What is muscle acidification? What is dangerous and how to fight it - “sport”

I’ll tell you how to effectively adapt your training to your diet to quickly lose fat while maintaining muscle.

Attention! This method is not for beginners

Before moving on to the diet and training described below, I spent three preparatory months, which gave both a noticeable increase in strength indicators and a fat-burning effect. In addition, the cardiovascular system was adapted for the increased load that is present in some types of training used.

Anyone can do this if they really want to get in shape and change their life for the better (and it is changing, believe me). Maybe not in three months, but, say, in five or six (for complete beginners in the general physical training mode it is better to spend 4 months, not two), but everything is possible.

I described the first two stages of nutrition and training in detail in the following articles:

1. (this is what I meant when I mentioned general physical training and 4 months of work for beginners)

Cardio plays an important role in all preparation, and not just any way. Here, too, there is a simple but effective system, described in the three articles below (read in this order):

If you decide to give preference to running, pay attention to this material too:

He who is forewarned is forearmed! Now let's move directly to the topic of conversation.

Briefly about the first three months of the zhirotop

During my practice of lifting weights and experimenting with diets, I received the most noticeable effect in terms of fat burning. I spent almost half a year in a low-carbohydrate regime, maintaining a fairly lean shape and a comfortable diet. No hunger, eat only 3-4 times a day, you can eat a lot of tasty things (hard cheese, heavy cream, nuts, dark chocolate, fatty meats in any form) without consequences for the stomach, plus once a week I did a small carbohydrate load, to shake up your metabolism.

How I started and what I came to at LCHF. I kept approximately the same shape as on the right for six months

It was a comfortable state and at the same time stagnation. It won’t be possible to build muscle mass and increase strength without carbohydrates (at least it didn’t work out for me), and it won’t be possible to reduce the percentage of subcutaneous fat below a certain level either, since too much fat comes from outside, which is used as an energy source. There is no point in the body using its own reserves. So he kept them in my case at the level of 10–12%. To break out of this stagnation, I had to radically change my training and nutrition system.

In the first two months I switched from doing three FullBody workouts a week. That is, every time I pumped my whole body. If I didn’t have enough time (training took about two hours on average and sometimes I came to the gym too late), then I skipped training small muscles (arms, shoulders, calves), but always worked my legs, back and chest.

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By the end of the third month, the weight dropped another couple of kilograms and plateaued. In principle, the result is already excellent...

...But if you’re going to work, then work until the bitter end. The initial plan was to dry out to the level of a fitness model. To move on, something had to change again. I changed it by switching to a rotational keto diet and literally “pulling” my training onto it.

Attention! Information for diabetics, people with pre-diabetes and those who have not read the above

Carry out any manipulations with the diet only after consultation with your doctor. The keto diet is highly not recommended for you.

In addition, I repeat, this training and nutrition regimen is NOT FOR BEGINNERS!!! If you only looked at the photos above, please go back and read what it says. Otherwise, rushing to make gestures in pursuit of a quick result, you can harm yourself by not achieving what you want.

Rational keto diet - carbohydrates once a week, but a lot

The keto diet is far from a new thing, it has been known for a long time, and is actively used by some epileptics throughout their lives to reduce the number of epileptic seizures. By the way, it was originally developed for them, and only decades later was it picked up by athletes.

Its meaning is that the body uses fat both for brain function and for energy needs. In the first case, this is a product of its breakdown - ketone bodies, on which the brain works even more efficiently than on glucose. To do this, the amount of carbohydrates is reduced to a minimum - 40–50 g per day from green vegetables.

But the classic keto diet is when there is quite a lot of fat in the diet. The ratio to protein can vary from 30% to 70%. A famous bodybuilder talks about this well Sergey Shelestov:

In my case, the fat in the diet is less than the recommended classical norm for the simple reason that if it is enough to cover all the energy needs of the body, then the body will not use its own reserves in the stomach, buttocks and other loin areas.

