Dr. Cas Fuchs (Department of Human Biology, Maastricht University, The Netherlands) talks about two of his studies in which he separately investigated the effect of cold- versus hot-water immersion after exercise on recovery. In this context, Cas explains the acute physiological response to cooling and heating. We question what athletes claim or hope to achieve by applying cooling and heating strategies in practice and whether there is scientific evidence behind these claims. The primary focus of Cas' studies is how cooling and heating influence muscle protein synthesis after resistance training and he describes how muscle protein synthesis is measured in his research group. Based on his studies, Cas shares his practical recommendations on who might want to incorporate cooling or heating into his/her exercise routine with specific goals in mind.

Main papers that we discuss:

Postexercise cooling impairs muscle protein synthesis rates in recreational athletes (Fuchs et al. 2019)

https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1113/JP278996

Hot-water immersion does not increase postprandial muscle protein synthesis rates during recovery from resistance-type exercise in healthy, young males (Fuchs et al. 2021) https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/japplphysiol.00836.2019

Additional papers that Cas and I refer to:

Review on the muscle protein synthesis approach:

The Muscle Protein Synthetic Response to Meal Ingestion Following Resistance-Type Exercise (Trommelen et al. 2019)

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-019-01053-5

Studies on lowering pain after exercise through the cold:

Cold water immersion and recovery from strenuous exercise: a meta-analysis (Leeder et al. 2019)

https://paulogentil.com/pdf/Cold%20water%20immersion%20and%20recovery%20from%20strenuous%20exercise%20-%20a%20meta-analysis.pdf

Cold to maintain workload in sets:

Water Immersion Recovery for Athletes: Effect on Exercise Performance and Practical Recommendations (Versey et al. 2013)

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-013-0063-8

Postexercise cold water immersion benefits are not greater than the placebo effect (Broatch et al. 2014)

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24674975/

More long-term studies on cold water immersion on muscle mass and strength being lower (group from Australia):

Post-exercise cold water immersion attenuates acute anabolic signalling and long-term adaptations in muscle to strength training (Roberts et al. 2015)

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26174323/

Previous study on muscle inflammation markers after cooling, but found no differences:

The effects of cold water immersion and active recovery on inflammation and cell stress responses in human skeletal muscle after resistance exercise (Peake et al. 2016)

https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/JP272881

Cold on the muscle clock in mice:

Time-of-Day Effects on Metabolic and Clock-Related Adjustments to Cold (Machado et al. 2018)

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2018.00199/full

How to contact with Cas Fuchs:

Twitter: @27CJ

Email: cas.fuchs@maastrichtuniversity.nl