Foam Rollling, Lactic Acid and Pointy Headed People

Foam Rollling, Lactic Acid and Pointy Headed People

A very interesting discussion that foam rolling and lactate threshold brought up. I’ve highlighted some of the conversation in bold.

I love my Get Fit Atlanta group for the wealth of knowledge that they share. 


Tuesday

Does foam rolling ever get easier/less hurtful?
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    • Barry Falcon Yes over time. I use the stick all the time. Great before and after a workout.

      Tuesday at 21:43 · 
    • Agatha Cross What does it do? I’m still in the learning phase.

      Tuesday at 21:47 · 
    • Smitha Barki Other than hurting like $%@#%# ?? lol.
      Its supposed to be good for stretching and getting lactic acid buildup out of your muscles. The “stick” that Barry talks about is easier to use, but foam roller is better for IT band.

      Tuesday at 21:51 · 
    • Agatha Cross Ok thanks

      Tuesday at 21:52 · 
    • Barbara L. Blackford Absolutely! I love my foam roll! I didn’t use it for a while and once I used it again, I know I was crazy not to!

      Tuesday at 21:52 · 
    • Agatha Cross Lol I’ll have to check it out.

      Tuesday at 21:53 · 
    • Barbara L. Blackford I hear the whole latic acid thing is BS (i.e., lactic acid does not cause muscle soreness but is imply a marker), but regardless foam roll does help relax muscles and ligaments and get them in proper position. I rarely stretch w/o rolling 1st (but I rarely stretch as I should . . .)

      Tuesday at 21:58 · 
    • Smitha Barki I feel a “bump” sometimes when I foamroll, esp in my butt and my quads.
      I’ve been taking time to stretch after every run for the past couple of weeks and it seems to help (or at least it is helping in my head 🙂 ).

      Tuesday at 22:02 · 
    • Barbara L. Blackford Smitha--try a tennis ball on the butt – I think it gets deeper than the roll can get. Foam roll is awesome for quads and IT. Thumby great for calves! They say stretching 5 minutes a day would be a great 2012 habit to instill! Let’s do it!

      Tuesday at 22:07 ·  ·  2
    • Smitha Barki I’m in for the “stretch everyday in 2012 challenge” !!
      I don’t know what stretches I need to do with cold muscles though. I guess that means I need to run/spin everyday too. lol.

      Tuesday at 22:17 · 
    • Barbara L. Blackford U can use the foam roll and then stretch w/o warming up, in my limited experience.

      Tuesday at 22:50 · 
    • Donna Waddell ‎”Warm” muscles can also be obtained with temperature. Remember the Olympic divers? They take warm showers before their dives to loosen their muscles. So, on rest days, takes s warm shower than roll/stretch/etc.

      Yesterday at 08:23 · 
    • Mike Luebeck Lactic acid is produced from the breakdown of carbohydrate and becomes lactate that builds up in the blood, a chain reaction that ultimately interferes with muscle contraction. Think of it as pouring water in a cup with a hole in it. Go slowly, and the water will not back up. Pour faster and the water backs up and can not keep up the even flow. When the water first accumulates it is analogous to lactic buildup.
      When this occurs is different with all people, and, typically the longer the delay the greater the fitness.

      Yesterday at 08:48 · 
    • Barbara L. Blackford Mike – I don’t think that is accurate, but I’ll research and forward to you, altho it doesn’t really matter practically. Certainly we can all exercise longer at lower intensity and we want to move up the intensity / endurance!

      Yesterday at 10:39 · 
    • Mike Luebeck From, “The Triathletes Training Bible,” Joe Friel.

      Yesterday at 11:43 · 
    • David Jordan My understanding aligns with Mike. One of the advantages of speed work is to raise your lactate threshold, ie that point at which lactic acid builds up faster than it dissipates, so you can run harder for longer.

