Ice Baths - Methods and Results

I found it the easiest to first step in, wait for a minute with only my feet in the water.

And then just sit down.

Really fascinating is: After doing it twice you really get used to it.

As for the ice I use about 9 lbs of those ice packs you use for portable ice boxes.

Really handy, after you're done, use your towel to dry them and back in the freezer with them.

One more thing:

Don't underestimate the power of your body to heat up the water!

When not moving it can get quite comfortable in their, because there builds up a screen of "warmer" water around your skin.

That's why I keep constantly moving to have the water circulating. While this really gets kinda ... cold ... I always tend to think "I'm not doing this for fun anyways, so why not do it really nasty"

Though I do not have progress in numbers, it really helped me break through plateaus.

i use cold therapy . the reasoning is that it promotes brown fat growth - and brown fat eats white fat (the kind around your waist/lovehandles) i buy two bags of ice from the gas station and throw it in a full bath of cold water... i then get in up to my waist quick is better i find...and i wait 10 minutes... then i try to submerge up to my neck for another 5-10 minutes...this is usually all i can take

i also use the ice packs on the back of my neck and traps on off days...the first bath is the worst...after that you get used to it

I have no idea what's the fuss about... C'mon it's not that bad. I've took my first cold* bath 10min ago and.... it was fine. not pleasant, but you start to focus better. I was reading while in the tub.

*I wasn't prepared to take ice bath(had no ice), will do it next time. But I live in England, and tap water here is pretty damn cold. so it sort of equals

P.S. cold shower is much "harder" than bath. I've tried cold showers for few days and it was unpleasant - your heart races first minute but then you just start ignoring it.

P.P.S. i love that feeling of "electricity" when you wipe yourself after cold bath/shower.

he has a method in the book, he says to put 2 20# bags in with water then he goes like up to his waist for 10 mins. then up to his chest for 5 and the up to his neck for another 5 or something similar to that, he also suggests a few easier methods, he also explains the ice bath in detail in the book

I used to take ice baths to speed up recovery after basketball practices in college. It absolutely heals muscles/tendons quickly & I couldn't have played without them. However, they are extremely painful for the first couple minutes! Whatever weight you supposedly lose from creating a blood rush/increased heart rate you can get from less painful methods. Tim is a brilliant guy & I'm a big fan of his work....but after taking hundreds of ice baths myself there is not a chance I would do it again regardless of positive results.

Anyone know if cold showers are just as effective as ice baths?

I'm in England too and the water here is pretty damn cold.

I found the best way to start is to fill the bath with about 4 inches of luke-warm water. Jump in and then turn the cold tap on and get reading something interesting. The bath fills up in about 3 minutes but you don't get the shock of jumping in when the bath's full with cold water. Having something to focus on other than how cold you are makes the experience less unpleasant.

Interesting that they now offer a method for destroying fat cells using extreme cold called Cool Sculpting. It uses a machine that zaps extreme levels of cold that shrink up the fat cells and kills them off. Not quite the same as activating BAT cells, but still interesting none the less. There is some evidence developing that does show that even ice baths could result in the shrinking of fat cells, which essentially means they get absorbed into the body. I will try to find the link I found on Pubmed, but right now it is escaping my search skills on there.

If you want to look up the Cool Sculpting they talk about it here on this Plastic Surgery site.

http://www.body-contouring.com/zeltiq.aspx

From what I have read,

- Tim does an Ice bath for 2 reasons: (1) reduces fat (2) improves sex drive -- may be sperm count, testosterone level.

- He sits in ice water with legs extended for 10 minutes and then the last 5 he fully immerses himself - breathing as needed.

How to do it – it all depends on how well you tolerate cold. I personally would take it gradually and just put my feet in initially.

Yes I have taken an ice bath up to the waste before - it was part of rehab in college days. I did not like it, but I am a wimp. Will I try it again - maybe. First I need to conquer a 5 minute cold shower.

Well, I tried an ice bath yesterday for the first time & let me tell you it was horrible!!!!!! I will keep doing them but not happy about it at all! I'm interested to see the outcome of all of the 'rules' I'm trying really hard to follow.

I need to lose 20 lbs & if the ice helps with my metabolism, I'm all for it!!!!

I have much more to say/ask but I'm guessing I'll just have to go to a different thread, don't want to upset anyone by posting in the wrong thread!!!

I will say this though, I'm really glad this forum is here cuz the book is somewhat daunting, trying to follow everything to the letter.

search the forum there are a lot of good posts on this.

I haven't mustered up the courage for an ice bath yet (I am waiting until I hit a plateau so I can use that as motivation to sit in a bucket of ice ).

Although, I have been playing with cold showers just to see the weight difference before and after. With a 3-4 minute cold shower, I consistently lose 0.4 pounds (I guess that would be 4 ounces??), which isn't a whole lot but this is only a 3 minute shower.

I was just doing this for fun but I was also curious to see if there would be instant results from sitting and cold water and it definitely looks as though this is the case.

I am really curious to see what my before and after weight is with a 20 minute cold bath and I am pretty confident my curious nature will win out soon and I will be trying it, so I will keep you posted.

Coming from a post-work out standpoint, an ice bath is key, especially if you did any hard cardio such as running. We've all felt the soreness after working out, and a lot of that is built up lactic acid. Stretching is recommended after a workout, however it is impossible to stretch out every single little muscle. By taking an ice bath, you force a good majority of your muscles to contract. It's kinda like wringing out a towel.

The body's response to a mass drop in temperature is to increase the blood flow. This "flush" brings more blood to the muscles and helps to carry out the acid that has built up. Often, when I take ice baths, I feel like I am doing small exercises because my muscles get the post rep "burn" you get after lifting a set of weights.

I after the "blood rush," I've personally experienced a nice drop in heart rate. I wear a chest heart monitor and an instant read HRM watch as well and my average heart rate when taking an ice bath is around 55 bpm, and dropping as low as 45 bpm.

Psychologically, it toughens you up. Hard to touch on the intangibles here, but just start taking ice bath's and you'll understand.