Hot & Cold Showers.. effective?

[daveske]

ok im not sure if this is very advanced so please dont flame. I regularly take hot / cold showers at the gym or at home after my workout session. I was wondering the exact science behind it and whether this is effective and how many people use this.

Also do u finish on hot or cold?

[DevonA]

IMO hot shower after.....i stretch in a hott shower after my workouts...feels f'in good

[Aaron_01]

Are you talking about taking showers that alternate between as hot as you can stand it and as cold as you can stand for about 30 seconds each? If so, they are very effective. When I injured my back I took those every day coupled with icing (using an ice pack) 10 min on/10 min off and some deep tissue massage. It worked wonders and my back recovered nicely.

I usually finished on hot because I went to icing right after I got out of the shower and dried off.

[Jacked_J]

It all depends.

If you have lactic acid build up, then the hot/cold combo will help flush it out.

[fuzzwazser]

Contrast showers are supposed to have a pumping action of the muscles (vasoconstriction followed by vasodialation) to help flush out lactic acid. They do work at reducing soreness. After training always begin and end with cold

[bigcalves]

After a workout try relaxing hot showers. I usually go to sauna then jacuzzi then steam room. After i go and take a nice hot shower. I come back and chill in the pool for 10-20 min and let the cold water 'wake me up'.

When i take regular showers i usually take them cold. I use hot showers only after workouts. Hope this helps.

PS: My 4000th post, YAY!

[HUGE_I_AM]

very important imo

hot showers open your pores and cold showers tend to close them so be sure to add your facial moisturize asap after them!!

lol

i belive hot showers relax/epand/strech out the muscle more whereas cold showers tend to do the opposite

[ADubya26]

this is an interesting thread...thanks to the poster who started it.

So taking a cold/hot/cold shower post workout helps flush out lactic acid, huh?

Anyone with more info please post, im sure a lot of people are interested.

[fuzzwazser]

After a workout try relaxing hot showers. I usually go to sauna then jacuzzi then steam room. After i go and take a nice hot shower. I come back and chill in the pool for 10-20 min and let the cold water 'wake me up'.

When i take regular showers i usually take them cold. I use hot showers only after workouts. Hope this helps.

PS: My 4000th post, YAY!

Your pretty much doing the opposite of what should be done. Cold after training hot at other time in the day. Contrast is also suitable for after training but always start with cold and end with cold

[daveske]

Hm i usually start with hot and end with cold and then just take a cool shower for about 10 seconds afterwards.
Could u explain why u should start with cold and end with cold?
And BigCalves, wat makes u think the opposite. Im very confused as 2 people just contradicted each other.

[HUGE_I_AM]

if you are really considering taking cold or hot showers at certain times for the sake of training you are doing what is considered "over analysing"

[Siouxperman]

Dude, watch fight club, he big dude, knock a ni99a out.

[TheHybrid]

Dude, watch fight club, he big dude, knock a ni99a out.
Umm brad pitt's pretty small

And also I've heard the same thing cold to hot to cold to hot to cold will effectively flush out alot of the lactic buildup in your system.

However, I go against this advice. I really can't beat the feeling of a relaxing hot hot hot shower and stretching.

[garret]

is it bad to take a hot shower before a workout. lets say 45min-1 hr before?

[sword chucks]

I do contrast showers it greatly improves my recovery

also whenever I take a shower I like it cold for some reason

[small_azn]

They're also very good because of the fact that it helps make growth hormone, of course not enough to make you grow an inch a month..
lol
but I like to stay in hot for about 2 minutes then cold for 2 minutes and again for 3-4 more times. If feels like heaven after, it gives your body a numb sensation, but in a pleasant way.

[daveske]

if you are really considering taking cold or hot showers at certain times for the sake of training you are doing what is considered "over analysing"

Im not doing this without anything else (proper diet / proper training / proper rest) in hopes of growing and growing.. Its more i felt less sore and i wanted to know if everybody else did it and how ur actually meant to do it.
It also feels great afterwards.. So yeah not really counting on this for major growth or anything..

