Cryotherapy, cold thermogenesis, icing, and other forms of cold exposure are all forms of recovery that I personally use nearly every day. In the article, “How to Use Cold Weather to Lose Weight,” and also in my article, “Cold Temps for a Hot Body” I outline many of the practical ways I do this—from keeping my office temperature cool to morning and evening cold showers to body cooling gear to compression gear with ice to cold baths.
Of course, the application of cold to an injured area or to a beat-up muscle is hardly a new concept. The Greek physician Hippocrates wrote about the use of cold therapy to control pain and swelling in the 4th century B.C., and the Roman physician Galen described the use of cold compresses for analgesia following soft tissue injuries in the 1st century A.D.
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In one study, 21 physically active men strength trained for 12 weeks, 2 days a week, with either 10 min of cold water treatment or active recovery without cold water after each training session. Strength and muscle mass increased more in the group that didn’t get exposed to the cold water. Work capacity, muscle fiber size, and the number of cells per muscle fiber also increased in the active recovery group, but not the cold water group. In another study, nine active men performed a bout of single-leg strength exercises on separate days, followed again by either cold water or active recovery. The number of satellite cells and also the amount of phosphorylation (both of which cause muscle growth) increased more after the exercise with active recovery compared to the cold water