Cold water plunges.
Cold showers.
Polar plunges.
Many a claim is made for such practices, but it turns
out that all may be based on little more than fad du jour.
Such training practices are cyclical, in six months,
we’ll all be shouting from the rooftops about the benefits of UV exposure on
our nether bits [t’is an actual claim]or holding oat bran under our tongues
while we train [that, too], or some such thing, hell, leg-warmers may be back
in fashion by then.
What’s more cold-water immersion studies have shown
that the practice may actually inhibit strength and muscle
adaptation—the exact opposite, one would assume, of those who use such tactics.
We’ll get to the science, but first, let us begin with
the “why” of the practice for many and how this why may be sought
elsewhere.
Let’s look to a passage from Conrad Richter’
well-researched novel, The Light in the Forest that mentions cold “training”
which was indeed a part of many a tribal culture.
“The boy was about fifteen years old. He tried to
stand very straight and tall when he heard the news, but inside of him
everything had gone black. It wasn't that he couldn't endure pain. In summer he
would put a stone hot from the fire on his flesh to see how long he could stand
it. In winter he would sit in the icy river until his Indian father smoking on
the bank said he could come out. It made him strong against any hardship that
would come to him, his father said.”
Again, to be clear I do not think such cold water practices
are necessary, but I do find that practices of purposeful
hardening/robustification can go a long way towards
the improvement of both the physical and mental character.
Notice, the novel’s example was not to improve cold
tolerance or heat tolerance per se, but to teach “strength against
hardship.”
Many cold-practice adopters have exhibited a bit of
domain specificity in the understanding of the indigenous use of cold
immersion.
It is not to gain Wim Hof levels of cold-tolerance via
some purported breathing method, it is to robustify the soul in the midst of an
unpleasantness so that one develops “strength against hardship.” A strength
that can diversify against other challenges.
The point of the practice was developing this spiritual
robustness, not the cold itself.
Any unpleasantness endured with grace becomes the mechanism.
Many tunnel on the specific mechanism while missing
the arc of the total vision.
[BTW-Scott Carney, the author of What Does
Not Kill Us, the book that introduced many to Wim Hof, has candidly and
valiantly reversed himself regarding the man and his method. He offers a series
of podcasts that debunk much of the exoteric nonsense that surround the man and
the method. You can also find my interview with Mr. Carney on this blog.]
Again, robustifying is the key, it is not necessarily
the cold itself.
Seems integration to the whole is the thing.
Seems the Spirit is the thing.
From the Esoteric to the “Scientific” Claims
Ice baths and cold showers are self-prescribed to reduce
inflammation post-exercise.
One-If one is “exercising”
one presumes it is for the health benefit of the practice.
If the “healthful” practice sparks inflammation in the
body, it is no longer a healthful practice.
The bit of “Bro Science” that claims that muscle-building
and conditioning is the result of micro-tears in muscle tissue was put to bed
decades ago, and yet…
In short, if what I do for health and longevity
requires bolsters before or after [knee braces, analgesics, cold immersion,
etc.] be that “healthful training”
running, deadlifting, 900 burpees---if, these require support or care before,
during or after, well, that no longer reflects a practice that is a net benefit.
Two-If one is using cold
practices while in pursuit of athletic betterment—strength and or adaptation to
task—studies show cold practices inhibit both strength and muscular adaptation.
I offer a mere two studies of the many that demonstrate
the disutility of the practice.
Post exercise cold water immersion
attenuates acute anabolic signalling and long-term adaptations and muscle to
strength training LA Roberts T. Raastad, JF Markworth &
VC Figueiredo
The Influence of Post-Exercise Cold-Water Immersion
on Adaptive Responses to Exercise: A Review of the Literature by
J.R. Roach, A. Peterson & DJ Bishop
Three—If one still thinks,
“Well, I did not train with intent to injure myself, and I hear ya on the
potential decrease in strength potential and skill adaptation I worked so hard
to gain but am willing to attenuate that hard work—and I don’t care a whit
about collagen synthesis rates so my tendons be damned, but cold is still mighty
good for inflammation and I am rife with that, so there, Mark. That’s why I’ll
keep doin’ it.”
If inflammation is present…
·
Ice/cold only works at the surface, that
is epidermis and sub-dermal level. Bump the knee? Perhaps some ice—but even
here the current state of the science is to forgo the ice and go with analgesics
and compression.
Analgesics are the superior choice of
anti-inflammatory therapy.
Cold immersion is a fantastic tool used in the original
indigenous spiritual/character/STFU/robustification sense.
But so are any and all “Grin and bear it”
tasks.
One could easily substitute waiting patiently in line,
standing on a fire ant mound, elongated breath holds etc. for “digging deep.”
But cold plunges as a practice for anything other than,
“If I can stand this, I shall endeavor to bring this mindset elsewhere” is
not necessary and the practice may even be slowing down and eating what you
seek to train in the first place.
Why throw cold water on the white-hot forge of training?
For scientifically backed Combat Conditioning
based on Old School principles just like the real Old Timers did, from Indigenous
Warriors to Combination Men see our Unleaded Conditioning series.
Or continue down the fad du jour path.
For info on The Black
Box Project and all of our sundry products and training programs see here.
Or
try our podcast: Mark Hatmaker Rough n Tumble Raconteur.
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