In particular, the number fat I'm holding on level 0.7–1 g per kg body weight, you can’t go lower so that your hormonal system, skin, hair and nails don’t suffer. Squirrel I consume a little more than usual - 2.5–3.5 g per kg body weight. Carbohydrates comes out 50–60 g per day from vegetables. According to the classics, tomatoes are not allowed, but I didn’t bother with that and ate them as well (plus cucumbers, Chinese and white cabbage, and other green vegetables).

Having switched to a keto diet, I reduced my caloric intake by another 10% to 2300–2400 kcal per day (with my own weight of 97–98 kg). In this mode, I eat from Monday to Saturday, and on Sunday I do the so-called carbohydrate loading.

This is not a whim, but a necessity to shake up the body, which in such a stressful diet begins to slow down metabolic processes, reduce the production of certain hormones, which is why fat burning suffers. Having received a lot of carbohydrates at once, he again starts all metabolic processes to the fullest, and before that he manages to burn a decent amount of his own fat. I got from 0.5 to 1 kg per week at first.

The most interesting thing is that with such a strict diet for six days, on a carbohydrate load, you don’t have to worry about what you eat. That is, you calmly throw everything you want and crave on a diet into the firebox: rolls, candies, pizza, cookies, etc. You just need to eat less fatty foods. The amount of protein on this day can also be reduced, the main thing is more carbohydrates. There are no calorie restrictions, but you should not use enzyme preparations (mezim, festal, pancreatin, etc.) and eat to the point of mechanical distension of the stomach (when it begins to hurt and it is difficult to breathe).

Why are there no restrictions and carbohydrates, including simple ones, do not go into fat? Because they are used to restore wasted glycogen in the muscles. To restore it with a reserve, you need to eat up to 16 g of carbohydrates per kg of body weight. This is very difficult no matter how hard you want. Just don’t eat more than 300 g of carbohydrates at a time, otherwise the speed of metabolic processes will not be enough to transport all the glucose to the muscles and the remainder will still go into fat.

Naturally, glycogen itself will not be used up; to do this, you need to properly load the muscles for a week and below I will tell you how to do this. In the meantime, a little about what did I eat on the keto diet?.

In the morning I usually did it for myself and my wife curd dessert(I also got her hooked on the fat burning program). My portion is as follows: 250 g of cottage cheese (low-fat, although sometimes I indulged in homemade one) + 30 g of protein + sweetener tablet + 30–40 ml of milk or sour cream + blender.

After a couple of hours - baked chicken fillet + 150 g of cucumbers + 150 g of tomatoes + 5 g of sesame seeds + 10–15 g of soy sauce and the same amount of lemon juice. Mix everything and it turns out great salad:

The next meal usually tricky scrambled eggs or I drink a portion of protein an hour before training. Scrambled eggs consist of 2–3 whole eggs, 4 egg whites, 30 g of low-fat hard cheese (20–30%), 30 g of low-fat meat balyk or finely chopped chicken fillet, 100–150 g of tomato - all this is mixed and poured into a frying pan. It takes no more than 10 minutes to prepare the dish.

In the evening after training, either scrambled eggs or low-fat cottage cheese again. In addition, during the day I take 30 g of dietary fiber and drink at least 2.5 liters of clean water.

This is such a simple and not boring diet for me personally. The only problem was the feeling of hunger, which I often had to endure. Especially after a brutal workout, supplemented with cardio. But on Sunday I had a blast and once set a record by consuming 11,000+ kcal in a day:

But we are all about food, and about food, it’s time to talk about training.

Effective adaptation of training to diet

When, nutrition adapts to training, when we burn fat, it’s the other way around.

For a better understanding of the issue, I suggest you watch the video Yaroslava Brirna, where he clearly and clearly explains the principles of adapting training to a diet:

Now about how I adjusted it to my realities and what happened in the end.

