After a tough workout that leaves your muscles tight and sore what's the best use of a hot-tub, cold shower, and hot shower to help relax your muscles? I'm not sure if heat or cold is better, or alternating between the two. I recently sat in a hot-tub for 10 min, then took a cold shower after a workout and it seemed to help. Does starting with hot or starting with cold make a difference?
People often hold ice packs on their shoulders after a practice but I don't think taking a cold shower has the same effect.
Parents
Former Member
Both... a former massage therapist used to recommend loosening with heat, followed by ice, followed by more heat. The theory being, the heat dilates the blood vessels, then the ice contracts them again, etc., and all this expanding and contracting loosens a muscle that's in a very tight knot. I was badly seized up from a car accident at the time, and it seemed to work.
Both... a former massage therapist used to recommend loosening with heat, followed by ice, followed by more heat. The theory being, the heat dilates the blood vessels, then the ice contracts them again, etc., and all this expanding and contracting loosens a muscle that's in a very tight knot. I was badly seized up from a car accident at the time, and it seemed to work.
