Contrast Showers - How Hot & Cold Showers can Improve Recovery

byTom -
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Hot and Cold showers have Benefits!

hot and cold therapy

Contrast Bath Therapy Definition:

Contrast bath therapy, also known as hot/cold immersion therapy, is a form of treatment where a limb or the entire body is immersed in hot water followed by the immediate immersion of the limb or body in ice water. This procedure is repeated several times, alternating hot and cold. 
As hard as it sounds, enduring the coldness and the hotness from a shower/bath does benefit the body. When your body is facing hot water, blood flow is increased throughout the whole body, transporting vital nutrients to the muscles that have been affected by the workouts. The hot and cold has a pump effect, flushing out the toxins within your bloodstream to provide better nutritional blood to the muscles. It also relieves pain, tightness, soreness, swelling, inflammation, and improves mobility.

🚿Benefits of Contrast Bath / Shower Therapy



  1. Increased Alertness:When I submerge myself in cold water I instantly wake up. Everything is running more at a higher frequency. My thought process becomes clearer, I'm more alive n' awake, less fog-headed, less depressed, feeling powerful. The deep breathing in response to our body’s shock helps us keep warm, as it’s increases our overall oxygen intake, that is why you feel more alert, alive, motivated - Breathing is very powerful!
  2. Relieves Pain, Soreness, Tightness/tensed muscles, swelling Inflammation & more:When your body is tensed, your muscles are not relaxed, they are active. Overactive muscles is a thing, it promotes pain, soreness and tight muscles. We want to avoid that by relaxing. By submerging in cold and hot water, it will benefit the body. The cold water will help get blood flowing by increasing the body's temperature, and the hot water will help ease everything along with it. With the increased blood flow, new nutritional blood flow can reach the affected areas and throughout the body for better recovery. This also relieves tightness/tensed muscles/muscle knots, reduce headaches and improves mobility!
  3. Improves Blood flow Circulation (Improve Recovery!):This is crucial if you are an athlete or if you want to improve overall health. When we go through stressful events such as working out, sitting long periods of time, etc, your body is tensed, muscle fibers are broken down and your body needs recovery in order to heal up. If you avoid the recovery process, you are hurting yourself in the long run. By enduring the hot and cold water, the circulation of blood flow has been increased - circulating bad blood out and in return, providing your muscles with fresh nutritional blood [flow].
  4. Decreased Depression:When I started out the contrast shower therapy method, I discovered that it helped with my depression, weirdly. I don't understand how or why, but I believe that when we submerge our bodies in coldness, we start to focus on our breathing, in effect of that, you are more aware of your surroundings and yourself - Somehow decreasing the depression state. (Making you feel more alive and motivated!)
  5. Healthier Skin and Hair Condition:I find that taking 'colder' showers helps out with my skin and hair. When I take hot hot showers, it absolutely ruins my skin and hair. It becomes very dry, brittle and I always have to use lotion. I also have dandruff, but as soon as I started the contrast shower therapy method, I noticed that my skin is no longer dry and rough nor is my hair, my hair is nice and silky (soft), skin is smooth and vibrant, and nails are looking good. 
  6. Increased Energy:When you're enduring the cold water, your body is actively stressed, right? Think about it, your breathing has increased dramatically, you're trying to also focus on your breathing. When you are focusing on breathing, it has can effect on you feel. With poor breathing technique/patterns, you do not receive the enough or fresh oxygen that your body needs. By breathing correctly, you're delivering fresh oxygen throughout your body giving you this surge of energy coming on. It will soon disappear though. I find it beneficial because I do gain energy and my breathing is much improved. Since then, my fatigue went down.
  7. Increase Fat Loss:Cold showers a little effect on fat-loss. If you're looking for ways on how to lose fat, cold showers/baths is for sure one of them!


😰Who Can Benefit from Contrast Showers
  • Athletes | Bodybuilders | Fitness Freaks
  • Old people | Arthritis
  • People who are constantly hurting/aching (Who has headaches)
  • Mobility issues - contrast showers can improve mobility
  • Inflammation / Swelling 
  • Tensed Muscles | Muscle Knots |  
  • Any Injured Body part


🚿 How to Contrast Showers 🚿



  • Shower or Bath is needed
  • Submerge yourself in hot water for about 2-5 minutes+ 
  • Immediately following that, submerge yourself in cold water for about 2-5 minutes.
  • Repeat the cycle until you're satisfied. 

    You want to end the therapy session with cold water. 
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Breathing Is Improved
Not only will it help with recovery, but it will also help enhance your breathing. Sometimes we are not aware of our 'breathing' patterns. By breathing properly from within your core, not your chest, you can gain a ton of energy, reduce depression, more alert/aware, motivated, uplifted/upbeat. Poor breathing patterns impact the body in a way that can change us. I noticed that whenever I do not breathe properly, I become more tired, less alert, fog-headed, loss of clarity but once I begin to focus on my breathing, I can feel a surge of energy coming. It is weird how breathing can change the way you feel and perform. You are supposed to breathe with your core, breathe deep down into your core, not using your 'chest' to breathe. [More information on google!] Athletes should know about breathing - How important it is to keep on breathing!


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