Fight Science Made Simple

Welcome to episode 10 of the Fight Science made simple podcast. I'm your host coach Adam Slater. I'm a lifelong martial artist. I'm a performance and recovery coach, and I'm an MMA fighter [...0.7s] and I'm excited. Today's episode is a really important one.We're talking about the lactic system. A few weeks ago, I made an episode on the aerobic system, aerobic system 1:01, and [...0.8s] you should know this by now.But when it comes to conditioning, especially for MMA or any kind of combat sport, your cardio and your conditioning is made up of three energy systems, the aerobic system, galactic system, and the a lactic system.Episode 8, we talked about the aerobic system, so if you need help going the distance, if you need to build your engine, I will go back and listen to that episode.In today's episode, we're talking about the next energy system, galactic system, everything that you need to know about lactic conditioning for combat sports.We're gonna talk about what it is. We're talking about why it's important, we're gonna talk about misconceptions, and we're gonna talk about how you can start training the lactic system today. So strap in. I hope you're excited for it.If you're new to the podcast, welcome. I do new episodes every single Monday where I break down fight science, like the title of the podcast suggest Fight science made simple.We talk about straining, conditioning, nutrition, recovery, mindset, all specific to combat sports, MMA, kickboxing, jiu jitsu, Muay Thai wrestling, you name it. We help them all. We work with all of them. Um, so if you're new, welcome.The best thing that you can do to help out the podcast is follow and subscribe to the podcast if you're digging it, and also share this with a friend, a teammate, a training partner, someone that can benefit from this.Um, this is some really important information that isn't really talked about too much. You know, fight sports are still fairly new as far as, like, modern fight sports like MMA, and so we're still decades behind when it comes to the science and the training to actually train properly for the sports.We're seeing more and more of it, but there still aren't a lot of resources out there, and so that's why I'm putting these resources out for free. So please share share share share, share, and I hope you, you get a lot out of it.Um, so like I said, we're talking about the lactic system today, a really, really important concept to understand, not just for a better [...1.0s] framework and understanding of how to train for combat sports, but also so you can know if you're focusing on the right things.And when, you know, a lot of the times when a fighter or martial arts or combat athlete gases out, they feel this burning sensation in their arms as heaviness in their legs.And so they just keep doing more running, they keep doing more sprinting, they just keep doing more training and their conditioning isn't getting any better, they're just getting more and more fatigue. And it could be really frustrating.I know I've lost sleep at night just wondering why I'm putting all this work in and my conditioning isn't getting any better. Because the reality is it's not a cardio problem, it's not an aerobic system problem.It's a lactic system problem. And so if you are a fighter or a martial artist [...0.5s] that gets really heavy arms that feels that burning sensation in their muscles that can go all day long but then starts to fade when the intensity picks up, this episode is going to be so helpful for you. It's gonna be a step by step guide. Um.The lactic system is what we call an anaerobic energy system. This simply means that energy is produced without oxygen. Okay, this is important understand because without the presence of oxygen, you can rapidly produce energy. It moves really, really fast, which means it's a powerful system.If we need to be doing intense wrestling scrambles or throwing flurries of strikes for an extended period of time, anywhere I'd say from 10 seconds to 90 seconds, you're gonna be using your lactic system because it just happens so fast. You can produce energy so quickly, and so you can be very powerful.The downside to that is because you're producing energy so rapidly without the presence of oxygen, you can also fatigue very rapidly. So it's a very powerful system, but it's not a very sustainable system.Now a, a widely [...0.9s] misunderstood misconception about the enter the lactic energy system is that lactic acid is what is causing the fatigue and what's causing the burnout.And I'm sure everyone has heard this, right? I just had the lactic acid burn up in my, in my arms and legs. Have to do something about this lactic acid. And this is actually false. Lactic acid is not the enemy. In fact, you don't even have that much lactic acid in the muscles even when using the lactic system. Um, but what is produced is something called lactate. And lactate is a byproduct of creating energy with sugar, a process called glycolysis.And what's really interesting is that lactate is produced