When “drying” the body, one of the important tasks is muscle mass retention. Indeed, in a calorie deficit, the body, at any opportunity, begins to get rid of energy-consuming tissue - those same muscles. The only thing that will not allow him to do this on a particularly large scale is a serious power load. Muscles work, which means they are needed for the survival of the body, that is, the body will burn them to a minimum even at a minus in calories.

In addition, for effective strength work you need glycogen (fuel for muscle work), which is more than enough after a Sunday day of unrestrained carbohydrate gorging. True, provided that strength training is carried out in the late afternoon. Glycogen is restored within 24 to 48 hours (and even longer in some people). If we start eating on Sunday morning, then by Monday evening more than 30 hours will have passed.

So, in Monday I have power training for all large muscle groups (plus deltoids, there are never too many deltas), to maintain maximum muscle mass during drying. This is 6-8 reps for 2-3 work sets, but I did more reps in my warm-up sets to further challenge the muscles. An important point is that the rest between approaches should be long, from 3 to 5 minutes, so that the supply of creatine phosphate in the muscles is restored (due to it, the main strength work is carried out).

The load is severe, so on Tuesday rest or lazy cardio for an hour. I usually rested, leaving cardio for later strength training.

Wednesday and Thursday - high volume training, aimed at maximizing the burning of glycogen in the muscles. That is, the weight of the weights is less, but there are more repetitions, with little rest between approaches. Specifically, I perform 3-4 working sets of 15-20 reps with no more than a minute of rest between sets. Since the training is very, very exhausting, I divided the whole body into two days (excluding the legs, I load it normally on the strength training), more detailed in the split below.

The next workout is aimed at acidifying the muscles. Also known as static-dynamic. The point is to acidify the muscle as much as possible with lactic acid. This is the basis of the training methodology Viktor Siluyanov.

The trick of the workout is that the body responds to the abundant secretion of lactic acid by producing an increased amount growth hormone. It is both a lipolytic and an anabolic hormone, meaning it simultaneously burns fat and grows muscle, as well as repairs other damaged tissue. In addition, the training is very energy-intensive, which is what we need - the more energy we spend, the more it will be replenished from the body’s fat reserves.

The essence of the training is to keep the muscle under load for 50–70 seconds.. When you perform the exercise for such a long time, it begins to burn unbearably - this is the work of lactic acid. I pump my whole body during the workout and perform 2-3 working approaches with light weight (50-60% of the maximum). Rest between sets no more than 30 seconds. In order not to fall into the trash even in the first minutes of training, I distribute neighboring exercises among the most distant muscle groups, which will be visible in the split below.

At the end of high-volume and oxidation workouts, do 30-40 minutes of cardio. I prefer an orbitrek with a load of 7–8 units.

Thus, during the week I use four types of training - strength (preservation of muscles), high-volume (maximum consumption of glycogen in the muscles), acidification (increased production of growth hormone and maximum drawdown of the body's energy systems) and cardio (burning released from fat reserves and trapped fatty acids into the bloodstream).

Now the split itself for men.

MONDAY (strength - all large muscle groups and deltoids):

1. Squats with a barbell on your shoulders.
2. Deadlift 4 sets.
3. Wide-grip pull-ups with weights or vertical pull-downs.
4. Bent-over row of a barbell (or one dumbbell).
5. Barbell (dumbbell) bench press.
6. Dips with weights on the belt
7. Standing barbell (dumbbell) press (military press).

WEDNESDAY (high volume #1 - back, triceps, abs):

1. Wide grip pull-ups (no weight).
2. Bent-over row of two dumbbells.
3. Shrugs.
4. Close grip press.
5. French press.
6. Twisting.
7. Reverse crunches.
8. Cardio 30–40 mmmin.

THURSDAY (high volume #2 - chest + biceps + shoulders + calves):

1. Bench press.
2. Dips.
3. Barbell curls for biceps.
4. Barbell row to the chin.
5. Standing dumbbell press.
6. Calf raises with dumbbells or in a hack.
7. Hyperextension.
8. Cardio 30–40 mmmin.

