Why take ice baths. What is the best shower to take after a workout. How to remove muscle pain after training, if it is a constant aching character

To speed up recovery. The topic of the new article is an ice bath: what it is and how it affects the recovery processes.

General information

An ice bath is a large reservoir filled to the top with ice. This procedure most often means lowering the legs into a bucket / basin of water. room temperature that is filled with ice. Since the ice melts unevenly, the water temperature drops from 15 to 0 gradually, which reduces the risk of catching a cold.

According to a study, using an ice bath:

• reduces the effect of lactic acid;
• quickly eliminates stagnant blood after pumping;
• strengthens the immune system;
• quickly leads the main muscle groups to tone.

The question of why athletes take an ice bath became especially relevant after the British athletics team was seen at the last Olympic Games behind this recreational procedure.

An interesting fact: the team itself has not achieved impressive results. This does not call into question the benefits of taking an ice bath, but proves that its result cannot be compared with taking any kind of doping.

How to take?

How to take an ice bath correctly so as not to harm your health and increase the effectiveness of the training process?

Follow simple rules:

1. Water should be at room temperature (15-20 degrees Celsius), tap water is suitable for this.
2. Without prior hardening, staying in an ice bath for more than 5-7 minutes is not recommended because of the risk of getting a cold. Even if you are hardened, it is not advisable to use the bath for more than 20 minutes.
3. There should be a lot of ice - about 20-40% of the mass of water. Prepare it ahead of time special shapes and putting water in the freezer.
4. It is better to immerse in the ice bath only the muscle groups that worked during the workout, i.e. is not entirely, but immerse only the legs / arms.
5. Before taking an ice bath, it is better to consult a doctor about the dangers of using it in your case.
6. You need to take an ice bath no later than half an hour after training, while lactic acid does not yet have such an intensive effect on recovery processes.

Placebo or benefit?

Why do professional athletes take an ice bath? Is an ice bath really healthy? Experts have not yet come to a consensus. On the one hand, ice bath coaches believe that it actually increases the performance of athletes by 5-10%, which is important in a competitive environment. On the other hand, opponents of the use of an ice bath indicate that the stress after a workout is already so great, as a result of which the risk of getting sick when using this procedure increases significantly.

Let's take a closer look at both positions.

Harm to health

Despite the potential benefits of taking an ice bath, the harmful effects negate the effectiveness of the technique.

What are the possible consequences:

1. Heart problems. This is especially true for athletes over 35 years of age. An ice bath can cause muscle cramps, including the heart.
2. Seizures. Due to hypothermia, instead of relaxing, the muscles enter a phase of constant tension - this is a protective reaction of the body, which, due to such contractions, increases internal temperature body.
3. Cold. Training in itself is stressful for the body, so an additional load in the form of hypothermia often ends in colds.
4. Diseases of the genitourinary system. When immersed in a bath above the level of the belt, there is a high risk of overcooling the reproductive organs.
5. Joint pains. For people suffering from pain in the joints, hypothermia of the extremities is contraindicated.
6. Increasing pressure.

Note: The risk of these effects increases if the temperature regime, or prolonged exposure to an ice bath.

Brief summary

For different types sports and different loads have developed their own variations of taking an ice bath. Let's take a look at all the available data in the table.

Conclusion

Why do athletes take ice baths if the procedure is potentially harmful? In competitions, it is important to achieve maximum results. To do this, use absolutely everything available funds ranging from massage to placebo. If an ice bath is able to increase the performance of an athlete by at least 5-7%, this can be a decisive indicator in obtaining the coveted victory. Therefore, despite possible harm, the ice bath is so popular with Olympic athletes.

Remember the main points regarding the ice bath after training:

1. High risk of catching a cold. This is due to the fact that the body is in a state of extreme stress after training (competitions).
2. Incorrect immersion or insufficient hardening is likely to result in serious problems with health.
3. The effectiveness of taking ice baths has not been scientifically proven.
4. The procedure will not increase the productivity of the training cycle, it will only reduce side effects such as krepatura, lactic acid retention, etc.

In view of the foregoing, the editors would not recommend the use of ice baths for non-professional athletes.

