EKF Lactate Scout 4

Lactate Scout 4 - Lactate Analyzer for athletes

Simple, accurate and reliable lactate analyzer for sports performance monitoring

Lactate Scout 4 is the number one choice for sports scientists and professional athletes globally. The Lactate Scout 4 is a simple and reliable meter for measuring lactate and is perfect for training outdoors, in the gym or for analysing performance in a laboratory.

The Lactate Scout 4 makes is easy to handle and allows for rapid assessment of lactate levels.

The Lactate Scout 4 is ideal for both coaches and athletes to assess endurance, devise optimum training programmes, avoid overtraining and use metabolic information to help set target heart rate zones.

The handheld Lactate Scout 4 requires only 0.2 µl of capillary blood, provides results in 10 seconds and can store up to 500 results. Lactate Scout 4 connects with Bluetooth® enabled heart rate monitors and features a stopwatch function to help analyse performance. With an integrated step test function and Bluetooth® connectivity, the Lactate Scout 4 is one of the most advanced hand-held lactate analysers on the market.

The Lactate Scout 4 is user-friendly, the e-paper display is easy to navigate and provides excellent readability in varying light conditions and at different viewing angles.

Lactate measurement in sport performance

During high-intensity exercise, the body produces lactate faster than it can be metabolised and removed from the blood stream. This leads to accumulation of lactate in the bloodstream.

Up to a certain threshold, the body can clear lactate at a rate at which, although there is an elevated concentration of lactate in the blood, the concentration does not impede muscle function.

Higher intensity exercise will lead to this threshold being passed, such that lactate production exceeds lactate clearance. The biochemical processes associated with increased lactate places muscle cells under stress. It is therefore important to determine the lactate threshold at which training is most effective.

A lactate analyser is therefore useful in fitness training and cardiovascular training, to help increase endurance without overtraining.

Lactate is a source of energy and is metabolised by muscle cells. The more efficiently lactate is metabolised the lower the blood lactate concentration will be during exercise.  Additionally, excess lactate will be cleared from the circulation more rapidly during the post-exercise period.

Lac [blood] = Lac [produced] ­ Lac [eliminated]

Endurance athletes should aim to achieve an elevated lactate equilibrium - a balance between the production and breakdown of lactate.

For training to achieve positive results and improve performance, it is therefore recommended to exercise at just below the anaerobic threshold.

Exercising at higher-intensity levels will result in exceeding the anaerobic threshold and cause a rapid increase in blood lactate concentration. This threshold varies from person to person, and an individual's threshold can be determined using a step test. In a step test, the intensity of training gradually increases at defined intervals, e.g. on a treadmill or exercise bike or in a field test. The blood lactate concentration is measured at the end of each interval and plotted against the load value on a chart. The resulting curve indicates the threshold value. The greater the intensity of the athlete’s exercise at their anaerobic threshold indicates a fitter athlete.

If a training programme is designed so that exercise occurs in the anaerobic threshold range, it can have a positive impact on the metabolism, increase muscle cell contractions, improve muscle cell repair, increase blood capillaries and improve cardiac function. The body then produces energy more efficiently, even when exercising at higher levels of intensity.

Lactate analyzer specifications

Easy to use

·         Insert/remove sensor to turn on/off

·         Simplified navigation to enable flexibility whilst training

·         Only 0.2 µl of capillary blood required

·         Pre-calibrated sensors

·         Device calibrated by simple coding

·         Lactate measurement value, date/time, measuring mode,

·         temperature, heart rate and memory ID on a single display

·         Automatic self-test

Fast and accurate

·         Enzymatic amperometric detection method

·         Results within 10 seconds

·         Measuring range: 0.5 - 25 mmol/L

·         Compensates for the influence of low and high hematocrit levels

·         Imprecision:

·         Hct-range 35 – 50% : 0.5 – 6.7 mmol/L blood lactate ≤0.2 mmol/L, 6.8 – 25 mmol/L blood lactate ≤3%

·         Hct range >50% : 0.5 – 7.5 mmol/L blood lactate ≤0,3 mmol/L, 7.6 – 25 mmol/L blood lactate ≤4% Test solutions available for function control

·         Test solutions available for functional control

Practical and reliable

·         Stores up to 500 results

·         1,000 tests using just 2 x CR2450 batteries

·         Integrated Bluetooth® Low Energy connectivity

·         Pocket-size: 91 mm (h) x 46 mm (w) x 21 mm (d)

·         Lightweight: 60 g

·         Operating range: 10-45 °C and max. 85 % humidity

·         Performance measurement

·         Single and step-test measurements (resting/exercise/recreation)

·         Connection to heart rate monitors compatible to Bluetooth® Low Energy for linking to lactate value

·         Stopwatch function

·         Lactate Scout Assistant software available for performance management

Practical andreliable

·         Stores up to 500 results

·         1,000 tests using just 2 x CR2450 batteries

·         Integrated Bluetooth® Low Energy connectivity

·         Pocket-size: 91 mm (h) x 46 mm (w) x 21 mm (d)

·         Lightweight: 60 g

·         Operating range: 10 – 45°C and max. 85% humidity