Two minutes is actually quite good - it doesn't have to be any longer imo.

Regarding the blunting of muscle gains with cold showers.

After my workout I drink a shake. Then I go in the sauna f0r 20-30 minutes before lying down to relax and read for about 30 minutes. Only after that do I have a cold shower. This way at least an hour elapses between leaving the weights and the cold shower.

Quote: (06-16-2012 07:56 PM)RawGod Wrote:  

Cold showers are a true secret weapon. Costs nothing, takes no extra time, yet give you a lift better than almost anything else. I'm a believer.

Take them before lifting? I am guessing that would be more logical and a cold shower post workout for soreness.

Quote: (06-12-2013 04:16 PM)MikeCF Wrote:  

If your gym has a sauna or steam room, do this:

1. Go into sauna until you're super hot.
2. Jump into a shower set to cold.
3. Alternate between 1 and 2.

That reduces muscle soreness like you wouldn't believe.

Anyone do this?

Quote: (06-18-2014 08:02 PM)RawGod Wrote:  

A couple of days into doing it properly again. It's winter here and that water is nice and cold.
Tip: if you don't do it for 3-5 minutes until you feel your body get accustomed to it, you're not getting the full benefit. And to be honest I don't feel that normal cold water temperature in summer or tropical climates is cold enough, but there's not much you can do about that.

So is 5 minute the minimum time to get the benefit?

Also, my biggest concern was catching a cold doing something like this. Now that it is summer, I am not as concerned.

Thanks.

Sauna + cold shower for couple of minutes + sauna.

When I do this regularly I last years without getting sick. My immune system gotten worse since in South America there is no cold water in the shower and no Saunas.

Vinny are you serious about no cold water in South American showers? The problem I encountered in Peru and Colombia was the opposite, no hot water in the showers!! I had many cold showers in Peru and Colombia that were not by choice.

Want to quickly bump this thread.

Cold showers is where it's at. Been on the train now for about 6 months, and aside from when I have to take warm showers immediately after lifting to get ready, I'm all about cold showers. So much that I actually feel my body getting warmer once I turn on the cold water, to prepare for whats coming. Very good stuff. The energy boosts have been solid as well. It's just a nice little life habit that gives a decent advantage. Nothing earthshattering, but one of several other habits worth adapting that all combined will get you further and feeling better in life.

When my leg took about a year to recover from my motorbike accident, I started to take ice baths after 6 months. It was hard at first but the rush you get was amazing after 30 seconds which I found to be addictive.

Haven't done it since, to be honest, but after 'cold showers' came up on youtube just know, I think I'll give it cold showers a go. I never knew about the benefits until I did a Google and it's supposed to make you more resilient to life. I noticed this after becoming a Labourer as advised by ROK. It really does make you more emotional strong when you are in tough environments compare to being in an office where everyone uses to fight if someone turns the temperature up/down by 1C all time (no joke).

Politicians should have their meetings outdoors in the freezing cold to harden the fuck up. Women would refuse to get into politics if this the norm! They currently implement soft cock policies all the time cause they are a pack of soft cocks due to their "comfortable" lifestyles!

A must-read.



https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IIQQF2O/ref...TF8&btkr=1

I've actually been to a Wim Hof seminar and planning to join one of his mountain expeditions sometime within the next year.

Recently met a turkish dude who said cold showers cleared up a severe ache problem he had for 20 years. It put me back on the wagon and made me more focused about these. I mostly get a 4 hour window of endorphin rush but usually start off pretty hot/warm. Looking to skip that and start cool before going full polar bear

Quote: (03-20-2017 06:53 AM)CameraXL Wrote:  

Two minutes is actually quite good - it doesn't have to be any longer imo.

I found this extremely helpful. I heard of it before and then again when I came across RSD Max's Natural program/mission challenges. I do quite a bit of working out. Its great for inflammation from training. Furthermore, once you get use to it, 2min is nothing, and it bleeds into other areas of your life. Like, doing the last rep/set. It could be picking up OT when you don't want to do so. It could be doing cold approach when out of state. It could be any number of things.

