Should You Take a Hot or Cold Bath for Muscle Recovery?

After an intense workout, do you find yourself dreading the aftermath? The aches, soreness, and tightness can feel like a cruel punishment for your dedication to improving your performance. What's worse, they can hinder your next workout and overall progress. Thankfully, research shows that hot and cold baths are among the best recovery tools for athletes, helping to ease muscle recovery and reduce feelings of soreness. But which one should you choose? In this article, we'll explore the benefits of each method to help you determine the best choice for your recovery goals.
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Why Do We Get Muscle Soreness After Exercise?

Muscle soreness, also known as Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS), is the pain we often feel in our muscles after a challenging workout, especially one we are unaccustomed to. DOMS typically kicks in around 12 to 48 hours after exercise and can last up to 72 hours. 

Anyone can experience DOMS, but it’s especially common when returning to exercise after a break or trying a new type of workout. While DOMS can be uncomfortable, it’s not a cause for concern. It’s a sign that your body is recovering from the stresses of exercise. 

Why Do Our Muscles Get Sore After Exercise? 

To understand why you would apply cold or heat after exercise, it’s handy to know why our muscles get sore when we work out in the first place. There are two reasons you might feel soreness or discomfort after exercise: 

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS)

DOMS can affect anyone, and they’re especially common when you use muscles you haven’t used so much before, typically when trying a new exercise or when returning to training after a break. DOMS usually begin around 24 hours after exercise, lasting 2-3 days. While they’re uncomfortable, DOMS aren’t a cause for concern - indeed, they show your body is recovering well.

We don’t entirely understand why DOMS happens, and it’s probably a combination of factors that cause it. But a widely accepted theory is that microscopic tears appear in your muscle fibers when you exercise. In the hours and days after exercise, your body will repair that damage through inflammation. 

The area will heat up, and your body will deliver more nutrient-rich blood to the muscles. The inflammation will make your muscles feel sore. 

Sports Injury

A sports injury is a much more serious cause of pain after exercise. While some injuries require rest and may benefit from hot and cold therapy, you should seek medical advice. If your injury goes untreated, it could worsen and take longer to heal. 

How Ice and Heat Help Muscle Recovery 

If you get DOMS after exercise, it usually goes away on its own after a couple of days. So, it's worth applying ice and heat packs. The benefit of hot and cold therapy is that it can significantly reduce the severity of the soreness. That means you avoid unnecessary discomfort and can go back to training again sooner.

There’s plenty of evidence of the benefits of hot and cold therapy for treating sore muscles: 

• One study asked two groups to do leg squats for 15 minutes. 
• One group was treated with hot and cold wraps, and the other got nothing. 
• The other received hot and cold therapy, felt less pain, and was much stronger 24 hours later than the other group. 
• A different study designed to cause DOMS in the lower back found that the group who got hot and cold therapy experienced almost 50% less pain than the group that received no treatment.
• Another meta-analysis (study of studies) examined 32 different experiments and found consistent evidence of the benefits of hot and cold therapy for muscle recovery. Putting ice or heat on after exercise can be part of your strategy for a faster recovery.

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Should You Take a Hot or Cold Bath for Muscle Recovery

While exercise fads come in and out of fashion with alarming regularity, simple things stick around for centuries. For muscle recovery, it includes sauna and cold plunge culture from the Nordics. It may look unhinged from the outside but it has health and fitness benefits. 

If you're strapped for time, or don't have the luxury of a sauna on tap, is there one temperature extreme that helps muscles more efficiently than the other? The answer is nuanced, so we asked some experts.

Before considering an ice bath or sauna, ensure you have the basics sorted in your warm-ups and cool-downs. Getting this right helps prevent injury and improve growth. With that sorted, here's how cold and heat therapy can reap more considerable fitness benefits.

Cold Therapy: The Best Method for Muscle Recovery After High-Intensity Cardio Workouts 

There's a lot to be said for a bag of frozen peas. In the same way that it can help a rolled ankle, cold therapy is a handy way to alleviate extreme pain and microtears caused by working out.

“Cold therapy plays a critical role in reducing inflammation and swelling in muscles and joints,” says Sergii Putsov, Olympic weightlifter and Head of Sports Science at Torokhtiy Weightlifting. “Its numbing effect can provide instant relief from muscle soreness and pain. Since it constricts blood vessels, cold therapy helps flush out waste products such as lactic acid from muscles.” 

‍Jumping into an ice bath is particularly good after a cardio session. “It's beneficial immediately after workouts to reduce inflammation and muscle soreness,” says George Thomas from Tennis HQ, “[and] is particularly effective post-cardio to reduce muscle soreness and inflammation.” 