Cold bath - great way strengthen the immune system, make the body work more actively, harden. Such a bath tones and awakens, strengthens immune systems of the body, tightens the skin, making it more elastic, accelerates blood circulation, which makes the body work more actively and keep viruses and diseases out, increases blood pressure. After such a bath, the body warms up from the inside, you will feel a pleasant burning sensation, tingling of the skin.

How to take a cold bath

The water temperature is not more than 20 degrees. Immediately plunge into the water with such a temperature is not for everyone. Therefore, if you cannot immediately, lower the temperature gradually, starting from 30 degrees. Lower each dose by a few degrees. A cold bath is recommended to be taken in the morning, preferably at least once a week in winter, and two to three times in summer.
Optimal time the procedure is about 1 minute, but you need to start from 7-10 seconds.
The less time you spend in the water, the better your body hardens. Before dipping, you need to warm up the body with physical exercises. After it, you should also not stand still, but run or jump. If you follow these rules, then you should feel the effect of cold baths very quickly. Especially cold baths are useful for people who are actively involved in sports.

The effect of taking cold baths

bath with cold water well relieves pain from bruises and bumps, relieves severe headache(unless it's caused by a cold).
After such baths, people feel a surge of strength and vital energy. Mature organisms seem to be rejuvenated and cleansed. A person gets sick less, his performance improves. The mood rises and personal life improves.

When you start the day with such stress for the body, it is already ready for any climatic (and not only) tests. People who take cold baths get rid of weather dependence and lunar influence on the body.

Cold baths are a great way to heal

Cold full baths can also be used to treat patients. This method was widely used by our ancestors, who knew that with the help of a short-term action of cold water, you can quickly knock down high temperature and ease the fever that burns the patient. Cold water turns on the body's defenses and makes it fight the disease: breathing is easier, blood flow improves. This method is especially effective at the very beginning of the disease. In the 19th century, cold baths successfully treated even such dangerous disease like typhoid fever. They have the same properties cold shower and dousing. For patients who do not get out of bed, rubbing can be applied, which will also be of great benefit, but the procedure should be carried out with great care.

Baths with ice - will help from krepatura

After intense or unusual exercise, after training with forcing one's own capabilities, as a rule, there is soreness in the muscles. This condition is called "krepatura" (another term is DOMS). It usually lasts from 24 to 48 hours. Main symptoms: muscle stiffness, swelling, muscle soreness, decreased strength.

This is due to mechanical damage in the muscle fibers, which leads to pain and inflammation. Many mistakenly believe that warming the muscles can relieve pain, and take hot baths. But athletes to deal with pain practice ice baths, or baths with ice.

For professional athletes, baths are prepared by specialists, but we can use their experience and make an ice bath at home.

Ice bath rules:
- The water temperature for the ice bath is 10-15 degrees Celsius.
- You can stay in an ice bath for five minutes. Much depends on your condition and reaction, some make such baths longer, up to 20 minutes.
- The easiest way to make an ice bath is to pour cold water into the bath. tap water and add ice from the freezer.
- It is best to take an ice bath no later than half an hour after training.
- An ice bath is not taken on the whole body, that is, it is not worth immersing completely. The safest thing is an ice bath on your feet, you can - below the waist, and very rarely it is worth diving to the chest (full immersion only after consulting a doctor!).

Many people know this way to get rid of muscle pain after a workout as an ice bath. Professional athletes resort to it quite often. But we still have questions: is this method suitable for us, and how safe is it?

Word to science
Runner's World magazine, back in 2008, wrote: Ice baths are named one of the most effective ways compensate for the damage caused during training. Immersion in cold water suppresses inflammation and heat in the muscles, as low temperatures constrict blood cells and reduce metabolic activity.

Most recently, scientists looked at more than 17 studies and found that ice bathing reduced muscle soreness by 20% compared to doing nothing. This method has also been found to be slightly more effective than elastic bandages and stockings, as well as light running.

However, the method also has its critics. The main doubt is that ice baths can lead to heart palpitations and, as a result, to a heart attack.