I often take cold showers because I'm too impatient/lazy to light the water heater and wait for it to heat up. Saves time and money (reduces my gas bill by 90%). Although I get a lot of good thinking done during hot showers, the energy boost after a cold shower more than compensates for that. Today's left me feeling invinceable.

Have any of you guys jumped in a large pile of snow with just shorts on. Since the snow is here my idea is to take a hot shower and straight to jumping in the snow. Basically constrast shower effect but more immediate.

^^^^^
I do this all the time (when there is sufficient snow), but only after sauna.

Also when i was little my parents made me to run in the snow barefoot (2-5minutes) I think it helped me to develop strong immune system.

I started taking cold showers a while back and I've also found them to be quite addictive. Sometimes during Winter though, it is nearly impossible for me to do if the pipes are cold. Also, I've found that starting with the water cold instead of working your way up isn't as bad as some say it is, you just have to be prepared to hyperventilate for about a minute until your body can adjust.

Quote: (04-09-2012 05:18 AM)Cr33pin Wrote:  

21 Health Benefits of a Cold Shower

Alexa Fleckenstein, M.D., author of Health20, has a few things to say about cold showers. Within the book, she writes:


“Cold water can do more than just wash away sweat, dirt, old skin cells, bacteria, and viruses"

What a Cold Shower Can Do For You

1.Enhance immunity against infections and cancer

2.Give your glands (thyroid, adrenals, ovaries/testes) a boost, improving hormonal activity

3.Jump-start your mood and motivation

4.Crank up your metabolism to fight type 2 diabetes, obesity, gout, rheumatic diseases, depression, and more

5.Normalize your blood pressure

6.Decrease chronic pain

7.Train and improve your blood circulation

8.Detoxify your body

9.Fight fatigue

10.Strengthen exhausted, irritable nerves

11.Rejuvenate, heal, and tone the skin

12.Deepen your breathing

13.Help with insomnia

14.Improve kidney function

15.Reduce swelling and edema

16.Improve lymphatic circulation, thereby increasing immune function

17.Reduce stress by regulating your autonomic nervous system

18.Regulate temperature, fighting chronically cold hands and cold feet and excessive sweating

19.Keep your hair healthy

20.Improve hemorrhoids and varicose veins

21.Reduce aches and pains

From another website

Benefits of Cold Water Showers

While doctors may no longer instruct their patients to take a cold bath and call them in the morning, a shot of cold water can still impart real health benefits:

Improves circulation. Good blood circulation is vital for overall cardiovascular health. Healthy blood circulation also speeds up recovery time from strenuous exercises and work. Alternating between hot and cold water while you shower is an easy way to improve your circulation. Cold water causes your blood to move to your organs to keep them warm. Warm water reverses the effect by causing the blood to move towards the surface of the skin. Cold shower proponents argue that stimulating the circulatory system in this way keeps them healthier and younger looking than their hot water-loving counterparts.

Relieves depression. Lots of great men from history suffered bouts of depression. Henry David Thoreau is one such man. But perhaps Thoreau’s baths in chilly Walden Pond helped keep his black dog at bay. Research at the Department of Radiation Oncology at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine indicates that short cold showers may stimulate the brain’s “blue spot”- the brain’s primary source of noradrenaline — a chemical that could help mitigate depression. I guess a bout of the blues isn’t so bad after all.

Keeps skin and hair healthy. Hot water dries out skin and hair. If you want to avoid an irritating itch and ashy elbows, turn down the temperature of your showers. Also, cold water can make your manly mane look shinier and your skin look healthier by closing up your cuticles and pores.

Strengthens immunity. According to a study done in 1993 by the Thrombosis Research Institute in England, individuals who took daily cold showers saw an increase in the number of virus fighting white blood cells compared to individuals who took hot showers. Researchers believe that the increased metabolic rate, which results from the body’s attempt to warm itself up, activates the immune system and releases more white blood cells in response.

Increases testosterone. During the 19th century, many doctors and ministers recommended that young men take baths in cold water to reduce the sin of “self-pollution,” i.e. whacking off. Cold water was thought to extinguish a man’s flaming carnal desires. There was even a ghastly device invented on this principle.

