Swimming

Swimming is considered an endurance sport, like cycling and running, but training requirements are very different than other endurance activities. As a swimmer, you may spend as much time training as runners and cyclists do, but the average intensity level of your training is much higher. Long, steady, moderate-pace workouts are the bread and butter of training for cyclists and runners. But short, fast intervals make up the bulk of the swimmer’s training.

Competition is different too. Runners and cyclists almost never race twice in a single day. But as a swimmer you may compete in four or more events during a meet that lasts only a few hours. To meet the unique training and competitive demands of your sport, you need to be able to recover very quickly from very high-intensity efforts. That’s where ARX can give you an edge.

How ARX Speeds Lactate Clearance for Faster Recovery

Recent sports science research has shown that a phenomenon known as lactate clearance is one major factor that separates athletes who can perform repeated high-intensity efforts with minimal loss of performance and those who fall apart in this type of challenge. Lactate clearance refers to your body’s ability to transport lactate produced by your working muscles to other tissues so that it can be used as fuel.

Because the lactate pathway produces a lot more energy, your muscles rely on it increasingly as your swimming intensity increases. But at very high intensities, the muscles cannot process lactate as fast as it is created, so it begins to accumulate within muscle cells and eventually leak outside of the muscle cells into the bloodstream. As this process occurs, your muscles become more acidic, and if they become too acidic, they become fatigued and your performance plummets.

To prevent this from happening, special lactate transporters shuttle excess lactate through the bloodstream to the liver, where it is turned back into glucose, and to other tissues, including the heart and brain, that use it directly as fuel. The stronger your lactate clearance system is, the faster your body can turn lactate into energy and reduce muscle acidity between intervals in a workout and between races in a swim meet. This allows you to keep performing at a high level throughout each workout and competition.

Consistent, progressive training is an effective way to strengthen the lactate shuttle. But it’s not the only way. The ingredients in ARX are proven to do it as well, which speeds muscle recovery. One study found that ARX supplementation dramatically accelerated lactate clearance from the blood during swimming exercise. It also significantly increased swimming endurance, because enhanced lactate shuttling enabled muscle glycogen stores to last longer.

Fast recovery is essential for maximum swimming performance. A good training program will boost your muscle recovery capacity by strengthening your lactate clearance system. But every swimmer trains hard. To get an edge on your competition, supplement your training with ARX.