Enhancing Exercise Performance with Cold Plunges
Cooling the body before and during strenuous exercise can significantly improve performance. Studies at Stanford University have shown that pre-cooling can lead to a 40% increase in bench press performance and a 144% increase in pull-up work volumes. Researchers at Stanford University have concluded that leveraging thermoregulation can greatly increase our performance in athletics and mental performance. Learning to control your core body temperature is one of the most, if not the most, powerful things you can do to optimise mental and physical performance.
Additional research supports these findings, indicating that faster post-exercise cooling correlates with higher cardiovascular fitness levels. This is consistent across various types of exercises, including running and cycling.
Despite these insights, most research on the benefits of cold plunges for athletic performance has been short term, focusing on exercise, recovery, or injury repair. A long-term systematic study on ice baths specifically in competitive sports training remains relatively unexplored.
Elite athletes who regularly use ice baths suggest that the mental benefits are a significant motivation for their continued practice, highlighting the need to explore the mental aspects of peak performance more closely.
Three Benefits of Ice Bath Training for Athletes
- Mental Benefits
- Metabolic Benefits
- Injury Recovery Benefits
Mental Benefits of Ice Baths
David Goggins, a Navy SEAL and ultra-long-distance runner, exemplifies the mental toughness required during competition. He pushes his limits beyond what most athletes consider reasonable.
Neuroscientists suggest that Goggins’ resilience may be linked to the anterior mid-cingulate cortex (AMCC), a brain region associated with willpower, tenacity, and resilience. This area grows through practising challenging tasks.
While there are other mental benefits to ice bath therapy, such as brain injury protection and improved memory, an increased AMCC may be the most significant mental contribution to improved athletic performance.
Analogous studies show rapid initial changes in brain responses to ice baths, suggesting that AMCC benefits might be found with very cold, short-duration ice baths rather than longer sessions. For building mental toughness before a competition, it is recommended to go cold enough to dislike the ice bath but limit the duration to just long enough to regain breath control and calm the central nervous system.
Metabolic Benefits of Ice Baths
Ice bath training can enhance metabolism through:
- Mitochondrial Enhancement
- Endogenous Ketone Production
Mitochondrial Enhancement
Mitochondria, the powerhouses of muscle cells, convert fat and glucose into ATP for energy. Intense exercise temporarily overloads mitochondria, leading to the production of excess reactive oxygen species (ROS), which signals the removal of damaged mitochondria and the creation of new ones. Athletes often slow their training and increase rest before competitions to optimise mitochondrial function.
Cold training also enhances mitochondrial function. Combining cold and exercise training is more effective for building muscle mitochondria than either alone.
To maximise metabolic benefits from cold training before a competition, keep ice bath sessions short enough to avoid activating the shiver response in the week leading up to the event.
Ketone Production
During extended exercise, the body switches from glucose to fat metabolism. Ketones, produced during fat metabolism, enhance various neurological and physiological functions. Contrary to popular belief, ketosis can be achieved without starvation. A ketogenic diet, with less than 40 grams of carbohydrates per day, can induce ketosis. However, the transition typically takes three days and may cause carbohydrate withdrawal symptoms, which should be avoided during competition.
An ice bath is the fastest way to stimulate endogenous ketone production. A 2–4-minute ice bath at 1°C can increase ketone levels despite a high-carbohydrate meal. Athletes preparing for endurance competitions can speed up ketosis by practising ice baths after meals.
Injury Recovery Benefits of Ice Baths
Ice baths are effective at reducing inflammation and pain in muscles, connective tissue, and joints. While temporary inflammation can accelerate exercise gains, cryotherapy can aid recovery between multiple rounds of competition, such as in multi-day events.
For injury recovery, combining ice baths with light exercise, dry sauna, and red light therapy on the injured area can promote healing. For example, an athlete with an elbow injury might benefit from a whole-body cold plunge that includes the elbow, followed by leg exercises, and then a dry sauna with red/infrared light on the elbow.
Summary
During off-season and pre-season training or between competitions, pre-cooling with an ice bath before a workout allows athletes to train harder, recover faster, and maximise gains. In the days leading up to a competition, cold training protocols can be modified with the following recommendations:
- Go cold and short: Build mental toughness by plunging in an ice bath at a temperature that maximises discomfort within the first 15 seconds. Avoid extended plunges.
- Ice bath before exercise: Pre-cooling boosts exercise capacity and prepares the body for competition. The only exception is for recovery between rounds of intense exercise.
- Contrast wet cold with dry heat: Avoid combining ice baths with hot tubs. Instead, pair ice baths with dry saunas for maximum circulatory benefits.
- Pre-cool your competition: Begin competitions feeling slightly cold, and continue to pre-cool during the event.
NOTE: Cold Water Immersion (CWI) is not without risk. It is important to build slowly both the intensity of cold and length of immersion to reduce the risk of Hypothermia. Professional advice from a certified instructor is the best way to start your journey in CWI.
