Fire and Ice: The Recovery Tool that Should Be a Part of Your Regular Wellness Regimen

There is a saying most of our team lives by - your training is only as good as your recovery.

This month we are taking a deep dive into “recovery” and showing you some of the best ways to recover between workouts and enhance your quality of sleep for an overall boost in health and wellness.

Enter: Fire and Ice—CrossFit Central’s in-house sauna and ice bath experience, at both the downtown and Burnet locations, to help you take your fitness, health and recovery to the next level. 

You may have heard about “cold-hot” therapy or that sauna’s are “good” for you, but what are they all about? Read on to find out more. 

Benefits of Sauna 

Sweat does a body good and sauna sweat in particular is a form of passive heat therapy that is characterized by exposure to high environmental temperature for a brief period, typically ranging from 158 to 212 degrees Fahrenheit and very low humidity (10-20%). 

Here are a few fun facts about why the sauna is good for you….

Clears Out Toxins
Sauna usage mobilizes toxins out of your tissues and cleanses the body—which is necessary because we live in a toxic world.

It’s no secret that we live in a toxic world (not conducive to optimal health). Scientists estimate that most humans contain at least 700 contaminants in their tissues. And the average woman uses 168 unregulated chemicals on her body alone in approximately 12 different personal care products before she leaves the house every morning. Moreover, of the 80,000 chemicals used in the U.S. foods and products, the majority of these toxins and chemicals have not been adequately tested for their safety or effects on human health.  To put this in context, Europe has banned over 1300 chemicals, but the U.S. has only banned about 30.  Even fresh off the boat—newborn babies have over 287 chemicals in their umbilical cords known to cause cancer and be toxic to the brain, hormones and nervous system.  In short: We’ve gotten away from our ancestral, healthy environments and lifestyles.  

Hence why regular sweat and detox should be just as routine as brushing our teeth and drinking water! And while we won’t discriminate between different types of sweat, the sweat you get in the sauna is particularly beneficial.

Aids in Tissue Repair, Reduced Inflammation & Decreased Pain

Sauna usage has been linked to numerous health benefits, including reduced all around inflammation and disease (from high blood pressure and heart disease, to decreased depression, anxiety, arthritis, headaches, flu—you name it).  This is because sauna therapy boosts circulatory, cardiovascular, and immune functions.
Sauna sweat also enhances fitness recovery and tissue repair. 

For one, as alluded to, the sauna helps purge toxins out of your body and tissues. By purging your body of these toxins, you are more likely to feel better post-workout. Additionally, after working out and incurring microscopic tears in your muscles, using a sauna enhances the muscle recovery process by increasing blood circulation and carrying oxygen-rich blood to oxygen-depleted muscle. Heat also allows muscles to relax better, thus relieving muscle tension.

Sauna Response

Sauna tricks your body into responding the same way it does when you’re working out, potentially leading to a whole cascade of physiological changes that can help protect your body from a bunch of chronic diseases, the researchers believe.

During a sweat session, the heart rate may increase from baseline 60 to 70 beats per minutes, up to 120 to 150 beats/ minute—just like a great intense WOD—increasing muscle blood flow (without the added stress of additional circulating cortisol that may occur while trying to complete 30 clean and jerks for time).

Research shows that just a 25-minute sauna session may be as beneficial as a short bout of exercise, such as a HIIT session on a stationary bike or 21-15-9 thruster-burpee workout.  In one study, subjects sat in the sauna—and had their blood pressure and heart rate measured before and after. The next study day, they completed a sub-maximal HIIT exercise test on a stationary bike.  The findings? Both sauna and exercise had the same effects on blood flow and heart rate—participants felt like they just worked out after hitting the sauna!

Sauna caveats

There are a few caveats to be aware of when using sauna, which makes a case for why sauna therapy that may NOT be beneficial to you…

Caveat #1: Not all saunas are created equal

Contrary to popular belief, while infrared saunas are very popular nowadays Infrared isn't really sauna, it is light—targeting different mechanisms of cellular regeneration (still beneficial, just different). A true sauna is wood-fired, like the “Fire” sauna at CC— much higher in heat, providing an adequate detox by raising the core temperature. 

Caveat #2: Saunas can be dehydrating
One study took 20 high-level competitive swimmers and triathletes and compared what happened to their fitness performance after they sat in a sauna. 

On day one, they swam a performance test—4 x 50 meters all-out with 30 seconds of rest—then did a regular hard workout followed by one of two recovery protocols—either a sauna session (24 minutes) OR no sauna session with some  muscle recovery oil instead. 

The next morning, they swam the 4 x 50m test again. On average, the swimmers who did NOT sit in the sauna got 0.7 percent faster the morning after using recovery oil, but the sauna athletes got 1.7 percent slower the morning after the recovery method. 

The conclusion? Athletes were dehydrated!

Lesson: Be sure to stay hydrated along with using minerals, as you’ll be losing more fluids in a sauna than you’ll be taking in.

#3. Cortisol elevations can occur
As mentioned, sauna bathing increases cortisol levels naturally (it’s a hormetic stressor—a good stressor); however if cortisol remains higher without reprieve, more cortisol does not do a body (or recovery) good. 

The solution? Enter “Ice” (cold therapy).!

Benefits of Cold Therapy (Ice Baths, Cryo)

A cold dunk (in approximately 60 degrees F or lower) is massively stimulating for tissue and mitochondrial regeneration. Your mitochondria are the ‘power houses’ of your cells.  Which is why “Fire” is always followed by “Ice” in our Fire and Ice sessions here at CC. The sudden plunge into cold water (or use of a cold shower) causes stability in blood pressure and also makes skin and the blood vessels to constrict rapidly—helping seal the deal of all the detoxing and tissue healing your body did in the sauna. 

Basically, cold therapy, cold plunging and ice baths are like the “icing on the cake” post sauna session to put a cap on all the detoxing and tissue repair you have done!

Interested? You can give our Fire and Ice experience a try!
Every session is guided by a Fire and Ice coach. You will do a focused Wim Hof breath session followed by sauna and ice bath rotations. Current CrossFit Central members, you can give it a try, shoot us an email at info@crossfitcentral.com.

Not a member? No problem! You can “drop in” to a fire and ice session. Email us at info@crossfitcentral.com!