cold shower right after workout?

Ive been taking cold shower right after workout for 3months.

I heard that it is good for joints and soft tissues.

But I recently got cold,which is not because of shower,so I am not doing it.

What do you think?
really beneficial to my blood vessels and soft tissues?

I personally think that the shock promoted by the difference of temperatures is good only if there is an injury with immediate pain or risk of edema. With normal people you can obtain a hearth lock due to the temp difference. Do not play with it if you are not under medical supervision.

Alessandro what is a hearth lock?  Were talking about a short cold shower here right not an ice bath.  I'm no doctor but having on demand hot water is a modern invention.  Shouldn't our bodies be capable of handling some cold water for a reasonable duration?

i've been taking contrast showers for 3 years. no health issues. 

Any noticeable benefits Sean?  Do you start hot then switch to cold?

Start hot. always finish cold. 

It's very invigorating. Have no idea if it's benefiting me in any way, but i suspect it helps with recovery/testosterone.

big fan of this myself.  I love cold dips in mountain streams and lakes, but at homes the last minute of most showers is cold.  Unfortunately, even in the winter, the water isn't very cold through the tap, probably only 50 degrees or so.  Much prefer the mountain lakes.  There's some poor data that it decreases cortisol levels and improves brown fat composition.   The Shinto Japanese have been doing it for thousands of years, and the ancient Spartans did it as well.  It also makes your body tolerate the cold so that conditions that others find uncomfortable are not even noticed by you.  Mostly I just find it invigorating and it helps me sleep like a baby.

I love cold showers at any time. I don't mix hot water in at all, just get in, take really deep breaths and relax into it. Similar to what Doug said the sleep after this is awesome and a cold shower at the start of the day gives you awesome energy.

When I lived in Alaska I attended a number of Athabascan sweat ceremonies held in small log huts heated by a large barrel full of hot stones that someone would pour water over.  They were conveniently built near water and in the Winter time a large hole would be busted open in the ice so everyone could exit the lodge when you couldn't stand the heat anymore and take a plunge.  This would be repeated up to seven times over a two to four hour period.  A large feast followed and food and drink never tasted so good.

You guys are all crazy! Few things make me happier than a shower so hot my skin turns red.

The closest I get to what you're describing is walking to the outdoor hot tub in my swimsuit on a ski trip

9 minutes ago, Julia Quigley said:

You guys are all crazy! Few things make me happier than a shower so hot my skin turns red.

The closest I get to what you're describing is walking to the outdoor hot tub in my swimsuit on a ski trip

I am the same way.  I come out of the shower as red as a lobster.  To me, that's far more relaxing than cold shivering water.  I hate being cold.

To each their own!

On April 28, 2016 at 7:34 PM, Mark Schoenhard said:

When I lived in Alaska I attended a number of Athabascan sweat ceremonies held in small log huts heated by a large barrel full of hot stones that someone would pour water over.  They were conveniently built near water and in the Winter time a large hole would be busted open in the ice so everyone could exit the lodge when you couldn't stand the heat anymore and take a plunge.  This would be repeated up to seven times over a two to four hour period.  A large feast followed and food and drink never tasted so good.

Thank you for sharing that, Mark.

When in Las Vegas, I like to visit the spa at the Palms as they have a cold plunge right next to the steam room.  My preference is approx 15 minutes steam to 5-7 min in the cold plunge.  The two hours flies by.  

Not as cool as plunging into a frozen lake in Alaska after spending time in an Indian sweat lodge, but the commute sure is easier.  

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

I've been doing the wim hof (breathing exercises/cold immersion)method for a few months. Not sure if it helps recovery but I fell great after I do it so I will continue. Rhonda Patrick says some studies show imediate cold emersion may inhibit hypertophy. Therefore if that's part of your goal she says you should wait at least an hour after your workout. Not an issue for me as I usually eat after my workout, then shower. 

I'm not worried about losing some hypertrophy from it.  pretty weak data, but even if it were true I would take the improved recovery, (lower cortisol and elevated nitric oxide) over the hypertrophy.  I love that Wim Hof is getting more people into the cold thing, I just wish he weren't so kooky about it.  Also just a word of caution, make sure you're not doing the breathing exercises and the cold immersion at the same time.  Some people have had problems passing out in the water doing this stuff.    

