Learning Lactate (and How to get rid of it)
Here are some things I’ve learned thanks to training for Hyrox Pro Races
If you’ve trained hard for anything at all,
You know that sensation of burning that enters your muscles when they’re under stress for a prolonged amount of time.
Maybe it’s that group fitness class that’s solely focused on two or three muscles for the entire 45 to 60 minutes.
It could happen on your long runs, when your calves, quads, or hamstrings start to seize up.
A fairly easy way to find this feeling, even if you’re not fitness-inclined, is to see how many sets of 10 push-ups you can do with about 60-90 seconds rest, depending on your fitness level.
At a certain point, most people will start to feel fatigue in their chest. But what is that fatigue?
It can be classified as two things.
Mechanical failure — what most people think of when they think of muscles running out of steam; the muscle fibers can’t contract quickly and effectively as they did in the first couple of sets. By proxy, they limit your ability to do push-ups effectively. Even if you were to take a mango in less than 90 seconds, 10 push-ups would still be increasingly difficult.
Lactate Buildup — for the purpose of today’s newsletter, we’ll focus on this aspect of muscle failure and how to push past it. When mechanical failure happens, it’s not just because the muscle is being stretched too thin. It’s also because Lactate, a byproduct of glucose, is developed by the muscle, red blood cells, and the brain, which is flooding the area around the muscle.
This is a normal part of exercise. Many endurance athletes think of lactate as the devil.
For some, it represents the limit of their current physical ability. But for many hard-driving, fitness-oriented people, it can be an indicator of where there’s room for improvement.
Here are some quick and effective ways to start to build up a tolerance for lactate and to learn how to “flush” lactate quicker, effectively removing it from your muscles to be able to perform better and longer at a given task.
Training Ideas to Clear Lactate
Long duration, low-to-moderate intensity training
I hesitate to call it “Zone 2,” because everyone will live in a different “low to moderate” zone. However, maintaining the ability to train for a sustained amount of time at a pace/tempo that makes you sweat but doesn’t completely sap your energy is crucial.
You will eventually develop a higher threshold for this zone over time and will be able to sustain harder efforts for longer. That doesn’t necessarily mean these long efforts need to get much harder. Example: if you went from completing 5 sets of 10 push-ups in 10 minutes to 5 sets of 10 push-ups in 8 minutes, see if you can add another set of 10 and still finish within 10 minutes. Trying to jump from 5 sets of push-ups to seven or eight would be too much demand and cause too much lactate buildup
Your lactate system gets better at clearing with more controlled increases in these easier workouts. If running, start at 45 minutes, then progress to 50 after a minimum of 3-4 weeks. Then 55, and so on.
Lactate Threshold/Tempo training
Runners may be familiar with these terms, but for anyone looking to better combat lactate, training at an intensity that is “huffing and puffing” level, but sustainable for roughly 20-30 minutes, or two 10-15 minute rounds for beginners.
The end of a lactate/tempo session should leave you pretty fatigued at first, and even as fitness builds should continue to scale in difficulty. An example could look like this. Treadmill running or stationary biking at a difficult level where power output fluctuates/intensity falters a bit. It’s okay if you can’t keep the same speed on the treadmill or cadence on the rower — what matters is that you push through the 10 or 15 minute round before resting 2-3 minutes and repeating.
In these sessions, you’re aiming for the flooded-muscle feeling we mentioned above, where the main mover (quads on a bike or lats on a rower, for instance) is flushed with lactate within the first few minutes of the working set, but you’re still able to push through. Repeating these sessions with longer durations will build lactate-flushing ability.
Active Recovery Exercises between HIIT/Tempo/Threshold Intervals
While not the highest on the hierarchical list, active recovery is arguably one of the key difference makers in lactate flushing. When you’ve built a tolerance to general HIIT training with structured rest, then Active
Recovery Intervals come into play.
