Hot bath or ice bath which is better for recovery

Being a college athlete I always wondered which one would be better for my body after practice/ games. At times I would experiment with both and just put my ankles into a cold tub for 5 minutes and then into the hot bath the next day just to see how my body had adapted to it. So the real question is which is better for recovery?

The physiological effects of hot baths and ice baths differ. After a hard practice or run creates micro-tears in the muscles that cause an inflammatory response which is why you tend to see certain joints hurting or swelling. Ice baths are known to limit this reaction by constricting the blood vessels which could in turn reduce the onset of delayed onset muscle soreness. Which is why they are the best choice after post workout activities.

Hot baths on the other hand promote blood flow to the muscles by dilating blood vessels which is something that you do not want immediately after you exercise. However in the days that follow if you are still having pain a hot bath is recommended to increase circulation which helps the healing process.

So the best time to have an ice bath is when you need a quick recovery turn around time such as playing back to back games or your last hard training session before a big race. You will see the difference in your body and will feel a whole lot better.

Benefits of cold showers

Most of us have heard of either cold tubs and know most of the benefits from them. Not many people know about the benefits of cold showers. I know for myself my thing has always been hot showers. I enjoy them a lot but it wasn’t until recently when I did the research on cold showers that I actually seen the benefits from them. Some of the benefits are below

Increases Alertness

Taking a cold shower in the morning and feeling cold water go down your body seems more discomforting than soothing. However the deep breathing that happens during this process when our body is in shock helps us keep warm and also increases our overall oxygen intake. This gives us the energy boost we need for the day.

2. Refines Hair and Skin

When it comes to hair and skin, one of the most natural ways to maintain it is with cold showers. Ever wonder when you take a hot shower and you get out and you become ashy and your skin is dry? That is because it is drying out our skin. Cold water on the opposite hand tightens up our skin and will tighten our pours which will prevent then from getting clogged. The same thing goes for the scalp where it prevents dirt from getting in it.

3. Simulates Weight Loss

Cold showers can help weight loss in an unexpected way. The human body contains two types of fat tissue white fat and brown fat. White fat is gained when we consume more calories than our body needs to function and we don’t burn off these excess calories for energy. This body fat piles up in a variety of places in our body and is hard to get rid of. Brown fat is good fat which generates head to keep our bodies warm and is activated when exposed to extreme cold temperatures.

#4 Eases Stress & Helps recover faster

Jumping into the shower without letting it heat up or going into a pool without slowly acclimating to it can help increase tolerance to stress and even disease. Also as you may all know ice baths are something that athletes do to help their body recover faster but if you are not at that level yet, cold showers can have the same affect.

Try a cold shower in the morning and see how alert you are for the rest of the day. A lot of you depend on coffee and other energy boosters to help you. But from my past experiences I have been way more alert after a cold shower than any other drink could do for me. And if you can just jump right into a cold shower, start gradually. Try a luke warm shower and then move it to a little colder.

Any questions or advice feel free to contact me on instagram

@lefthandedassassin

Coach Q

Think you are over training?

Over training is something that has been an issue of mine for many years. Playing basketball growing up I had an obsession of wanting to get better. So I would kill myself everyday in the gym for months as a time. Anybody who has me on Instagram and scroll through my old posts can see how obsessively I trained. With this being the case I found my body hurting 24/7. It was not until later in my collegiate career that I realized recovery was a major component when training. When your not allowing yourself to recover this can typically lead to injuries. If you are wondering if you are over training your body here some signs to look out for.

#1 Decreased Performance

One major sign of over training is a lack of improved performance despite increasing your training intensity. Some examples of this would be having a decrease in speed, strength, and endurance and also having slower reaction times are all common signs that you are over training your body.

#2 Excessive Fatigue

It is alright at times to feel sore from the gym or to be aching in pain because you worked out a certain muscle group the previous day. But fatigue eventually will accumulate in your body when you never allow your body to fully recover from previous workout. The key is when you feel your body start to ache excessively it is time to get the proper treatment and rest.

#3 Agitation and moodiness

Over training significantly affects your stress hormones which can cause a hormonal imbalance which then can cause you to have mood swings, and the inability to concentrate.

#4 Restless sleep

Sleep is the place where your body ordinarily has the best time to rest and recover. But the overproduction of stress hormones caused by over training may not allow you to completely relax which makes your sleep less effective.

#5 Nagging injuries

This personally affects me because when I was over training I would notice that if one part of my body was injured and I didn’t take the precautionary steps to fix it when I took a day or week off and thought it would be better it would flare right back up. So over training can cause injures that are very hard to get rid of.

#6 Physiological stress and or depression

Some people that live for the punishing workouts or training for competitions have a difficult time taking off from training. I know for me if the team trainer made me stay out of the gym for specific amount of days for me to recover from an injury I would get depressed because I couldn’t workout. Working out to me is a place where I can let out anything that has been bothering me for the past days or weeks and let out all of my frustrations. But when you realize that your body needs rest in order to get you to the next level that you want to be at, it is something you will implement in your training.