Benefits of Cold Therapy

While Steven Dick, director at The Fitness Group, adds that “cold therapy is particularly beneficial for preventing further tissue damage,” it's also been shown to help in various aspects of your health, including an uplift in mood. Getting the most out of cold therapy can be as simple as jumping in the bath or using ice packs: 

Safe Cold Therapy Practices

Putsov suggests submerging your body in water at 10-15 degrees Celsius (50-59 Fahrenheit). Be aware that cold water can shock you, so take a more gradual approach if you have an underlying heart issue or respiratory condition such as asthma. Don't sit in the ice for longer than 10 minutes. 

When Should You Have an Ice Bath? 

The timing of when to take an ice bath can play a crucial role in maximising its recovery benefits for runners. Most research suggests that ice baths should be taken soon after intense exercise. For instance, a study published in the Journal of Athletic Training in 2017 found that immediate cold water immersion after exercise could reduce muscle inflammation and promote recovery. 

‍“However, ice baths can limit some of the gains in hypertrophy if done in the four hours after training,” says Fullerton. “If the goal is purely to build muscle, it’s better to wait four hours until after training, but if your goal is purely high performance or recovery (as with most athletes) then shortly after exercise is best.” 

How Long Should You Take an Ice Bath For?

Some people can tolerate the cold better than others, so there’s no hard and fast one-size-fits-all rule here. “That’s why I launched Monk,” says Fullerton, “it’s the world’s first smart ice bath and cold water therapy app, that teaches you how to do it safely and effectively.” 

Her advice? “Start at a warm temperature (10-15°C), and aim for two minutes. Monk’s Acclimatisation Programme will start users at 10°C, and guide them through each plunge over a number of weeks, as they slowly and safely go down to 3°C.” 

Heat Therapy: The Best Method for Muscle Recovery After Strength Training 

“Hot therapy relaxes muscles and improves flexibility. It also increases blood flow since it heats and dilates blood vessels,” explains Putsov. “Enhanced blood flow delivers more oxygen and nutrients to your body muscles, accelerating recovery. Furthermore, heat therapy can help reduce muscle stiffness and tension, making it easy to recover from strenuous workouts.” 

Heat Therapy for Muscle Recovery

Gregor Parella, fitness consultant at Ringside24, also sees heat as the perfect way to recover from strength training. “Heat therapy helps in quickly recovering from hypertrophic (muscle-building) workouts,” he says. “It reduces delayed-onset muscle soreness and improves glycogen replenishment and protein synthesis.” 

Optimal Heat Therapy Practices

A half-hour stint in the sauna or a long soak in a hot bath is usually enough to feel the benefits come your next workout. It is worth heating up before warming up. “Heat therapy is most beneficial before workouts to warm up muscles, enhance blood flow, and prevent injuries,” says Thomas. “Heat therapy is especially useful before cardio and strength training sessions to prepare muscles, reduce the risk of strains, and ensure muscles are warm and flexible.” 

Hot vs Cold: Which Is Better for Muscle Recovery? 

The answer is both, usually known as contrast therapy, so both should form part of your recovery routine. “The old Nordic cycle, which is what most people go by, says you should always have a sauna first before going for an ice bath plunge,” says Martin Sharp, coach and founder of Sharp Fit For Life. 

Combined Hot and Cold Therapy Effects

The reason is that the sauna will increase blood flow and heart rate whilst relaxing your muscles. It's helpful after a workout to go into this relaxed state, which starts the repair cycle. “Then you can go for the cold, whether that's a freezing shower or an ice bath. This will constrict your blood flow by reducing the size of your blood vessels and slows your heart rate down.” 

Physiological Differences: Hot vs. Cold

“Firstly, the physiological effects of hot and ice baths differ,” says Olympian Jo Pavey. “A hard run creates micro-tears in the muscles that cause an inflammatory response, leading to pain and swelling. Ice baths are thought to limit this reaction by constricting blood vessels, which could, in turn, reduce the onset of DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness). So they are the best choice directly after a hard run.” 

Ice Baths and Muscle Soreness Reduction

Fullerton agrees: “Ice baths have shown several advantages over warm baths regarding recovery, particularly for runners. Research published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews in 2012 found that cold water immersion can reduce muscle soreness by 20% compared to passive recovery, due to the cold’s ability to minimise tissue breakdown and promote faster recovery. 

Individualized Recovery: Listening to Your Body

“Warm baths, on the other hand, can promote relaxation and help soothe stiff joints, but they don’t provide the same degree of muscle recovery benefits. Therefore, if a runner’s primary goal is to reduce muscle soreness and expedite recovery post-workout, then ice baths would be the superior option.” 

Personalized Recovery Through Body Awareness

Ultimately, your body is a good indicator of what works for you. “If you notice that heat provides better relief after a cardio session or cold helps more after strength training, it is worth adjusting your recovery routine accordingly,” advises Parella. “The key is to listen to your body and to choose the method that helps you feel and perform at your best.” 

