How Whole Body Cryotherapy Affects Training

Date: May 09, 2022

Most people have used ice to heal an injured or overworked area. It helps relieve soreness and pain, and it could even reduce recovery time. The use of cold for healing purposes, cryotherapy, goes back thousands of years. Back then, it just meant using ice. Now modern applications still include the application of standard ice or cold gel packs, but now it could also mean using liquid nitrogen to remove warts. In modern sports, it can mean using Cold Water Immersion (CWI), ice massage, or Whole Body Cryotherapy (WBC). But how does Whole Body Cryotherapy affect training regimens?

Cold treatment therapies help athletes recover from the rigors of training and competition. They assist in short-term recovery by reducing pain, swelling, and inflammation, but do they damage long-term training goals?

Cold Versus Adaptation

Scientists call it “adaptation” when the human body makes lots of tiny, under-the-skin changes after being exposed to mechanical or metabolic stress. These adaptations improve the body’s strength, explosive power, and endurance. And scientists are still exploring and understanding precisely what these adaptations are and how they work. Because these mechanisms aren’t fully understood, scientists also don’t fully understand how cryotherapy can affect these adaptations. 

Some methods of cryotherapy have been handed down through the echo chamber (like icing an injury for 15-20 minutes), but science hasn’t established conclusive best practices when using these remedies. How cold should the body get, and for how long? How soon after exercise or injury should an athlete use cryotherapy? What possible side-effects are there if any? How often can cryotherapy be employed before any negative side effects occur? 

A specific example deals with inflammation, which ice is frequently used to reduce. But inflammation isn’t always a bad thing, and inflammation is needed for muscles to repair and regenerate. So, if cold from cryotherapy reduces inflammation, does that impair muscle growth, repair, and regeneration? 

Previous Research

The 4 (yes, there have only been 4) previous studies that explored WBC in relation to athletics that I found for this article offered limited and conflicting conclusions. One study looked at 3 weekly WBC treatments during a 4-week cycling HIIT program and found that they did not affect strength gains. Two saw growth factor benefits for volleyball and judo athletes in a 2-week period where 10 sessions of WBC were used along with sports-specific exercises. The last one showed that WBC 3 times per week for 4 weeks supported strength gains by lowering myostatin levels, which restricts muscle gains.   

However, Cold Water Immersion (CWI) studies state that muscle strength and hypertrophy can be diminished. That is believed to be caused by several factors, including making arteries smaller, reducing anabolic signals in the body, shrinking muscle fibers, degrading protein markers, and decreasing testosterone. 

These studies and other reviews indicate that repeat cryotherapy treatments impair endurance gains less than resistance training results. That would make sense since the way the body improves after resistance training is different from how it improves after endurance stress. 

Previous studies have only looked at either resistance or endurance training, but not both. They have also been relatively limited in training time, examining their subjects for 2-4 weeks. This most recent study, carried out by researchers at the University of Northampton Waterside in the United Kingdom, aimed slightly higher. They executed a 6-week experiment on how WBC affected a training program that incorporated strength, endurance, and explosive power elements. It set out to determine what effects repeated cold treatments had on long-term gains by introducing 2 Whole Body Cryotherapy sessions each week into the 6-week training program to half the participants. 

The Most Recent Study

The U.K. researchers initially recruited 20 male subjects for the study, ranging from 23 to 43 YOA with an average body mass of 185 pounds. All subjects were moderately fit, exercising at least twice per week before being selected for the study. The subjects were evenly divided, but 3 were injured in training, and 1 contracted Covid and had to be excused. This left a total of 16 subjects left in the study. 7 were in the WBC (Whole Body Cryotherapy) group, and the rest formed a CON or control group. 

Both groups completed the same workout plan for 6 weeks. However, the WBC group also participated in cryotherapy treatments twice a week. These treatments were within 30 minutes after each week’s first and last training sessions and were administered at a two-state cryo-chamber. The subjects were initially exposed to a temperature of -76 Fahrenheit for 30 seconds, then -184 Fahrenheit for 150 seconds, for a total of 3 minutes. 

The scientists measured six areas for possible signs of progress or regression before and after 6 weeks of training. They gauged body fat percentage folds, a VO2 max test, a muscle torque test on participants’ right leg, a 3 rep max barbell squat, and a countermovement jump height test. Participants tested in each event in the same order and at the same time of day. The researchers told the test subjects to stick to their regular eating habits and keep their other physical activities the same. 

