Post-exercise cold water immersion attenuates acute anabolic signalling and long-term adaptations in muscle to strength training.

Plain-language summary

This paper reports two separate experiments on whether cold water after strength training blunts the adaptation to it. In the first, 21 physically active men trained for 12 weeks, twice a week, each session followed by either 10 minutes of cold water immersion or active recovery. Strength and muscle mass rose more in the active recovery group. In the second, nine active men did single-leg strength work on separate days followed by one or the other, with muscle samples taken before and up to 48 hours after. Cold water blunted the satellite cell and signalling response that drives muscle remodelling. Another study in this library asks the same question of cold water immersion after strength training, so the two are related and should be read together.

Key findings

• Strength and muscle mass increased more with active recovery than cold water immersion.
• Isokinetic work, type II muscle fiber size, and myonuclei per fiber increased with active recovery but not cold water immersion.
• Satellite cell activity was higher after active recovery than cold water immersion.
• Cold water immersion reduced the activity of kinases that drive muscle growth.