Ice Baths
- Thread starter Nastycrow
- Start date
I have found that ice baths are a bit to over the top for many atheltes, plus they are a pain in the *** if you dont have the proper equipment. My old girlfriend was a D1 hockey player and i used to give her ice baths. She hated them. So then we switched to ice cold showers switched to hot shower. We did this for 30 seconds each for 8-10 minutes. She said she felt way better after that. There isnt a ton of research on the effectivness of ice baths, but IMO the cold *** shower with hot intermittent are just as effective. MAX
Sometimes my club will have Ice baths for us after training, freezes the balls off you. When I go running on the road I have a bath of cold water afterwards, it's no Ice bath but it helps relax my legs and reduce stiffness without the feeling that I'm going to lose my crown jewels to frost bite.
FIGHT! Life - Junior Dos Santos: Ice Bath
UFC heavyweight prospect Junior Dos Santos talks about his present, future, and how he's going to knock out Brock Lesnar from an ice bath behind Black House.11/18/09
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/v/4Vj5MRw8rSk[/youtube]
maxtrainer said:
So then we switched to ice cold showers switched to hot shower. We did this for 30 seconds each for 8-10 minutes. She said she felt way better after that. There isnt a ton of research on the effectivness of ice baths, but IMO the cold *** shower with hot intermittent are just as effective. MAX
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The intermitant shower thing works pretty well for me.
I heard that there was a study done that shows it increases testosterone for a bit. With cold showers or ice baths. Not sure if it's broscience or not, but I always feel energized and wide awake after taking a cold shower. What I will do is soap up with it warm and as i'm rinsing off gradually turn it to as cold as it goes. It makes the breathing erratic, and it's almost as if the entire body is taking a breath. I do feel good after them though
Does anyone soak their hands in ice water after boxing? If your hands are sore, as opposed to injured, is the ice/heat alternation better for recovery than ice alone? Presumably, the ice/heat alternation is increasing blood flow, not decreasing it, as is the case with the ice alone.
Just a tip,
When doing intermitant showers in a place without constant hot water, it is better to turn the hot down when you want cold instead of just turning the cold up.
It really sucks finding out that you have just wasted all the hot water and you just had a cold as you could stand shower in the middle of winter.
Study: Why You Should Not Take an Ice Bath After Exercising
Kristine Thomason
, October 11, 2015
Source: iStock
Trainers and athletes alike have sworn by ice baths recoveries for years. While research on the topic is limited,
some studies
have indicated that cold water immersion (CWI) could possibly help speed muscle recovery and ease muscle soreness, especially after a strenuous workout. Many athletes also claim CWI has
other benefits
like flushing out lactic acid and reducing tissue breakdown. Whatever the true scientific effects, ice baths continue to be the most popular method of recovery after an especially rough workout.
But this technique may be in hot water after the findings of recent research.
A
new study
from the University of Queensland, published in The Journal of Physiology, found that immersing your body in cold water after strength training can actually hinder muscle adaptation, rather than speed up the recovery process. To uncover these shiver-worthy findings, lead researchers Dr. Llion Roberts and Dr. Jonathan Peake studied 21 physically active men. In the first part of the study, participants were asked to complete strength training two days a week for 12 weeks. Half the group was treated with a 10-minute, 10 degrees Celsius ice bath. The rest of the group skipped the chilly recovery and instead warmed down on an exercise bike.
After the 12 weeks were complete, the group who warmed down on the bikes ended up showing increased muscle strength and mass compared to the ice-bathers.
In a secondary study, researchers took muscle biopsies of men after they’d performed the same post-workout routine — either ice bath or warm down. Similarly to the first study, the results favored the warm-down group. The researchers found that the activity of satellite cells, like muscle stem cells, and other physiological necessities to building muscle were reduced up to two days after exercise with the ice bath group.
All of these findings counter previous beliefs about the best form of recovery for athletes. Such as a study published in
Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise
that found ice baths were useful in reducing swelling in muscle tissue. However, even in this study, and in many others of its kind, scientists have acknowledged that there could be some long-term drawbacks to this recovery method. Roberts believes the harm of ice baths, including a lack of long-term muscle gains, could be the result of reduced blood flow caused by cold water. But it’s still somewhat unclear why these results poured cold water on the ice bath recovery technique.
Other reasons could potentially be affecting the research — considering it’s impossible to control every muscle-building factor in a study. For example, the strength loss could be a result of a subject’s poor nutrition or lack of sleep.
While Peake does advise people to steer clear of ice baths, especially after strength training, more research is necessary before making conclusive claims. This means most athletes probably won’t be giving up their chilly post-workout routine any time soon. However, if these latest results make you a bit wary of bathing in ice, there’s plenty of other ways to ease your muscles post workout. For a few alternative options,
Shape
recommends using compression garments or engaging in a lot of active post-workout stretching for similar results.
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I had to do an ice bath or two when I was going through PT recovering from a severe hamstring tear... I hated it.
Only time I use ice these days is to reduce swelling (rolled ankle, jammed finger, etc.)
Personally though... if someone swears by an ice bath and thinks it helps them recover faster, or, feels they can workout harder knowing they have that ice bath waiting for them? More power to them.
I don't know enough about them either way to try to encourage or dissuade someone.