The Workout

Because the researchers wanted to test cryotherapy’s impact on all different kinds of training, both groups were required to take on a grueling 6-week regimen that worked cardiovascular endurance, strength, and explosive jumping power. 

In Weeks 1 through 3, participants ran 2 days a week and conducted strength and plyometric training on 2 other days of the week. Workout sessions were each on separate days and arranged in a “run – weights – run – weights” weekly pattern. 

On run days, subjects engaged in a steady-state running session for 30 minutes at 70% of their VO2 max on a 1% inclined treadmill. On weight days, they performed Barbell squats (4 sets of 6 reps at 70% of their personal 1 Rep Max), Dumbbell lunges (3 sets of 8 reps on each leg), Nordic leg curls (2 sets of 8 reps), Depth jumps (3 sets of 8 reps from a 12-inch tall box), and Split lunge jumps (3 sets of 8 reps on each leg with hands on hips). Participants had 2 minutes of recovery between sets. 

In Weeks 4 through 6, the workouts were the same except intensified. The running pace was increased to 75% VO2 max, and the Barbell squat progressed from 70% of each subject’s 1 Rep Max to 75% of their 1RM. 

The Results

The 6-week program produced adaptations or gains in the participants’ lower body strength and body composition. However, neither group showed a significant increase in their VO2 max or their aerobic endurance.

Both groups saw significant Muscle Torque and Barbell Squat improvements, but with no significant difference between the groups over time. 

The body fat percentage decreases were basically the same for the CON and WBC groups, and overall body mass was essentially the same. Body fat went down, body mass stayed the same, so lean body mass increased. While cryotherapy did not prevent fat loss, it didn’t enhance it either. So, according to this study, Whole Body Cryotherapy probably won’t help you shed any more pounds by itself than working out and eating right. In theory, it could, and a 2020 study showed fat mass decreases after 20 WBC sessions. However, there haven’t been any studies that looked at WBC and its effects on body fat content in a sports or training context. 

The most significant observation was that the CON group increased their jump height while the WBC group did not. It seems to suggest that Whole Body Cryotherapy might inhibit developing explosive power.

Conflicts and Considerations

The U.K. research group acknowledged that their findings contradict some previous data indicating that repetitive Cold Water Immersion treatments inhibit muscular strength. They offered that this most recent study only used 12 cryotherapy treatments, which might not be enough to slow down muscle growth. 

They also pointed out that while WBC and CWI both make the body cold, they work differently. CWI has a hydrostatic effect with a higher thermal conductivity than cold air. Think “cold and wet” versus just “cold air.” One is going to be significantly more efficient than the other. That idea is supported by research indicating that CWI has a more pronounced reduction in lower limb blood flow than WBC does.    

The scientists admitted that their sample size was small, and the low number of WBC treatments involved in the study was limiting. They also suggested that future studies include collecting bloodwork from the test subjects to learn more about the effect mechanisms taking place. 

Previous studies on cold water immersion treatments (CWI) have indicated that repetitive cryotherapy could hurt long-term training gains. Some suggest this is because the cold slows down anabolic signaling in the body and slows the body’s ability to create muscle protein. Other studies indicate the cold reduces the inflammatory response, which could be a necessary part of the adaptive process. 

Other previous research has demonstrated WBC has a short-term benefit on muscle power and can help muscles recover more quickly after exercise. But the bottom line is this kind of research is still in the single-digit number of trials. The athletic community still needs more analysis to get a conclusive answer on whether repeat WBC affects muscle power and in what ways.  

Actionable Takeaways

This study demonstrates that cryotherapy doesn’t hinder performance or long-term training designed to improve overall strength or reduce body fat percentage. However, it could hurt developing explosive power like jumping, which is something to keep in mind if that is one of your training goals. 

It’s also good to keep in mind that not all cryotherapy is the same. Whole Body Cryotherapy might be preferable to Cold Water Immersion treatments for post-exercise muscle recovery without hindering strength development. So, leave those trendy cold showers and ice baths out of your post-gym regimens. 

Since cryotherapy is becoming more popular, it’s becoming available in most urban areas and can cost anywhere from $40-100 per session. However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not cleared or approved any WBC devices as safe or effective treatments for medical conditions. So, WBC treatments are typically not covered by insurance policies. But, depending on your plan, you might be able to use a Health Savings Account to help pay for it.