Alternative to weighted pullups

Look for the ART, but if you suffered an actual shoulder seperation, don’t do dips. If it was a strain simply of the surrounding musculature. Dips might be popular, but if you’ve ever takne ART, or a shoulder course by Dale Buchberger,D.C. ART instructor, you’d never do a dip again with what is considered full Rom. It puts way to much strain on the ac joint and shoulder capsule.
Use the assisted machine for pullups. Make sure you work your scapular retractors with some type of rowing if not to painful. That will take some strain off the ac joint.

Eric, thank you for your input!!!

Maybe I can state my question more precisely. Do high lactic acid levels heal or strengthen nagging injuries and/or inflammation, be they muscles, tendons, joints? Is Bryan Haycock dead on, dead wrong or somewhere in between?

I found with the tendonitis I had that a given weight “aggravated” it, but that a lesser weight (say half) was quite do-able.

Since I feel that the higher-weight, lower-rep training I was doing, probably combined with poor biomechanics and not enough rest (i.e., poor periodization) caused my problems, I had high hopes for the 15-rep work I was about to embark on.

Thanks again for jumping in. I can’t think of an exercise physiologist here on the board that I respect more.

T-T,

I’d say that Haycock is reasonably accurate in saying that, although it’s very difficult to generalize for injury scenarios. Some studies (I’ll post a few) have found a correlation between high lactate levels and collagen synthesis. Since lactate is simply lactic acid after it’s been converted to its salt by buffering systems in the muscle and blood, one can infer that high lactic acid levels are indirectly related to improved collagen synthesis and, in turn, injury healing.

However (there always has to be a however!), recall from above that I said it’s impossible to say that it will work for everyone. The tissue healing process broadly consists of three phases: inflammation, repair, and remodeling. It’s definitely not a good idea to try to induce high levels of lactic acid during the inflammation phase. In fact, training during this time is the reason that the inflammation phase lasts too long for many people in the first place! Once, the repair phase begins, though, gradual increases in training volume to promote lactic acid increases seem to be a good idea. These issues, of course, do not take into account whether or not the nagging injury is caused by a muscular imbalance (as with impingement).

In your scenario, I’d say go for it! But, to answer your question, I think Haycock is close, but not “dead-on balls accurate” (Marissa Tomei in “My Cousin Vinny”- great movie).

Hope this helps.

Here are a few studies. And, yes, I know the second one was with rabbits, but last time I checked, they have tendons, too.

Alfredson H, Bjur D, Thorsen K, Lorentzon R, & Sandstrom P.
High intratendinous lactate levels in painful chronic Achilles tendinosis. An investigation using microdialysis technique. J Orthop Res 2002 Sep;20(5):934-8

In this investigation the microdialysis technique was used to study the concentrations of lactate in Achilles tendons with painful chronic tendinosis and in normal pain-free tendons. In four patients (mean age 40.7 years) with a painful thickening localized at the 2-6 cm level in the Achilles tendon (chronic Achilles tendinosis) and in five controls (mean age 37.2 years) with normal Achilles tendons the local concentrations of lactate were registered under resting conditions. All tendons were examined using ultrasonography. In the tendons with tendinosis the painful thickening corresponded to a widened tendon and structural tendinosis changes. Normal tendons showed no widening and a normal structure. A standard microdialysis catheter was inserted into the Achilles tendon under local anesthesia. Samplings were done every 15 min during a 4 h period. The results showed significantly higher mean concentrations of lactate in tendons with tendinosis compared to normal tendons (2.15 mmol/l vs. 1.14 mmol/l). The lactate concentrations in the tendons with tendinosis were stable, and approximately twofold higher than in the normal tendons during the whole 4 h investigation period. In conclusion, the higher concentrations of lactate in Achilles tendons with painful tendinosis indicate that there are anaerobic conditions in the area with tendinosis. The importance of this finding for the pathogenesis and pain mechanisms in this chronic condition needs to be further investigated.

Klein MB, Pham H, Yalamanchi N, & Chang J. Flexor tendon wound healing in vitro: the effect of lactate on tendon cell proliferation and collagen production. J Hand Surg [Am] 2001 Sep;26(5):847-54

Flexor tendon repair in zone II is complicated by adhesions to the surrounding fibro-osseous sheath. Lactate is an early mediator of wound healing known to play an important role in stimulation of collagen production after cellular injury. Little attention has been paid to the role of lactate in flexor tendon wound healing. In this study tendon and tendon sheath were excised from rabbit forepaws. We examined proliferation of tendon sheath fibroblasts, epitenon tenocytes, and endotenon tenocytes; collagen production by each of these 3 cell types; and effects of lactate on cell proliferation and collagen production. Three cell lines, tendon sheath, epitenon, and endotenon, were isolated and cultured. Tendon sheath fibroblasts showed the greatest proliferation. All 3 cell lines produced collagen I, II, and III. Lactate significantly increased collagen production by all 3 cell lines. We show that cells of the tendon sheath, epitenon, and endotenon produce collagen in vitro. Modulation of lactate levels may provide a means to modulate collagen production.