Ice baths are all the rage right now. Professional athletes and popular health gurus claim they reduce muscle soreness and rapidly speed up recovery. But when should you take the plunge–before or after your workout?
While ice baths help reduce inflammation, plunging in right after exercise could slow down muscle growth. So, let's tackle the pros and cons of timing your icy dip and figure out what's best for your recovery.
What Is Cold-Water Immersion Therapy ("Ice Baths")?
Cold-water immersion therapy, commonly known as ice baths or cold plunging, is a therapeutic practice gaining popularity among fitness enthusiasts for its many health benefits. It involves submerging your body, usually up to your neck or shoulders, in cold water, which ranges from 37-59°F (3-15°C). It's basically taking a full-body dip into really cold water for a brief period.
This may sound like a painful experience that’s detrimental to your body, but it actually provides your system with a combination of benefits you can't get elsewhere. Essentially, you're stressing your nervous system like you would stress your muscles while lifting or running. Every time you take an ice bath, your brain and body get better at handling brief, intense stress.
Frequent ice bathing can also sharpen your mind. Each time you take the icy dip, you benefit from decreased anxiety, reduced cortisol levels, and boosted mental resilience.
Ice bathing not only impacts the mind but also reduces exercise-induced inflammation and supports lymphatic circulation, which helps clear waste from tissues and organs. This combination may ease delayed-onset muscle soreness, reduce fatigue, and speed up recovery between intense workouts.
Now, let's get to the real question: When should you actually take the ice bath—before or after your workout? Here's a look at the benefits and drawbacks of each option so you can decide which approach is best for you.
Pre-Workout Ice Baths
Is taking an ice bath before a workout actually helpful? Can it really improve endurance, or does it come with more risks than rewards? And how exactly does cold water affect the body before intense exercise?
To answer these questions, we must examine the science behind "pre-cooling" and how it can boost performance and create unique challenges. Here's what you need to know.
Benefits of Pre-Workout Ice Baths
- Pre-cooling, or cooling down your body before a workout, is especially valuable for training in hot conditions. Taking an ice bath before your workout can reduce strain on your body by lowering your core temperature before exertion.
This gives you a buffer against the heat so that you can maintain your performance longer during intense summer runs or HIIT sessions. A 2012 study published in BMC Medicine found cold-water immersion to be the most effective pre-cooling method, particularly in managing body temperature during exercise in warm climates.
- Tapping into your body's natural stress response prior to exercise can make you feel more hyped up and ready to tackle your workout. When you ice bath, your body triggers its fight-or-flight response - the instinctive system that sharpens your senses and prepares you for action.
This psychological boost can be a game-changer for those who struggle with motivation or find it hard to get into the right mindset for exercise. This isn't just theory: a 2023 study published in MDPI showed that after just 5 minutes in a (20°C) cold tub, people felt more active, alert, attentive, proud, and inspired. They also reported feeling less distressed and nervous.
Yankouskaya, A.; Williamson, R.; Stacey, C.; Totman, J.J.; Massey, H. Short-Term Head-Out Whole-Body Cold-Water Immersion Facilitates Positive Affect and Increases Interaction between Large-Scale Brain Networks. Biology 2023, 12, 211. https://doi.org/10.3390/biology12020211
While your mind knows you're safe, your body responds with heightened awareness and energy - exactly what you want before training. By using an ice bath to activate this natural response, you're priming your body and mind for a more focused, energized workout.
Drawbacks of Pre-Workout Ice Baths
- The shock from the cold water can affect your strength. It can make your muscles feel stiff and slow to respond, which isn't great if you're planning a workout that requires a lot of strength, power, or speed. Activities like sprinting, jumping, and lifting weights might be affected, and your arms are particularly vulnerable to the cold (Wiley Online Library).
This means you might struggle with exercises that require a lot of upper body strength like bench pressing or doing pull-ups. The cold can also make it harder to maintain your grip on weights or equipment, which can be dangerous.
