Where does the acid come from?
So we have determined that lactate or lactic acid is not 
the cause of acidity within the muscle cells, so what is?
There are reactions going on within the cell that produce hydrogen ions (acid) and the cells have a limited ability to be able to buffer (mop them up) these ions through various mechanisms that involve lactic acid production, amino acids, proteins and creatine phosphate hydrolysis to name a few. Once the ability of these buffering systems is exceeded the hydrogen ions quickly accumulate resulting in acidosis within the cell.
There are a few theories as to where the hydrogen ions that make the cell acidic come from and these generally involve the hydrolysis of a molecule called ATP (the universal currency of energy within cells). This being said, these theories have not yet been confirmed and we must not make the same mistake that was made with lactic acid and assume.
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