By Steve Edwards You know you work for a great company when you write about an extreme idea, thinking it's probably too out there for the average reader, only to have your CEO come back with "tell me more!" Case in point: the hot/cold contrast shower.
Since Carl Daikeler wants to know about this somewhat torturous method of recovery, I'm sure many of you do, too. So let's go into a bit of detail, shall we? It certainly follows along our recovery theme from this issue. Getting your blood circulating is paramount for recovery, and a contrast shower is an easy—albeit slightly uncomfortable—way to do this. Here's what to do.
Get into a nice warm shower until you are comfortable. Then start making it hotter until it's about as hot as you can stand (it doesn't have to be that hot, so don't burn yourself). This should not be longer than 5 minutes. Then, slowly, turn the water colder and colder until it's as cold as you can absolutely stand. Focus the water on the muscles that you've worked out and the back of your head (yikes, I know). Do this for 2 to 3 minutes. Then turn the hot back on and repeat the entire process 2 to 6 times, finishing on cold.
The last part is the hardest, but get out of the shower, dry, dress, and allow your clothes to warm you up. The process of dilating and constricting your blood vessels will help you flush out the lactic acid accumulated during your workout and greatly speed up your recovery time. Enjoy!
YIKES - Hot/cold shower?? I'm going to try this today and see if I can stand it...or if I feel any benefit at all!
(Original Post: http://www.beachbody.com/product/newsletters/149.do)
No comments:
Post a Comment