I've been doing sweat lodges, contrast showers, and ice baths for some time now. It certainly ups your mood and helps with wakefulness and getting rid of morning peevishness. I can echo what Douglas, and Mark, as well as others, have said. In addition to bolstering one's resilience and mood, I've found that it doesn't dry out my skin anywhere as much as warm water does. So I've had little use for moisturizers and lotion as a result.

Depending on your aims either sauna/sweat lodges and/or cold shower/contrast showers can be good for you. 

As a follow-up. Here's an inside-look at what's coming up for Thrive 2.0 @Jeff Serven am I right? 
 

"When you wake up you just take a bucket of cold water and pour it over yourself." 

1 hour ago, Eva Pelegrin said:

"When you wake up you just take a bucket of cold water and pour it over yourself." 

I prefer the shower, all the way cold. Same effect. Maybe a minute or two, tops. I find that this eliminates any real need for coffee.

Tried the cold shower yesterday after swimming - the good thing there is that how long a shower is running is timed so I didn't have to worry about how long would be enough (kind if like the Stretch series ).

Felt really nice and I think I'm going to stick with it. Have to test effects on readiness in the morning though.

I would prefer to take a warm shower as this is a nice balance.

This is quite common picture from my homecountry during wintertime- everybody who has tried this talk about a rush of energy afterwards and regular swimmers are saying that it helps the immune system. So, based on that I think that cold shower shouldn't do any harm, if you approach it reasonably. If you turn the tap littlebit colder every time, then you shold become accustomed quite fast.

However, I don't use cold shower after trainings due to another reason- it keeps me sweating. If I take a cold shower after heating up my body with the training, then cold shower reduces the sweat clands so much that body's ability to cool down is hindered and sometimes I've had to even eat my breakfast without shirt, because I'm not cooling down enough. How about other cold shower enthusiasts- is it only me, or you have had similar problems?

On 4/27/2016 at 3:08 PM, Alessandro Mainente said:

I personally think that the shock promoted by the difference of temperatures is good only if there is an injury with immediate pain or risk of edema. With normal people you can obtain a hearth lock due to the temp difference. Do not play with it if you are not under medical supervision.

I always wondered about this due to the fact that when surfing I lose my breath the first time I go underwater when ocean temps are below 65 degrees or so. Wikipedia says this:

In humans, cold shock response is perhaps the most common cause of death from immersion in very cold water,^[1] such as by falling through thin ice. The immediate shock of the cold causes involuntary inhalation, which if underwater can result in drowning. The cold water can also cause heart attack due to vasoconstriction;^[2] the heart has to work harder to pump the same volume of blood throughout the body. For people with heart disease, this additional workload can cause the heart to go into arrest. Inhalation of water (and thus drowning) may result from hyperventilation. Some people, due to body or mental conditioning, are much better able to survive swimming in very cold water.

I think of course most people here don't have heart disease, and it also seems like a good idea to ease into it rather than all of a sudden one day decide to do a cannonball into an ice cold lake with no life jacket on and nobody around.

I also have read a few times that it's not a good idea to go for a cold shower right after a workout. But the emphasis was on "right after", allowing for a sufficiently long cooldown meant there was no issue, which makes sense to me, otherwise why would contrast baths be promoted so much?

Another wim hof method follower here (which involves a lot of cold water immersion, among other things).  No idea whether it helps with recovery or anything else, but the cold showers definitely give me a stoke that lasts for hours.  

12 hours ago, Janno Rillo said:

However, I don't use cold shower after trainings due to another reason- it keeps me sweating. If I take a cold shower after heating up my body with the training, then cold shower reduces the sweat clands so much that body's ability to cool down is hindered and sometimes I've had to even eat my breakfast without shirt, because I'm not cooling down enough. How about other cold shower enthusiasts- is it only me, or you have had similar problems?

This is true.  I would let your metabolism come down to normal levels prior to jumping in the cold water.