SATURDAY (for acidification - whole body):

1. Platform leg press.
2. Pulling the block to the belt.
3. Calf raise.
4. Bench press.
5. Leg bending in the simulator.
6. Pulldown of a vertical block to the chest.
7. Leg extension in the simulator.
8. Barbell curls for biceps.
9. Close grip press.
10. Crunches
11. Hyperextension.
12. Cardio 30–40 minutes.

SUNDAY (rest)

Split for women.

Strength and acidification training are identical to those for men, but high-volume training is slightly different - since it is divided into the lower and upper body.

MONDAY (strength - men's training)

TUESDAY (rest or hour of cardio)

WEDNESDAY (high volume No. 1 - buttocks + hamstrings + calves + abs):

1. Lunges.
2. Lifting the pelvis.
3. Platform press with a wide stance and turned out feet.
4. Leg abduction on the simulator.
5. Swing your legs in a crossover (with cuffs), a simulator, or while standing on your knees.
6. Calf raises.
7. Twisting.
8. Reverse crunches.
9. Cardio 30–40 minutes.

   THURSDAY (high volume #2 - back + pecs + shoulders + triceps + biceps):

10. Horizontal block thrust.
11. Bent-over dumbbell row.
12. Dumbbell bench press.
13. Barbell row to the chin.
14. Standing dumbbell flyes (swings).
15. Any French press.
16. Lifting barbells (dumbbells) for biceps.
17. Hyperextension.
18. Cardio 30–40 minutes.

FRIDAY (rest or hour of cardio)

SATURDAY (for acidification - men's training):

SUNDAY (rest)

The exercises above are just examples; you can use any others you choose. I showed my spouses what I use in my training.

What are the results

I was at my lowest weight at the height of the keto diet. 95,4 kg, but my strength began to fall, lethargy appeared - I clearly went too far with cutting calories (reached 2200–2300 kcal), accordingly increased it to 2400–2500, returned 96–97 kg, and life got better.

By the end of the fourth month of cutting, the form after a day of gluttony with glycogen-filled muscles and after strength training was like this:

And I turned into this “cracker” by Saturday; I took the photo a few hours after an acidifying workout, that is, not on a pump and having used up all the glycogen in the muscles:

Of the interesting observations, in addition to the noticeably improved relief, I also drew attention to strength growth. For several years I did not work in a strength regime, limiting myself to 12–15 repetitions. Now I tried it. As a result, I gradually reached squats and deadlifts with 160 kg x 6 times, bench press 120 kg x 6 times and dips with 50 kg on a belt x 8 times. The results are average for the hospital, but for me personally this is a great achievement, especially with my own weight of 96-97 kg, and even on a decent calorie deficit.

So, slowly, over the course of 4.5 months, I reached a new form for myself, in the process I learned a lot of interesting things, and shared the information with you.

In addition to everything that has been said, I also experienced such a thing as “ eyeliner", which is used by all bodybuilders, fitnessists, pop stars and actors before important filming, photo shoots and other events where you need to shine in all your glory. But this is a completely different story, the result of which is below:

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Muscle acidification is the main horror story in the gym. “You’ll get sour and you won’t be able to train anymore”, “You’ll get sour and you’ll experience hellish pain” - sounds threatening, but is it true?

What is muscle acidification? Why it is dangerous, why it is useful and how to use acidification for the benefit of training progress. Dmitry Melnikov, a professional fitness trainer and representative of the X-FIT network of fitness clubs, told Soviet Sport about all this.

What is muscle acidification?

Acidification is a process in which, as a result of intense work, lactic acid or lactate, as it is also called, accumulates in the muscles. Conventionally, lactate is a byproduct of muscle activity. Its level in the blood is directly related to the intensity with which you exercise. And the more you force your muscles to work, the more lactate accumulates in them.