with both aerobic and anaerobic glycolysis. So it doesn't matter whether you're using oxygen or not to produce energy. Lactate is still being produced in the body. And what's cool is that lactate is not evil.It's actually one of your body's most preferred energy sources. Because when your body produces lactate, it could be converted back into something called privruvate, and then your aerobic system can use pyruvate to produce energy.Typically your brain and especially your heart loves using lactate to produce energy. And so [...0.8s] we need to first and foremost flip the script and change our mindset and our relationship with lactate.Lactate is not the bad guy. It's a really really, really good thing. It's preferred for your body, your heart, and your brain and your muscles love it for energy. And so that's really important.I think the reason lactate has gotten such a bad rap when it comes to gassing out in your anaerobic lactic energy system is because as you start [...0.5s] to use your lactic system more and we shift from the phase of primarily getting energy from the aerobic system to primarily getting energy from the anaerobic lactic system, is that more lactate is going to be present.And the reason this happens is because let's say you're doing something aerobically and then you're doing something anaerobically with your lactic system, the same amount of lactate may be produced.But if you remember we just talked about it, your aerobic system loves to use lactate for energy. So as you're primarily using your aerobic system, lactate is being produced, but then your aerobic system is just recycling that lactate and using it for more energy. And so the total accumulation or amount of lactate present when doing any form of aerobic conditioning or aerobic work is going to be lower.On the other side of things, when we are using our anaerobic lactic system, you're just not getting enough oxygen to aerobically convert lactate into pyruvate into energy. And so the accumulation of lactate is going to stack up.And so this is so so so so, so important, understand because the presence of lactate is not what is causing your fatigue and gassing out.We're gonna talk about that in a second, but that presence of lactate is a really important marker and indicator to help us understand [...0.5s] what zones we need to be training in, to help us understand where our lactate threshold is and understand is if our lactic threshold is getting any better.And so it's a great indicator of what energy system are primarily using when we're training, where were weakest, what we need to be focusing on. If we're actually getting better and understanding that, that lactate can then be used for more energy by your heart.But it's not a bad guy. And when you think about it, it's, it's actually really, really fucking cool because [...1.0s] as you're doing this higher higher, higher intensity activity in your fast twitch muscles are being used more.When you were anaerobically producing energy, there's going to be a higher degree of lactate available, but then your slow twitch muscles, like your heart [...0.6s] prefers that lactate, it loves that lactate, and it's going to use that lactate for energy.And so when you really start to condition and strain your body the right way using the right day and the right science, your anaerobic system starts fueling some of your aerobic conditioning. And it's this really beautiful balance that comes into play, but it has to be trained appropriately.Alright, so we just had to clear up that misconception. Okay, latte is not the bad guy. You don't even have that much lactic acid in your muscle when you're doing high intensity activity.So with that being said, what the fuck is actually causing you to gas out and fatigue when you're training, when you're pushing the pace, when you're conditioning at higher intensities, and you start to feel that muscle [...0.8s] burning heaviness in your arms and in your legs.Um, well, first and foremost, it's not 100% certain. Like, we're still trying to figure it out in the space.But we have a pretty good idea of what is going on. Because as we are, [...0.5s] as we are anaerobically breaking down sugar, this is called anaerobic glycolysis for energy. Not only is lactate present, but we also have hydrogen ions present.We also have more heat present. We also have other metabolic waste and byproducts present. And what happens is that this [...0.7s] heat, these hydrogen ions, this acidity that is present in the muscle, it throws off the pH, [...0.7s] it throws off the balance of your muscle, increases the acidity in your muscle. And this is actually what causes you to fatigue.So we think this is what we largely believe is what is causing the fatigue, not lactic acid, not lactate, but hydrogen, heat and other metabolic products that exist in the muscle.Okay, I know it's a lot of science and I mean that's a point of podcast, right? Fight science made simple. But I think it's really important that before we can even talk about how to improve your lactic system, we