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Anti-Ice trend
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Did a quick search on ST and couldn't find a thread on this.

Was listening to the TrainerRoad podcast the other day and they mentioned little, no or negative benefit from heat or cold with regards to performance improvement (in terms of applying ice or heat to muscles).

Then on IM Talk this morning Gary Reinl was shouting the dangers of ice (amidst trying to sell some sort of electrical recovery machine).

Has anyone done any proper research into this. Just thinking about it using ice to prevent inflammation - I can understand why you might not want to limit inflammation as its the body's way of healing itself so on the face of it I can believe their arguments but I'd prefer some hard scientific studies.
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Re: Anti-Ice trend [TriNewbieZA] [ In reply to ]
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This is a very interesting and recent review on the subject:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27991663
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Re: Anti-Ice trend [awenborn] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks. Will give it a read.
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Re: Anti-Ice trend [TriNewbieZA] [ In reply to ]
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A lot of the current research suggests what the other poster said. Also ice can cause inflammation on the skin and top tissue (redness). From what I have read cooling the entire body down slowly with just a cool shower is the way to go when it gets really hot out just to limit the total exposure time mainly though.
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Re: Anti-Ice trend [TriNewbieZA] [ In reply to ]
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Whoops, it seems that journal isn't open-access, but to summarise for you:

Whilst post-exercise CWI [cold water immersion] research is an ever-evolving area, conflicts of opinion are commonplace. Current research offers the paradox that post-exercise CWI may benefit genes associated with mitochondrial biogenesis and angiogenesis after high intensity exercise (Joo et al. 2016) whilst also having the ability to dampen the response to resistance exercise training (Roberts et al. 2015). There is a need to understand surrounding literature as, whilst it seems there may be no positive (or negative) implications of post-exercise CWI upon the inflammatory and cellular stress response, CWI may be useful for athletes in other ways. To this end, CWI may be useful if not for the benefits of greater functional recovery and improved subsequent performance, then for the reduction in delayed onset muscle soreness and the reported analgesic and placebo properties.


These findings of a lack of impact of CWI on the post-exercise inflammatory and cellular stress response need careful attention when translated into practice. Meta-analyses and performance studies conducted in the area show us that CWI may be useful within competition settings, particularly those requiring a short turn-around (such as tournament situations, athletic meets and cycling tours), of a particularly damaging nature, or in high environmental temperatures. However, there remains a lack of justification for using CWI regularly during a ‘pre-season’ or preparation phase, particularly where the goal includes a hypertrophic response, due to the potential of dampening the adaptive response to training (Roberts et al. 2015). Currently, further investigation is needed into the correct periodisation of CWI whilst recovery programmes require a more individualised approach: with a particular focus on the goals of the athlete, their training/competition schedule and the environment they are in.
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Re: Anti-Ice trend [TriNewbieZA] [ In reply to ]
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TriNewbieZA wrote:
Did a quick search on ST and couldn't find a thread on this.

Was listening to the TrainerRoad podcast the other day and they mentioned little, no or negative benefit from heat or cold with regards to performance improvement (in terms of applying ice or heat to muscles).

Then on IM Talk this morning Gary Reinl was shouting the dangers of ice (amidst trying to sell some sort of electrical recovery machine).

Has anyone done any proper research into this. Just thinking about it using ice to prevent inflammation - I can understand why you might not want to limit inflammation as its the body's way of healing itself so on the face of it I can believe their arguments but I'd prefer some hard scientific studies.

I never believed in ice and still think its a load of crap. However, Im not a big guy so that may have something to do w it.
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