We Tried 3 Ice Baths for Post-Workout Muscle Recovery
Backyard cold plunge tubs are buzzing with hype. We looked into the science to see if they’re worth the investment.
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Ice baths, or cold plunge tubs, are having a moment. Exercise physiologists have studied cryotherapy, including the effects of ice as a post-exercise treatment, for decades, and emerging research indicates that colder water isn’t better. Instead, water at roughly 50° to 70° F and longer exposure may be the secret sauce to better post-workout muscle recovery.
- Tubs We Tried: Cold Pod XL Pod Company Pro IcePod 2.0 Tru Grit Fitness Inflatable Ice Bath
- More on Cold Plunge Tubs: Pros & Cons Contrast Baths Strength Recovery vs. Muscle Building How We Evaluated
The Cold Pod XL ice bath tub was our top pick because it’s relatively affordable compared with the Tru Grit model I also evaluated, as well as much roomier than the IcePod Pro, both below.
Setup, takedown, and storage: Both the Cold Pod and the Pro IcePod 2.0, below, are easy to set up. Insert a series of poles into the exterior sleeves around the edge of the round bath, then use a small hand pump to inflate the rim of the unit. Breakdown is just a reverse of this, and there’s a sturdy spigot for draining the water. Roll up the tub and it stores in about the same space you’d need for a carry-on suitcase.
Comfort: A bigger tub was definitely a game changer for my friend Andrew. He’s an occupational therapist who’s familiar with the efficacy of cold water treatment as well as contrast bath therapy. But I recruited him less for his knowledge of the science and more because he was a willing participant and a bigger guy, weighing about 200 pounds and closer to 6 feet tall. I’m shorter and lighter. With a tub, if you’re bigger, it could be harder to get into and out of a smaller unit, and for Andrew especially, it was a lot easier for him to cross and uncross his legs in the bottom of the Cold Pod. He could also unfurl his legs and stand up and get out more easily. FYI: Neither of these was large enough for two full-sized adults to use simultaneously.
The Cold Pod’s diameter is a claimed 35.5 inches, which I confirmed by measuring; the Pro IcePod 2.0’s claimed diameter is 32 inches, but my tape measure showed closer to 30 inches.
Aesthetics: Neither the Cold Pod nor the Pro IcePod 2.0 is particularly attractive. They’re more like gym equipment; they’re useful, not pretty.
Accessories: The Cold Pod comes with a lid. That’s important. We were experimenting with these when temperatures were close to freezing outside. The lid helped preserve the cold, not freezing temperature in the tub. You also want that top to preserve the clarity of the water, keeping out leaves and other debris. Using some 100 gallons of water is a big tax on your home’s well or your water bill, so you’d ideally not have to renew what’s in the tub too frequently.
Sound structure: The multiple layers of nylon, PVC, and insulated walls of the liner felt plenty tough, but one factor to consider with either the Cold Pod or the Pro IcePod 2.0 is that you’re really relying on the water volume itself for structural integrity. The walls are held up only by the posts in their sleeves, and the rim merely provides a neck cushion to lean back against. You cannot depend on the edge of the tub for balance when you’re getting into or out of the tub.
Setup, takedown, and storage: The setup, using poles threaded into sleeves and inflating the rim, is exactly the same as the Cold Pod’s, as is breakdown and storage.
Comfort: Other than the fact that it’s slightly narrower, the construction of the Pro IcePod 2.0 and the Cold Pod are nearly identical. This ice bath comes with a lid, but you can spend an additional $19 for the insulated lid (sold separately). And if you’re a smaller person, you probably won’t feel too cramped. However, this is a runner-up simply because its quarters are relatively tight. How much that matters really comes down to how limber you are to squeeze into this smaller tub. One prop for the IcePod vs. the Cold Pod: It is designed with a thicker floor, so your butt is cushioned more when you squat on the bottom.
Temperature: Using a scientific thermometer, we found no significant difference in these units’ ability to maintain temperature; both have insulated sides. At least while testing on a frigid day, we didn’t notice a significant difference between the two smaller tubs’ ability to hold temperature. However, you would want to get the insulated lid for the Pro IcePod 2.0 if you were trying to keep the water cooler on a boiling hot day.
Setup, takedown, and storage: The Tru Grit Inflatable Ice Bath is a lot more stable and sturdy than the others. It comes with a backpack to pick it up and easily carry it away when not in use. Setting it up is a lot like inflating an air mattress (using an included floor pump). It has to be pumped only to 10 PSI because the walls are tough and fairly thick, so after less than a minute of pumping, the bath stands up and is ready for filling with water. Breaking down the Tru Grit is a little more involved; the double-action pump can be reversed to pull air out of the tub’s walls, but because this plunge is a lot bulkier, folding it and compressing it so that it actually squeezes into the included backpack is a chore. And even when it’s compressed, it’s 40 inches long by a foot deep, so think large checked luggage vs. the carry-aboard bag dimensions of the other two.
