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Professional athletes frequently take ice baths after a particularly hard workout. Ever wonder why?
Well, I did this one very hot day after a very difficult bike ride, a version of it anyway. The results were almost immediate and long lasting. Using a shower hose, I worked the water temperature from luke warm to as cold as it would go, holding the spray head on the quads, hams, glutes, calves and lower back for just a few minutes over each muscle group. I could literally feel the pain and fatigue drain out of those muscles within about 30 seconds. And to my surprise, the pain and fatigue did not return and remained much less than normal even by the next morning.
This technique is not just a cool shower to recover from heat, which also helps by the way. It is the coldest possible water you can get, applied directly to the affected muscle groups, only for a few minutes. It seems to work best after hard, hot workouts. Try it and see.
Well, I did this one very hot day after a very difficult bike ride, a version of it anyway. The results were almost immediate and long lasting. Using a shower hose, I worked the water temperature from luke warm to as cold as it would go, holding the spray head on the quads, hams, glutes, calves and lower back for just a few minutes over each muscle group. I could literally feel the pain and fatigue drain out of those muscles within about 30 seconds. And to my surprise, the pain and fatigue did not return and remained much less than normal even by the next morning.
This technique is not just a cool shower to recover from heat, which also helps by the way. It is the coldest possible water you can get, applied directly to the affected muscle groups, only for a few minutes. It seems to work best after hard, hot workouts. Try it and see.
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