First we need to understand some key concepts and know that the following is a simplification of a much more complicated set of biochemical processes but will suffice for our purposes.

So to begin, we should dispel a long circulated myth that while running we are not producing lactate at all and that the burn we feel well into the run happens because of a sudden onset of its production. This is wholly untrue. The hydrolysis of ATP, our body’s main source of energy, within our muscle’s causes a steady accumulation of hydrogen protons H+ within our muscle’s capillaries. Lactate production is actually our bodies response to this acidification by the hydrolysis of ATP thus reducing the burn.

There is a point though when our body begins to produce lactate at rates that are too fast for our bodies to metabolize, and this is the lactate threshold. To demonstrate, try sprinting a 400. At some point, unless you are a seasoned athlete, your legs are going to want to stop moving and it will happen very quickly. Rest for a few minutes and you will be able to repeat the exercise likely sprinting the same distance or slightly shorter. Each time your legs want to stop, you have experienced your anaerobic threshold which is the anaerobic expression of your lactate threshold.

For distance runners, since you are employing aerobic energy pathways which are far more efficient than anaerobic pathways, which produce about 1/18 the amount of energy, you experience, at some point, an onset of blood lactate accumulation. Prior to this you were at your maximal lactate steady state which is basically the exercise intensity at which, as you might have guessed, lactate production is equal to lactate metabolization.  Many researchers say that this measure is definitively one of the best indicators of athletic performance out there. That is how important it is.

So how does one increase their ability to effectively clear lactate at the rate it is being produced? There are several training regimens that can be employed. The first can be ignored if you are a seasoned athlete already but it is increasing the volume of your training. Say you do 90 minutes of cardio a week currently. Your goal should be to double that to 180 minutes over the time span of four weeks, gradually increasing the overall time each week. This helps to pump up our bodies capacity for mitochondrial respiration.

Another method, and one that I personally love, is interval training above your lactate threshold. So using the sprint 400m example. Say you could only sprint 200m of the 400m. Well a good interval then would be to sprint for 100m then jog 100m back to your starting point and rest 45 seconds. Repeat this 8-12 times. Do this 2-3 times a week increasing the distance every week as you feel yourself being able to complete the routine with greater ease.  One particular variation that I enjoy is what some call corner-burns, which essentially is sprinting the curves of a 400m oval and jogging the straights, taking a one minute break after each lap and repeating that 5-6 times.

You can also do things like run at 95% of your max intensity for one minute then jog for two, then speed up to a sprint again for another minute for a total of 10-15 minutes depending on how much you can handle. The general idea is to exceed your lactate threshold then slow down and let your body recover, then speed up again and over time this trains your threshold.

If you train hard enough, your LT could be as high as 95% of your VO2 max, which is the max capacity of your body to utilize oxygen, though levels this high are generally reserved for elite athletes. A discussion of VO2 max and vVO2 max will come later.

I am just saying it’s possible and if you have the will to push, you will beat the wall down.

Check out this awesome infographic of our bodies metabolic pathways!

Created in 2008, the adult fitness test is meant to test the aerobic fitness and muscular strength and endurance of the men and women of the United States. It is pretty basic in its testing criteria and easy enough that anyone can do it at home. You could even make it a competition between you and your friends to further motivate yourself to try harder.

The program says it is for people aged 18 and older who are in good health and it also provides a prescreening questionnaire to help you assess whether or not you may be ready to take the test. Unless you have stress induced or other severe health related problems you should be able to complete the test parameters without any problem.

If you have never taken any kind of fitness test and have never really had a fitness regimen then this may be a good starting block for you. It will measure all the basics including:

• Aerobic fitness
• Muscular strength and endurance
• Flexibility
• Body Composition (though we know BMI is nonsense)

Once you complete the statistics you can keep your results and use them as a base from which you can improve. Tracking your progress and actually being able to see the numbers improve is one of the biggest motivating forces out there. It is tangible change and keeps you on track towards attaining your goal.

