Cryotherapy

astronautrob

Well-Known Member
Going to be trying to this weekend. Found a place that does a first time $50 for two special, so me and the mrs are going to go try it. Don't really have any outstanding aliments, I have a really bad back from a couple different injuries but that's pretty much negated with foam rolling and yoga, and maybe some soreness here and there. I really want to try it to see if it has any mental effects for me. I've been reading a lot of about cold therapy/cold showers/cryotherapy/cold baths/etc., and really want to try it.

Anyone have any experience with any of this? Any stories?
 

Magic Mike

Well-Known Member
I studied about cold showers a little and have been taking cold showers for more than a year now, theres a thread about cold showers in here thats got some info and links..


The benefits I notice the most are the rapid change in breathing and instantaneous change of mental state. It wakes you up real fast. It’s a slight mental exercise and a slight challenge, even if a small one, it's a good habit ..


Supposedly raises your resistance as well. I have not had a cold or any ailment at all for more than 3 years but I attribute that to many things other than cold showers.


I also found in studying that it lowers lactic acid levels. This I did notice . I work out a lot and notice faster recovery and less aches or pings, as well as less inflammation .


Also, cold showers keep the skin pores less open and there is no steam to inhale, so toxins like chloramines and fluoride found in some tap water are less absorbed supposedly .


I'm in sunny Ca so my cold showers are probably not as extreme as someone in a colder, harsher, winter climate.


i have not done cold soaking cryotherapy but that is my experience with cold showers.


What are you trying to gain through cryotherapy?
 

astronautrob

Well-Known Member
I also found in studying that it lowers lactic acid levels. This I did notice . I work out a lot and notice faster recovery and less aches or pings, as well as less inflammation


I'm in sunny Ca so my cold showers are probably not as extreme as someone in a colder, harsher, winter climate.


i have not done cold soaking cryotherapy but that is my experience with cold showers.


What are you trying to gain through cryotherapy?
That's really the main reason why I want to do it, I just want to see if it can help with general aches and pains. My main issue for a long time has been my back, I manage it fairly well but it could always feel better so I also want to see if it can help out with that. Idk, I like to experiment, that's probably the best answer. I think that shocking your body, even if it's just a bit, can be a good thing.

But really idk if I'm trying to gain anything specific out of the cryotherapy, I mean it'll only be one session so I don't think it will make much of a difference, but I want to see what it's like. Over the long term though, I do want to do cold showers & I'm in CO so they should be pretty cold lol, but if I like how it makes me feel I might look in to doing the cryo more just see if it steps it up at all. I've heard that the mental changes can be very beneficial.

Is cold soaking cryotherapy where you get in the chamber standing up or is that like soaking in an ice bath?
 

Magic Mike

Well-Known Member
That's really the main reason why I want to do it, I just want to see if it can help with general aches and pains. My main issue for a long time has been my back, I manage it fairly well but it could always feel better so I also want to see if it can help out with that. Idk, I like to experiment, that's probably the best answer. I think that shocking your body, even if it's just a bit, can be a good thing.

But really idk if I'm trying to gain anything specific out of the cryotherapy, I mean it'll only be one session so I don't think it will make much of a difference, but I want to see what it's like. Over the long term though, I do want to do cold showers & I'm in CO so they should be pretty cold lol, but if I like how it makes me feel I might look in to doing the cryo more just see if it steps it up at all. I've heard that the mental changes can be very beneficial.

Is cold soaking cryotherapy where you get in the chamber standing up or is that like soaking in an ice bath?
That's cool it's always good to experiment with natural therapies especially harmless stuff like cold water. I do think it has benefits even if subtle or minute, it is all a piece to a puzzle.

I've had many back problems over the years, a lot of imbalances from sports and lifting . Now I am kind of crazy about routining, and especially posture.. Any weight training I do now is always gonna evolve around posture. I have been lifting solely for structural integrity for about 2 years solid now and all my routining and programs were carefully written to facilitate good posture.

Since I began routining this way and designing programs that support structural integrity and posture I have just about eliminated all conditions that used to cause me endless grief.

example; I used to have medially rotated shoulders with loss of cervical curve, and that condition is usually accompanied by thoracic kyphosis , and often goes all the down the kinetic chain into anterior pelvic tilt, laterally rotated hips, and down into the feet even causing flat feet.

I was strong and big from lifting, and sports, but I would have re occurring injuries over and over because of poor posturing and poorly designed programs that would further facilitate these imbalances.

I do study anatomy and physiology, especially exercise physiology and it has made an incredible difference as my posture now is close to textbook perfect. I have been recording my sets for a couple of years now looking for postural faults and ironing them out 1 by 1 and doing a lot of corrective stretching, and corrective strengthening with amazing success. My doctor was asking me questions last time I saw him. I was floored in amazement when I saw my recent x rays and the 100% reversal of some of the things that used to cause me so much grief and pain. My neck used to be so bad, it looked like a bucket of bolts on an x ray !

Now, through much work and study, my neck x ray showed a very healthy neck curve nearing text book optimal. Vertebrae that were twisted are straightened and aligned . And even space has opened up between the vertebrae. This was all achieved through daily corrective stretching, and daily strengthening exercises, A lot of studying and application.

So needless to say, I never have neck problems anymore and never get a pinching between my shoulder blade that I used to get quite often. What a fucking relief !! I myself am amazed at these accomplishments. I'm starting to fuck with some big weights again in squats and bench and overhead, all complex moves without any injuries for about 2 years now.

I was fucking with big weights when I used to get injured all the time but I stripped all the weights and relearned everything from ground zero all over again and slowly put weight on the bar.

