Lactate - Friend or Foe?

Here at Troll Training, we want to give you the best training program possible. That means having experts (true experts) with multiple training and education backgrounds around the table, driving this organization forward. This is what makes Troll Training Safe, Intelligent and Effective.

We have teamed up with several thought leaders, including Red Bull Sport Scientist Dylan Dahlquist, to help answer some critical questions that you have probably been asking. Today, lets talk lactic acid and lactate.

Dylan Dahlquist -

Sport Scientist at Red Bull, Troll Training Contributor

Meet Dylan Dahlquist, a fit nerd who enjoys busting training myths with us here at Troll Training.

As a sport scientist and athlete who has spent the past 10+ years studying and working in public and private sectors formulating innovative strategies to revolutionize how athletes train and are able to perform, I have begun to understand that the complex nature of adaptation and maladaptation to training or life stress is ever evolving. Our prior ideologies are constantly being molded into something new, which requires our careful consideration and reevaluation.

In steps the dreaded “lactic acid” and “lactate” —these are not actually a bad thing and can be quite good for us in certain amounts. How? by acting as a buffer to metabolic fatigue and as a fuel source. Meaning, your body likes this stuff and needs it in-order to positively adapt to training, and in short, get better.

“In steps the dreaded “lactic acid” and “lactate” —these are not actually a bad thing and can be quite good for us in certain amounts. How? by acting as a buffer to metabolic fatigue and as a fuel source. Meaning, your body likes this stuff and needs it in-order to positively adapt to training, and in short, get better.”

Now if this isn’t what you grew up thinking, you might be asking yourself: How on earth do we discern what is good or bad for our athletic performance if there is so much misinformation out there? Especially when our industry is so cluttered with buzz-wordy marketing ploys telling us this new-found method or technology will be the key to our athletic prowess and unlock our fullest potential.

Well, we are hopeful that more organizations like Troll Training will begin to come onto the scene. With years of working with athletes of all levels, from novice, to elite, to semi-pro and professional. We bring a level of expertise to the table and derive our performance solutions from evidence-based information gathered from athletes, practitioners, and published peer-reviewed research. 

The goal? (1) To make you better than your competition, (2) a more resilient machine to handle the demands of your sport, and (3) a champion.

Every month we compile, analyze, and synthesize literature of different scientific principles and techniques to bring you ways to improve your sporting performance. Domains such as, but not limited to, acute and chronic manipulations of ambient and localized temperatures, heat-, cross- and altitude-acclimation/acclimatization, psychology, in-competition/race tactics, recovery, priming, sleep, breathing methodologies, nutrition and hydration, injury prevention, and protocols to track physiological, biomechanical, hematological, and cognitive alterations in mentioned areas. That is a mouth-full, but bear with us here, it will be worth it!

Ok, I digress. Back to lactate

For decades, actually – almost a century, scientists have believed lactate as a useless byproduct of anaerobic metabolism that leads to fatigue and the cessation of exercise. Lactic acid is produced quickly during a period of hypoxia (such as high intensity training), quickly dissociated into lactate and hydrogen ions, resulting in metabolic acidosis. It is this lactate-induced acidosis, that “burning” sensation in your legs when doing high-intensity intervals, that coaches, scientists, and practitioners will inform you that is causing you to tire. Sadly, this is far from reality, and we now know that lactate isn’t only produced during anaerobic metabolism, it also has a key function in aerobic metabolism, acting as a major energy source for the brain, heart, skeletal muscle and various other tissues. Lactate acts as a buffer, and can help remove noxious metabolites and work synergistically with other catecholamines to minimize fatigue. Furthermore, this acidosis enhances the excitability (read: contractibility) of your working muscle tissue. Meaning, you may get faster and stronger when lactate is produced! So, the next time someone tells you lactate is bad: inform them that lactate is actually a good thing (within reason), our bodies are quite capable of clearing it on its own, it’s a key molecule that is now used as a “strain” marker for positive adaptations (which is why high-intensity intervals are so important), and it’s the preferred fuel source for your brain – even over sugar.

-    Dylan Dahlquist