How to determine that you are “sucked”

The main indicator of muscle acidification is a burning sensation. It becomes painful for you to do the exercise, you can no longer do repetitions. When lactic acid accumulates in the body, it significantly impedes nerve conduction, which in turn creates problems with the production of new muscle contractions.

An extreme form of acidification is muscle failure, a condition where you can no longer complete a single repetition of an exercise.

Why is muscle weakness harmful?

First of all, these are unpleasant sensations and pain in the muscles you worked on. They begin already during training and can continue the next day.

Secondly, if you always work at a critical level of acidification, push yourself to the point of complete failure, and then “get sick” - this can stop all training progress. The muscles will take longer to recover, you will load them with subsequent workouts - all together this will quickly lead to overtraining. Lack of results, fatigue, sleep problems, increased blood pressure, malfunctions of internal systems. This is a consequence of the fact that you are too busy.

At the same time, you need to know: if the pain does not go away 2-3 or more days after you have completed the training, this no longer indicates the accumulation of lactic acid in the muscles, but the presence of micro-tears in the muscles, and, possibly, injuries. If we are talking about micro-tears, then this is rather good: they heal, heal - and this is how muscles grow, as the most common opinion says about why muscles grow. If the pain is traumatic in nature, do not delay and go to the doctor: until it is healed, there will be no benefit from the training.

What is the benefit of fermentation?

Despite all the negative symptoms, there are benefits to acidification. Lactic acid acts as a source of energy for the body: the body uses approximately two-thirds of the lactate produced during training as fuel.

In addition, acidification is an indicator that the muscles have really worked hard and received a stimulus for growth. Without the burning there will be no progress. But! It is important to use acidification correctly and not overdo it.

How to control acidification levels

If your goal is simply to maintain physical fitness, then it is not necessary to bring yourself to a debilitating burning sensation in your muscles. Perform the exercises without pushing yourself to the point of muscle failure: stop doing repetitions as soon as a burning sensation appears - leave 1-2 repetitions in reserve.

Beginners who have just started doing strength training are also not recommended to let their muscles become too acidic. For them there should be a preparatory stage of 2-3 weeks, where they put a load on the entire body: they start with very small loads and gradually increase them, adapting the nervous system.

Upon completion of this preparatory stage, it is no longer possible to do without acidification - the loads increase significantly. To avoid extreme acidification, it is recommended to do a cool-down and stretching after training, use a massage roller - this will help improve blood circulation and quickly remove residual lactic acid.

Also, you don't have to do every exercise to failure. In some cases, it is recommended to avoid failure in basic movements that involve several muscle groups at once. This puts a lot of stress on the body and makes recovery difficult. Isolation movements that involve only one muscle are easier for the body to tolerate: therefore, beginners can do “isolation” to failure.

Reduce the intensity of your workout if you feel groggy and sore afterwards. In this case, it is better to slightly reduce the working weights in the exercises or reduce the number of approaches. Maximum intensity does not always benefit progress.

I am writing this review at the request of our readers. The method of training ectomorphs, proposed by fitness expert Alexander Nazarenko in a video on Oleg Chikin’s blog, raised many questions from our readers, and we received a number of letters asking us to analyze it from the perspective of sports adaptology.

The method is based on the author’s statement that an ectomorph is a thin, wiry, hardy person who has difficulty accumulating muscle volume because he has a lot of oxidative fibers.
This statement does not stand up to scrutiny from a scientific point of view. There is no dependence of muscle composition on the type of build. This is confirmed by 20 years of testing of athletes and fitness specialists by the scientific laboratory “Information Technologies in Sports” under the leadership of Professor V.N. Seluyanov. Overweight endomorphs often demonstrate good oxidative abilities of muscles, and in a number of ectomorphs the aerobic threshold is not even determined, acidification immediately occurs. Runners generally belong to the ectomorphic type, not because ectomorphs are more resilient, but because they have undergone a natural elimination at the highest level of sports. Carrying several kilograms of extra muscle mass on yourself for the entire distance is an unacceptable waste of strength and energy. But jumpers are also mostly ectomorphs. Especially “high-altitude athletes,” although they have up to 90% glycolytic muscle fibers (GMF) in their thighs. Weightlifters in light weight categories are often ectomorphs, and they generally lack oxidative muscle fibers (OMF). And if we look, for example, at cyclists and speed skaters, they are not always ectomorphic. Especially their quadriceps femoris muscle is very massive. But at the same time it consists practically of OMV.

