Hot Water Better for Muscle Recovery, Says New Research

• Cold water immersion (in 11°C water)
• A hot bath (41°C)
• A warm bath (36°C)

The researchers measured muscle strength, pain levels and muscle activity before and after the exercise, at 24 hours and again at 48 hours.

Results

At 48 hours post-exercise, both hot and cold baths helped the men regain muscle strength. But here’s where it gets interesting. Only the hot bath group saw a significant improvement in explosive strength and a reduction in muscle soreness. In contrast, the cold bath group experienced increased muscle activity, but it wasn’t necessarily beneficial. The warm bath served as a control and didn’t produce notable results.

Conclusion

For trainees aiming for quick recovery and enhanced performance, this study suggests that a hot bath is more effective than a cold one, implying that incorporating hot water immersion into your post-exercise routine could be a game-changer.

The hot bath group also saw benefits that the cold bath group did not. Specifically, the restored ability to produce force quickly – a critical factor for many sports and activities. Additionally, it also reduced muscle soreness more effectively.

What Does This Mean For Us?

This research doesn’t invalidate the usage of cold water exposure. Ice baths definitely have their place, especially for reducing inflammation and numbing pain. As we’ve detailed before, cold water exposure really comes into its own when we’re looking to raise our mood or boost our performance immediately before a workout. The contrast of ice/heat could be thought of as ‘on and off’ switches – the cold designed to prime you for a hard training session, the heat to help you ‘switch off’ and come into a state of recovery.

What this research does do is highlight the value of a hot soak for recovery, suggesting it can significantly aid in bouncing back after a tough session.

So, next time you’re debating whether to hop into a hot tub or plunge into the cold, forget what you see on social media and consider the evidence. A hot bath might not only feel better but also get you back to your best, faster, adding to the growing body of evidence that heat can be a powerful tool in your recovery arsenal.

Time to grab the bubble bath.

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With almost 18 years in the health and fitness space as a personal trainer, nutritionist, breath coach and writer, Andrew has spent nearly half of his life exploring how to help people improve their bodies and minds.    

As our fitness editor he prides himself on keeping Men’s Health at the forefront of reliable, relatable and credible fitness information, whether that’s through writing and testing thousands of workouts each year, taking deep dives into the science behind muscle building and fat loss or exploring the psychology of performance and recovery.   

Whilst constantly updating his knowledge base with seminars and courses, Andrew is a lover of the practical as much as the theory and regularly puts his training to the test tackling everything from Crossfit and strongman competitions, to ultra marathons, to multiple 24 hour workout stints and (extremely unofficial) world record attempts.   

 You can find Andrew on Instagram at @theandrew.tracey, or simply hold up a sign for ‘free pizza’ and wait for him to appear.