Ice baths: Ice baths have been a very popular way of reducing inflammation and reducing DOMS for athletes after a training session or between events at a competition. The cold water causes the body to constrict blood flow to the extremities and so blood and lactic acids are pooled in large veins and arteries that can more efficiently get blood back to the lungs to be oxygenated. It also reduced cellular inflammation in the same way an ice pack does. However, more and more recent research is suggesting that the recovery and anti-inflammatory benefits given from ice baths can also be achieved via the active recovery. There has also been shown that ice baths have a negative effect on strength improvements as resources are less available for cell reconstruction and recovery due to blood flow restriction. Ice baths are falling out of favour with modern athletes who are taking a shining to compression suits, active recovery and contrast hydrotherapy. As a result, I would recommend looking for more effective and less painful ways of reducing recovery time and DOMS as it seams ice baths are struggling to show strong benefits unless you suffer from high levels of inflammation.

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Cold Showers: Cold showers have a lot of promising claims to them recently, however many of them are yet to become concreate with evidence. Overall they have a similar effect to ice baths to a reduced degree, and I find are much more useful as a method to start the day with a more alert and relaxed temperament over the other claims. If you are not a morning person but would like to feel more alert in the morning, I would highly recommend cold showers. Otherwise, it is down to preference and what you find works better for you.

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Heat shock proteins: Heat shock proteins are becoming an increasingly interesting field of study with many top scientists currently testing the claims and benefits from heat shock proteins and heat treatments. So far it has been shown that heat shock proteins are very valuable when it comes to hormone levels, recovery, longevity and even improve neurogenesis. Very fortunately for us athletes, heat shock proteins are not specific to a type of heat and so intense exercise that warms your body temperature can just as effectively promote these benefits as sitting in a sauna or having a rather hot bath. Intuitively this makes sense as it is a fact that exercise and periods of intense exercise is one of the best things a human can do to live longer and better. Therefore for those of you who have access to a sauna or steam room or a very hot bath then I would recommend trying a 20-30 min sit and see how you feel afterwards. For the rest of us, as long as we train hard and often we will also garner many of the impressive claims heat shock proteins boast to cause. (Remember to stay hydrated when in sauna or exercising).

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Contrast Hydrotherapy: The cooler and more beneficial brother of ice baths, this treatment contrasts hot water with cold water at a 4:1 time ratio to improve recovery and reduce muscle soreness. Although often done in hot tubs and ice baths, this can be done in showers, buckets or any container where you have one hot and one cold with at least a 10-degree difference in temperatures. This method encourages the dilation and restriction of blood vessels in close succession can garner both the benefits of lactic acid reduction in the muscles while also getting suitable inflammation to then repair and supply cell growth. There have been very positive anecdotes and research into this type of recovery, with it being very beneficial in almost all areas. If you can, give it a go.