Doess anyone know the trick of consuming a certain amount baking soda pre workout to cut down on lactic acid build up?
Baking soda is pretty old school because it tastes like ass and causes GI distress.
Beta alanine is the new supplement used for buffering (among other benefits).
Cheers
soda loading, as it is called, is still very popular in athletics where lactic acid buildup is large. The idea is to put the body in an alkalosis state before the event so that it makes a buffer.
If I remember, it’s something around 20mg per kg of BW, 30-60 min before. Needless to say, it taste very VERY bad and it can acuse stomach distress, diarhea…
It is not recommended to to such a thing more than 2-3 times a season. For what reason I don’t remember. If you type SODA LOADING in google, you’l have plenty of info.
Using it in the gym would be pointless. Lactic acid buildup is useful!
Here’s an intriguing (read: trick) question: why are you so concerned with lactic acid?
well because i feel if i can find a way to delay eventual muscular failure due to the burn (that eventually makes it impossible for me to go any further) I’ll be able to push the envelope a bit more each time…or maybe i am just completely impatient/way motivated and know i have more in me but get pissed when the burn shuts me down =D
thanks for commenting though. i appreciate it.
- jimmy
Phosphate loading always seems to hinder my performance, so I have given up on it.
[quote]David Barr wrote:
Baking soda is pretty old school because it tastes like ass and causes GI distress.
Beta alanine is the new supplement used for buffering (among other benefits).
Cheers[/quote]
Good point. A lot of my teammates used to use baking soda. Beta alanine seems to be the way to go these days.
This was popular about 10 or 12 years ago. I hopped on the band wagon with this and gave it a shot. All I got was an upset stomach. I tried it again and used less…felt no effects.
Maybe others have had better experiences.
The new theory as to why sodium bicarb actually works is not down to the bufferring of lactic acid, but to its effect on the strong ion difference (SID)in the body, and that comes from the sodium, not the bicarb. Also believe it or not, lactic acid is out as a cause of fatigue, pain, acidity etc. It is simply another form of fuel, utilized similarly to glucose.
It is also in the form of lactate in the human body. We contain negligible amounts of lactic acid at physiological pH. There are a few studies out there now, including one I have been invloved in, in which subjects infused with high amounts of exogenous lactate, perform just as well as without it. I can’t tell you what IS causing that burning feeling, just that it aint lactic acid.
cheers
interesting…
could yu point out to that study in particular? Who made that research? Then it would be similar to sodium phosphate loading (for endurance event), that being used as a fuel source?
[quote]David Barr wrote:
Baking soda is pretty old school because it tastes like ass and causes GI distress.[/quote]
what is the recommended use? Any way to get that supplement alone, not part of some supplement containing various s**ts?
Sadly no, there are currently no legal sources of bulk Beta alanine.
Having said that, 6-7g day, in divided doses is the standard use for the loading phase.
[quote]SprintMachine wrote:
what is the recommended use? Any way to get that supplement alone, not part of some supplement containing various s**ts?[/quote]
Killing/buffering acid is the next wave in performance enhancement. Acid doesn’t just cause an uncomforatble feeling, it directly decreases muscle force output and contraction speed.
This is bad news for athletes and bodybuilders.
Although there is a correlation between lactate build-up and fatigue, recent research suggests that lactate is not responsible.
The original research proving the relationship was done in the 1940s (from memory), and simply proved that there was a direct correlation between lactate levels and levels of fatigue. It was never (and has never been) proven that the lactate itself was responsible.
In truth, continuous muscular contraction creates a build-up of many different waste products, any of which could be responsible. The study that I refer to, conducted in Australia, found that the acidic environment actually prolonged the muscle fibres’ ability to fire!
Most research that I have heard about suggests that the actual cause of fatigue lies somewhere in the neuromuscular junction. In other words, as work continues, the electrical signals from the brain begin to have trouble travelling through to the muscle to make it fire.
With this in mind, serious doubts are cast on the reasoning to address acidity levels at all. Good news! I have heard that soda makes you uncomfortable and nausiated.
Sprint Machine-
Heres an article on the mechanism of lactate metabolism:
Brooks, G. A. (2000). Intra and extra- cellular lactate shuttles. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc., 32, 790.
This is one showing the effects of lactate infusion:
Miller, B. F., Fattor, J. A., Jacobs, K. A., Horning, M. A., Navazio, F., Lindinger, M., et al. (2002). Lactate and glucose interactions during rest and exercise in men: effect of exogenous lactate infusion. J Physiology, 544(3), 963-975.
And this is one similar to what Panterarosa mentioned:
Neilsen, O. B., Paoli, F., & Overgaard, K. (2001). Protective effects of lactic acid on force production in rat skeletal muscle. J Physiology, 536(1), 161-166.
[quote]David Barr wrote:
Sadly no, there are currently no legal sources of bulk Beta alanine.
[/quote]
Try google
[quote]David Barr wrote:
Killing/buffering acid is the next wave in performance enhancement. Acid doesn’t just cause an uncomforatble feeling, it directly decreases muscle force output and contraction speed.
This is bad news for athletes and bodybuilders.[/quote]
But David, I think I remember you mentioning that lactic acid buildup might be an important trigger for hypertrophy (and not necessarily through GH stimulation).
Anyway, for peak performance the problem is why the hell would anyone use bicarbonate which produces large amounts of gas, and pulls water into the digestive tract, when they could just use calcium carbonate such 4-5 calcium tablets which is just as good a buffer, with much less hypertonicity and mininal gas production?
why not just do some anaerobic threshold work or some intervals. ya know indian runs or hill repeats or something. just being in shape would help you clear a lot more la than taking a supp and not being in shape. and if you are in shape and can already go at your a.t. for a half hour or more there’s a product called cytomax which works really well.
[quote]swivel wrote:
why not just do some anaerobic threshold work or some intervals. ya know indian runs or hill repeats or something. just being in shape would help you clear a lot more la than taking a supp and not being in shape. and if you are in shape and can already go at your a.t. for a half hour or more there’s a product called cytomax which works really well. [/quote]
It doesn’t matter. You definitely need to be doing lactate threshold work, pure speed work, and base work as an athlete. But it doesn’t matter how in shape you are. You could be in the Olympics, and you’ll have tremendous lactic acid buildup at the end of a 400 meter sprint or 800 meter run and be in serious extremis. It just comes with the territory. If beta alanine can somehow reduce this buildup which negatively affects performance, then that’s a good thing.
Beta alanine is good stuff. Biotest should put it in a supp.