Feel the burn! Robert Sanders of UC Berkeley (via Science News Daily) reports:

Most athletes see lactic acid as their enemy, and think that training helps them eliminate the metabolic waste product from their muscles so they will function longer and harder. But UC Berkeley physiologist George Brooks has found that training actually teaches your muscle cells how to use lactic acid as a fuel source to get more bang for the buck.

In the lore of marathoners and extreme athletes, lactic acid is poison, a waste product that builds up in the muscles and leads to muscle fatigue, reduced performance, and pain.

Some 30 years of research at the University of California, Berkeley, however, tells a different story: Lactic acid can be your friend.

Coaches and athletes don’t realize it, says exercise physiologist George Brooks, UC Berkeley professor of integrative biology, but endurance training teaches the body to efficiently use lactic acid as a source of fuel on par with the carbohydrates stored in muscle tissue and the sugar in blood. Efficient use of lactic acid, or lactate, not only prevents lactate build-up, but ekes out more energy from the body’s fuel…

[tags]lactic acid,carb,muscle,athlete,george brooks,metabolic waste,exercise physiologist[/tags]