Does anyone have any tips for at home ice baths. I know I can buy bagged ice but I’ve been asked to do it twice a day. That might get a little pricey and I have no where to store it. .
Does anyone have a clever way of getting the water between 45-50 degrees?
Thanks
I sometimes use those disposable tupperware containers to make large chunks of ice.
Ahh. I like that idea.
Fill old quart/pint/half gallon milk containers with water and put those in the freezers, works perfectly for making a lot of ice, then just tear off the paper and you are good to go.
Thank you. Another good idea.
The best route has been mentioned - large blocks from your own freezer. However, the most important step is to smash the chunks into smaller pieces - preferably to the size of normal ice cubes. Increased surface area will chill the water faster. Otherwise, you’ll be waiting 30-45 minutes for it to cool down.
Go out and buy a dozen or so chunks of stainless steel stock chunks about a foot long, a few inches wide. Arrange and place in freezer before workout. By the time you come home they’ll already be cold enough. Line the bottom of your tub with them, fill up with the coldest water your tap will give you and sit right down on that shiny smooth surface.
Steel doesn’t “hold as much cold” as water(ice), but it will cool down the water much more quickly.
Benefits:
First you open the soda container to let air in…oops I thought this was another thread.
Order a 30 gallon plastic drum and keep in the garage or other shady place. You can get them online. fill with water and ice and cover when not in use. You can wrap the thing in insulation with a water heater blanket if you want to get fancy. Doesn’t take too much ice to keep cool. Dump and re-fill when stufff starts growing.
I applaud you for having the discipline…I certainly hope none of the icing areas include your groin or zip code of your McNuggets…that would be excruciating.
I’m dealing with a hamstring injury. I’ve tried everything. Now i’m trying the nervous system route. I’ve been asked to do a full body ice bath for six minutes twice a day. So unfortunately the poor Mcnuggets are not gonna be happy. I just really want to get back to training. I’ve been sidelined since January. I’ll gladly ice the Mcnuggets if I can get back to training.
I’ve been asked to do it twice a day.
see, now this is kinda fishy…
if your doctor asked you to do this twice a day, lots of useful advice above.
if it was your girlfriend who made the request, well, that’s a different story.
Tupperware…damn, that’s a great idea.
How cool is the tap water that comes out cold? I take a lot of ice baths (use a lot of the above mentioned methods) but my dr told me that you really just need pretty cool water, don’t really need the ice. Now, I prefer the ice (if it’s gonna be cold, might as well be ball shrinkin cold) so I use ice, but if you have to do it twice a day, maybe you can do one time sans ice?
I too have been told that it does not have to be almost frozen to get the benefits, most people just think so because of the old “if cold is good, colder is better” type of thinking that plagues us endurance athlete types. When I ice my legs down (which I do not do often enough as of late) I just run a cold bath, grab a block or two of ice (I always keep a few big blocks on hand), hop in, and then drop the ice in. Getting the water super cold before you get in just makes getting in super painful. If you get in first, while it is cool, and then throw the ice in to cool it down you get to “adjust” as the water cools and it makes the experience much less traumatic. The less traumatic it is, the more likely you are to do it, the more you do it, the better your legs feel, and so on.
Caveat - I am not familiar with the full body ice baths for “nervous system” treatments that your doctor seems to have recommended and perhaps you do need it frigid for that to work
“I’ve been asked to do a full body ice bath for six minutes twice a day”
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Really?
Make sure you have somebody montor you when you immerse yourself up to the neck for SIX MINUTES into ice cold water, since it is posssible that you will pass out and drown.
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You might have just misunderstood what the doc told you.
If it actually wasn’t an accredited physician who told you that, nevermind.
i took one of those hand held Igloo coolers (holds a case of beer probably) and kept it full of water in my 2nd fridge. it kept the water really cold and it was reusable.
now, this was really just for the feet and not the entire leg (or body in your case). but, thought i’d share at least.
I’m gonna hi-jack this thread a bit. I’ve had my coach tell me (and have heard of Pros who do this) to take ice baths daily for 2-3 days before an Ironman. My coach specifically instructed me to take an ice bath on the day I traveled to the race (was in the car for 8 hours).
What does everyone think of this idea?
Biggest Coleman cooler you can find. First time. Add water. Add body. Add ice. Susequent times. Check temp and drain some water if you need to add ice. Usually only have add more ice every other day depending on frequncy of use, and it’s only 1 small bag each time.
Move to Vladivostok.