      Yesterday at 11:46 · 
    • Barbara L. Blackford Yes, I know that is popular training stuff, but I believe Dr. Timothy Noakes says it has been debunked. But again, doesn’t really matter, as the same training ensues, so perhaps only pointy headed people care! I’ll find the stuff for the curious–or old age could be convincing me of this and it is some another point Dr. Noakes thinks he debunked! 🙂

      23 hours ago ·  ·  1
    • Jennifer Doyle Barbara – I love that you said pointy headed people. lol

      22 hours ago · 
    • Jennifer Doyle Smitha – don’t know how into yoga you are, but I’m a huge fan. It’s a great balance and compliment of running.

      22 hours ago · 
    • Mike Luebeck Yoga, only for the super strong, and very balanced people, caused it kicked my butt!! Never again!

      19 hours ago ·  ·  2
    • Barbara L. Blackford Ok, the pointy headed person, me, looked it up. What has been debunked is that lactic acid causes muscle soreness, the consensus is that it does not. Noakes does not believe lactic acid buildup causes muscle fatigue, but he has not convinced the academic community he is right. A lot of academics and others go with Mike’s and David’s statement, so Noakes is decidedly in the minority on that point. he believes in the central governor theory, that the brain shuts us down to protect us long before we are really at our physical limits. (He ultimately convinced the ACSM that he was right about dehydration in marathons — that it is not the major culprit everyone thought and he is the author of their policy on hydration. His view is that mild to mod dehydration is normal and not to be fussed over.) Looking this up helped me find that he has a book on training, that I’m going to buy to see what he would do differently, if anything, based on his theory. If this doesn’t prove me pointy headed, nothing will.

      19 hours ago ·  ·  1
    • Barbara L. Blackford Oh, yea, and I’m reading his 700 page book on these theories for the 2nd time. definitely pointy headed. 🙂 Jennifer, I bought a 21 day yoga program from Yoga Journal that I’m starting this week. One of my resolutions is to do yoga or pilates twice a week!

      19 hours ago · 
    • Mike Luebeck All I know is I am tired when I run far!

      19 hours ago ·  ·  2
    • Barbara L. Blackford I’m also tired when I run faster! And long and . . .ok, Smitha, we’ve hijacked your post enough. YES, it gets easier to roll on the foam roll!!!!!!

      19 hours ago ·  ·  1
    • Jennifer Doyle Oh, I hate to admit this, but I thought pointy-headed was a reference to their bald heads! Oops! 🙂 Interesting info though. I get caught up in the reasoning behind things sometimes and LOVE researching things, but I have realized that ultimately it’s about pushing yourself past the point you think you can go and realizing you’ve made it to the other side. At least, that’s what I have experienced. I’m sure there is a scientific theory out there for that. Give it some time. I’m sure I’ll find it. 😉

      19 hours ago ·  ·  2
    • Jennifer Doyle Barbara – That’s fantastic that you are doing the 21 day yoga plan. I’ve used Yoga Journal videos before. They are actually pretty good for instruction. I think that even a few sun salutations a day make a difference. Good luck with that!

      19 hours ago · 
    • Jennifer Doyle Mike – don’t give up on yoga!

      19 hours ago · 
    • Jennifer Doyle Smitha- thanks for the conversation starter. 🙂

      19 hours ago · 
    • Smitha Barki Jennifer – I thought Barbara meant the same reference to bald heads .. lol.
      And I love yoga. I do the yoga class at the Y (taught by a girl who runs) once a week and try to do the p90x yoga/stretch once a week too.

      18 hours ago · 
    • Smitha Barki And I get tired when I run fast .. and also seem to get sore/tight even when I go fast a tiny bit – like my hamstrings and hipflexor got so tired 9 miles into my run when my pace was 45-60sec faster than it should have been.

      And hijack away :))

      18 hours ago · 
    • Smitha Barki And oh – I know Pilates is super good for runners, but I can’t go to a studio and the Y classes are at inconvenient times. And I can never seem to get going when I try to do it on my own.

      18 hours ago · 
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