Happy & Healthy

DO WE HAVE TO DIVE INTO ICE AFTER A GOOD WORKOUT?

Today I'm walking a bit like an old lady. Doesn't look very charming, but I must honestly admit that I quite enjoy it. Muscle pain, you see. How is that possible? I was a bit too enthusiastic in the gym. This weekend I went down south again (as you could read here). That meant not only enjoying my mother's cooking skills, but I could also let loose in my old familiar gym. And well, now I'm paying the price for it.

Muscle pain is nice, but muscle pain is less nice when your toilet visits suddenly take twice as long. Yet you can prevent this. But what is the best way?

There are athletes who step into a bath with ice cubes after a heavy training session or competition. Even our own Sven Kramer prefers a bath full of ice water instead of romantically bathing with his beloved Naomi. Ice water is said to counteract muscle pain and swelling and promote the removal of waste products from the muscles, resulting in better performance. But do we really have to lie around freezing to get rid of that miserable muscle pain?

‘Honey, don't forget the candles…’

An international research team looked at inflammatory responses in muscles associated with muscle pain. They analyzed the physiological responses in nine young men after strength training. They compared the effects of an ice-cold bath with those of gently cycling on the exercise bike. The result was that there is no difference between the two different cooling methods.

There is little evidence that it benefits a top athlete to step into a bath full of ice cubes after a competition. Matthijs Hesseling, professor of movement sciences at the University of Maastricht, says that cooling mainly affects the skin and the outer layer of the muscles. The cold does not penetrate further into the inner muscle tissue.

So the ice cubes can stay in the freezer. And that's a good thing. But that does mean we have to get our foam roller out, dear fit ones.

And then tonight just a nice warm bath. ‘Honey, don't forget the candles…’