Men who sat in cold water after leg workouts gained less muscle and strength over 12 weeks
The 2015 Journal of Physiology trial is the best-known test of ice baths after lifting. Young men trained their legs twice a week and followed each session with 10 minutes in 10°C water or easy cycling.
The paper
Post‐exercise cold water immersion attenuates acute anabolic signalling and long‐term adaptations in muscle to strength training
Roberts LA, Raastad T, Markworth JF, Figueiredo VC, et al.. The Journal of Physiology, 2015;593(18):4285-4301.
See the study at a glance
- Design
- Randomized controlled trial plus a sub-study in which each man tried both recoveries
- People
- 21 men (24 enrolled)
- Who they were
- Physically active young men with at least a year of strength training took part at the University of Queensland in Australia. Their average age was about 21.
- What they did
- Both groups did lower-body strength training twice a week for 12 weeks. After each session one group sat in an inflatable bath with both legs in 10°C water up to the waist for 10 minutes, and the other cycled at low intensity for 10 minutes.
- How long
- 12 weeks
These numbers came out of it
309 g vs 103 g
MRI scans showed 309 g of new quadriceps muscle in the cycling group and 103 g in the cold-water group.
201 vs 133 kg
The most weight a man could push once on the 45° leg press rose 201 kg with cycling and 133 kg with cold water.
+17.1%
Only the cycling group's type II (fast-twitch) muscle fibers grew, and their area rose 17.1%.
15.6 kg
After training, the cycling group was 15.6 kg stronger on knee extension than the cold-water group.
The researchers did this
Researchers at the University of Queensland took 24 physically active young men with at least 12 months of strength training. They matched the men in pairs and randomly assigned them to two recovery routines.Source 1 · Randomized trialPost‐exercise cold water immersion attenuates acute anabolic signalling and long‐term adaptations in muscle to strength trainingRoberts LA, Raastad T, Markworth JF, et al.. The Journal of Physiology, 2015.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗ Both groups trained their legs twice a week for 12 weeks. After each session one group sat in an inflatable bath for 10 minutes with both legs in 10.1°C water up to the waist. The other rode an exercise bike at low intensity for 10 minutes. Twenty-one men finished: 11 in the cold group and 10 in the cycling group.
On MRI the cycling group gained 309 grams of quadriceps muscle and the cold group 103 grams. The difference was 206 grams.Source 1 · Randomized trialPost‐exercise cold water immersion attenuates acute anabolic signalling and long‐term adaptations in muscle to strength trainingRoberts LA, Raastad T, Markworth JF, et al.. The Journal of Physiology, 2015.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗ The heaviest weight a man could leg-press once went up 201 kg with cycling and 133 kg with cold water. On knee extension the gains were 33.8 kg and 17.8 kg. By the end, the cycling group was stronger than the cold group by 57 kg on the leg press and 15.6 kg on knee extension.
Under the microscope, only the cycling group's type II fibers grew. Their area rose 17.1%, and they gained 26.1% more nuclei.Source 1 · Randomized trialPost‐exercise cold water immersion attenuates acute anabolic signalling and long‐term adaptations in muscle to strength trainingRoberts LA, Raastad T, Markworth JF, et al.. The Journal of Physiology, 2015.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗ A separate crossover experiment in nine men found smaller responses after cold water in satellite cells (muscle stem cells) and in p70S6K (a signaling protein in the muscle-building pathway).
The study can't tell you these things
- Only 21 men finished, and no women took part.
- The comparison group cycled lightly, so the trial can't show how cold water compares with plain rest.
- Only the legs went in the water. The dose was 10 minutes at about 10°C, and it started within minutes of each session.
- The men were trained lifters in their early twenties, so the results don't cover older or untrained people.
People quote it like this
When people cite the trial as proof that ice baths kill gains, the size of the effect drops out. The legs that went into cold water still grew by 103 g, and the comparison group cycled instead of resting.Source 1 · Randomized trialPost‐exercise cold water immersion attenuates acute anabolic signalling and long‐term adaptations in muscle to strength trainingRoberts LA, Raastad T, Markworth JF, et al.. The Journal of Physiology, 2015.Read the paper ↗PubMed ↗
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We cited these sources
- 01Roberts LA, Raastad T, Markworth JF, Figueiredo VC, Egner IM, Shield A, et al.. Post‐exercise cold water immersion attenuates acute anabolic signalling and long‐term adaptations in muscle to strength training. The Journal of Physiology. 2015;593(18):4285-4301. doi:10.1113/JP270570 PMID 26174323