30/09/2026
Ice baths have become one of the most popular post-workout recovery rituals—but does colder actually mean faster recovery?
A 2025 randomized controlled trial involving 30 healthy women compared cold-water immersion, hot-water immersion and passive recovery after muscle-damaging exercise. Neither cold nor hot-water immersion improved subjective or objective recovery outcomes over the following 72 hours compared with the control condition. PLOS
A 2026 systematic review of eight studies also found that cold- and hot-water immersion did not consistently outperform control conditions for muscle soreness or overall recovery. Importantly, the review found that effects can vary depending on temperature, timing and the specific recovery goal—so the evidence is more nuanced than simply saying ice baths “don’t work.” Frontiers
The takeaway: enjoy a cold plunge if you like it, but don’t treat it as a guaranteed shortcut to faster muscle recovery.
Save this before your next recovery session.