Yesterday I pick up a 205lb barbell off the ground, into a very clean form front rack, then a super clean ass to the grass front squat, into a barbell push press for a 205 lb thruster off the ground then set that shit back down like it wasn't shit! I'm trying to work that to 250 by the end of the year. The good thing about perfect posturing and form is that it allows me to do this and not get injured .

A lot of guys can bench or squat 315 or more, but if they had to walk a mile with a 5 gallon gas can they might get injured. Theres a lot to exercise and form and program structuring that make for injury prevention, and body/joint mechanics, posture and stabilization, fascinating stuff.. but most importantly functional.

I did run across cold shower therapy as I'm always looking at natural therapies and things that cure root causes of conditions. An example could be a simple thing like a vitamin D def, could lead to a lot of symptoms that normally get treated with drugs when all along the root cause is a simple D deficiency !!

Anyhow I have not done the soaking and my cold water experience is only with cold showers, but I do see a benefit even if it is slight. Cold shocking is good, it's been around since the beginning and is primitive .

Anyway theres my ramble for the day after morning coffee .
Good luck with the cryotherapy it would be interesting to hear back about how the session is performed, water temps, ambient temps, etc.

peace
 

astronautrob

Well-Known Member
How was it?
Awesome.

Been mia for a min but back to report on what I've been doing. I've gone to the cyrotherapy two times now, and both times I haven't been as impressed as I would have liked. I know they say that it takes around a week of cold therapy to really start feeling the results though, and I would love to do that, but the cyrotherapy is just not in my budget right now. So, what I've been doing instead is a cold shower everyday. I'm not taking a full cold shower, yet, but at the end of my regular shower I am blasting myself with freezing cold water for longer and longer increments of time. I find the effect to be very beneficial. I've been doing it for probably 2-3 weeks now and I can definitely notice the effects. It's hard to explain, and not super noticeable at the moment, but my highs (as in good moods) are higher throughout the day. I also seem to handle me lows better, and can more easily get myself out of a bad or brooding type mood. This is huge for me as I am very easily put in a bad mood and usually not so easily taken out of it, and it's always for such small stupid things!

Anyways, those have been the results for me so far and I've really been enjoying them. I actually got out of the shower the other day and forgot to do a cold shower and my body could feel it. I felt different, like I had missed something, so I got back in and did the cold shower part and felt better.

I feel like it tricks my brain, like my brain gets the shock of the cold water, and at first it's like "HOLLY SHIT THIS SUCKS GET ME OUT OF THIS COLD ASS WATER ETC. ETC.", but after a few seconds it adapts and you can handle it longer and it doesn't suck as bad. I think that adaptation carries on in to regular daily activities too. Little things don't seem to bother me as much, they just aren't as big of a deal, and I think that comes from your brain getting that shock and then the rest of the day when you encounter obstacles your brain says "hey this isn't so hard we've already dealt with a bigger disaster today and weather through it we'll be fine", and you don't get as anxious, mad, or whatever! This has just been my experience so far
 

HGK420

Well-Known Member
I'm lost..what is it??
like a tanning booth but they blast you with gaseous nitrogen so its like -250 or colder. 1-3 minutes causes your body to start releasing "cold shock proteins" and causes your liver and other organs to produce enzymes that only appear in the most dire of survival situations. these enzymes help with inflammation and all kinds of good stuff.

cryotherapy vs ice baths is a hotly debated topic at the moment. wim hoff says ice bath. i tend to agree with people as immersed and living it as much as him. he climbed everest in open toed sandals and shorts WITH NO SHIT OR OXYGEN..... among many other cold weather INSANE world records.

the short term but intense cold of cry therapy causes certain aspects of cold shock reaction to work more then with the ice bath but vice versa the bath also has greater benefits to some aspects as well. so it looks to me that a mix of cryo and ice baths is probably the way to go.

if you can get a nice sauna that has an ice bath even better. going from extreme cold to hot and back again is an amazing way to really knock out inflammation, ancient cultures even recognized the life extending properties of it.
 

astronautrob

Well-Known Member
if you can get a nice sauna that has an ice bath even better. going from extreme cold to hot and back again is an amazing way to really knock out inflammation, ancient cultures even recognized the life extending properties of it.
I went to this really hole in the wall korean day spa type place a while back when I lived in Dallas and they had something similar to what you're saying. They had a really hot rock room or whatever, and then an ice room, you stayed in one for x amount of mins then went to the other for x amount of mins. It was my first experience with that crazy hot to cold change, and it was awesome, but I've never got to try it again

I think I'm going to just stick with the cold showers for now, I may even try an ice bath down the road but I don't know if I have the balls to do that yet. Shit, I can only get to about 20 seconds max with the cold water on. I'll get there though
 

HGK420

Well-Known Member
I went to this really hole in the wall korean day spa type place a while back when I lived in Dallas and they had something similar to what you're saying. They had a really hot rock room or whatever, and then an ice room, you stayed in one for x amount of mins then went to the other for x amount of mins. It was my first experience with that crazy hot to cold change, and it was awesome, but I've never got to try it again

I think I'm going to just stick with the cold showers for now, I may even try an ice bath down the road but I don't know if I have the balls to do that yet. Shit, I can only get to about 20 seconds max with the cold water on. I'll get there though
The cold shower is almost worse IMO. I've done real deal ice baths at a big 10 school when I blew out my knee at a basketball camp... You go numb pretty quick. Then it's like 20 minds before a different discomfort shows up so in the 20 min time it's super relaxing..

Showers Are cold enough to make it miserable but not cold and immersive enough to get you to the numb stage so you just hang out in the miserable early stage lol. It's great training IMO. If you can do a cold shower an ice bath should be easy.

Wim also suggests to start in the shower and if you can get 2-3 min your well on your way to becoming a cold weather warrior lol.

Here's the man himself

 
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