Is it bad to take a warm shower an hour after you workout?

[xpin2winx]

I was wondering this because i know the best way to help your muscles recover is submersing them in freezing cold water and is warm the opposite. Cuz it like to take warm showers about an hour after i workout.

 

[dsade]

No. There are studies using saunas after workout, as a relaxation technique and to keep blood flow to extremities flowing.

 

[crazyfool405]

however an ice bath can help increase thermogenisis....

it goes 2 ways.

 

[AntonG42O]

The best is to do a contrast shower after workouts. So wash yourself in warm water, then go up to as hot as you can handle it and down to as cold as you can handle it. This will flush blood to the surface and into muscles and will help recovery greatly. I do just cold water because I dont like hot, and I can feel a difference already when I get out of the shower.

 

[jim623]

Your body is already at an elevated temperature, if you can feel that the water is warmer, you overheating yourself. Cool showers are better post wo.

 

[lennoxchi]

hot showers are a vaso-dilator and cold are a vaso-restrictor (i think i have some spelling issues there). like already mentioned, hot showers will promote blood flow and cold will promote anti-inflammation. it is suggested that if you are injured or sore (normally associated with lower back pain) to do both in intervals. hot then cold and so on. but like dsade said in so many words, why are people getting in the sauna after a WO? to promote blood flow.

 

[Rosie Chee]

I was wondering this because i know the best way to help your muscles recover is submersing them in freezing cold water and is warm the opposite. Cuz it like to take warm showers about an hour after i workout.

No, it is not bad to take a warm shower after your workout. As AntonG420 suggested, you could use the cold/hot method (although studies have actually shown that the cold/hot method does not help recovery any better than having a regular shower afterwards - a group studied this specifically when I was doing my degree; it was interesting). However, everyone reacts differently, and personally I feel better if I do the cold/hot bath/shower after a hard session, especially if it is Legs session (or has included them in) or after cardio (since my cardio is almost always high intensity). 2 minutes as cold as you can handle, then 30 seconds in as hot as you can handle (I prefer to do this with cold in the bath and hot in the shower, but you can use just the shower if that's all you have).

~Rosie
Team APPNUT