Lactate Performance Testing 


Maximal lactate Steady State (MLSS) Testing


AEROBIC CAPACITY PROGRAMING  AND CONSULTATION











Blood Lactate Testing

What Is Lactate Testing?
In short: it is the measurement of circulating blood lactate in response to variable exercise stimuli performed over a series of tests. The resultant data allows for the study of physiologic relationships in order to optimize training and racing performance. 

Blood lactate accumulates in the body as a biproduct of glycolysis, this is a process of converting carbohydrates into usable muscular energy. The faster you break down glucose the greater the formation of lactate. 

Studying the relationship of exercise intensity and blood lactate accumulation allows an athlete tremendous insight into the physiologic events required to sustain exercise intensities.  

What About Heart Rate?
Heart rate is one of the most valuable biometrics that can be used to observe athletic performance as it can tell us a lot about the overall stress on the body at any given time. Training with heart rate becomes increasingly difficult during bouts of maximal exertion over longer durations. Understanding the Lactate response curve to high intensity exercise allows an athlete to prevent and manage the occurrence of "Aerobic Decoupling". This is when heart rate continues to drift upward while output decreases throughout repeated high intensity exercise.  
 
Using [Lactate/Output] correlations found by testing with power, allows for optimal energy management during racing and validates the cellular response that drives physiologic progression from training.

The Physiology Of 
"Fat Burning" 

Exercising at specific intensities allows for selective fuel source utilization. 

An LT1 Test defines the limits of MAXIMUM Fatty Acid Substrate utilization via a series of low intensity 30 minute constant load testing procedures.

Read more About metabolic Flexibility

When Should Testing Be Performed?

In Short professional athletes are performing lactate testing DAILY. However these athletes are training 25-30 hours a week. 

Depending on the test, testing should be done PRE and POST training blocks that are specifically targeted toward power development and improving metabolic flexibility. 


The testing data is used to draw conclusions about the metabolic stress when exercising at the "zones" highlighted on the bottom of the image. 


There is no one "correct" way to plot lactate accumulation. Many scientists will analyze it differently depending what their topic of research is. The illustration above depicts how lactate is observed when studying endurance physiology. 

3 Zone Model with 2 Physiologic Turning Points

LT1: Lactate Threshold 1
LT2: Lactate Threshold 2

Performance Testing Standard Measurements

Validate training intensity with physiologic data to maximize cellular adaptations


Aerobic Threshold: LT1

Aerobic Threshold is the pace, power, or output that yields a lactate of <2.0mMol/L. 

Training at or just slightly above Lactate Threshold 1 intensity promotes the activation of the various signaling enzymes that lead to mitochondrial biogenesis.  This is most commonly referred to as "ZONE 2" training.

Gold standard for Obtaining "LT1" intensity: Constant load trials of at least 30 minutes’ duration with data collection every 5 minutes. Testing is terminated when a constant load trial exceeds a value of 2.0mMol/L

Read more about Metabolomics 

"Zone 2" 
 Lactate Steady State 
 

A constant workload where the rate of lactate production is equal to the rate of lactate elimination 

"Zone 2" Exercise intensity between LT1 and LT2

Observing unchanging lactate concentrations because intensity remains below LT2

Read more: The validity of testing MLSS

Anaerobic Threshold: LT2
Maximum Lactate Steady State (MLSS)
Lactate Threshold

Lactate response to graded exercise is represented by a third-order polynomial regression curve shown in the image.

 MLSS Found using the "D-max" method;  This is the point on the regression curve that yields the maximal distance to the straight line formed by the two end points of the curve. D-Max is statistically one of the most common ways to find MLSS.

Gold standard for practical validation of MLSS: Constant load trials of at least 30 minutes’ duration with data collection every 5 minutes. Load trials terminate when a constant load demonstrates an increase in concentration >1.0mMol/L across the 30 minutes. 

Training above this intensity in a 4-8 minute intervals stresses maximal oxygen consumption and should  monitored pre and post training periods as it may be sensitive to adaptation in the short term.

BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation

Comprehensive Athlete Testing 

Individual Lactate Testing Series

$175.00

Recommended for:

Athletes looking to improve performance their ceiling


1 hour process 

(For full data collection; testing performed across 1-2 sessions)

-Concept 2 ERGS, ROGUE Echo, Running

- Need HR monitoring:  chest strap or sports watch
(DEVICE USED DURING TRAINING)

PARADIGM SHIFT
TRAIN WITH PURPOSE
Optimize VO2 and anerobic conditioning intensities, in addition to improving metabolic flexibility.