Therefore, it is worth knowing how to properly take ice baths in order to get only the advantages of this method, and not its disadvantages.

Ice baths: how to take it right?
After intense or unusual physical exercises, after training with forcing one's own capabilities, as a rule, there is soreness in the muscles. This condition is called "krepatura" (another term is DOMS). It usually lasts from 24 to 48 hours. Main symptoms: muscle stiffness, swelling, muscle soreness, decreased strength.

This is due to mechanical damage in the muscle fibers, which leads to pain and inflammation. Many mistakenly believe that warming the muscles can relieve pain, and take hot baths. But athletes to deal with pain practice ice baths, or baths with ice. Images of American gymnasts from the US Olympic team at the London Olympics were circulating on Twitter, where they take ice baths after hard starts, trying to recover faster.

For professional athletes, baths are prepared by specialists, but we can use their experience and make an ice bath at home.

Ice bath rules:
- The water temperature for the ice bath is 10-15 degrees Celsius.
- You can stay in an ice bath for five minutes. Much depends on your condition and reaction, some make such baths longer, up to 20 minutes.
- The easiest way to make an ice bath is to pour cold tap water into the bath and add ice from the freezer.
- It is best to take an ice bath no later than half an hour after training.
- An ice bath is not taken on the whole body, that is, it is not worth immersing completely. The safest thing is an ice bath on your feet, you can - below the waist, and very rarely it is worth diving to the chest (full immersion only after consulting a doctor!).

Useful criticism
In order not to harm health, it is worth listening to the critics of ice baths. Firstly, there are a number of experts who cannot find scientific confirmation of the effect of ice baths. They believe that the whole thing is the so-called placebo effect.

Other doctors say that it is not worth relying entirely on pain relief only on an ice bath. You need to combine several ways to relieve pain: water procedures, massage, stretching.

It is worth considering strict warnings from almost all doctors: Not everyone can benefit from an ice bath. The shock effect on the body that immersion in cold water produces cannot be underestimated. An ice bath can affect the heart, blood vessels, respiratory system. An ice bath can greatly increase blood pressure and heart rate.

Even athletes do not use ice baths regularly, only during very heavy loads. The long-term effects of an ice bath have not been studied, so don't get carried away. Remember that during our Russian holiday of Epiphany, when believers swim in the hole, an ambulance is always on duty nearby to help unprepared people with a weak heart and high pressure. Be careful!

Examples:
http://www.sovsport.ru/news/text-item/584075
Spartak players took ice baths after training

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida

and a little more

This practice is widely used by famous athletes, it is quite possible that it will suit you too. Maybe someone has already tried ice baths several times, but did not notice significant improvements, most likely the reason lies in the wrong method of taking ice baths. Subject to correct technique and a regular schedule for taking ice baths, it affects the regenerative processes of the body, contributes to a surge of strength and improved athletic performance.

For maximum effect Ice baths are best taken in hydro pools. For many people, the phrase ice bath causes shivering and chills. And it's really cold. Not every one of us enjoys a cold shower, but an ice bath after an intense workout or a long run just works wonders.

It has been proven that as a result of a long run or a series of short sprints, the muscles receive many microtraumas.

These microtraumas are nothing but microruptures of muscle fibers, which is quite normal for football players. After intense training, the athlete feels muscle pain, and not each rupture separately, since a fiber rupture is a microtrauma that is imperceptible to humans.

Low ice temperature reduces muscle pain, helps with sprains and inflammation, and also prevents rupture of muscle tissue. Cold water stimulates the recovery of muscle cells and the healing of torn muscle fibers. Immersion in an ice bath relieves tension from aching muscles. In the process of running and training, almost all muscle groups are involved, so when you are completely immersed in the bath, you do not affect one part of the body or muscle group, but the whole body as a whole. For example, if your legs hurt after a workout, the cold temperature will help restore the muscles of both limbs, quadriceps, Achilles tendons, and buttocks.

Ice bath at home

In order to take an ice bath at home, it is not at all necessary to buy a fabulously expensive hydro pool - regular bath and a few packs of ice will suffice. cook a large number of ice, in cubes or in special bags. The optimum temperature of such a bath should not exceed 15С.

