Let me first start by saying school is going well. I feel like I am waking up and the day is flying by… it seems that the days are over before I really get a chance to do something productive. Here it is Thursday night and I cant tell you right now what I have done this week, but I know I have been busy from the moment I get out of bed… crazy. I know I enjoy what I am doing; I am just not exactly sure what that is yet.
I have found it interesting for many years now that we basically have access to almost limitless resources on the internet. Scientists have even mapped the human genome (a process that took approximately 13 years). In addition, every discipline that you get into becomes a science, even things that you wouldn’t think would be difficult or scientific are. For a personal example I was blown away when I was first introduced to buying the correct shoe for running. When I was hired by Fleet Feet (a running specialty store) I was taught the biomechanics of the lower leg and how shoes addressed those issues. There is really a lot that goes into making a good running shoe and each shoe will fit a different type of person. That encouraged me even more to continue the study of how the body works so I perused the study of exercise science in undergrad and really enjoyed it. In the context of the staggering amount of information there are a few things that I have learned over the years and that I am continually blown away by them. Real exercise physiologists please feel free to clue us in if I am completely off base.
First, exercise physiologists don’t know why you get tired when you exercise. Oh, we know that when glycogen (sugar) levels in your muscles get low then you get tired and when Lactate (or lactic acid) accumulates in your system then you get tired. There are several other indications, but we don’t know the exact mechanisms of what makes you tired, those are just things that accompany fatigue.
Second, exercise physiologists don’t know why you get sore after you work out. No, it isn’t accumulation of lactic acid (that is cleared from your system in around two hours post exercise). That doesn’t explain DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) that happens around 48hrs post exercise. Sure there are micro tears in the muscle and other indications of the presence of soreness, but it doesn’t completely explain this.
Third (this is a shout out to Ken Turley), humans (even highly trained humans) are in a constant state of dehydration and our bodies have a “thirst thermostat” set on low. Next time you are thirsty (especially after you sweat a lot) drink a glass of water and think about what happens after a few minutes. You are done being thirsty, but there is no way you replaced all of your fluids that you lost during exercise and you most likely didn’t start the exercise fully hydrated either. No one fully knows that answer.
But what blows me away the most is the importance of Oxygen (O2) in the body. O2 is everything in exercise. Your body will not work for very long without it (as in just a few seconds… unless you are frozen, that’s another topic entirely)… it is ESSENTIAL for life. Approximately 21% of the atmosphere is O2. During anaerobic (without O2) exercise we can go for a few seconds before we start breathing heavy. Those that do a better job at using O2 make millions of dollars (Lance Armstrong does an excellent job at using O2 and he has done fairly well for himself). Here is the deal: your body needs fuel to survive. Your body uses fuel by breaking down food products in a process called metabolism (sorry for the simple version, but I just want to make sure we are all on the same page… all 4 of you who read this). This is a HIGHLY complex process and is incredible to study. During the metabolic pathway we make a molecule called ATP (adenosine triphosphate) which is essentially energy (actually the breaking of the bond between phosphates 2 and 3 produces energy, only 40% of which we can utilize for mechanical work, the other 60% is given off as heat… the heat you feel when you work out). Essentially O2 is needed to make a lot of ATP (aerobic metabolism: in the presence of O2). Ok so this is the crazy part: Oxygen (this amazingly important molecule that is essential for life) is the LAST STEP in aerobic metabolism. In all of the craziness of enzymes, mitochondria, glucose, glycogen, NADH, FADH2, and a myriad of other pieces to an incredibly complex puzzle, it comes down to O2 picking up some hydrogen atoms and becoming H2O… that’s it.
You breathe in Oxygen and it literally runs into some hydrogen atoms and becomes Water and that’s how you “create” energy (obviously energy can neither be created nor destroyed). That’s basically it. Can you believe that? Lance Armstrong is better at making water than anyone else in the Tour de France, of all time… longer even.
I have found it interesting for many years now that we basically have access to almost limitless resources on the internet. Scientists have even mapped the human genome (a process that took approximately 13 years). In addition, every discipline that you get into becomes a science, even things that you wouldn’t think would be difficult or scientific are. For a personal example I was blown away when I was first introduced to buying the correct shoe for running. When I was hired by Fleet Feet (a running specialty store) I was taught the biomechanics of the lower leg and how shoes addressed those issues. There is really a lot that goes into making a good running shoe and each shoe will fit a different type of person. That encouraged me even more to continue the study of how the body works so I perused the study of exercise science in undergrad and really enjoyed it. In the context of the staggering amount of information there are a few things that I have learned over the years and that I am continually blown away by them. Real exercise physiologists please feel free to clue us in if I am completely off base.
First, exercise physiologists don’t know why you get tired when you exercise. Oh, we know that when glycogen (sugar) levels in your muscles get low then you get tired and when Lactate (or lactic acid) accumulates in your system then you get tired. There are several other indications, but we don’t know the exact mechanisms of what makes you tired, those are just things that accompany fatigue.
Second, exercise physiologists don’t know why you get sore after you work out. No, it isn’t accumulation of lactic acid (that is cleared from your system in around two hours post exercise). That doesn’t explain DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) that happens around 48hrs post exercise. Sure there are micro tears in the muscle and other indications of the presence of soreness, but it doesn’t completely explain this.