In addition, muscle composition is not the same throughout the body. Stocky wrestlers and rowers have more ROM in their upper body muscles than lean marathon runners. Another thing is that mesomorphs and endomorphs have a larger number of muscle fibers in their muscles. This gives them an advantage in gaining muscle mass. But in terms of muscle composition, everything is very individual and does not depend on the type of build.
That is, the initial assumption that the ectomorph’s muscle composition is dominated by OMVs is incorrect. Based on his erroneous assumption, the author excludes GMV training. The explanation is somewhat strange: “In theory, an ectomorph is asked to do a small number of repetitions – 8–12 for the upper body, 10–15 for the legs. But it doesn't work. His heart rate doesn’t even rise, because the weight is so heavy that the muscles don’t stretch anymore, and there’s no stress yet.” How so? For GMW, stress is precisely failure when working with a weight equal to approximately 70% of the maximum maximum, and not a burning sensation. If a marathon runner squats to failure 12-15 times, will he not experience stress? And what does heart rate (HR) have to do with stress? Runners run at a heart rate of 160–170 bpm without experiencing any stress.

Next, the author suggests training the upper body from 20 to 50 repetitions, and the lower body – from 30 to 80. You need to reach a high heart rate – 140–150 beats/min. And severe muscle burning.
Theoretically this is not true. ROM can be hypertrophied only by working in a static-dynamic mode so that muscle tension does not drop to less than 30% of the maximal maximum. Only in this case will the blood flow be completely blocked and the OMVs will begin to acidify. Working at full amplitude, regardless of the number of repetitions, it is the GMV that fails, and the OMV continues to work without getting tired. The stride length of a marathon runner is about 150 cm, therefore, during the distance he takes more than 14,000 steps with each leg. 14,000 reps and no fatigue! Marathon runners do not collapse at the end of the race, as happens with 400-meter runners who run at the GMV and acidify. Therefore, failure at both the 50th and 100th repetition occurs because performing exercises with a given weight involves the intermediate muscle fibers (IMF). They gradually become acidified, more and more motor units are recruited, first the PMV, then the GMV. And when their supply is exhausted, failure occurs, because the weight is too great to be handled by the OMVs alone, which continue to work just as tirelessly as at the beginning of the approach. At the same time, excessive acidification in hydrocarbons causes more harm. Hydrogen ions destroy not only mitochondria, but also myofibrils. They cannot harm the OMV; there, hydrogen ions are quickly neutralized in the mitochondria with the participation of oxygen, forming water. And in the HMV after such an acidifying workout, hydrogen ions can remain for up to an hour. And during this time they will cause significant damage to muscle structures.

As for the pulse, during strength training, heart rate is not very informative and certainly does not indicate the amount of stress. By working with a large number of repetitions, we achieve the fact that lactic acid from the working GMV enters the blood. Hydrogen ions in the blood interact with the bicarbonate buffer, causing a sharp increase in the level of carbon dioxide in the blood, which increases heart rate. Here it is, the reason for the pulse 120–140 beats/min! And it is not connected with stress, and therefore with the release of hormones we need.

