Aim. To conduct a modern semantic analysis of the results of our own research and literature data on the physiological significance of increased lactate level in skeletal muscles during physical activity in martial artists.

Materials and methods. This study used bibliosemantic, analytical, logical, and generalization methods. The bibliographic databases of life sciences and biomedical information MEDLINE, EMBASE, Medline (PubMed), Web of Science, and Cochrane Central were searched to find publications in English that matched the research keywords. The authors carried out an independent search and selection of articles, assessment of data quality, compliance of the presentation and interpretation with the main idea of the study, with the formation of the final list of references.

Results. For many years, the role of lactate in the formation of physical fatigue and delayed muscle soreness in martial artists and other athletes remained unknown. There has been a lot of speculation and competing concepts. Over the past 20 years, due to the successes of modern biochemistry, physiology, and molecular pharmacology, subtle molecular-biochemical mechanisms of delayed muscle soreness formation after muscle loading have been revealed. However, a holistic attitude to the role of lactate has not been formulated. We analyzed the results of modern studies, which showed that oxidative stress, inflammation, and a decrease in cytoprotective proteins, in particular HSP70, but not the accumulation of lactate, are more important in the formation of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS).

Conclusions. Accumulation of lactate in muscle cells with its subsequent release into the bloodstream is considered to be much more positive than negative factor, and therefore the views on the increase of lactate content and its assessment as an enemy of athletes, including martial artists, should be reconsidered.