We Tried 3 Ice Baths for Post-Workout Muscle Recovery

There’s even scientific evidence that you might benefit from a contrast bath, where you alternate between hot and cold water exposure. This has a pumping effect on the blood in your body, reducing the quantity of blood biomarkers, like lactic acid, commonly associated with post-workout muscle soreness.

Achieving this therapeutic effect doesn’t require freezing yourself in extremely cold water, which is exceedingly uncomfortable, or purchasing extra equipment, such as giant ice trays. You can purchase a backyard tub that provides the benefits of cryotherapy, and there are some advantages to going this route because it can be harder to fully submerge yourself in a smaller bathtub—or your home may have only a shower. We tried two similarly constructed ice baths and one more expensive one to determine which were the most comfortable and how easy or difficult they were to assemble, disassemble, and store when not in use. 

One note, especially if you live somewhere parched by drought, is that sucking 80 to more than 100 gallons of water out of your well or municipal water system isn’t a trivial quantity of H2O. Heed the advice below on keeping the tub covered so that at least you can reuse the same supply repeatedly. Here’s how each ice bath performed.