Simply Put:
Overall, while a pre-workout ice bath can make you feel more awake and ready to exercise, it also has its drawbacks. Cold water can stiffen your muscles, reduce strength, and potentially slow your performance. Before jumping into a cold tub, consider whether the benefits outweigh the drawbacks for your specific workout and fitness goals.
Post-Workout Ice Baths
After a challenging workout, an ice bath can help speed recovery by reducing muscle soreness and inflammation.
This quick cooldown is especially useful for athletes who need to recover fast for back-to-back training sessions or events, though it may have drawbacks for those focused on long-term muscle growth.
Benefits of Post-Workout Ice Baths
- Ice baths after intense exercise significantly benefit muscle recovery, according to a 2022 review of 52 studies. They enhance muscular power, reduce soreness, and improve perceived recovery, partly by lowering creatine kinase levels, a marker of muscle damage. This can be especially helpful for those with back-to-back training sessions or games, like triathletes or tennis players.
- Additional research found that spending 10 minutes in a 50°F (10°C) cold tub helped male athletes lift more weight in muscle function tests and bounce back quicker compared to active recovery like cycling (American Physiological Society). So, for athletes who need to get back to training or competing fast, the ability to recover fast outweighs the potential drawbacks.
Drawbacks of Post-Workout Ice Baths
- While ice baths might make you feel less sore and more refreshed, they can also slow down your muscle growth. Some experts argue that inflammation is a natural and necessary part of building muscle. By reducing it with ice baths, you might be slowing down your muscle growth.
Over time, regularly taking ice baths after workouts could even hinder your progress. This is especially important if you're focused on strength training and want to see long-term gains. A 2020 meta-analysis pointed out that frequent post-workout cold plunges might negatively impact strength gains and training adaptations over time (Sports Medicine).
- Another issue is reduced blood flow. When you take an ice bath, your blood vessels constrict, restricting blood flow to the muscles. After a hard workout, your muscles rely on a process called protein synthesis to repair and grow. However, reduced blood flow limits the delivery of essential nutrients, including proteins, to your muscles, potentially delaying recovery and limiting muscle growth over time. This can hinder your body's ability to build new muscle tissue as efficiently.
Simply Put:
In short, while post-workout ice baths can feel good and provide some immediate relief, they might also have some significant downsides, especially if your main goal is building muscle and improving long-term strength.
Should You Ice Bath Before Or After Working Out?
Choosing whether to take an ice bath before or after your workout comes down to your workout goals and the conditions in which you're training. Here's a look at both options to help you decide what's best for you.
When To Ice Bath Before Your Workout:
If you're gearing up for a workout in hot weather—like a long run or an intense session in an outdoor environment—an ice bath beforehand can help you push through the workout without feeling overwhelmed by the heat.
A pre-workout ice bath is the way to go if you want to recover as fast as possible without interfering with your natural recovery process.
When NOT To Ice Bath Before Your Workout:
For workouts focused on strength, like weightlifting or sprints, a pre-workout ice bath may not be the best choice since your muscles might not be able to perform at full capacity right away.
When To Ice Bath After Your Workout:
Taking an ice bath after a workout, especially one that's left you feeling sore, can be highly beneficial for recovery. For athletes with intense workouts—such as those with back-to-back training sessions or brick workouts—post-exercise ice baths may be better.
If you need fast relief and have a packed training schedule, a post-workout ice bath can be a great tool to keep you in the game.
When NOT To Ice Bath After Your Workout:
If you're focusing on strength and muscle gains over time, consider saving ice baths for those particularly intense sessions or special occasions.
Dr. Andrew Jagim, Ph.D., Sports Medicine, emphasizes this: "If an athlete has an intense two-week period of practice or a three-day tournament and they are struggling with pain or soreness, I may recommend adding ice baths post-workout. But I would advise against using them every day as they may hinder long-term adaptations."