have to understand what is causing the fatigue in your body and how the anaerobic system even works.Okay. And so [...0.7s] just a quick little summary. I love to do these little summaries so we can keep things straight and on track. Your lactic system is an anaerobic energy system. This means that it's producing energy without oxygen. It uses a process called anaerobic glycolysis.So the fuel for energy coming from your lactic system is going to be sugar, glucose that's available in your blood or glycogen that's available in your muscle. So you are anaerobically breaking down sugar. You're breaking down sugar without oxygen in order to produce energy. Okay?It's a very, very rapid system. You can rapidly produce energy and so it's very powerful, but because it's so rapid, there isn't a lot of oxygen present and so it's very fatiguing.It's not lactate that's causing the fatigue. Your body actually can use lactate for energy, but it's the production of heat and hydrogen and other metabolic waste that's causing this fatigue.Typically if you're working in the aerobic zone or even like cardiac power or you know, right on the edge of your anaerobic threshold, there's enough energy, there's enough oxygen present that it can clear and buffer and remove all of those hydrogen ions and metabolic waste and you breathe it out.But once you get deep into higher intensities and deep into that lactic zone, then you just don't have enough oxygen present. There's going to be a larger buildup in accumulation of hydrogen IODs, metabolic waste. And this is what's going to cause you to gas out and cause you to fatigue.Okay, and so now we know that we know what the lactic system is, we know how the lactic system works. We know what is causing your fatigue, right? This is primarily responsible for your intense wrestling scrambles, your flurries of explosive shots and power.Anything that's lasting 10 seconds up to up to 90 seconds is going to be used by your lactic system. Um, so we understand these things. And by the way, like, it's really important to understand the demand of your sport and the duration of your sport.Like if you're an amateur [...0.6s] MMA fighter that's fighting three, three minute rounds, you're probably going to be using your lactic system more than a professional MMA fighter that's fighting for a championship belt, right?Five, five minute rounds. And so the level that you're at dictates the energy system that you're going to be training more.Okay, they're both very important, but you will, you just have to understand the duration of our competition, our sport to better guide how we condition. When it comes to conditioning your lactic system, um, because the lactic system is a much simpler energy system than your aerobic system.It's actually much simpler to training condition as well. If you go back and watch Episode 8 or listen Episode 8, or you've already listened to it, there's a lot in that episode and there are a lot of methods to training your aerobic system.Your aerobic system is very very, very complex. Your lactic system is also complex. It's the human body, but it's less complex than the aerobic system. And so to train your anaerobic lactic system, there are only two areas that we need to focus on to be better [...0.8s] lactically conditioned. Um.The first is lactic power and the second is lactic capacity. And what's really, really cool and makes our job simpler is that the way that you approach training your lactic power and your lactic capacity is relatively the same. You just have to tweak the work and rest ratios a little bit. And we'll talk about that in a second.But first, like what are each lactic power, lactic capacity, respectfully, respectively.I'm not an English major, so I get hit in the head a lot. And so [...0.8s] lactic power, just like it states, is power, right? Like how powerful your muscle can be, how much power you can produce, how intense you can be in the lactic system.This is largely a muscular adaptation, right? This is having more muscle that can [...0.6s] anaerobically break down sugar, anaerobic glycolysis, to then use for high intense activity like scrambles, like power shots repeated over and over again. This is your muscles ability to break down sugar for energy anaerobically using your lactate system.Okay, this is a physical adaptation, your muscles ability to create energy very very, very powerful.On the other side of that, lactic capacity is your muscle and body's ability to buffer the acidity and the waste that's there, how long you can sustain that energy system. So lactic power is more about energy production and intensity, how much power you can produce.Lactic capacity is about how long you can sustain that lactic work and buffer the different hydrogen ions and waste and just heat that is being accumulated.So both are super important, but we have to understand [...0.8s] the purpose and the outcome that we're trying to achieve for each lack of power and lack of capacity to then better guide how we are going to condition.Because [...0.5s] the way