Coach Barrias

“Lifting heavy makes you stiff” is wrong.

Full-range resistance training increases range of motion.
When a joint moves under load through its end range, you get mechanical tension + neural adaptation at that range. That’s how mobility is built and retained.

Systematic reviews and trials show it clearly:
• Resistance training through full ROM produces similar or greater flexibility gains than static stretching.
• Strength work at long muscle lengths improves active range of motion and joint control.
• Eccentric loading increases fascicle length, which supports usable flexibility.

Key evidence:

Afonso et al., 2021 – “Strength training vs stretching for improving range of motion”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33917036/

Morton et al., 2011 – “Resistance training vs static stretching: effects on flexibility”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21494100/

Simpson et al., 2017 – “Resistance training increases flexibility: systematic review”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28328719/

Real world is even clearer.

Olympic weightlifters sit in full-depth squats under maximal load, receive snatches overhead with full shoulder flexion, and stabilize in extreme end ranges. That requires high levels of hip, ankle, and thoracic mobility under load — not passive flexibility, but usable mobility.

That’s why weightlifters consistently display elite range of motion, often matching or exceeding athletes from traditionally “flexibility-based” sports when tested in loaded positions.

The difference is simple:

Stretching gives you passive range.
Strength training gives you control of that range.

If you avoid load, you avoid adaptation.
If you train heavy through full range, mobility improves — and it holds under pressure.

Duality 🙉

Locked in 🔐

Ice baths reduce inflammation. That is their function.

The issue is that inflammation is one of the primary drivers of adaptation after training.

Data published on PubMed shows that post-exercise cold water immersion reduces anabolic signaling, satellite cell activity, and downstream muscle adaptation. Over time, this can lead to smaller improvements in strength and hypertrophy when used chronically after resistance training.

This is not a theoretical discussion. It is a trade-off.

If you reduce the inflammatory response immediately after training, you interfere with the physiological processes responsible for rebuilding tissue and improving performance.

There is a place for cold exposure.

It can be useful in competitive settings where recovery between events is the priority. It can also help manage excessive soreness when training frequency is high.

It should not be used as a default recovery tool after every session, particularly when the goal is long-term progression in strength, muscle mass, or performance.

You do not build capacity by constantly dampening the signal that drives it.

Based on a real life event 🙌🏼

Save me 🥹