For example, if a lifting HIIT session demands 15 Squats followed by 90 seconds of rest, the progression would be as follows: Every 2-3 weeks, shorten the rest time first to 60 seconds, then 30 seconds, then build in a lower intensity exercise to occupy the original rest time. Instead of 15 squats and 90 seconds rest, the workout would then become 15 squats immediately followed by 90 seconds of jogging on the treadmill.
That example might sound extreme to some, and yes, the first attempt at that style of training session will suck. But do it for four weeks straight and watch how tolerant your muscles become to stress afterwards.
Nutritional Ideas to Help Flush Lactate
The photo of Pop-Tarts above is only a half-joke.
Higher carbohydrate intake, higher iron intake (either from whole foods or supplemented in combination with vitamin C for improved blood flow), and proper hydration and electrolytes are all nutritional hallmarks of high-fitness, highly capable flushers.
Of course, not all of your carbs can be Pop-Tarts. You want some glycogen (sugar), sure, but ideal carbs before a workout look like:
Oats
Rice
Bread (not whole wheat, though)
Jam/Jelly Spreads
Fruit
These will digest the most easily and allow for the most efficient lactate clearing and carbohydrate usage if you’re working out intensely.
Sure, there may be some less-intense training scenarios where you don’t need to eat these specific foods, and can have some flexibility with your choices.
But generally, including all five of those things in your weekly diet, regardless of how close they are to your workout time, will improve muscle efficiency.
What else, then, can help around the clock? Most people don’t want to just pound carbohydrates all day (although, if you’re training 5-6 days a week like me, well, speak for yourself), which I understand, so here are a few other ideas I’d recommend. Pick and choose the alternative methods that work best for you.
Fruit-fasts in the morning
Spending the morning eating only fruits can help improve glycogen (sugar) stores in the body and improve muscle usage during hard training
Fruits throughout the day are also fine, but in the interest of keeping your overall sugar intake and cortisol at a reasonable level throughout the day, the morning is more ideal
Coffee and Sodium Bicarbonate
NOT at the same time. It’s far too acidic. But regular coffee intake can help boost energy production and efficiency. Sodium bicarbonate, which I like to get from Gerolsteiner mineral water, immensely helps muscle flush lactate during intense physical activity
The bicarb effect takes place after you’ve regularly introduced it into your diet. If you can tolerate a daily mineral water, the Gerolsteiner is also PACKED with all the electrolytes you’ll need for the day as well
It’s hard to quantify exactly when the effects will be measurable, but after a fair bit of time, you’ll feel it. This is purely anecdotal from my end re: the performance, but even if you don’t care about running fast or training hard, a daily Gerolsteiner is probably still good for you (just make sure to brush your teeth thoroughly, since mineral water can wear on tooth enamel.
Orange Juice
Probably the most superior of the juices because of it’s vitamin C content, the sugar from orange juice can be put to good use for intense and also be enjoyed because of it’s taste.
Like any sugary drink, you’ll still want to drink it with sufficient time before your actual workout to avoid cramps.
Vitamin C also pairs well with Iron, which is one of the essential micronutrients of exercise/athletic performance
Iron (via whole food or supplementation)
Iron absorption is aided by vitamin C (and vice versa!), and iron helps with blood flow/blood cell production, especially during intense exercise
When muscles need to flush lactate, its proper blood flow that calculatedly comes in to do the flushing. Good amounts of iron in your system assist with this
Similar to adding Gerolsteiner to your diet, even if you don’t train hard, it’s probably still smart to supplement iron (and combine it with vitamin C!) since 30% of Americans are iron deficient.
I hope these protocols are simple enough for you to put into practice!
As always, I’m always looking for new test dummies — uh, I mean potential clients — to continue to practice these methods on. It’s always more rewarding when the things coaches work on in their own training pay off in nuanced ways with their athletes.
Reply to these e-mail to ask me any other questions about lactate and training, and I’ll reply back with some advice (and maybe ask you to get on a call. Who knows.)