that we condition each component of our lactic system, like I said earlier is very similar.You're gonna choose the same exercises, right? For both lactic power and lactic capacity. You want to train at 100%. Like we need to push the intensity to max. We need as much power, we need to go as hard as fucking possible. This is very, very fatiguing. And so we need to choose exercises that will allow you to go to max.This could be something like sprinting. This could be circuits using med balls and kettle bells and battle ropes. This could be hopping on an assault bike.This could be high intensity of skill training, whether it's bad work bag work or doing positional wrestling scrambles with the intent of conditioning. But whatever it is, you need to be able to push your muscles to their physical max. You need to be able to go as hard as possible. And this goes for both lactic power and lactic capacity.The biggest difference between training your lactic power and training your lactic capacity is the duration of your work and rest ratios.And so if we're training lactic power, this is a very short duration. You can only be powerful for so long. And so your work intervals are going to be shorter and your rest intervals are going to be longer.Your work intervals can be anywhere from like 20 to 40 seconds and your rest intervals are gonna be anywhere from one to three minutes. On the lactic capacity side of things, it's the inverse, right? Because we're working on our capacity how long we can sustain the lactic energy system.And so you're going to have longer [...0.6s] work ratios with shorter rest ratios. And this is really important cause you have to work for a long time to build up the fatigue, build up the acidity, build up the hydrogen ions.You have to let your body learn how to [...0.5s] buffer the different waste that's available. And then you can't let your body fully recover. It has to have an incomplete amount of recover, recovery so you can go over and over and over again.And so work ratios, this could be anywhere from like 90 [...0.5s] to 120 seconds and then your rest ratio could be anywhere from one to two minutes, but it has to be an incomplete work to rest ratio. You have to work longer than your resting, and this is going to help increase your buffering.Now when you're working in your lactic system, it's really important that you are maintaining max effort, full intensity for the entire time.So let's say you're doing a lactic capacity interval, and you're working for 60 seconds all out as hard as you can. If you are not able to sustain maximal output, if you're fading 30 seconds in, 45 seconds in, then you need to lower your work [...0.5s] rate.You have to lower your work interval until you can sustain the same exact pace the entire time. Let's say you do it for 45 seconds, and you crush it for a week, two weeks, and now it's getting easier.Add five seconds, add 10 seconds, but you wanna work into the higher ranges of time, [...0.7s] win of way that you can sustain the same pace the entire time.If your pace is fading, if you can't go all out for that time, then you're gonna need to cut back and work your way into that, which is really important. Okay, so you have your lactic power, you have your lactic capacity.I would train lactic power before training lactic capacity. So you build your muscles ability to use the lactic system, produce energy, be very powerful, and then you increase how long you can sustain that for.Okay, so right now we have a really good understanding of what [...0.5s] the lactic system is, why the lactic system is important, [...1.1s] how to improve the lactic system, what's actually causing your fatigue when you're using the lactic system.The final thing that we need to cover is when to train [...0.5s] galactic system because this is really important. Uh, typically with our clients, what we do is we train galactic system in the off camp or the early stages of pre camp.It's more of a general fitness or starting to shift into maybe a little bit more fight specific conditioning. But we do not train the lactic system in fight camp or even the later stages of pre camp.And the reason for this is because lactic conditioning so damn fatiguing. You're working your body to the max, you're working your muscles to failure, you're damaging your muscles, you're putting a lot of heat in there, you're teaching your body how to buffer [...0.6s] that, that just shitty heavy burning fatigue.And as a result, you're gonna feel muscle soreness. You're going to be sore for a day or two after doing this and it might even impact your performance on the mat.And so the last thing that we need is that extra fatigue, unnecessary fatigue in fight camp that could be taken away from your performance on the mat, that could be increasing your chances of injury, that could be degrading your confidence because you're not feeling good on the mat every single day. And though it's just not worth working the lactic system in fight camp.The other reason we don't work the lactic system in Fight Camp is