The sensation of cold water against your warm, exhausted muscles might feel satisfying after a tough workout, maybe not because cold water feels good but because you think they’re doing something beneficial. In fact, some athletes submerge their tired muscles in an ice bath as soon as they put down their weights or after an endurance training session. Ice baths are nothing new, athletes have lowered their bodies into chilly baths with temperatures between 34 and 59 degrees Fahrenheit for decades, but they’re not just doing it for the shock of feeling the cold against their skin, some sources say that immersion in an ice bath after a workout reduces muscle soreness and speeds muscle recovery.
Who wouldn’t want less muscle soreness? No one likes achy, sore muscles! Maybe that’s why athletes, bodybuilders, and casual exercisers alike slip into an ice bath after a workout usually staying in the water for 10 minutes or more. But do ice baths hold up to their claims? Do they really reduce muscle soreness after a workout?
Ice Baths and Ice Packs
You might assume that ice baths have the same benefits as ice packs. It’s popular to apply ice to a sore muscle to help ease the pain and swelling created by the injury. You may have done so yourself. After spraining an ankle, you grabbed an ice pack and placed it on the painful, swollen area. Sports medicine doctors and physical therapists even recommend that injured athletes use an ice pack during the first 48 hours after a sprain to reduce swelling. Ice and cold work by constricting the blood vessels in the injury’s area and by reducing inflammation, but don’t get too comfy with that cold water bath. The recommendation to soak your body in an ice bath after a workout may not hold up to science. In fact, doing so may interfere with some adaptations your body makes in response to training.
How Do Ice Baths Supposedly Work?
Ice baths as a post-recovery strategy take advantage of the fact that cold reduces inflammation. After a workout where your muscles work harder than they’re accustomed to, the tissues have some degree of inflammation and ice-cold water reduces blood flow to the inflamed muscles, so you may experience less muscle soreness and recover faster. Sounds good in theory but does it hold up to science?
In a study carried out at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, researchers asked 12 healthy young men to do a training routine that emphasized leg extensions and leg presses. After their session, they placed one leg in cold water at a temperature of 8 degrees Centigrade. The subjects placed their other leg in a warm bath with a temperature of 30 degrees Centigrade.
To determine the impact of the cold water on exercise recovery and muscle building, researchers performed muscle biopsies on the subjects and used tracers to follow muscle protein synthesis. Ice bath lovers take note! Muscle protein synthesis was lower in the leg held in cold water than it was in the leg at a warmer temperature. In fact, muscle protein synthesis dropped by 20%. The cold exposure seemed slow the rate of muscle repair. It also put the brakes on the rate at which muscle cells make new proteins. When they asked the subjects to take cold baths over a two-week period and measured their muscle protein synthesis, it was still 12% lower. These results suggest that the effects may be more than a transient phenomenon.
Although you can’t say for sure that this would reduce muscle growth, it doesn’t help! In addition, the study was small and looked at only one kind of training–strength training. Runners and people who do aerobic exercise take ice baths too, and it’s not clear what impact doing so might have. It’s an area that needs more study. Also, the subjects in the study were male. It’s not clear whether the results would have been the same in females.
What about Muscle Soreness?
Beyond muscle protein synthesis, one of the most popular reasons people jump into an ice bath is to recover faster from exercise. They also hope to reduce muscle soreness. Does an ice bath accomplish that aim? According to some studies, ice baths reduce delayed onset muscle soreness, the aching and stiffness you get around 48 hours after a workout you’re not accustomed to. Ice baths may also reduce muscle swelling. That makes sense since cold constricts blood flow and reduces the delivery of fluid to the area. Yet not all studies show benefits. Some researchers believe the benefits of an ice bath may be more psychological than physiological. You feel a little numb after emerging from an ice bath and you conclude that it must be doing something. However, the evidence that ice baths are more than a placebo is lacking. At best, they may reduce swelling and discomfort short-term because they numb the skin.
The Bottom Line
If you enjoy an ice bath after a workout, take one as long as you know their limitations. Also, know that they may have a negative effect on muscle protein synthesis. That’s not what you want when you’re trying to gain muscle. Hopefully, further research will clarify whether a frigid bath after a workout has actual health and fitness benefits.
References:
- Cas J. Fuchs, Imre W.K. Kouw, Tyler A. Churchward‐Venne, Joey S.J. Smeets, Joan M. Senden, Wouter D. van Marken Lichtenbelt, Lex B. Verdijk, Luc J.C. Loon. Postexercise cooling impairs muscle protein synthesis rates in recreational athletes. The Journal of Physiology, 2019; DOI: 10.1113/JP278996
- com. “Throwing cold water on ice baths: Avoid this strategy for repairing or building muscle”
- com. “Ice bath after workout may not improve fitness”
- Med Sci Sports Exerc 45, 2277–2285.
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