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The Lactate Threshold

This is a web site that discusses the Lactate Threshold (LT) in detail, the history of lactate and thresholds, the different definitions of the threshold and most importantly how to use the LT for the training of competitive athletes. There is a lot of confusion about this concept and our objective is to provide a clear discussion of lactate and thresholds.

Use any of the links to learn more about the Lactate Threshold. The photo gallery to the right has a short description of the specific sections on the site. Some of the pages are extensive and have some technical information. All are hopefully written with the coach in mind. The "About" link discusses the organization of the site in detail and our history and interest in this topic.

The site is constantly being updated and we welcome any feedback.

AboutDefinitionsHistoryTheoryMeasuringTraining

About SRG

Sports Resource Group (SRG) has been selling lactate analyzers since Januray of 1996. SRG has operated the website www.lactate.com since 1997 and is developing the website www.lactatethreshold.com starting in 2013.
Our goal in exercise physiology is two fold: first, provide quality portable lactate testing for the training of athletes and research and second, provide the best information on how to use lactate testing for the training of athletes and assessing the current conditioning level of an individual.
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Lactate Threshold - Definition

The term threshold first arose in exercise metabolism with an article by Karl Wasserman in 1964. Wasserman used VO2 measurements to show a change in the oxygen and CO2 curves that seemed to correspond with an increase in lactate in the blood. At a point on the curve, CO2 increased more than he expected. The subjects were producing more lactate than the muscles could consume; the buffering of this lactate was thought to cause the observed increase in CO2. Wasserman called this the anaerobic threshold because it was thought that the body was suddenly transitioning to anaerobic metabolism. He was wrong.
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Lactate History

The chemical basics of lactate diagnostics go back for more than 200 years. The start was possibly in Stralsund, a Hanse town on the German Baltic sea. As early as 1780, the Swedish pharmacist Carl Wilhelm Scheele discovered lactate in sour milk and named it mjolksyra (milk acid). Twenty eight years later, Jons Jakob Berzelius described lactate in extracts from muscles of hunted stags and linked it with muscular exercise. Quoted from "Blood Lactate Diagnostics in Exercise Testing and Training" by Ralph Beneke, Renate M. Leithauser, and Oliver Ochentel in International Journal or Sports Physiology and Performance, 2011, 6, 8-24
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Lactate Threshold - Theory

Lactate is a very controversial area of lactate metabolism. Some things are well known and not disputed but other areas of exercise metabolism are considered unknown. Lactate is an end product of an anaerobic process known as glycolysis. It is then eliminated from the body in several ways, one of which is as a fuel for aerobic metabolism. The controversy arises because there is no understanding just how the bod decides to replenish ATP the basic molecule for providing energy.
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Lactate Threshold - Measuring

The term threshold first arose in exercise metabolism with an article by Karl Wasserman in 1964. Wasserman used VO2 measurements to show a change in the oxygen and CO2 curves that seemed to correspond with an increase in lactate in the blood. At a point on the curve, CO2 increased more than he expected. The subjects were producing more lactate than the muscles could consume; the buffering of this lactate was thought to cause the observed increase in CO2. Wasserman called this the anaerobic threshold because it was thought that the body was suddenly transitioning to anaerobic metabolism..
Learn more

Lactate Threshold - Training

The term threshold first arose in exercise metabolism with an article by Karl Wasserman in 1964. Wasserman used VO2 measurements to show a change in the oxygen and CO2 curves that seemed to correspond with an increase in lactate in the blood. At a point on the curve, CO2 increased more than he expected. The subjects were producing more lactate than the muscles could consume; the buffering of this lactate was thought to cause the observed increase in CO2. Wasserman called this the anaerobic threshold because it was thought that the body was suddenly transitioning to anaerobic metabolism..
Learn more