Gary BreckaHuman Biologist & Longevity Innovator

What Actually Causes Muscle Fatigue

15 Feb 2026 · 1 min

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In this segment Gary Brecka discusses a recent study published in Medical Gas Research that examined the impact of drinking hydrogen‑rich water on muscle fatigue during acute exercise in elite athletes. The study found that hydration with hydrogen‑rich water buffered the rise in blood lactate levels, which are a primary factor limiting continued exercise performance. Brecka argues that because elite athletes have fewer confounding variables, the results can be extrapolated to the general population to potentially improve body composition, endurance, and strength performance. He highlights lactate accumulation as a key cause of fatigue and suggests that hydrogen‑rich water could mitigate this, thereby enhancing exercise capacity at both elite and everyday fitness levels.

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Interesting study published in Medical Gas Research looking at the effects of drinking hydrogen rich water on muscle fatigue caused by acute exercise in elite athletes. Because there are less variables in people that are that conditioned. So using elite athletes, we can bring their human studies, we can bring that data down into the general population to see if we can benefit from it to improve our body composition. A lot of times this is what mitigates our capacity to continue to exercise, especially in endurance athletes and strength competitions or at elite levels of performance. They showed that hydration with hydrogen rich water buffered these lactate levels, and the rise in lactate is what often impairs our ability to keep exercising.