Lactic Acid Explained

What most people think they know about lactic acid is actually a myth, misnomer, and is basically wrong. We blame it for the burning muscle sensation during intense exercise and for the muscle soreness (DOMS) the next day, but in reality there is no ‘lactic acid’, there is lactate and metabolic acidosis. The reason for the confusion was that back in the 1920’s scientists found high levels of lactate and high levels of hydrogen ions (reason for acidosis) present in the muscles during high intensity exercise and fatigue, and believed them both to be the reason – hence the name Lactic Acid. This went unchallenged for about 80 years, and in that time, the myth had become deeply imbedded into coaches, trainers and most fitness literature.

Miles KemptonAugust 20, 2016Lactic Acid, Work Out, Exercise, Endurance, Fitness, mileskemptonComment

Part 1: Swallow This - Oil

This is part 1 in a blog series looking at one of my favourite books ‘Swallow This’ by Joanna Blythman. I’m a massive fan of her work, as an award-winning food investigative journalist, having read three of her seven books and most of her articles for the guardian. Joanna is one of my respected and go to sources for info especially on the subject of industrial food processing.

Miles KemptonAugust 13, 2016oil, cooking, food processing, swallow this, heath, food, cooking oil, frying, mileskemptonComment

The Myth of Women & Weight Training

These days, if you peek into any CrossFit box (gym), it’s not unusual to find an almost 50/50 split between the sexes. However, if you go into any standard gym chain the weights section is still a heavily male dominated area. There’s a few reasons for this, but the consistent offender is to do with the myth surrounding weight training and women, and as one female client put it “ not wanting to turn into a man…. with muscles”.

Miles KemptonAugust 7, 2016Gym, Weights, Women, Fitness & Health, Strength, Exercise, mileskempton Comment

Exercise & The Brain

Exercising has many benefits that we are used to hearing about in the media, like lowering the risk of many cancers, decreasing our chances of CHD (coronary heart disease) and stroke, halving our risk of type 2 diabetes, and many more including decreasing the onset of dementia, depression, and stress. And although I agree with all those statements, the articles in the media never really give us a proper insight / scientific description as to why exercise is good for us.

Miles KemptonAugust 1, 2016Fitness & Health, Exercise, Brain, Neuroscience, mileskemptonComment