After a sports session, hot water may be more beneficial than a cold bath for maintaining physical performance, according to a new study.
- Physical performance is better in athletes who take a hot bath.
- In contrast, cold relieves inflammation, swelling and fatigue associated with exercise.
- People who have several workouts in a day should favor warm.
After sport, is it better to go hot or cold? Usually, we recommend cool water – or even an ice bath – to athletes for better recovery… But one new study contradicts this theory.
Hot water better than cold
According to the authors, immersion in hot water is better than cold water for maintaining physical performance. Their work was presented during a conference organized by theAmerican Physiological Society in Pennsylvania, United States, last November,
To achieve this result, scientists studied a group of young amateur athletes. All participants were men. They had to do 50 minutes of running, in intervals, at high intensity. Then, some had to immerse themselves in a cold water bath (15°C), others in a hot water bath (40°C) or even sit down without immersing themselves in the water.
An hour after training and immersion, the scientists measured different things:
– The height of the participants’ jumps
– The levels – and possible changes – of an enzyme (creatine kinase) and a protein (myoglobin) which can indicate muscle damage
– The level of aches of each person, self-assessed by the participants
Cold improves physical performance
Results: lThe jump height was higher in participants who took a hot bath than a cold one; there was noas significant differences in creatine kinase and myoglobin levels; LCold water further relieved inflammation, swelling, and fatigue associated with exercise.
“Although immersion in cold water after exercise is common on the sports field, cooling does not always have a positive effect on exercise capacity, underlines Mamoru Tsuyuki, first author of the study, in a press release. Hot water immersion after exercise promotes recovery of muscle power compared to cold water immersion after exercise. These findings will be useful to people who perform multiple exercise or competition sessions in the same day.”