Ice can be made at home or purchased from the store. Before exercising or jogging, fill the tub with enough water to completely submerge your lower body up to your waist. After returning from a workout or run, add ice to the bathtub filled with water.

If you have a thermometer, take the temperature of the water before diving.

Do not plunge into cold water too abruptly, the body should get used to the low temperature.

Don't stay in the bath too long ten minutes will be enough. Staying longer, for example twenty minutes, you run the risk of severely damaging your muscles, rather than repairing them. The first procedures are the most difficult stage, over time the body gets used to low temperatures and no longer perceives the ice bath as a stress factor.

Tips and Cautions

While taking a bath, it is great to have something warming on hand, such as a cup of tea. A magazine or an interesting book will allow you to pass the time and abstract from the feeling of cold. After an ice bath, it is recommended to take warm shower or hot bath duration from 30 minutes to an hour. Under conditions of extreme low temperature, muscle tissue, respectively, and the muscles themselves contract. It is possible that after immersing in an ice bath, you will immediately want to jump out of it, experts advise to gather strength and not to do this. As a motivation, constantly think about the fact that you endure the cold for the sake of repairing damaged muscles, and proper and fast recovery directly affects your endurance and the level of your athletic performance.

If possible, periodically check the water temperature with a thermometer. If you decide to take an ice bath, it is better for someone from your family to know about it, it is unlikely that any of your relatives will want to join you, but for safety reasons this step is quite justified.

So, you are ready to take an ice bath. Believe me, for all the extremeness of this type of therapy, it will definitely help you achieve your goals. The experience of world-famous athletes is another proof of this. Runners and athletes claim that it is ice baths that help them quickly restore muscles, avoid injuries and show better results. If you plan to participate in competitive activities, ice baths will help you prepare your muscles and show maximum results. There is nothing for muscle recovery after an intense and long workout better baths filled with ice.

One way to reduce muscle pain after a workout is to apply ice or cool aching muscles in the legs or arms with a special spray. Sports doctors recommend these manipulations because low temperatures slow down metabolism, reduce blood flow and, accordingly, reduce pain. Could an ice bath have the same effect on athletes? After all, many of them believe that post-match cold baths are not only useful, but also pleasant for a tired body.

Why do athletes need to take ice baths?

Scientists have been studying the issue of the effects of cold on the human body for a long time, and as a result of one of the latest studies, it turned out that after difficult workouts and large unusual loads, professional athletes do not go for a hot shower to relax tired muscles, but sit in an ice bath.

This procedure relieves krepatura - muscle clamp after serious exertion - and helps to remove the following consequences of hard training:

• muscle stiffness;
• edema;
• aching pain in the ligaments;
• a pulling and tingling condition during flexion and extension of the joints, which occurs due to the fact that after training, lactic acid accumulates in the muscles, which is released during exercise.

Why take an ice bath? Precisely because the listed consequences haunt athletes for two to three days after productive activities, and cold bath promotes rapid recovery.

How to take and optimal water temperature

The procedure will be most effective within half an hour after training, when the muscle fibers are well warmed up, slightly damaged by a heavy load and begin active regeneration. It is important here not to harm, but only to enhance the benefits of ice water.

How to take an ice bath correctly? by the most safe method immersion in an ice bath of limbs is considered. For example, you can pour cold running water in a large bucket, where the water will reach the knees, and sit like this for no more than 8-10 minutes.

The water temperature during these manipulations should not be lower than 10-15 degrees Celsius. There you need to put ice cubes so that they cover half the surface of the bath with them. This is done in order to maintain the desired temperature, since the body will automatically begin to warm the water in the bath around it, and there will be no effect.

Experienced athletes use this method. For example, the famous British tennis player, Wimboldon Cup winner Andy Murray plunges into such a bath to the waist or entirely. The water temperature is 8-10 degrees. The recovery scheme for this athlete is as follows: a light snack, a glass of mineral water, massage and as an end to an ice bath after a workout.

Important! Full immersion in an ice bath is possible only after consulting a doctor and conducting an appropriate examination of the body for resistance to such a method.

