Assessing Ice Baths As A Means Of Recovery
Many individuals partake in the practice of using an ice bath to help speed along the recovery process and improve performance.
But research studies are now demonstrating that this may not actually be the best process to be utilizing.
Researchers out of the Institute of Sport and Exercise Science at the James Cook University studied the effects of cold water immersion on recovery from anaerobic cycling. They had seventeen participates go through the testing process, which involved two different bouts of cycling exercise spread 2-6 days apart.
The test involved doing two 30-second maximal cycling efforts followed by a one hour recovery period consisting of 10 minutes of easy cycling as a cool-down followed by either plain resting, or a 15 minute cold water immersion, with water temperatures of 13-14 degrees Celsius.
After the study was completed, it was noted that peak power, total work and post-exercise blood lactate were significantly reduced after the cold water immersion test in comparison to those who just used passive rest.
In addition to this, the peak heart rate the athletes experienced was significantly lower after the cold water immersion in comparison to the control subjects.
These results can indicate then that while ice baths may help to cool the body down and potentially reduce inflammation, if you’re looking for performance enhancing benefits, you may want to stay away from using them.
Reference:
Crowe MJ. Et al. (2007) Cold water recovery reduced anaerobic performance. International Journal of Sports Medicine. Dec;28(12)994-8.
