Abstract

All exercise draws first on intramuscular stores of ATP and creatine phosphate; initially these are replenished by anaerobic glycolysis. The lactic acid produced contributes to the rapid development of fatigue in high intensity exercise. Aerobic metabolism (at first mainly of glycogen, later increasingly of fat) is the principal route of ATP resynthesis in activities lasting longer than 2 min, but can only maintain work-rates about 1/4 of those possible in very brief bursts. Blood lactate rises at the higher aerobic work rates. 'Lactate threshold' (LT: approximately 2 mmol/l) is almost exactly the speed at which endurance races are won, and close to those apparently providing optimal aerobic training. This training, predominantly of muscle aerobic capacity, elevates LT more than maximum oxygen consumption. LT is not now thought to indicate oxygen-deprivation, but intracellular adjustments driving oxidative phosphorylation faster. Ventilatory breakpoints, formerly considered to indicate LT, correlate more closely with the accumulation of potassium than lactate.