But, having shown the incorrectness of the theoretical justification of the technique, in practice we see a slightly different picture. Namely, when performing bench presses on a machine, and when performing pull-ups and vertical rows, the trained athlete does not work through the full amplitude, but only in part of it. That is, it performs static dynamics without muscle relaxation. Recommended time under load is 40–60 seconds. also corresponds to the recommended approach time when training aimed at hypertrophy of the muscle mass. And the amount of weight is 50% of the maximum. In Seluyanov’s original, the intensity for the leg muscles is 30–70%. When training arm muscles that have little ROM, the intensity is lower - 10-40%, the duration of the exercise is 30-60 seconds. (refusal due to muscle pain). That is, the number of repetitions recommended by the author does not actually matter. Only time under load matters.
As a result, having given an incorrect theoretical justification for his technique, in practice Alexander Nazarenko demonstrated a completely acceptable option for training OMV. The fact that he excluded methods aimed at hypertrophy of the muscle mass in training is certainly a minus, and ectomorphs with a predominance of muscle mass will progress poorly using his method. But ectomorphs with a predominance of OMV will successfully build muscle mass.

Professional athletes are well aware of the phenomenon of muscle acidification. Amateurs and beginners of Nordic walking are a little less aware of this, but they have probably already experienced the effects of acidification more than once.

Acidification is the process when excess lactic acid is formed in the muscles as a result of glycolysis. I will not go into details of biochemical processes and bore you with complex chemical terms, but will try to talk about the main aspects of this issue in a simple and accessible form.
...so how does acidification manifest in a muscle?
The most common symptom is a burning sensation in the working muscle. Some people mistakenly believe that post-workout pain indicates the accumulation of lactic acid in muscle fibers. In fact, “late” pain within 2-3 days after a strenuous promenade with poles indicates overtraining and the presence of micro-tears in muscle fibers.
Accumulating in the body, lactic acid impedes nerve conduction and muscle contractions.
If, at the time of fast walking, performing strength exercises, or stretching, acidification reaches a critical level, so-called muscle failure occurs. During this period, coordination may be impaired and the likelihood of injury increases sharply. This condition does not last long: lactic acid leaves the working muscles fairly quickly. Its removal occurs due to:
exit into the bloodstream
oxidation in mitochondria and partial neutralization in blood buffer systems
However, even such short-term critical acidification can negatively affect the results and condition of the walker.
...so is lactic acid an ENEMY or a FRIEND?!!
On the one hand, lactate acidifies the muscles, causes a lot of unpleasant symptoms and sometimes makes the walker experience not the most pleasant sensations: burning in working muscles, cramps, oxygen starvation, deterioration of attention and even loss of orientation.
On the other hand, lactic acid itself is a source of energy. Approximately 75% of the acid produced is subsequently used by the body as fuel, which means it is necessary for a full workout.

...so how can one cope with acidification?!!
For a long time it was believed that lactate removal could be accelerated with a warm bath and a good massage. However, research conducted at the University of Iowa (USA) refuted this version.
A group of experienced runners was assembled who, in 4-6 minutes, gave their all on the treadmill, sharply raising the level of lactic acid salts in their blood. Then some of them were offered passive recovery (rest with complete relaxation in a supine position). Another group received a massage, and the third group received a ride at a slow pace for 15 minutes on an exercise bike.
After 20 minutes, the scientists took a control blood sample from all three groups. It turned out that among those who were passively resting and those who received a massage, the level of lactic acid decreased very slightly. But in the third group it turned out to be much lower.
Therefore, scientists recommend that in order to quickly get rid of the products of glycolysis, the body must be provided with normal recovery in a mode of light physical activity. For example, during an intense “Nordic” workout, you should not stop abruptly - just switch to very slow walking for 10-15 minutes and lactate will begin to leave your muscles faster. After training, drink milk instead of water (provided that it is well absorbed in your body), 300 ml is enough, eat something sweet - a marshmallow, a piece of marshmallow, a little chocolate. Take a regular hygienic shower, and finally, pour cold (ice) water over tired muscles for 5 seconds, microcirculation will improve in them and lactic acid will quickly leave them.
Another important point is the overall speed of recovery of the body. For intense loads, it is at least 48 hours. Don’t try to make long walks with poles every day - they won’t add strength and endurance to you. But training at intervals of 1-2 days will quickly lead you to the desired physical shape with minimal “sacrifices”.
And remember, muscle acidification and a burning sensation in them is not a reason to stop walking, because tolerance to this phenomenon can be easily developed through regular training.

