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There is no such thing as lactic acid in the human body
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It crops up all over the place, but it's just plain wrong. There is no lactic acid in the human body
Clothing companies, coaching manuals, riders, coaches ... all talking about lactic acid.
Get this:
There is no lactic acid in the human body. It's a MYTH! It's WRONG!
From the article on it in wikipedia :
During power exercises such as sprinting, when the rate of demand for energy is high, lactate is produced faster than the ability of the tissues to remove it and lactate concentration begins to rise. This is a beneficial process since the regeneration of NAD+ ensures that energy production is maintained and exercise can continue. The increased lactate produced can be removed in a number of ways including
- oxidation to pyruvate by well-oxygenated muscle cells which is then directly used to fuel the citric acid cycle
Contrary to popular belief, this increased concentration of lactate does not directly cause acidosis, nor is it responsible for delayed onset muscle soreness.[1] This is because lactate itself is not capable of releasing a proton, and secondly, the acidic form of lactate, lactic acid, cannot be formed under normal circumstances in human tissues. Analysis of the glycolytic pathway in humans indicates that there are not enough hydrogen ions present in the glycolytic intermediates to produce lactic or any other acid.
So if someone starts talking about how their wondergarment reduces lactic acid buildup, or how their magic drink helps the body flush it out post exercise etc... You know they're full of something, because there's no lactic acid there in the first place.