Personal Experience With Ice Baths:
I've taken ice baths before and after workouts for over 10 years, and my favorite time to take them is before a workout. The main reason is that I've found that activating my fight-or-flight response before a workout really gets my mindset in the right place, and for me, that's everything. I'd rather go into a workout feeling alert and energized than finish a workout feeling alert and energized.
On the flip side, there have been times when taking an ice bath after working out has benefited me more. For example, my training split for my most recent triathlon called for 4 days of lifting weights and 6 days of cardio per week. That included multiple brick workouts, which are back-to-back high-intensity workouts.
I'm positive that if I hadn't taken an ice bath after those sessions, I wouldn't have been able to get the recovery I needed. All of that mechanical stress caused a lot of inflammation and soreness, which would decrease every time I took an ice bath.
They also made me want to rest more than I normally would have, and that additional rest definitely helped me recover faster.
Other Ways To Practice Cold Therapy:
- Cold showers are the easiest and most beginner-friendly way to practice cold water therapy. You can expect the same benefits you get from ice baths, just to a lesser extent.
To start, turn your shower to a regular temperature, then gradually lower it until the hot water is completely off. Stand directly under it for at least 30 seconds while the cold water hits you on your head and face.
This is not only good for your muscles, but it can also help reduce any anxiety you may be experiencing and is great for your skin!
- Cryotherapy is another option. Cryotherapy involves stepping into a cryo-chamber that blasts -225°F (-143°C) air at you for 2-3 minutes.
Again, you can expect similar benefits, but it's less beginner-friendly and requires more commitment (finding a cryotherapy facility, scheduling an appointment, paying a fee).
Conclusion
While ice baths may seem attractive for improving workout performance and recovery, they come with a few important caveats. The current research on pre-workout ice baths is limited. Studies mainly show short-term improvements in alertness rather than muscle performance. While they can make you feel more awake and ready to tackle a workout, they may also cause muscle stiffness and affect strength. Moreover, spending too long in cold water or exposing your body to extreme temperatures can lead to cold shock. This causes rapid changes in heart rate, breathing, and blood pressure, so taking precautions is necessary.
It's also essential to recognize that cold exposure doesn't affect everyone the same way. Some people may find it stressful or uncomfortable, potentially outweighing any benefits. For those unaccustomed to the cold, it can be a real shock to the system and may even negatively affect recovery if you can't fully relax.
Ultimately, whether to take an ice bath before or after a workout depends on your personal goals and how your body reacts to cold exposure. If you're training in hot conditions or need quick relief, pre- or post-workout ice baths may be helpful tools. However, for long-term muscle growth and strength development, you may want to limit use or avoid them after every session. Always listen to your body and use ice baths mindfully to ensure you're reaping the benefits without causing any harm.
Key Takeaway
If you're set on an ice bath before or after every workout, it's usually better to stick with "before." And if you're just getting started, try cold showers first to get used to it.
Research leans toward using ice baths for 11 minutes per week in 2-3 minute sessions prior to your workout rather than 30 minutes per week with 5-10 minute sessions after your workout.
For most people, especially if building muscle is the goal, post-workout ice baths might even slow your progress, so they're best kept as an occasional tool. If your sole focus is reducing muscle soreness, ice baths after your workout are ideal.
FAQS
What happens to your body during an ice bath?
When you take an ice bath, your body kicks into action to keep warm. First, your blood vessels narrow to hold in heat and stabilize your core temperature. If that isn't enough, you may start shivering—your body's way of producing extra warmth. In another response, called nonshivering thermogenesis, blood flows to brown fat, helping burn energy and possibly aiding in weight loss.
What is the best time for an ice bath?
If you're focused on reducing inflammation and soreness, take an ice bath after your workout. If you need a mental and physical boost, take an ice bath before your workout. Consider that this might temporarily affect your grip strength and overall power.
Is it better to cold plunge before or after a sauna?
It’s better to end on cold than hot, so sauna first and ice bath last.