So, check out the program and let me know it went. If you have any questions just drop me a line in the comment box.

http://www.adultfitnesstest.org/

Everyone wants to be the best, be at the pinnacle of whatever sport or activity they may be participating in. We get it in our heads that to beat everyone else, we have to give ourselves a one up and this is where steroids and other performance enhancing drugs (PEDS) enter into the equation. Sure there are side effects to their use, but they can be mitigated by incredibly careful, doctor assisted monitoring. What I mean is frequent blood work and hormone panels. 98% of PEDS users do not fit into this category of careful use. So why even decide to go that route? You are short changing yourself, determining that you will fail at achieving your goal without even trying.

Some will say, oh but I have peaked after one year of training. To that I say, it has been a damn year you idiot. Even two or three still leaves you in the relative area of newness to training. You might know how to train better but as far as packing mass, you have not been doing it for all that long. If you are 6 foot 200 pounds, you have not peaked. Genetics will limit us to some degree but different training method, can and have been proven to overcome a weak genetic predisposition to being a hard-gainer.

Be brave for once in your life, please. Accomplishing anything is not easy, and getting bigger or changing your body is no small feat. It takes time and dedication, a steadfast mindset. Create who you want to be, do not accept an image. You are who you want to be, and that is the final word on that. A majority of you all out there WILL have to work harder. A lot harder. This challenge is what we call living your life. You see something you want and so you do everything in your power to achieve it; you sweat you bleed, wake up at 6 o’clock in the morning just to get a meal in or to run 3 miles before work because you know you will not have time later.

Do not settle to simply exist, squander the life you have been given. You do not know your limits as we mentioned before… No one does for that matter and with this in mind go out and DO because you can. Because you want to, because somewhere down the line someone said you couldn’t. Make this testimony to yourself now, today, not tomorrow or the day after. This is the trap of simply existing on this Earth. Recognize that now if you are the kind of person who tries to take shortcuts every step of their lives.

There is a distinct reward to accomplishing your goals naturally. You know that every pound, every striation, every line of muscle that clings to your body was created by you and the struggle you have endured. And guess what you have ENDURED and you are that much stronger now. Both mentally and physically. Never think that just because something might be hard that you should take the cheap way out, this attitude will get you nowhere.

You are your own weapon. What will you do with yourself tomorrow?

For all those out there busting ass the natural way
The AITank Crew recognizes you

Before we get into the details let me say a few words. Drinking in this article will be defined as no more than one drink per day for women and no more than two drinks per day for men. Thus, we are not promoting in any way heavy drinking. Further, if you do not already drink do not start drinking because of this article. Most of the research in this area is new, and though it comes from prestigious institutions it is still not fully understood.

A Spanish study of over 40, 000 people and lasted 10 years was conducted to determine the effects that alcohol consumption patterns have on heart health. As we discussed in a previous post on cholesterol, LDL can have detrimental effects on one’s coronary health by promoting the developments of atheromas. Well, the study concluded that the consumption of alcohol does seem to offer very concrete protection against coronary heart disease.

The reason for this protection is that alcohol seems to raise HDL levels, lower blood pressure, and helps prevent arterial damage caused by high levels of LDL. More significantly but not mentioned in the above linked article, wine is said to have a more compound effect because of its high polyphenol content. Polyphenols are potent antioxidants and as we discussed previously, this class of substances in our bodies helps to prevent premature cell oxidation which is enhanved by LDL. Wine will be covered in a later post.

Alcohol in general though lowers the size of LDL particles in general though and this is how it helps prevent coronary heart disease. Think of it this way. Our arteries are small tubes, and LDL particles being the largest cholesterol particles of the four we discussed previously, can clog these small tubes easily. The larger the particle size the easier the clogging happens. This clogging can lead to stroke, heart attack, infarction etc. So, if we reduce the size of the particles then there is a smaller chance that they will be given the opportunity to clog our arteries, oxidize, and form legions.

So, the next time you are at dinner or at home pouring a glass of wine, don’t feel as guilty. You may actually be doing your body a service by fighting LDL and lowering your blood pressure. Again, don’t go binge or heavy drinking, this will eventually destroy your liver. A glass or two is what we are after.

Be sure and check out the two links two the studies referenced in this post. They are both linked above.

Till next time, live well, be fit.