Ice Baths: Aiding Recovery or Limiting Performance?

Tuesday, August 23, 2016. Author Tyler Breedlove

If you were ever a high school or collegiate athlete, chances are your  coach or trainer encouraged you to take ice baths. In fact, universities are notorious for having huge wings of their training facilities dedicated to these “cold water immersion” therapies.

You might remember the feeling yourself. You’ve just finished a hard weight training session and jump into the ice bath. All of a sudden, your lungs feel like they are the size of grapes. Ah, memories… The next day, the inflammation is gone (at least mostly) and you notice that you aren’t as sore as you would have been, had you not taken the icy plunge!

What if I was to tell you, that recent research suggests that those years of ice baths recommended to you by your coaches and trainers may have been hindering your training progress?

Let’s talk about that.