because [...0.8s] the adaptation when you adapt in the anaerobic lactic system, the carryover it lasts for a couple months for a decent amount of time.So you can shake a month to three months out of camp to build your lactic system. And then when you stop training the lactic system and maybe focus on the a lactic system when you're in camp, you're not gonna lose that adaptation.It's still going to be there where training something like the alactic system which is your most powerful system that carryover doesn't last very long.You could spend a couple months building your alactic system and then in a month your adaptation can degrade. And so what's cool is like we wanna spend the fight camp focusing on the alactic system because it's not very fatiguing and you're maximizing your power going into the fight.And then we can take the off camper, the late siege of off camp or the early stages of pre camp to really focus on the lactic system because you can afford to have a little bit more fatigue because it's not gonna be impacting how you're peaking for a fight.And what's cool about it, [...0.6s] uh, it is that the adaptation is going to last a little bit longer. Okay, so really, really important, obviously some important concepts to take into account or how you're structuring it around your skill training, the combat sport that you're training.Like an anime fighter is gonna be training very differently than a moizai fighter, very differently than a grappler. So these things need to be taken into consideration. Um. And then as always, your recovery is key.You could do all the work in the world, but if you are not recovering adequately from that work, you are not going to get better, you are not going to grow, you're not going to get the adaptation that you're looking for.So you need to be sleeping seven to eight hours a night. You have to be prioritizing your sleep.You have to be eating the right foods in the right portions, timing your nutrition around your recovery and around your performance. We have entire podcasts on nutrition and recovery as well. And then your training has to be periodized and structured in an intelligent way.You have to know when your hard light and medium days are. Your lifts and your conditioning and your skill training all means to work together so you're not increasing your chances for injury, you're not randomly working on shit that you don't need to be working on, and you're making predictable improvements to your game. You know, what you're doing is working.We are a big believers in tracking data in order to do this, data with your lifts, heart rate data for your conditioning, heart rate data for your recovery because the numbers don't lie.It tells us if what we're doing is working or not. That tells us what we need to be prioritizing for your training, your recovery. But it's so so so, so important.Too many guys and girls are just putting too much input with not enough output, putting in too much work and not getting the results that they're looking for.My job as a performance and recovery coach is to maximize your results, the best performance and the best recovery possible with the smallest input possible.Okay, I want the most juice for the smallest squeeze because if all you were doing was lifting and conditioning, we can fucking go balls to the wall.Obviously, recovery is important, but we can push it hard [...0.5s] because we're training fight sports and combat sports. A, [...0.5s] our risk for injury is already higher, and B, there are so many variables and so many moving parts and not just training.You probably work, you probably work a job that is laborist, you might even have a family, you have other responsibilities in your life and that shit adds up and your body doesn't know the difference between stress from everyday life, stress from work, stress from your relationships, and stress from training.And so that's the name of recovery, right? The name of recovery is stress, managing your stress, getting just the right amount of stress, and then recovering from that stress. So we can supercompensate, so we can make progress, so we can make gains, and then we can compete consistently for competition.Okay uh, but that's all I got. That is a [...0.5s] very very, very quick rundown of the lactic system. Obviously, there are more [...0.5s] complexities that go into this. Um, I wanna make it as simple and tactical for you as possible. I'm gonna be having some more content on my Instagram page.Uh, fight science collective coming out talking about just specific workouts for improving your lactic system. So make sure you shoot me a follow over there if you wanna learn how to improve your aerobic system.Episode 8 of the Fight Science made simple podcast is on the aerobic system. Um, I'll most likely do the alactic system next week or the week after is definitely gonna come at some point in December.If you have any ideas or anything that you want me to cover in the Fight Science made simple podcast, let me know. And until next time, [...0.6s] I'll catch you laterlater