Ice Baths ???? Read this please!

[mrrupo]

I tried this after my morning workout. The boon was that I wasn't sweating when the shower was over and I'm usually a pretty heavy sweater post-showering. The drawback as the OP touched on was catching my breath. I was gasping with some strain while the cold water was hitting my chest and back, the other parts of the shower weren't so bad, not even washing my head. But as soon as it hit my chest it was pretty difficult to control the breathing. I'm going to try and stick with this for a week and see if I notice anything

well i was exageratting. i don't mean HOT... i just meant take your normal warm shower or something and alternatively switch.

and i said i heard so i'm not sure.


imma try it tonight. but i usually take showers like 2 in the morning =\ so it's too cold to take a cold shower.

ok, you should not take ice cold showers (i mean, you can, it wont do any harm, so long as you have a healthy heart.) Just take cool showers (imagine a Caribbean waterfall, cool but refreshing). The shower should definitely not be warm though (it's not "bad" to take warm showers after working out, it's just that it prevents recovery and increases soreness).

[lilaznjoker]

i see. i took one yesterday. ice cold. yeah it was hard to breathe when the water hit my chest. i would do the "carribean falls" but i didnt know if it was cold enough.

[j]

this is called cold water dousing. it appears to be beneficial for your arteries in that it helps detoxify them. the contraction and expansion from the hot and cold water alternatively does have health benefits. it has been used in japan, korea, china, and russia for at least a few hundred years.

couple of points i need to mention.

1 - do it in the morning at the end of your shower.

2 - do roughly 10 to 20 seconds warm/hot and 10 to 20 seconds cool/cold alternatively for 3 times.

3 - after a workout, it may not be the best. i have not done research on this.

4 - you need to try to relax with the cold water. your breathing will not suffer if you can relax. learning lower abdomen breathing helps here.

5 - do your own research and experimentaion. it is generally called "cold water dousing" and many elders in europe and asia swear by it. in fact, there are spas dedicated to this treatment.

hope this helps. i have never had a problem with it.

[lilaznjoker]

this is called cold water dousing. it appears to be beneficial for your arteries in that it helps detoxify them. the contraction and expansion from the hot and cold water alternatively does have health benefits. it has been used in japan, korea, china, and russia for at least a few hundred years.

couple of points i need to mention.

1 - do it in the morning at the end of your shower.

2 - do roughly 10 to 20 seconds warm/hot and 10 to 20 seconds cool/cold alternatively for 3 times.

3 - after a workout, it may not be the best. i have not done research on this.

4 - you need to try to relax with the cold water. your breathing will not suffer if you can relax. learning lower abdomen breathing helps here.

5 - do your own research and experimentaion. it is generally called "cold water dousing" and many elders in europe and asia swear by it. in fact, there are spas dedicated to this treatment.

hope this helps. i have never had a problem with it.

hey. thats what i kinda said my first post.

[Lenny McLean]

DO NOT TAKE A HOT SHOWER AFTER WORKING OUT. that is horrible advice. it prevents recovery, keeps lactic acid in your muscles, and promotes swelling of... muscles, tendons, joints, everything really.

I heard that one before and always have lukewarm showers. Plus hot showers put you to sleep and make you feel tired in general. Inmorning a hot shower gets you late to work.

i heard that you can just like take a hot shower. then alternatively switch from hot to cold for a minute or 3 and just keep on doing that

I tried that and it was not half as effetive. The cold bath seems to get to all the muscles and all areas whereas a cold shower only effects the place where water is landing.

[Lenny McLean]

yeah i asked this question before and i think it works. It has help my recovery and i feel more refresh. i came across this article that might interest you.
http://www.medindia.net/news/Ice-Bat...ed-23419-1.htm

but i was just wondering will a cold shower work as well as a cold bath

Just finished reading that now, interesting. I suppose you always have two camps for every theory. The research is also based on what people 'feel' and report so I gues sit is what works for you after trial and error rather than arguing about theories. Pragmatism applied to training is the best way.