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If you've ever pushed yourself through a hard workout, you've probably "felt the burn." It's that familiar sensation of pain and exhaustion in the muscles when they almost feel like they're on fire.

This feeling has long been said to be caused by a buildup of lactic acid in the muscles. In fact, this remains a common explanation among recreational exercisers and elite athletes alike.

But this belief is wrong—and lactic acid has nothing to do with the burn we feel when we exercise.

The origins of the lactic acid myth go back to the early 1900s. Scientists discovered that when they electrically stimulated the muscles of amphibians, lactic acid accumulated. This happened both when the muscles lacked oxygen and when they were stimulated until they fatigued.

Based on this and the understanding of biochemistry at the time, scientists concluded that when muscles work hard and aren't getting enough oxygen, lactic acid accumulates and muscle fatigue develops.

However, this early work never explicitly said that lactic acid caused muscle fatigue. Rather, it said that muscle fatigue is accompanied by increases in lactic acid. Just because two things happen at the same time does not mean one causes the other. But the misapplication of cause and effect led to the birth of the lactic acid theory of muscle fatigue.

Lactic acid accumulation was thought to cause muscle pain and fatigue in two main ways: by impairing some of the processes involved in muscle contraction and by reducing the muscles' ability to generate energy .

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