Study Finds Bad News About Cold Plunges and Muscle Growth

Cold plunges have exploded in popularity in recent years as devotees spread the gospel of ice water immersion and its perceived health benefits. Scientists have been looking into the possible pros of cold water immersion therapy, and one group of researchers sought to examine its effects on muscle growth for active strength trainers. What they found might not be the most welcome news for lovers of the Wim Hof method.  

These researchers recently published their findings in the European Journal of Sport Science. The goal was to examine how cold water immersion after exercising can affect gains in muscle size, or hypertrophy, during resistance training. To do this, they looked at eight past randomized controlled studies on the subject for a pool of 116 participants with an average age in their early 20s. The studies ranged from four to 12 weeks in length and resistance exercise was done two to three times per week. All of them used post-exercise cold water immersion between 3 and 15 minutes after finishing the participants finished their workouts. 

In the end, they found that resistance training combined with cold water immersion actually led to less muscle growth when compared to routines without cold plunges. They observed this diminished effect in participants regardless of immersion duration, the activity levels of the participants, and the exercise frequency in the studies. 

"Individuals seeking to maximize muscle hypertrophy should avoid using [cold water immersion] immediately following bouts of [resistance training] and further consider the frequency and timing of application," the team advised in the paper. They also clarified that cold plunges after strength workouts don't completely cancel out any progress you make. "The current results suggest that [resistance training] in combination with [cold water immersion] may still induce gains in muscle mass but to a lesser degree compared to [resistance training] alone," they noted.

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More research into the topic needs to be done, however, to find more conclusive answers about factors like timing and plunge length and their effects on hypertrophy. For example, of the 116 participants, only two were women, leaving a gender gap that requires more exploration. 

For now, plunge at your own risk.