Is it possible to talk about the benefits and effectiveness?

Why do athletes take ice baths? Of course, for greater efficiency in muscle recovery during heavy loads, because krepatura not only prevents you from concentrating on future workouts, but also seriously interferes with moving forward.

Training through pain can only be advised to beginners and amateurs who can calmly reduce the load and do not play sports all the time. They only need it to maintain physical form. Those who are going to take serious sports heights should make the most of the body's capabilities.

From this side, the effect of cold will be similar to the well-known way of getting rid of a bruise or microtrauma: you need to apply ice to a sore spot, and a bruise can be avoided. Also in the case of an ice bath - cold water slow down blood flow and stop inflammatory process, which always begins, since the muscle fibers get ruptured under load. Consequently, the athlete will be spared from unwanted diseases and restore muscle performance faster.

What damage and harm can be done to the body?

There are opponents of this method, confident that in this way it is possible to cause serious harm to the body.

There is no official research and scientific evidence of the effectiveness of an ice bath for muscle recovery after heavy sports activities. Rather, it is a folk non-patented remedy used by coaches and athletes in their practice.

There are a lot of unofficial scientific experiments proving that an ice bath can benefit the muscles and remove the pain effect. For example, the latest experiment involving scientists from Australia, Norway and Europe, who took blood tests and a biopsy of muscle fluid from professional athletes who practice this method for a week. Sports performance in those who used the ice bath was significantly higher than those who neglected this method of muscle recovery.

However, there were precedents when the pressure rose in the trainees, a condition close to a heart attack arose, and a severe cold appeared and pneumonia developed. After all, immersing even half of the body in such a bath is a shock for the body, which is why it stops producing lactic acid and slows down all the processes that occur in the muscles.

In addition, there are studies where athletes took part, for whom the most important thing was to gain muscle mass and become stronger, for example, weightlifters. For them, the effect of an ice bath was fatal: muscle mass did not increase, but, on the contrary, sharply decreased, since the inflammatory process in the fibers and, accordingly, the krepatura that occurs after, gave an incentive for greater muscle growth. The results of these athletes were much higher after giving up cold baths.

Whether it is possible and how to accept depending on age?

Is an ice bath good for middle-aged and older athletes? The answer is ambiguous.

On the one hand, an ice bath puts a serious strain on the body, which can lead to problems with:

1. Cardiovascular system.
2. Respiratory system.
3. The work of internal organs.

In addition, it is possible to achieve a decrease in soreness at an older age by taking simple anti-inflammatory drugs that do not bring such harm to the body during muscle recovery as an ice bath.

On the other hand, many athletes are against the adoption of synthetic drugs. Trainers, of course, take risks, especially after reaching the age of 65, but still prefer not to slow down the natural recovery process with the help of medications. After all, an ice bath, although it introduces a state of shock, does not contain artificial substances.

How to take depending on the load?

It is absolutely impossible to increase the amount of time spent in an ice bath to recover from heavy loads, because this method is good in the right doses and suitable situations.

Beginner athletes who train at the strength for a week and are already complaining of aching muscles can switch to a different load scheme, or even change their regimen altogether. For example, you can alternate strength and cardio training when there is active muscle recovery, and not immediately sit down in an ice bath.

Those athletes who spend their whole lives in constant training and have long made sports a profession should also not get too carried away with a cold bath. After all, regular physical exercise the body is taught to gradually cope with all the consequences of training.

Already after 2-3 months, the muscles will simply stop whining and will remind of themselves only with a strong overload. That is why you need to consider taking an ice bath not as a permanent panacea, but just another effective remedy.

Can it be used as an emergency recovery method?

Why do athletes take an ice bath? Very often, due to the fact that there is almost no time left for the usual recovery of muscle fibers after a workout. Such an emergency method is often used in serious competitions, when tomorrow is a new competition, and the resources of the body are at the limit, or the legs are unbearably sore.

However, in this situation, it is worth considering before making such a decision. Maybe it's better to make a cold compress and not expose an already exhausted body to new stresses? After all, ice baths are also a kind of strength test.