what is lactic acid and can it harm me?

Question

my names jordan incase you decide to talk to me on yahoo...well,let me explain...im a soccer player and i hear that you should rub out your calfs after running or working hard..so i wondered if this is true.i play center mid starting for varsity only a fresh. gonna be a sophmore. and i already have a couple schools looking at me...so im good and want to maximize my performance even more then i already have.so it would be great if i could get some help with this.....my yahoo is knillsoccer_13 if you actually have experience(like a doctor or student)so i can talk with you

Answer 1

Lactic acid is a product of metabolism that occurs when you exceed your aerobic limit and become anaerobic. In other words, you went beyond the capacity of the oxygen in your blood, still burned energy, and created an acidic by-product. Not to worry, though, this build strength and power.

Your coach is right, the lactic acid burns your muscles. Although it won't cause permanent damage, your muscles will be sore and you may have trouble performing the next day. The massage of the muscles forces the lactic acid into your veins so that your body can eliminate it from your system.

Answer 2

Lactic acid is a natural chemical that is made in your muscles when you exercise. It builds up especially fast when you sprint or do other types of anaerobic exercise (this it the type of exercise that involves short, powerful moves as opposed to endurance type movement).

Lactic acid makes your muscles feel somewhat sore after a hard work out.

When you complete a workout here is what you should do. First, take a nice warm shower. When you get out of the shower, put some lotion on your sore muscles. Rub the muscles in the direction of the muscle fiber (parallel to the bone, generally) and only toward the heart. For example, if you were rubbing down your calfs, you would start at your ankle. You would grasp your leg hard and pull toward your knee.

To reduce lactic acid build-up, you might also drink a little more water.

You also do not ever want to have hard work-outs day after day. Your body needs time to recover. Generally, you want one very hard work-out a week followed by an easy one and a few moderate ones. If your coach is pushing all the time, you will have to pace yourself. If you build up to much lactic acid, you will eventually injure yourself.

Being a little sore is o.k. because it means you are getting stronger. Being a lot sore is not o.k. because it means you are heading towards an injury.

Answer 3

As another informed footballer who is going to be a sophomore this fall and played center mid on varsity last year: Lactic acid is what makes your muscles start to feel awful and tired around the 60th minute. When your muscles are working hard, they produce lactic acid, and the acid is what makes you feel tiredness and pain. Making lactic acid is essentially your muscles way of telling you to stop whatever the f*ck your doing now and relax. Unfortunately, in the 60th minute one often does not want to really relax for another 20-30 minutes (depending on how long your game is), so lactic acid is something to avoid. Unfortunately, its really pretty hard to signifigantly avoid, although warming up, stretching, pacing oneself, and getting in great shape (I recomend interval workouts, ie run 4-6 fast 400's or 800's or whatever) can help. Some freaks, such as Lance Armstrong, produce much less lactic acid than most people. In Lance's case, he produces 1/4th the amount most other cyclists do, which means pretty much means he can work 4 times harder than they can without feeling any worse. This is good news if your Lance Armstrong, but bad news if you arent, because so far doctors and scientists havent really been able to figure out why he produces so much less. If your school has cross country, I recomend talking to the coach, as he would probably know good ways to train to avoid getting "lactic". As far as rubbing goes, stretch everything out really good after a workout, and get a message if you can, sure.

Answer 4

Lactic acid is an acid that the body produces when your muscles are being used. The harder you use your muscles the more acid is created, it actually eats away muscle tissue that is why it burns when you work out and why you get sore the next day. So yes it can harm you, but you can avoid damage by warming up before and doing LITE work outs after wards, and rubbing and icing your muscles also helps to get rid of the acid.

Answer 5

Lactic acid is a form of anerobic respiration used by the muscles in the body. This means that when you are working out hard playing soccor and you start to really get out of breath there is not enough oxygen getting to your muscles to provide them with the energy that you need. In order to help you out to keep you going the body produces lactic acid. This is a form of energy that doesn't need oxygen (this means it's an anerobic source of energy). It isn't as powerful as the aerobic types of energy. Also, it is an acid going on your muscles, so it will make your muscles sore for awhile.

Answer 6

Lactic acid is waste in your muscles. Like when you wake up in the morning after a hard work out, that burn you feel is lactic acid building up. the more you work out though the easier it is for your blood to pump out the waste.

Answer 7

Lactic acid is produced by your muscles. Make sure warm up really good and cool down slowly.

Answer 8

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactic_acid well i play soccer two ive been in varsity two since fresh man year and im most likely to turn down a scholarship i got offerd, because im going to mexico to play in first division.but mls is pritty good. hope you make it far.