Ice Baths - Refreshing Stimulator

Ah, ice baths. Aren’t they great? Or painful rather. They’re just one of those things that you love or hate after a hard painful workout at some point of the day. You’re sore, you can barely walk, so you’re going down in one of those ice baths to ease the pain away, while feeling ice cold. I love ice baths. Of course, the first time you take a dip in it, it feels as if you just took a one way trip to amputation. Okay, that’s a little exaggerated, but still, you’d wish you weren’t in there. I was interested in writing this after reading a note on Facebook by Jesse Faller. I was bored enough to stumble across it on Facebook and found a passage he said about ice baths. Here’s what he said,

“This one is for the ice-bath junkies. It’s when one stands in ice-cold water for about fifteen minutes. The brave ones go in over the waist. I don’t know the exact physiology but it goes something like this: when your extremities get cold, your body wants to protect the most important organs, so it cuts off the bold supply from the cold parts. While your foot is in 50 degree water, blood leaves the foot. Once the foot is taken out, “new”, fresh blood comes in which is full of oxygen and nourishments. That is why ice-baths are good after workouts – you replace the used blood in your muscles with new blood. Lots of athletes have discovered the value in ice-baths, even though it can be a test of your pain-tolerance and will power. They are great even if you aren't an athlete – it’s refreshing and good for your health, and helps build character.”

Of course, I don’t really understand the whole concept on how the ice bath works, but what Jesse said really seems to make a little bit of sense. The whole body cutting off blood supply from the cold parts, then new blood coming in after you take the cold part out. You kind of feel that too. When you take something out of an ice bath and you can feel the warm sensation coming back into your numb body parts. You seem to realize that after putting up with 10 minutes of ice-cold pain that it is surprising refreshing! You’ll finally be able to walk in a comfortable manner after surviving the workout of your Nazi coach.

So basically I’m ranting about how cool ice baths are, no matter how painful it feels. Give it a try, even if it hurts like hell. Suck it up. Because in Jesse’s words, “it’s refreshing and good for your health, and helps build character.”