Muscle acidification is the main horror story in the gym. “You’ll get sour and you won’t be able to train anymore”, “You’ll get sour and you’ll experience hellish pain” - sounds threatening, but is it true?

What is muscle acidification? Why it is dangerous, why it is useful and how to use acidification for the benefit of training progress. Dmitry Melnikov, a professional fitness trainer and representative of the X-FIT network of fitness clubs, told Soviet Sport about all this.

What is muscle acidification?

Acidification is a process in which, as a result of intense work, lactic acid or lactate, as it is also called, accumulates in the muscles. Conventionally, lactate is a byproduct of muscle activity. Its level in the blood is directly related to the intensity with which you exercise. And the more you force your muscles to work, the more lactate accumulates in them.

How to determine that you are “sucked”

The main indicator of muscle acidification is a burning sensation. It becomes painful for you to do the exercise, you can no longer do repetitions. When lactic acid accumulates in the body, it significantly impedes nerve conduction, which in turn creates problems with the production of new muscle contractions.

An extreme form of acidification is muscle failure, a condition where you can no longer complete a single repetition of an exercise.

Why is muscle weakness harmful?

First of all, these are unpleasant sensations and pain in the muscles you worked on. They begin already during training and can continue the next day.

Secondly, if you always work at a critical level of acidification, push yourself to complete failure, and then get sick, this can stop all training progress. The muscles will take longer to recover, you will load them with subsequent workouts - all together this will quickly lead to overtraining. Lack of results, fatigue, sleep problems, increased blood pressure, malfunctions of internal systems. This is a consequence of the fact that you are too busy.

At the same time, you need to know: if the pain does not go away 2-3 or more days after you have completed the training, this no longer indicates the accumulation of lactic acid in the muscles, but the presence of micro-tears in the muscles, and, possibly, injuries.

If we are talking about micro-tears, then this is rather good: they heal, heal - and this is how muscle growth occurs, as the most common opinion says about why muscles grow. If the pain is traumatic in nature, do not delay and go to the doctor: until it is healed, there will be no benefit from the training.

What is the benefit of fermentation?

Despite all the negative symptoms, there are benefits to acidification. Lactic acid acts as a source of energy for the body: the body uses approximately two-thirds of the lactate produced during training as fuel.

In addition, acidification is an indicator that the muscles have really worked hard and received a stimulus for growth. Without the burning there will be no progress. But! It is important to use acidification correctly and not overdo it.

How to control acidification levels

If your goal is simply to maintain physical fitness, then it is not necessary to bring yourself to a debilitating burning sensation in your muscles. Perform the exercises without pushing yourself to the point of muscle failure: stop doing repetitions as soon as a burning sensation appears - leave 1-2 repetitions in reserve.

Beginners who have just started doing strength training are also not recommended to let their muscles become too acidic. For them there should be a preparatory stage of 2-3 weeks, where they put a load on the entire body: they start with very small loads and gradually increase them, adapting the nervous system.

Upon completion of this preparatory stage, it is no longer possible to do without acidification - the loads increase significantly. To avoid extreme acidification, it is recommended to do a cool-down and stretching after training, use a massage roller - this will help improve blood circulation and quickly remove residual lactic acid.

Also, you don't have to do every exercise to failure. In some cases, it is recommended to avoid failure in basic movements that involve several muscle groups at once. This puts a lot of stress on the body and makes recovery difficult. Isolation movements that involve only one muscle are easier for the body to tolerate: therefore, beginners can do “isolation” to failure.

Reduce the intensity of your workout if you feel groggy and sore afterwards. In this case, it is better to slightly reduce the working weights in the exercises or reduce the number of approaches. Maximum intensity does not always benefit progress.

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