?
