The ice bath that quietly costs a lifter muscle

An ice bath after lifting might actually steal your muscle gain. Researchers pooled eight studies on young men who lifted weights for weeks. Those who sat in cold water after each workout built far less muscle. The chance that this was just luck was less than five percent. Cold plunges quiet the chemical signals that tell muscle to grow. They also slow blood flow and blunt helpful inflammation. Strength itself was not hurt, just size. So a post workout ice bath comes at a cost.

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