Lactic Acid in Muscle Tissue
Anna Schmidt
2026-03-23
6 min. read
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Numerous individuals engaged in exercise lack awareness of what happens to their muscles during diverse forms of physical activity. The concept of lactic acid is commonly associated as an obstacle to muscle development. Why this is so, I will demonstrate in this article.
Lactic acid - presentation of the theory
Typically, after conducting a strength training session or subjecting the body to an unusual load, we experience discomfort and pain in the muscles the following day. Of course, all these symptoms are associated with lactic acid. Lactic acid in muscles is a byproduct that is involved in physiological processes when the body undergoes loads. Lactic acid is a clear liquid, and its accumulation can lead to so-called muscle acidification during strength training. To provide the body with energy during physical exertion, glucose is used, which is subjected to a decomposition process. The necessary result of the decomposition is the lactation ion, which can accumulate and not be removed from the body in time if it is not oxidized. When the lactation concentration is too high, a burning sensation can occur in the working muscles. Of course, the level of lactic acid decreases during rest, but the more often the muscles are subjected to loads, the more it accumulates. It is believed that lactic acid may have a negative impact on muscle tissue and does not allow it to work fully. However, this is not entirely true. After training, blood immediately flows into the muscles and flushes the lactic acid into the bloodstream, where it is converted back into glucose after reaching the liver. Glucose returns to the bloodstream. Sometimes, a new sensation appears in an exercising person during the performance of unusual physical exertion (e.g., a new exercise or an increase in training volume). This type of discomfort is called delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), which is caused by microscopic damages to muscle fibers.
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