Third (this is a shout out to Ken Turley), humans (even highly trained humans) are in a constant state of dehydration and our bodies have a “thirst thermostat” set on low. Next time you are thirsty (especially after you sweat a lot) drink a glass of water and think about what happens after a few minutes. You are done being thirsty, but there is no way you replaced all of your fluids that you lost during exercise and you most likely didn’t start the exercise fully hydrated either. No one fully knows that answer.
But what blows me away the most is the importance of Oxygen (O2) in the body. O2 is everything in exercise. Your body will not work for very long without it (as in just a few seconds… unless you are frozen, that’s another topic entirely)… it is ESSENTIAL for life. Approximately 21% of the atmosphere is O2. During anaerobic (without O2) exercise we can go for a few seconds before we start breathing heavy. Those that do a better job at using O2 make millions of dollars (Lance Armstrong does an excellent job at using O2 and he has done fairly well for himself). Here is the deal: your body needs fuel to survive. Your body uses fuel by breaking down food products in a process called metabolism (sorry for the simple version, but I just want to make sure we are all on the same page… all 4 of you who read this). This is a HIGHLY complex process and is incredible to study. During the metabolic pathway we make a molecule called ATP (adenosine triphosphate) which is essentially energy (actually the breaking of the bond between phosphates 2 and 3 produces energy, only 40% of which we can utilize for mechanical work, the other 60% is given off as heat… the heat you feel when you work out). Essentially O2 is needed to make a lot of ATP (aerobic metabolism: in the presence of O2). Ok so this is the crazy part: Oxygen (this amazingly important molecule that is essential for life) is the LAST STEP in aerobic metabolism. In all of the craziness of enzymes, mitochondria, glucose, glycogen, NADH, FADH2, and a myriad of other pieces to an incredibly complex puzzle, it comes down to O2 picking up some hydrogen atoms and becoming H2O… that’s it.
You breathe in Oxygen and it literally runs into some hydrogen atoms and becomes Water and that’s how you “create” energy (obviously energy can neither be created nor destroyed). That’s basically it. Can you believe that? Lance Armstrong is better at making water than anyone else in the Tour de France, of all time… longer even.
7 comments:
Ha! You have it all figured out, yet you have figured out nothing? Wow, it's like 1:30 am and I can't believe I just sat here and read your blog about the class I just sat through....odd...but....interesting...
I really could have used this information MONDAY!!! when I referred to lactic acid as the reason for muscle soreness!! Gahh I'm such an idiot!
Ah, exercise phys. Your blog makes me miss it a little bit.
we passed a Fleet Feet store the other day, and mandi and i both thought of you, although she had to remind me that you had many a fleet feet store shirt
all this time, I've been lied to... how can they claim that lactic acid is the culprit?
and why does it feel better if I run when my muscles get sore?
Josh, I am sorry I havent checked this entry in a while, I didnt know that you had left a comment.
Lactic acid has gotten a bad rep over the years. And it wasnt the scientists that did it, it was coaches that knew only a little bit about science.
Here's the deal: Lactic acid is just that an acid, so it does decrease pH levels (lower pH … making it MORE acidic) in muscle and eventually hinder muscle enzymes from working efficiently. However, it is not a “waste product” as it has been tagged as. It is a metabolic intermediate. So you get glucose or glycogen (sugar) and you take it through a metabolic process called glycolysis in order to make ATP anaerobically (without O2). At the end of glycolysis a molecule called pyruvate is formed. Pyruvate has two fates: to be changed into Acetyl CoA if O2 is present or be turned into lactic acid if O2 isnt available. But that is NOT the end of the story. Very basically, as soon as O2 becomes available then lactic acid can be changed back into pyruvate to then be turned into Acetyl CoA and go through the process of making energy aerobically. So in the past coach’s (or whoever spread those nasty rumors about lactic acid) have known about lactic acid decreasing muscle pH as a result of high intensity workouts and seen the detriment in performance because of that and assumed that the feelings you were having the next day or the day after the next day (24-48 hrs post exercise) were in direct result of the bad guy that is lactic acid. In reality he isn’t a bad guy, he’s just different than Acetyl CoA. He gets a bad rep because of his detriment to performance at high intensities. By the way, at any exercise level you are producing lactic acid and its always being buffered by a molecule called bicarbonate. It’s the ACCUMULATION of lactic acid that causes a decrease in muscle pH.
Why do you feel better after a run when you are sore?
I don’t know the exact answer, and exercise physiologists don’t know the exact mechanism for being sore so I don’t know if there is a perfect answer. Here are my thoughts:
Exercise increases blood flow to specific areas. Increased blood flow brings nutrients to the area. Soreness has a lot to do with local micro muscle damage. With any damage there is inflammation, its possible that the increased blood flow will also help clear out that inflammation in addition to bringing nutrients to the site. I am also thinking that running will help stretch the muscle and “loosen” it up. You muscles do tend to tighten up (as a protective mechanism) when there is damage and I assume that this is true on the microscopic level as well. I hope this satisfies you a little, thanks for asking those questions I love thinking about this and trying to help others understand it. Let me know if you need clarification.
It's good to know my brothers at least have one smart friend. Oh wait. Two... counting Sam.
Too bad y'all didn't make more of an impact during their tenure at Harding. Paul's still running around talking about how the world is flat.
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