What is the maximal lactate steady state in exercise? Am I correct in believing it’s the highest intensity level of training that you can maintain without too much lactic acid buildup in your muscles, pushing you to failure or “gassing out?”
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The MLSS is the highest level of muscular effort you can sustain indefinitely (not really indefinitely, but for quite a long time).
Basically, lactate is always being produced by your metabolism as a consequence of metabolizing glucose which is your main cellular fuel. The concentration of lactate rises during exercise precisely because your cells are using more energy. However, if you sustain the same level of effort for a little while, the amount of lactate in your blood will again reach a steady state, because the lactate is produced by your muscles but then used to provide you with energy.
If it turns out that you reach a level of effort where the concentration of lactate in your blood just keeps rising until you give up, that’s because you are using so much energy that your body is unable to keep up and convert that lactate back into energy for you. That is, the level of effort you’re providing is not sustainable in the long run.
The limit between the level of lactate in your blood where your body can keep going indefinitely, and the level of lactate in your blood that means you just keep building up lactate until you become too exhausted to continue, is the maximal lactate steady state.
The MLSS is the highest level of muscular effort you can sustain indefinitely (not really indefinitely, but for quite a long time).
Basically, lactate is always being produced by your metabolism as a consequence of metabolizing glucose which is your main cellular fuel. The concentration of lactate rises during exercise precisely because your cells are using more energy. However, if you sustain the same level of effort for a little while, the amount of lactate in your blood will again reach a steady state, because the lactate is produced by your muscles but then used to provide you with energy.
If it turns out that you reach a level of effort where the concentration of lactate in your blood just keeps rising until you give up, that’s because you are using so much energy that your body is unable to keep up and convert that lactate back into energy for you. That is, the level of effort you’re providing is not sustainable in the long run.
The limit between the level of lactate in your blood where your body can keep going indefinitely, and the level of lactate in your blood that means you just keep building up lactate until you become too exhausted to continue, is the maximal lactate steady state.
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