TIL the notion that lactic acid is the reason we experience muscle soreness after a workout has been debunked in the 1980s. Research suggests the soreness is a result of a cascade of physiological ...
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."