How wrong they were! The same study by the Thrombosis Research Institute cited above showed that cold water showers actually increase testosterone production in men. Increased testosterone levels not only boost a man’s libido, but also his overall strength and energy level. If you’re looking to increase your testosterone, instead of juicing up like Mark McGwire, hop into a cold shower.

Increases fertility. Trying to become a dad? Cold showers are good for your little swimmers. Your testes aren’t meant to get too hot; that’s why they hang outside your body. Sperm counts decrease when the temperature of a man’s testes increases. Experiments done in the 1950s showed that hot baths were an effective contraceptive. Men who took a 30 minute hot bath every other day for 3 weeks were infertile for the next six months. More recently, the University of California at San Francisco did a study with men who were exposed to 30 minutes of “wet heat” (hot baths and such) a week. When the men cut this exposure out, their sperm count went up by 491%, and their sperm’s motility improved as well. While switching from a hot to cold shower may not have as dramatic an effect, if you’re trying to create some progeny, it surely won’t hurt.

Increases energy and well-being. Every time I end a shower with cold water, I leave feeling invigorated and energized. Your heart starts pumping, and the rush of blood through your body helps shake off the lethargy of the previous night’s sleep. For me, the spike in energy lasts several hours. It’s almost like drinking a can of Diet Mountain Dew, minus the aspartame. And while it hasn’t been studied, many people swear that cold showers are a surefire stress reducer. I’m a believer.


No one lives forever, no one. But with apple cider vinegar, cold showers, advances in modern science and my high level income, it's not crazy to think I can live to be 245, maybe 300.

I learned lot off stuff from your post. Nice one

had a really rough past two months, I dont think I could have have made it without. Waking up wondering how youll make it out the door, to full charged methed out warrior after the shower.

Cold showers are snake oil if you ask me. Biggest benefit is that it shocks your nervouse system and triggers a biological response that causes you to feel awake and energized.

Quote: (12-21-2017 09:37 AM)General Stalin Wrote:  

Cold showers are snake oil if you ask me. Biggest benefit is that it shocks your nervouse system and triggers a biological response that causes you to feel awake and energized.

Even if that's all they do (and in my opinion that's far from all) then it's far better to reach that state via a cold shower than chemically in my opinion.

I really rate cold showers. If I've had a crap day and not done any exercise, I force myself to have a cold shower. I jump straight in cold for five to ten seconds to get wet, stand out the way and apply soap, then I can handle it OK when I get back under.

Quote: (12-21-2017 09:37 AM)General Stalin Wrote:  

Cold showers are snake oil if you ask me. Biggest benefit is that it shocks your nervouse system and triggers a biological response that causes you to feel awake and energized.

I don't understand the criticism?

I had fallen off the cold shower horse, but have gotten back on the past week. I also don't wear a jacket or long pants to the gym in the morning even though the temps in my neck of the woods get down into the 20s that early in the morning. Cold is a good teacher.

I don't know any of you guys do the cold shower thing in the winter. A hot shower on a cold day is better than cupcakes.

In addition to cold showers I've now started to go outside in nothing but shorts for some cold exposure. I did a minute of bare feet in the snow, and then 3 additional minutes with shoes on. It's currently about 18 degrees outside.

Quote: (12-24-2017 01:30 PM)godzilla Wrote:  

I don't know any of you guys do the cold shower thing in the winter. A hot shower on a cold day is better than cupcakes.

Take a spoonful of cement and harden up, cupcake....

Quote: (12-24-2017 01:30 PM)godzilla Wrote:  

I don't know any of you guys do the cold shower thing in the winter. A hot shower on a cold day is better than cupcakes.

Take a hot shower after you take the cold shower. Or take them at different times - when you get out of bed, you haven't been outside, so you shouldn't be cold.

Quote: (12-25-2017 07:17 AM)Raylan Givens Wrote:  

In addition to cold showers I've now started to go outside in nothing but shorts for some cold exposure. I did a minute of bare feet in the snow, and then 3 additional minutes with shoes on. It's currently about 18 degrees outside.

A key to the cold shower is it has to be really cold - lie make your skin numb cold. I've got a kinda-cold shower in my place, which is a bummer because it's cold enough to be uncomfortable but I don't think really cold enough to activate the beneficial effects. (Ditto a hot shower - I like to the get to red-skin temperatures for a short window.)