Timing is also essential. “Hot therapy is only effective if administered immediately after exercise because heat is required to prevent elastic muscle damage,” explains Putsov. And getting the balance of hot and cold right will hold you in good stead. 

As owner of ATT Evolution gym Tyron Woodley, who also happens to be a five-time UFC World Champion, concludes: “After your workout go into hot first, then cold. We call it contrast. This method has kept me in the game for this long.”

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Alternating Hot and Cold Therapy

Alternating hot and cold therapy, or contrast therapy, involves alternating between heat and cold to aid muscle recovery. The method stimulates blood flow and relieves pain to accelerate the healing process. The alternating temperatures create a pumping effect that aids recovery by reducing soreness and inflammation. 

How Does Alternating Hot and Cold Therapy Work? 

Hot and cold therapy can both help relieve muscle soreness, but they work in slightly different ways. Heat therapy relaxes tight muscles and increases blood flow to the area. Cold therapy, on the other hand, reduces inflammation by numbing the soreness and constricting blood vessels. 

Alternating between the two methods helps you get the benefits of both treatments to aid recovery. 

Sequential Heat and Cold Therapy

First, apply heat to sore muscles. This warms the area, encourages blood to flow to the ache, and helps reduce stiffness. After 10-15 minutes, you could apply cold to the area. This helps to numb the soreness and narrows blood vessels to reduce inflammation in the affected area. 

Try alternating between hot and cold therapy for a day or two to reap the benefits of both treatments. 

Should You Use Cold or Heat Before or After Exercise? 

Hot and cold therapy is mainly intended to treat DOMS, minor injuries, and aches after exercise. Consider applying heat before your next exercise session if you already have sore muscles. This could help loosen tight muscles and encourage blood to flow to the area, similar to a warm-up before exercise (you should still do a proper full-body warm-up before training, too).

On the other hand, using ice before exercise wouldn’t be beneficial. Since applying cold causes your veins to constrict, that would mean less blood gets to your muscles, which is precisely where it’s needed when you’re exercising. 

Practical Recommendations for Hot Cold Therapy

If you’ve never tried using hot and cold therapy for treating muscle soreness or minor injuries, here are some more tips to get the most out of it: 

• Know the limits: Hot and cold therapy has many benefits, but it also has its limits. If you experience pain more than three days after exercising, that might suggest you have a sports injury. You’ll need to rest and seek medical advice. 
• Won’t fix serious injuries or syndromes: Similarly, hot cold therapy won’t treat more serious injuries such as sprain, plantar fasciitis, tennis elbow, or similar sports injuries. Depending on the injury, you’ll need to rest, and could also benefit from visiting a physiotherapist or sports instructor for advice on proper form and exercises. 
• Start slow and low: If you’ve never used hot-cold therapy before, start ‘slow and low’. For example, the first time you use an ice bath, you don’t need to spend a full 20 minutes in there - begin with a shorter session and build up as you get more experience. The same goes for heat treatments - use them in limited areas for less time, until you know what you’re comfortable with. 

Although more research into the efficacy of ice and hot baths is needed to understand the optimal timing, duration, and temperature fully, if you think taking the plunge will work and you feel better for trying it, why not incorporate it into your training plan?

Challenges in Cold and Heat Therapy Research

As Dr. Alan Ruddock, senior lecturer of the Physiology of Sport and Exercise at Sheffield Hallam University, explains: 

‍“The major issues that hinder our understanding are; the method of either heating or cooling, the type of exercise undertaken before the intervention was applied (ie strength or endurance), tests used to evaluate the intervention, quantification of individual responses, and importantly for all recovery studies is the how well the researchers dealt with placebo effects and/or blinding of the intervention.”

Limitations of Cold-Water Immersion Research

A recent Systematic Review on the Effects of Cold-Water Immersion compared cold-water immersion with other forms of recovery, such as:

• Active recovery
• Warm water immersion
• Cryotherapy
• Massage

“If we look at the figures (forest plots) we can see substantial differences in the mean differences between treatments and wide confidence intervals, which makes it difficult to make solid interpretations of the data,” says Dr. Ruddock.

The authors of the meta-analysis summarized their findings as follows: “The majority of findings favoured CWI compared with other recovery modalities, but few results reached statistical significance.”

The Importance of Personal Data

So this is why it’s essential to take an individualized approach to recovery, says Dr. Ruddock. “Most of the conclusions from recovery studies are based around perceptions of recovery (for example, muscle soreness) rather than objective evidence, so if you like cold water and think it will make you feel better after hard training, go for it. If you like the heat, try it; but think like a scientist and try to gather some data.”

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