A person cold water plunging in icy water outdoors

Ice Baths After Lifting and Muscle Growth: What the Trials Show

10 min read

Cold plunges and ice baths are a popular way to recover after training. In the research here, an ice bath means sitting in water at about 10 degrees Celsius for 10 to 15 minutes. Reviews report it has been shown to help soreness and fatigue recover faster, though results across studies are mixed. For muscle growth, the trials point the other way.

This guide covers what cold water does well, what two strength training trials found, why strength and muscle size responded differently, why the cold might reduce growth, and how to time it. In one trial, cold water straight after lifting led to smaller thigh muscle and strength gains than light cycling. In the other, it led to smaller growth of fast-twitch fibres than rest out of the water, though whole-body lean mass was similar. Both trials were small, with 21 and 16 young men in total, and neither included women or older adults.

15%
About this much increase in quadriceps (front thigh) muscle with light cycling after lifting, against about 2% with cold water
Roberts et al. 2015, young trained men, MRI scans
10C
Water temperature for 10 to 15 minutes after each session in the two trials
Roberts et al. 2015, Fyfe et al. 2019
12% vs 5%
Growth of fast-twitch muscle fibres with rest out of the water against cold water, with no difference in whole-body lean mass
Fyfe et al. 2019, 16 young men who had not lifted in the past 6 months
59% vs 42%
Leg press strength gain with light cycling against cold water, so cold water reduced the strength gain
Roberts et al. 2015, 12 weeks
Sources: Roberts et al. 2015, The Journal of Physiology. Fyfe et al. 2019, Journal of Applied Physiology. Figures as reported by Petersen and Fyfe 2021, Frontiers in Sports and Active Living. Values are approximate.

What cold water does well

A 2021 narrative review by Aaron Petersen and Jackson Fyfe, who also led one of the trials below, reports that cold water after exercise has been shown to help muscle strength, muscle soreness, inflammation, muscle damage and feelings of fatigue recover faster. Typical protocols in the research involve sitting in water at about 8 to 15 degrees Celsius for about 5 to 20 minutes. The review says these short-term effects are thought to come mainly from narrowed blood vessels and the pressure of the water.

A second 2021 review, by Mohammed Ihsan and colleagues, describes cold water as one of the most popular recovery methods among athletes, though it notes that many consider the evidence for it mixed. In our view, for an athlete with two matches in three days, feeling fresher tomorrow might matter more than long-term muscle gain.

What the strength training trials found

The clearest evidence comes from a 12-week trial by Llion Roberts and colleagues, published in The Journal of Physiology in 2015. Twenty-one young men with at least a year of lifting experience did leg strength and jump training twice a week. After each session, one group sat in water at about 10 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes, and the other did 10 minutes of light cycling. Both groups trained the same way.

Quadriceps muscle mass, measured with MRI scans, rose by about 15% with cycling and about 2% with cold water. In the cycling group, the size of type II fibres, the fast-twitch fibres that grow most with lifting, rose by 17%. Isokinetic work, a measure of strength endurance on a fixed-speed machine, rose by 19%, and the number of nuclei per fibre, the control centres that let a fibre grow, rose by 26%. In the cold water group, these three changes were too small to rule out chance. Leg press strength rose by about 59% with cycling and about 42% with cold water, so strength gains were smaller with cold water, though both groups got stronger.

In a separate short-term part of the study, 9 active men each did the same single-leg workout twice, on separate days, once followed by cold water and once by light cycling. After cold water, the rise in satellite cells, the stem cells that help repair and build muscle, was smaller, and so was the rise in p70S6 kinase activity, a signal involved in muscle building. The authors concluded that regular use of cold water as a recovery method after training should be reconsidered.

Quadriceps muscle gain over 12 weeks Percent increase by recovery method after each session, young trained men, MRI Light cycling, 10 min 15% Cold water, 10 min 2%
Source: Roberts et al. 2015, The Journal of Physiology, 21 young men with at least a year of lifting experience, leg training twice a week for 12 weeks, figures as reported by Petersen and Fyfe 2021. Values are approximate. Cold water was about 10 degrees Celsius.

Why strength and muscle size responded differently

A 2019 trial by Jackson Fyfe and colleagues in the Journal of Applied Physiology put 16 young men, who had not done resistance training in the previous 6 months, through 7 weeks of whole-body training three times a week. Each session ended with either 15 minutes in water at 10 degrees Celsius, or 15 minutes of rest out of the water at 23 degrees. Fast-twitch fibre size rose by about 12% with rest and about 5% with cold water. Whole-body lean mass, measured with a body scan, did not differ between groups, and gains in one-rep max, the heaviest weight you lift once, on the leg press were similar. The authors concluded that cold water after exercise should be avoided if muscle growth is the aim.

Petersen and Fyfe suggest training experience might explain why strength fell behind in one trial and not the other. Beginners gain strength mostly through changes in the nervous system rather than muscle size, so cold water might matter less for their strength. The Roberts men were experienced lifters, and the Fyfe men had not lifted in the previous 6 months.

