Lactic acid: what actually happens when you push hard

The burning sensation late in a hard effort has been blamed on lactic acid for decades. The reality is more nuanced: lactate itself is a fuel, and the acidity that accompanies rapid energy production is what changes how your muscles perform.

Buffering capacity is the term for how well your tissue handles that shift in acidity. Athletes with higher buffering capacity can hold a given intensity for longer before performance drops off.

Carnosine is one of the body's own buffers, concentrated in skeletal muscle. That is the reasoning behind including it in a topical formula applied directly to working muscle groups.