Does Freezing Help? An Ice Baths Analysis
Thousands of yards. Long, exhausting meets.
As swimmers, a lot of pain is endured on the path to success, both physical and mental. And yet, perhaps the most excruciating part of the swimming world is a method used for recovery.
Ice baths, also known as cold tubs, have grown into one of the most popular recovery methods in the sport. They can be found at almost every major meet, tempting athletes to plunge into unbearable temperatures to heal their muscles.
In theory, the method seems like a no-brainer. Building toughness and ensuring your body’s healing are two essential aspects to swimming. But over the years, the method has proved controversial, due to research debating it’s effectiveness.
Is the ice bath actually an effective recovery method? Does the painful process pay off? We talked to two of the country’s top college swimming athletic trainers in order to learn more about ice baths and their impact.
Why Do Swimmers Use Ice Baths?
The most common reason for using ice baths lies in muscular recovery.
Like any sport, swimming invokes a heavy amount of Delayed Muscle Soreness after a tough workout or race. Some research in the past has presented ice baths as a solution to this problem.
A study done by Chris Blakely et al in 2012 for the Cochrane Bone, Joint, and Muscle Trauma group suggests that ice baths can reduce soreness. The baths are said in the study to potentially stimulate blood flow and the transportation of nutrients after exercise. They are also found to reduce pain, swelling, and inflammation.
Do the Baths Help Post-Workout?
According to trainers we spoke with, the results are mixed at best.
“I would never suggest an ice bath after weight training or a hard workout,” said Jeff Kuelling, swim and dive athletic trainer at N.C State. The trainer, who also works for USA Swimming, suggested the baths can be more harmful than helpful.
“Hard training causes muscle breakdown which stimulates the healing process and our body builds us back up even stronger.” Kuelling said. “Ice baths after those workouts were shown to suppress that process, which in turn kills your gains.”
A 2015 study by the Journal of Physiology showed “reduced long-term gains in muscle mass and strength” after biweekly ice bath recovery.
Texas Athletic Trainer Alyssa Hendry wasn’t quite as opposed. But the trainer still pointed to the baths as a secondary option.
“We prefer to get the body flushed out first,” Hendry said. She pointed to methods like massage and the use of Normatec boots as preferred methods over the bath.
“The baths can help with muscle pain,” Hendry said. “It’s just important to get that blood flow beforehand, so it doesn’t freeze over.”
What About Before a Meet?
Meets represent an entirely different challenge than practices, as they focus on harder racing rather than long, sustained swimming. Despite the change, the trainers’ views on ice baths were similar to post-workout.
Hendry stressed that recovery is emphasized more on meet days, but also that it follows a similar process as after training.
“There’s more intensity, so we found that people need to recover more,” Hendry said. “And so we try to ensure they have a good cool-down, reach the massage table for that muscle flow, and then ice bath.”
Kuelling, meanwhile, remained mostly opposed.
“There’s just so many other modalities that are more effective towards recovery,” he said.
Contrast Therapy: An Ice Bath Alternative?
According to Kuelling, lots of great alternatives to ice baths exist. But interestingly enough, the trainer said the best alternative to the ice bath is often combining it with the opposite sensation: heat.
“Contrast Therapy” is a method both Kuelling and Hendry have utilized. The process involves transferring intermittently between a hot tub and an ice bath.
A 2024 study done by Babak Shadgan(et al) for the Journal of Athletic Training said the therapy “increases intramuscular oxygenated blood flow.”
“It’s great for blood flow, joint stiffness, and circulation,” said Hendry. “People usually like it a lot.”
Kuelling uses the method often, advising his athletes to utilize a 3:1 ratio: three minutes in the hot tub, followed by one minute in the cold tub, and finishing with the hot tub. He believes the method will only continue to grow.
“It’s becoming a shift (across swimming),” said Kuelling. “Away from simply cold-immersion therapy, and toward methods like this.”
The Verdict
So, should swimmers utilize ice baths? The answer is complex. Both trainers carried differing views on the subject, with neither fully endorsing the method.
However, as Kuelling suggested, sometimes the best recovery method is what works best mentally for the athlete.
“I’m never gonna suggest it,” he said, referring to the ice baths. “But I want my athletes doing whatever they’re comfortable with, what’s going to help them on race day.”
Hendry agreed.
“There’s always a good psychological benefit of feeling you’re doing something, even if you actually aren’t,” she said. “(Ice baths) can provide that benefit.”
