Men Tips

posted by tollieschmidt on Mar 24

Conventional wisdom has long held that lactic acid is a metabolic scourge, bringing hard exercise stints to a screeching halt and causing next day soreness. Recent research shows how wrong that lie is: Not only does lactate have nothing to do with the burn, it’s actually a secret source of fuel that can help anyone turbo charge his workout.

When athletes are training to push up their lactate threshold, what they’re really doing is training their bodies to use lactate as fuel. Improving that threshold is crucial.

Swimming: Fast laps can sabotage form in the water, so the challenge is maintaining efficiency at high intensities. Find your threshold: Warm up for 5 minutes, then do this 500-meter test. Start off at a pace you can hold for more than 500 meters, but build gradually so that your last 100 is at 90 percent effort. Count your strokes per pool length in the first and last 100 meters. Improve your threshold: Swim 100-yard repeats for 20 minutes, resting after each for one quarter of your swim time. Swim at the fastest pace that allows you to keep a stroke per pool length count of one or two strokes below your count in the final 100 yards of your test.

Cycling: Find your threshold using a heart-rate monitor, perform two 3 mile time trials on flat roads, riding as fast as you can. Multiply the higher average heart rate by 0.92 and 0.95 to find the ideal range to boost your lactate threshold. So, if your heart rate was 185, your lactate threshold training range is 170 to 176. Improve your threshold: Lactate threshold intervals below 6 minutes have less training benefits. Start with three 6-minute stints, each followed by 6 minutes of active rest (relax but keep moving). As you can, tack on 60-second blocks to each interval, eventually adding a fourth block. If you reach 10 minutes, retest.

Running: A higher lactate threshold increases the pace you can sustain over short to midrange distances, powers you over hills, and adds kick to your sprint. Find your threshold: Warm up, then run 5 kilometers at race pace. If you finish in 15 to 19 minutes, your threshold pace should be 25 to 30 seconds slower per mile than your 5k pace; 20 to 24 minute finishes put your lactate threshold pace at 20 to 25 seconds slower; and 25 to 30 minutes, or if youre a beginner, 5 to 10 seconds per mile slower. Improve your threshold: Run four 1-mile segments at lactate threshold training pace with 60 seconds rest. Perform the 5k tests again after 8 weeks.

Start your engines: Your body draws its fuel, ATP, from three energy systems at any given time.

Aerobic System: This slow-burning fuel system is your primary supply during regular exercise. ATP comes from the breakdown of fats, blood glucose, and glycogen, using oxygen as part of a chain reaction to clear waste.

Anaerobic System (ATP-CP): This short-term oxygen-free process fuels normal movement and sudden, intense bursts of strength. The boost from ATP and creatine phosphate (CP), which are stored in the muscles, lasts only 7 to 10 seconds.

Anaerobic Lactate System: This high-intensity, oxygen-free process breaks down glucose. Lactate is formed from a by-product and can be used inside the mitochondria (the cells’ energy producers) as an additional fuel source.

Tap into your body’s natural turbo chargers with these three plans. Push your self-imposed limits and release your greatness. Learn a little everyday about how your body truly functions. Learning your bodies endless limits, and amazing capabilities, you enable yourself to see the junk many diet plans try to offer. Within you is a sleeping giant, unleashing passion and greatness is within your control. At anytime, you can choose to be great and live with no limits. So, what will you choose for today? Dream as if you will never die. Live as if today is your last.

Tollie Schmidt lived his life as the fat kid. His weight reached over 500 pounds. Losing over 300 pounds of fat, Tollie struggled with bulimia and became a personal trainer. Today, Tollie’s a highly sought after International Speaker, Author, Producer and Dreamer. Today our Youth have a voice for change. (Empowering Greatness for a Dream-Infused Life).
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