The 2021 reviews describe the effect as depending on the type of training. Petersen and Fyfe report evidence that cold water after exercise reduced gains in muscle size, and in some studies strength and power, from resistance training. Ihsan and colleagues report that resistance training gains were reduced, while aerobic performance seemed unaffected. Ihsan and colleagues also describe studies in professional and semi-professional athletes, training at least 10 times a week, where frequent cold water over 2.5 weeks to 8 months showed no harm to strength, and most showed a trend for better strength gains. In these studies, cold water was mostly used after skills or conditioning sessions, not straight after lifting, most lasted 2.5 to 6 weeks, and the authors say they were not designed to test this. They suggest cold water might help when recovery time between sessions is short.

Why the cold might reduce growth

Petersen and Fyfe describe several possible reasons, while noting the evidence is limited. Cold water appears to reduce the activation of muscle building signals and the rise in muscle protein synthesis, the rate at which your body builds muscle protein, after resistance exercise. It also reduces blood flow to the muscle, which might reduce the delivery of nutrients such as amino acids. In the Fyfe trial, one muscle building signal was still lower 48 hours after a cold session. In our view, these short-term changes are a plausible link to the smaller gains seen over months, but the link is not proven.

How to time cold water around your training

These steps are ours, built from the trials and reviews above. Ihsan and colleagues propose a similar approach: use cold water during competition or intense training blocks, and avoid it after training aimed at strength or muscle size.

1
Skip it after lifting for size
If muscle size is your goal, avoid cold water straight after strength sessions. That is the setting where the trials found smaller gains.
2
Leave a long gap if you use it
No trial tested how many hours apart is enough. In the Fyfe trial, a building signal was still lower 48 hours after a cold session, so a longer gap is the cautious choice.
3
Use it when recovery comes first
During packed match schedules or intense training blocks, faster recovery might matter more than long-term muscle gain.
4
Use it after endurance sessions
Ihsan and colleagues say cold water does not appear to harm endurance adaptations, and suggest using it after endurance or conditioning sessions to keep it away from lifting.

Common mistakes

These are our views, based on the trials above.

  • Taking an ice bath after every lifting session by default. Cold water after lifting led to smaller muscle growth in one trial and smaller fibre growth in the other.
  • Treating cold water as a muscle building aid. Some research supports it as a recovery aid for soreness and fatigue, not for growth.
  • Assuming every type of training carries the same trade-off. The 2021 reviews report endurance gains seemed unaffected.

Frequently asked questions

Do ice baths stop muscle growth completely?
Not in the Roberts trial. Quadriceps muscle still rose by about 2% with cold water, against about 15% with light cycling, though fibre size did not rise by a clear margin in the cold group. The gains were smaller, not zero.
How long should I wait after lifting before a cold plunge?
No trial tested waiting times or rest-day use, and Ihsan and colleagues say longer-term studies on timing are needed. In the Fyfe trial, a building signal was still lower 48 hours after a cold session. In our view, a longer gap is the cautious choice.
Is cold water bad for runners and cyclists?
Ihsan and colleagues report that cold water does not appear to harm aerobic training adaptations, and suggest using it after endurance sessions. If you also lift, avoid it straight after your lifting sessions.
Is a cold shower the same as an ice bath?
Not as far as the research here shows. The trials used immersion in water at about 10 degrees Celsius for 10 to 15 minutes, and no trial here tested cold showers after lifting.
Should athletes ever use cold water after lifting?
Ihsan and colleagues suggest using it during competition or intense training blocks, and avoiding it after training aimed at strength or muscle size. In our view, it is a planned trade-off.

The bottom line

Reviews report that cold water after exercise has been shown to help soreness and fatigue recover faster, though results are mixed. In the Roberts trial, cold water straight after lifting led to smaller quadriceps and strength gains than light cycling. In the Fyfe trial, it led to smaller growth of fast-twitch fibres, while whole-body lean mass and strength gains were similar. Both trials were small and in young men. In our view, if muscle size is your goal, keep cold water away from your lifting sessions with a long gap, and save it for periods when short-term recovery matters most.

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Related reading

Sources

  • Roberts LA, Raastad T, Markworth JF, 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. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26174323
  • Fyfe JJ, Broatch JR, Trewin AJ, et al. Cold water immersion attenuates anabolic signaling and skeletal muscle fiber hypertrophy, but not strength gain, following whole-body resistance training. Journal of Applied Physiology 2019. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31513450
  • Petersen AC, Fyfe JJ. Post-exercise Cold Water Immersion Effects on Physiological Adaptations to Resistance Training and the Underlying Mechanisms in Skeletal Muscle: A Narrative Review. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living 2021. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33898988
  • Ihsan M, Abbiss CR, Allan R. Adaptations to Post-exercise Cold Water Immersion: Friend, Foe, or Futile? Frontiers in Sports and Active Living 2021. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34337408
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