Koutedakis, Y. (1995). Seasonal variation in fitness parameters in competitive athletes. Sports Medicine, 19, 373-392.

Maximal lactate measurements have been introduced on the justification that during exercise to exhaustion, the majority of energy supply is provided by anaerobic glycolysis. Increases in blood lactate are assumed, inter alia, to represent the capability of muscle to operate in a highly acidic medium. However, maximal lactate measurements give no information on lactate turnover, which may be higher in better trained individuals, hence limiting their utility as a fitness monitoring tool in sporting environments. Research includes varied results and because of the lack of control of possible causal variables in sport settings, a true understanding of why lactates do not change in some individuals and studies but do in others. This variable is probably best left to use in controlled research laboratories.

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