[mivi320]

Contrast showers are great.

Ever since I've started using them after workouts, my recover rate has increased. I've experienced minimal soreness after training too whenever I take a contrast shower. Just make sure to begin with cold water and end with cold water.

[Baron Sengir]

Contrast showers are great.

Ever since I've started using them after workouts, my recover rate has increased. I've experienced minimal soreness after training too whenever I take a contrast shower. Just make sure to begin with cold water and end with cold water.

yep, my recovery went thru the roof after i started this awhile back. esp, while cutting.

[chewwy]

They're also very good because of the fact that it helps make growth hormone, of course not enough to make you grow an inch a month..
lol

links?

[doer20]

if you are sore try takeing a cold tub for about 10-12 mins you may have to work up to this before you can stay in this long, this works best at night time. you will feel great the next day

[Troutwine]

They're also very good because of the fact that it helps make growth hormone
yup! i read about it too.

question - do they have to be like 30 sec hot , 30 sec cold - repeat for ten minutes?

Or can it be 5 minutes hot, then 5 minutes cold then hop out?

Because whenever I do the 30 sec intervals, the cold water closes up my pores up so much to the point its hard 2 clean the dirt out of my skin :(

[Huge_BH_Kid]

if u can visibly see the dirty on ur skin...well ur a dirty kid. but heres a fact

wrestlers(pros not wwe fake ****) after there done here training, they jump in a tub of ice water....yes water with ice cubes.. so cold wow.

they do this because after training ur muscles r swollen, coldness makes the swelling go down, so its better for cold water...if u can bring urself to that


and don't expect to see gains fast from this, or at all
so minimal

[braindx]

DOMS is decreased through the prevention of swelling (cold shower or ice) and then the increased blood flow rate (hot shower or heating pad) which allows the muscle to heal faster. You **must** START with cold to help reduce swelling in the muscles, but it really doesn't matter if you end with cold or hot. Ending with cold usually feels better if you're stepping out into a steamy room. Starting with hot will promote blood flow to the muscles which will increase the rate of swelling initially which will prolong the healing process. Hence, why we ALWAYS ice after say a twisted ankle. Shower intervals should be done a few minutes at a time.

Flushing of lactic acid has nothing at all to do with DOMS, and contrast baths/showers will NOT flush it. Lactic acid is a metabolite, per recent research if you've been keeping up, and not a metabolic waste product produced by muscles. When it is converted back into pyruvate and sent through the citric acid cycle it helps to rephosphorylate ADP into ATP per oxidative phosphorylation. Contrast showers or baths will do NOTHING to help speed up this process; this is all based up the cells capacity to process metabolites.

[mud-dog27]

ok little bit off topic but seems the most suitable place for this question

the gym i just signed up with has a steam room and after workout i got sit in there for 10mins and feel great afterwards but then my friend got me thinkin im takin creatien which pups water.....so would going in the steam room afterwards have any effect on how the creatien works?

thanks

[Tid0ra]

bump

[erick15]

bump

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[seebee]

lol strong bump.

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[khawk92]

lol epic bump.

Fixed

[AusMatt]

Yeah sorry if I'm annoying anyone by digging up an old thread but this is sort of interesting. Since last Summer (december for me) I've taken cold showers every morning (except for the 1 in 10 times where I wuss out and go slightly warm lol). All that stuff about your pores and lactic acid aside, cold showers are worth the 5-10 seconds' discomfort after getting in, because you feel really refreshed and cool for the next 30 minutes or so. Hot/warm water (whilst it can be very enjoyable) leaves my skin feeling all dry and itchy and alot of people I've casually asked say the same thing. If you think you can brave it, definitely take a cold shower =)

[Dante7]

meh i tryd doing contrast showers but i can't f'ing stand cold water so i take hot showers,feels pretty good

[eggnoodles]

anyone know if/how contrast showers affect distribution of nutrients to muscles? lets say you drink a protein shake 20 mins before one, will the pumping of blood to/from extremities speed up the absorption of nutrients in your muscles?