Should You Cold Plunge Before or After a Workout? | Legion

According to most health, fitness, and biohacking “gurus,” taking an ice bath before or after a workout is the secret to faster recovery, sharper focus, and better performance.

Heck, even some scientists-cum-podcasters say so, too. 

While this makes for a compelling spiel, scientific evidence doesn’t necessarily agree.

In fact, most research suggests using a cold plunge before or after a workout can actually make it harder to build muscle and gain strength. 

In this article, you’ll find out why this is, discover the best time to cold plunge to avoid these issues, and more.

What Is a Cold Plunge?

Cold plunging, or “cold water immersion,” is the practice of immersing yourself up to your shoulders in cold water for a short period. People have practiced cold plunging for centuries, using it as a way to recover from intense physical activity, reduce fatigue, and alleviate muscle soreness.

Cold plunging has recently surged in popularity, with health and fitness thought leaders endorsing it as a way to enhance mental clarity, accelerate recovery, and boost overall wellness.

Should You Cold Plunge Before a Workout?

Is jumping into a cold plunge pre-workout a smart move?

Here’s what science says about the pros and cons of cold plunging before your workout.

Benefits

The shock of entering cold water triggers the release of neurotransmitters such as serotonin, cortisol, dopamine, norepinephrine, and beta-endorphin, which can boost alertness and sharpen focus. 

Advocates of taking a cold plunge pre-workout argue this can help you stay dialed in during training and push through challenging workouts with more intensity.

Several studies also show that “pre-cooling” (taking an ice bath or cold shower before a workout) may make endurance exercise in the heat feel less fatiguing and, thus, more manageable. 

While interesting, there’s no evidence you get the same benefits of cold plunging before a workout involving resistance training, especially in an air-conditioned gym.

Another commonly claimed benefit of taking a cold plunge before a workout is that it boosts testosterone. Although these claims aren’t entirely baseless—some research suggests extreme cold exposure may increase “T” to some degree—the evidence isn’t very convincing.

Take, for example, a study conducted by the University of Canberra that many cite as “proof” cold plunging before exercise boosts testosterone.

The study had rugby players use cryotherapy before training, and while some showed an increase in T, there are several reasons to be leery of the results.

First, it included only 12 men, and not all of them saw an increase. Second, it used cryotherapy at -220°F, which is much colder than a typical cold plunge at 60°F. Third, it measured testosterone levels at different times of the day for different participants without accounting for natural daily fluctuations.

And fourth, it only tracked testosterone levels for three hours after the workout. While some men did see a short-term spike, this kind of brief increase is unlikely to have any meaningful long-term effect on muscle growth.

Testosterone isn’t the only buzzword thrown around when it comes to cold plunging. The promise of increased “mitochondrial density” is another popular selling point.

The pro-cold-plunge crowd argue that pre-workout cold exposure boosts the number of mitochondria in brown fat and muscle cells, which could enhance your body’s ability to produce energy and, therefore, boost athletic performance. 

While this theory sounds intriguing, current evidence only comes from studies on rodents. Until human studies back these claims, it’s sensible to stay skeptical.

Drawbacks

Cold plunging before a workout has clear downsides.

First, research shows that as muscle temperature drops, so does its ability to generate force. 

One study found that a decrease of just 1.8°F in muscle temperature caused a 4.2% decline in power, while another study found that cooling muscles to 84°F reduced peak force production by up to 21%.

The takeaway: cold muscles simply don’t perform as well as warm ones, so if your workout involves heavy lifting or explosive movements, cold plunging pre-workout could hurt your performance.

Cold exposure also slows nerve conduction (how electrical signals travel along nerves), which can affect coordination, reaction times, manual dexterity, and movement efficiency. In other words, taking an ice bath before you train could make performing complex exercises like squats, deadlifts, presses, and pull-ups more challenging. 

And when exercises are difficult to perform, you’ll lift less weight for fewer reps, which will hamper your ability to gain muscle and strength over time. 

Then there’s the impact on balance. Cold exposure can hinder balance whether you’re standing still or moving in multiple directions. Thus, a pre-workout cold plunge might make it harder to stabilize your body during exercises that require balance and coordination like Bulgarian split squats or lunges.

Should You Cold Plunge After a Workout?

Many think the best time to cold plunge is after you’ve worked out. The theory goes that doing so promotes rapid recovery and reduces soreness. 

Is this true, though?

Here are the pros and cons of taking a cold plunge after a workout.

Benefits

Research shows that cold plunging after a workout can reduce delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), lower blood markers of muscle damage and inflammation, reduce swelling, help clear waste products from your muscles, and make you feel less tired.

For these reasons, it can be a boon for recovery.

The only caveat is that while cold plunging after your workout can make you feel better, it doesn’t always translate to better performance.

In other words, it may soothe your sore muscles, but it won’t necessarily help you recover your strength faster. And if a recovery modality doesn’t allow you to train harder sooner, it’s probably not a great use of time. 

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give cold plunging a shot—it may be worth trying to see how it affects your recovery. But focus less on how it makes you feel and more on whether it helps you recoup your strength faster.

If it makes you feel better and helps you regain your strength more quickly, keep it in your routine. But if it only reduces soreness without improving your performance, you might get more benefit from other recovery modalities (like supplementing intelligently or sleeping more). 

Drawbacks

If your main goal is to build muscle, taking a cold plunge after your workouts may not be the best idea.

A 2019 study conducted by Deakin University found that people who took an ice bath after their workouts gained less muscle than those who didn’t. Two other studies found similar results.

Why does cold water immersion reduce muscle growth? 

Scientists believe it disrupts the molecular pathways—chains of chemical reactions in the body—that drive muscle growth. For instance, ice baths lower the blood levels of proteins that help build muscle and increase the levels of proteins that break it down.

Cold plunging also cools your muscles, which hinders the enzymes that repair and grow muscle and reduces blood flow—both of which are crucial for muscle growth.

When Is the Best Time to Cold Plunge?

If your goal is to build muscle and gain strength, don’t cold plunge before or after your workouts.

Cold plunging before lifting weights might make you feel more alert, but it will likely hinder your performance, making it harder to gain size and strength.

Cold plunging after strength training can also directly limit muscle growth, so it’s not a smart move either.

The best time to cold plunge is on rest days, ideally as far from your last workout as possible. For example, if you train on Monday morning, wait until Tuesday evening or Wednesday to take an ice bath.

This reduces the chance that your cold plunge will disrupt the bodily processes involved in muscle growth.