Nothing ‘evil' and no ‘conundrum' about muscle lactate production
Three pages on PainSci cite Robergs 2012: 1. Does Massage Therapy Work? 2. A Deep Dive into Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness 3. Lactic acid does not cause soreness or fatigue
PainSci commentary on Robergs 2012: ?This page is one of thousands in the PainScience.com bibliography. It is not a general article: it is focused on a single scientific paper, and it may provide only just enough context for the summary to make sense. Links to other papers and more general information are provided wherever possible.
Concise, clear summary of the lactic acid myth, by a physiologist, in a journal. This is the single best professional source citation I know of on this topic.
original abstract †Abstracts here may not perfectly match originals, for a variety of technical and practical reasons. Some abstacts are truncated for my purposes here, if they are particularly long-winded and unhelpful. I occasionally add clarifying notes. And I make some minor corrections.
There is no ‘evil' to muscle lactate production. As there is no clear evidence that lactate has any direct negative effect on muscle contraction, there is also no ‘conundrum' to muscle lactate. Muscle lactate production is essential to sustained, repeated intense muscle contraction. Post-training increases in MCT1 and MCT4 support greater rates and total capacities of muscle lactate efflux during intense exercise performance, thereby allowing for a greater capacity for muscle lactate production and related glycolytic ATP turnover. It is long overdue, based on all aspects of the scientific method, to recognize muscle lactate production as a benefit to intense exercise performance and muscle biochemistry. I encourage researchers and educators alike to present an interpretation of muscle lactate production where the evidence-based view of the benefits of lactate production are espoused rather than a traditional blame of fatigue and acidosis simply because that is how it has always been.
related content
- “From Time Magazine to NBC Commentators: Why is everyone still so confused about lactate (and exercise physiology)?,” Matthew L Goodwin, LetsRun.com.
- “Lactic Acid Is Not Muscles' Foe, It's Fuel,” Gina Kolata, NYTimes.com.
- “Nothing ‘evil' and no ‘conundrum' about muscle lactate production,” Robergs, Experimental Physiology, 2012.
- “Biochemistry of exercise-induced metabolic acidosis,” Robergs et al, American Journal of Physiology, 2004.
This page is part of the PainScience BIBLIOGRAPHY, which contains plain language summaries of thousands of scientific papers & others sources. It’s like a highly specialized blog. A few highlights:
- Restoring trust in menopause management: menopause hormone therapy is not a panacea, and physical activity remains a critical intervention. Tulloh 2025 Br J Sports Med.
- Common interventional procedures for chronic non-cancer spine pain: a systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomised trials. Wang 2025 BMJ.
- Gabapentinoids and Risk of Hip Fracture. Leung 2024 JAMA Netw Open.
- Classical Conditioning Fails to Elicit Allodynia in an Experimental Study with Healthy Humans. Madden 2017 Pain Med.
- Topical glyceryl trinitrate (GTN) and eccentric exercises in the treatment of mid-portion achilles tendinopathy (the NEAT trial): a randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial. Kirwan 2024 Br J Sports Med.