I thought lactic acid pain was something that only occured during intense workouts when your body could no longer meet the oxygen demand of the muscles, so they switch to anaerobic respiration to keep working. This creates lactic acid as a by product, which causes the burning sensation. This builds up quickly and intensely, and the body doesn’t keep it up for long, because you are pretty much gassed at the point that it starts. That pain also ends almost immediately after you stop and the muscles can get enough oxygen again. Lactic acid burn is very intense and goes away very quickly, which seems to mean the body can get rid of it fast, so I am not sure why anyone assumed that it somehow stuck around to start hurting again the day after a workout when you really start feeling those sore muscles. I guess this was a lay person belief? It seems like a scientist would have thought that if it was lactic acid that caused the pain, it would have been the source of the microtears and inflammation in the muscles, and that might have been a little harder to refute than detecting the lingering presence of lactic acid and blaming that for the pain.
This could be for a variety of reasons but the thing I think is most likely is that they could absorb oxygen much better avoid anaerobic respiration (low energy production)that creates lactic acid in the first place. If they are able to sustain aerobic respiration (high energy production) longer, they can have their bodily energy demands met and continue to do their activity never producing lactic acid.
The cause of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is separate from lactic acid but may be related in a person’s ability to metabolize and regenerate tissue as that guy clearly has an efficient body.
Now I’m curious to know why inflammation from exercise is good for your body but other types of inflammation, say chronic inflammation from excessive sugar consumption or autoimmune disorders, are bad for us.
Exercise can reduce chronic inflammation, but the immediate effect of exercise is to increase inflammation in the muscles. The inflammation is what triggers the muscles to repair themselves and grow
While this is true, there's still enough evidence pointing in that direction that it's still the more accepted hypothesis over alternate ideas, as far as I know.
"There is a sound theoretical rationale supporting a potential role for EIMD in the hypertrophic response. Although it appears that muscle growth can occur in the relative absence of muscle damage, potential mechanisms exist whereby EIMD may enhance the accretion of muscle proteins including the release of inflammatory agents, activation of satellite cells, and upregulation of IGF-1 system, or at least set in motion the signaling pathways that lead to hypertrophy. Although research suggests that eccentric exercise has greater hypertophic effects compared with other types of actions, a cause-effect relationship directly linking these gains to EIMD is yet to be established."
Damn… I feel like a fool for believing this for so long especially since I spoke so confidently to others about it as well. Haha damn! Thanks for sharing the knowledge OP!