Yes, I say that lactate threshold and anaerobic threshold are the same thing. Both have the same meaning. Anaerobic (lactate) threshold is the point when exercising where the body passes from aerobic to anaerobic metabolism- from the primarily fat burning metabolism to the glycogen (primarily carbohydrate) burning metabolism. It is at this point that the body cannot take in enough oxygen for the intensity you are exercising at. As you continue exercising at this higher intensity, the body begins to draw upon alternative energy pathways due to the lack of oxygen the body is taking in. This anaerobic energy pathway is known as glycolysis. The end products produced in this cellular process is ATP, which is used for energy to keep the muscles contracting, and lactic acid. This lactic acid accumulation is what causes that painful feeling in the legs. Luckily, research shows that as you become more efficient with your exercise, the body will use that lactic acid accumulation to convert back to pyruvate in the mitochondria. This pyruvate is needed to drive the reaction for the krebs cycle (citric acid cycle) to start- leading to the body using fat as it's primary energy source. As you get fitter, instead of accumulating lactic acid in the muscles, which would eventually cause the muscles to become tired and basically, your workout would be over, you can train the body to the point where your body will shunt more and more of that lactic acid back into the mitochondria, and the body will convert the lactic acid back to pyruvate and begin the krebs cycle, which would cause a greater dependence of fat metabolism. Fat metabolism is more desireable, as it produces more ATP and of course, uses fat from the body's fat cells as it's energy source to produce the ATP. Ok- this is just the explanation of what's going on in your body so we can understand how and why we administer the anaerobic threshold test.

Going into administering the test, I like to use the 2 X 20 anaerobic test. What this tests for is your anaerobic threshold. To administer the test, you need a bike (one of those ergometer bikes or a stationary bike that measures speed that you can program manually, or an indoor cycling bike) and a heart rate moniter. First, take at least a 10 minute warmup with an easy spinning of the legs. Once you've finished your warm up, begin increasing heart rate over the next 5 minutes, until you have reached the point where you reached a high intensity. The way you know you've reached anaerobic intensity is by going by rate of perceived exertion. The feeling you'll have is that you'll be out of breath and soreness and pain in the legs (from lactic acid accumulation). From there, you need to take your heart rate as high as you can and maintain that one number on your heart rate moniter that you can sustain without increasing or decreasing your heart rate for 20 minutes. Once you've reached the 20 minute mark of the test, decrease the intensity and take a 5 minute break. From there, repeat the test again, simulating the same conditions as much as possible, using the same number you obtained from the first 20 minute test. YOU MUST MAINTAIN THE SAME NUMBER ON YOUR HEART RATE MONITER THAT YOU MAINTAINED IN THE FIRST 20 MINUTE TEST.

Hmmmmm.... this is turning into a different kind of thread. If people have more to comment on with this, let's create a new topic, and call it "cardiovascular testing" or "anaerobic testing wth a heart rate moniter".

By the way, the answer to the original question is...?

I can't remember... ;-)

Koffee