![\"Not](\"http:\/\/devinephysiques.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/sore.jpg\")
<\/a>Not pictured: Lactic Acid Buildup.<\/p><\/div>\n
To start, what is Lactic Acid?\u00a0 Without getting too far into it:\u00a0 Lactic Acid is a by-product of Anaerobic Glycolysis.<\/p>\n
The chemical breakdown of glucose for the production of “ATP” (Adenosine Triphosphate- Most easily described as a unit of energy for muscles) without oxygen (During weight lifting, sprinting, etc.) produces lactic acid;\u00a0 When oxygen is present (Jogging, running, bicycling, etc.), the process is “Aerobic,” and instead of producing Lactic Acid, your body produces Pyruvic Acid, which can then be used to fuel other oxidative processes for energy metabolism.\u00a0 There are two methods for removing Lactic Acid after production:\u00a0 Oxidation into Pyruvic Acid to fuel the Krebs Cycle, or it can be converted into Glucose in the liver via Gluconeogenesis for energy.<\/p>\n
Science aside, what does that mean?\u00a0 Your body produces a chemical that can cause momentary “burn” in muscles because you’re exerting yourself, and then clears the pathways shortly thereafter.\u00a0 Think of it like this–\u00a0\u00a0 Let’s say you have to climb 10 flights of stairs.\u00a0 For the first flight or two, you will “feel the burn” in your legs, because your body hasn’t increased respiration to increase oxygen supply, so your body is producing energy through Anaerobic Glycolysis.\u00a0 After the fourth flight of stairs, your body has increased respiration, and is now producing Pyruvic Acid instead of Lactic Acid, and you’ve begun an anaerobic workout–\u00a0 At the same time, the increase in oxygen supply is allowing some of the Lactic Acid to go through oxidation, while the rest is being shuttled to the liver.<\/p>\n
Here’s another example to demonstrate that it can’t “build up:”\u00a0 You climb 2 flights of stairs–\u00a0 The entire process was Anaerobic, so your body produced Lactic Acid;\u00a0 You feel the burn in your legs as your arrive at your destination on the third floor.\u00a0 After a very short while, your legs no longer burn.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 You’re now in an aerobic method of energy metabolism–\u00a0 You’re not taking in any more oxygen, but you’re also no longer exerting yourself;\u00a0 The Lactic Acid was converted to Pyruvic Acid for energy metabolism.\u00a0 (Anything left over was then sent to the liver.)<\/p>\n
So, if someone says they’re suffering from Lactic Acid buildup from a few days ago. . .\u00a0 They’re not.\u00a0 What they’re experiencing is “DOMS.”\u00a0 DOMS is soreness, inflammation, and pain associated with particularly tough workouts, workouts too intense for the trainee, or a workout that involves intense movements the trainee is unaccustomed to.\u00a0 It’s often felt between 24 and 72 hours post workout, and is the result of microscopic tears in the muscle tissue that lead to inflammation and soreness.<\/p>\n
DOMS is very unpleasant, but is not a sign that you did anything wrong, unless you’re just starting a workout plan–\u00a0 In that case, DOMS means that you started off too intensely and should have ramped up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Have you ever been really sore following an insane workout, and had someone tell you it was “Lactic Acid Build Up”?\u00a0 Well, I’m sorry to tell you this, but Lactic Acid has nothing to do with you being sore, unless we’re talking about during the workout–\u00a0 That could actually cause soreness fora minute or so.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,3,4,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-body-building","category-fitness","category-fitness-myths","category-health"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3DfsS-bO","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devinephysiques.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devinephysiques.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devinephysiques.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devinephysiques.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devinephysiques.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=732"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/devinephysiques.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":734,"href":"https:\/\/devinephysiques.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732\/revisions\/734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devinephysiques.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devinephysiques.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devinephysiques.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}