The degree of sore muscles will determine the course of action to recovery. We know that muscle will repair themselves pretty quickly if you don't continue to overwork them. The benefits of massage after a workout are well known as it increases circulation and removes lactic acid, but who can afford it. Using multiple tennis balls or a shiatsubag is great substitute for massage after workouts.

If you want to remove lactate produced in metabolism (not lactic acid) then why not just do a warm down where you jog (or whatever you want) in a steady aerobic state. That will keep blood flow up and remove lactate and other things (like protons) from the muscles.

I'm not saying massages are bad, they can definately help with blood flow to muscles, which is a good thing as long as you don't have an injury that makes you swell up.

Do you know how long it takes the body to remove the excess of lactate and protons made during exercise?

Most of us do relate to the term of lactic acid associated with sore muscles. It is actually lactate, and researchers say it is actually is beneficial to work output and not responsible for the soreness. And no I don't know how long it takes, but I bet you can tell us.

Yeah, lactic acid is imbedded in the language, it's the same here in Norway, we use "melkesyre" which is a compound made out of the Norwegian words for "milk" and "acid"

I don't know how long it takes, but I'm interested in knowing because if it takes a while, then getting a massage later in the day could be benificial for getting lactate quicker to the liver and other places where it can be converted to glucose or used as fuel.