Lactate production retards, not causes, acidosis: a practical approach for physical education students.

Resumo

The content of numerous  textbooks  of exercise physiology, biochemistry and even many papers  in the current  literature explain  acidosis  during  intense  exercise by the  production of lactic  acid,  causing the  release  of a proton  with  lactate as the  final product.   However,  lactate  production retards not cause acidosis.  To understand better the importance of training schedules features  and to do a correct interpretation of blood lactate measurements during different kinds of exercise, the goal of this work is to present a practical  approach  carried out with physical education  students that allows the discussion of these concepts with real datas,  breaking  the myth  involving this subject.  Firstly,  the students were conduct to plan different exercise protocols  (continuous versus intermittent) where the average speed and blood lactate were measured.  After the exercise protocols done, the students did some correlation among blood lactate, fatigue index and performance  datas.  The results  show that there  is not a clear relationship between blood lactate and fatigue, independently of exercise type that is being considered. By this way, it is possible to build with the students a new view of this polemic subject (blood lactate and fatigue) through  a simple practical  approach, helping the students to understand better metabolic aspects  involved with physical exercises.