For a long time the term lactic acid has been thrown around, and has built up quite a bad reputation as being the culprit of our soreness. Well, I'm here to defend misunderstood lactic acid, although not entirely. When the body is put under physical stress, it needs to metabolize glucose very quickly and break it down into another substance called pyruvate in order to meet the demands placed upon it. When this has to be done at a very rapid pace under anaerobic conditions, pyruvate is actually converted into lactate because there isn't enough time for the longer conversion into pyruvate. The body can only last at this frenetic pace for about 1 to 3 minutes, but in that time can produce a large amount of this lactate, or lactic acid, and what it does do is create that intense burning sensation in the muscles.
So now that you know this, hopefully you won't embarrass yourself talking about your lactic acid soreness anymore during a dinner conversation, or at a party when you're showing off your sore guns in a snug fitting t-shirt!
OK, I'm glad you joined me on such an informative detour, but let's get back on track, mmmK?
Soreness. The current consensus attributes this condition to microscopic tears in the muscle and surrounding connective tissue following eccentric exercise. When we lift heavy things, or not so heavy things many MANY times, we create little micro tears in our muscles. The body then goes to work repairing them and putting them back together using available protein sources, and this causes us pain. Once you've attained this level of almost debilitating soreness and have let it heal, you likely won't ever get as sore again from the same level of exercise. You'll only get sore again if you up your intensity by once again increasing the weight or rep count. I encourage you to do this, because soreness is good. It's a sign of progress. However, I do want you to be able to get out of your chair without squealing, so keep it under control.
Soreness. The current consensus attributes this condition to microscopic tears in the muscle and surrounding connective tissue following eccentric exercise. When we lift heavy things, or not so heavy things many MANY times, we create little micro tears in our muscles. The body then goes to work repairing them and putting them back together using available protein sources, and this causes us pain. Once you've attained this level of almost debilitating soreness and have let it heal, you likely won't ever get as sore again from the same level of exercise. You'll only get sore again if you up your intensity by once again increasing the weight or rep count. I encourage you to do this, because soreness is good. It's a sign of progress. However, I do want you to be able to get out of your chair without squealing, so keep it under control.
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| excellent protein sources! |
So the moral of the story is: exercise hard, lift heavy things a few times or lighter things a lot of times, embrace your relationship with lactic acid, and appreciate your soreness. It's your body saying, "Nice work sport, you kicked my ass, now here's some payback!" And keep yourself full of protein so you can rebuild the muscles and get stronger!
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