Research
Mixed
Single application of cooling has generally no effect on recovery during the 24–72 hour period following resistance and endurance exercises, though it may benefit neuromuscular function recovery 24–48 hours after sprint exercise.
If you have a competition or hard workout 24-72 hours later, cold water immersion after your initial session won't significantly help you recover from resistance or endurance training. It might help if you did sprint intervals, but don't rely on it for general late recovery.
ModerateQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
Generally, no benefits of acute cooling were observed during the 24–72-h recovery period following resistance and endurance exercises, while it could have some benefits on the recovery of neuromuscular function during the 24–48-h recovery period following sprint exercise.
Why this rating
Review of multiple studies showing mixed or null results for late recovery.
Source
Functional Impact of Post-exercise Cooling and Heating on Recovery and Training Adaptations: Application to Resistance, Endurance, and Sprint Exercise
Thomas Chaillou et al. · Sports Medicine - Open · 2022
DOI 10.1186/s40798-022-00428-9
narrative_reviewCited 36×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Repeated (chronic) application of post-exercise cooling blunts muscle strength adaptations and decreases fatigue resistance following resistance training interventions.Good
- Post-exercise cooling (e.g., cold water immersion) applied in the early recovery phase (< 1 hour) improves fatigue resistance following endurance exercise in hot conditions and may enhance maximal strength recovery after resistance exercise.Moderate
- Repeated application of cooling does not affect endurance training adaptations following 4–6 week training interventions.Moderate
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