Comfort: According to a spokesperson from Tru Grit, the tub capacity is 100 gallons, but they recommend filling it to 80 gallons to provide sufficient water levels with minimal water displacement when you enter or exit the tub. Because it lies flat, like in a home tub, it’s a more comfortable experience.
Accessories: My model came with a thicker, insulated lid. Because the walls are about 3 inches thick and the PVC is also sturdier than with the other tubs we tried, the Tru Grit regulates the temperature of the water inside for longer.
Aesthetics: This is definitely a splurge for someone who is going to be dedicated to the use of a recovery plunge, but there’s no question it’s a much nicer tub to use.
Temperature: To try the contrast bath method of therapy (switching between hot water immersion and then cold water immersion), we used the Tru Grit for the hot plunge. It held 105° F water well, dropping only a few degrees in an hour. (We were diligent about restoring the lid between plunges.) It maintained a cold water temperature perfectly as well.
Benefits and Drawbacks of Cold Plunges
Before evaluating cold plunges, we consulted with two experts: Phyllis R. Ross, a clinical assistant professor and member of the occupational therapy faculty at Howard University, and Susan Y. Kwiecien, senior clinical research manager at the Nicholas Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma. Both advised talking with your physician before engaging in cold plunge use, particularly if you’re pregnant or hypertensive (because exposure to cold water ramps blood pressure, according to Ross), or if you have any other underlying health conditions, especially heart issues.
According to Kwiecien and Ross, exposing your body to excessive cold does not achieve extra recovery effects, such as reducing muscle soreness. Ross stresses the importance of checking in with your own response to cold water. In her sessions with patients, she says she never goes longer than 30 seconds in cold water.
“If you put a ballerina with barely any body fat in a cold water immersion tub, their tissues would cool much faster,” Kwiecien says. “Once you shiver, you should stop; let your muscles rewarm a bit so that your core temperature elevates a little, and then go back in.”
Kwiecien also cautions that the use of cold plunges filled with ice cubes is a “fad,” and a possibly harmful one. “It can cause deep tissue shivering, which is bad,” Kwiecien says. “That’s your body in crisis. That is your body no longer helping you recover. It’s your body trying to survive.” Kwiecien also says you don’t want to wait too long after a workout to engage in cryotherapy: “There’s a window of opportunity within 30 minutes after you damage your muscles, either through an injury or through exercise.”
How to Try a Contrast Bath
Contrast baths, which Ross says she uses in her practice, cycle between hot and cold immersion and have shown benefits for people suffering from osteoarthritis and exercise-induced muscle damage.
If you’re interested in trying a contrast bath, Ross recommends first exposing your body or only one body part to hot water, preferably between 100° F and 110° F. Then submerge that body part in cold water, between 50° F to 70° F, and then swap back and forth between hot and cold.
And, yes, this means you could achieve this in a hot shower and then a cold tub—you don’t need a specialized cold plunge. “Cryotherapy has a systemic effect regardless of how deep you immerse yourself in the water,” Kwiecien says. “So a bath is totally fine. You can stay in it for longer. So that’s another benefit.”
Use Cold Therapy for Strength Recovery—Not Muscle Building
There’s some confusion about how helpful cold therapy can be if you are looking to make muscle gains. Kwiecien stresses that her studies show that “[cold therapy] accelerates recovery and [reduces] soreness, and also strength loss.” However, there are two caveats, she says. The first is that cold water immersion will accelerate recovery of soreness, but not all cold therapies have been shown to have this effect (e.g., whole-body cryotherapy does not have this effect). The second is that prolonged cooling will accelerate recovery of strength loss but it needs to be applied for 3 hours, which so far has only been done using phase change material. (This refers to any substance that goes through a phase transition between states of matter with no detectible temperature change—water or a gel pack would not qualify as phase change materials, but a frozen PCM pack would.)
Kwiecien says that regular cryotherapy can reduce building muscle mass and that there’s a lot of evidence to show that using cold water immersion as part of a post-exercise regime can actually have detrimental effects on muscle mass and strength gains, and it also impairs muscle protein synthesis rates.
Bottom line: If your aim is to add muscle and not just maintain it, cold therapy will slow that gain.
How We Evaluated Cold Plunges
I set up the three tubs in the backyard of my house, and I used a scientific thermometer with dual leads and two readouts to compare the water temperature of two tubs simultaneously. I filled each using an outdoor garden hose. Still, because our well water temperature was 42° F, I also threaded a second hose to the tap in our kitchen and ran hot water through that line, which I snaked out the window to the patio to get two tubs up to 60° F (see section above for why ice-cold water isn’t ideal).
I also filled the Tru Grit with hot water, not cold, to try a contrast bath method in which my friend Andrew and I would alternate between hot and cool water tubs. Then we engaged in a 30-minute kettlebell weight workout to see whether the cryotherapy aided our perceived recovery, and also to test the difference between the way the tubs with lids vs. the IcePod held their temperature. We evaluated each tub for ease of setup and takedown, roominess, aesthetics, sound structure, and the benefits of any accessories that were included.