Is Soaking in a Hot Tub Before or After Exercise Good for Sore Muscles?
Pre-Workout or Post Workout Recovery?
Like a soothing reset, your hot tub can help bring your body from stiff and overloaded to supple and rejuvenated. Heat therapy helps increase blood flow, stimulate healing, and relax muscles. In fact, if you keep reading you’ll find out that soaking in your hot tub can be great for pre and post workout recovery!
Studies have shown that both heat and cold therapy can promote healing and prevent muscle damage following exercise. Your home spa offers the most immersive therapeutic opportunity available, especially now that you have the option to set your spa as a hot tub or a revolutionary cold tub. As you stay in touch with your body’s cycles of stress and recovery through exercise, hot tub sessions can enhance your workouts and your progress toward a healthier body.
There’s even more good news for hot tub users. According to a recent article published in The New York Times, muscles can recover best after exercise if they are warmed rather than chilled.
TAPPING INTO THE BENEFITS OF YOUR HOT TUB BEFORE AND AFTER WORKING OUT
Your hot tub is already a part of your daily lifestyle, but how does it interact with your exercise routine? Consider these guidelines carefully and use your best judgment to create new routines that will support your exercise and recovery. It’s also a good idea to talk with your doctor when designing a health and workout routine that works best for your needs and your body.
Before you exercise, have a 10–20-minute hot tub soak:
This helps to get the blood flowing and loosen up your muscles. Then, be sure to spend at least 10 minutes stretching out those warm muscles before you start your workout. (You could even do some gentle stretches while you’re in the hot tub.)
After you exercise, let your muscles and your heart rate cool down:
Try a gentle walk or stretches. Then, take advantage of a hot tub session to help your mind and body relax and to stimulate the healing and recovery process.
An Innovative Option for Active Adults and Athletes: Cold Water Therapy
A “hot tub” is no longer as simply what its name suggests. Our CoolZone™ System technology introduces a much broader temperature range for your Hot Spring® or Caldera® spa. So, whether we’re in those dog days of summer and you want the versatility to take a cooling dip or you’re just interested in post workout recovery cold water therapy, CoolZone makes it possible without giving up the traditional warm water benefits!
Take your spa water as low as 60°
Soothe your body after an intense workout
Ease your heart rate back to normal and cool down stressed muscles
Have your spa hot & ready to soothe those aching muscles by night
Here is a handy list of Dos and Don’ts that will help guide you toward creating that symbiotic relationship between your work out and your home spa:
EMBRACING THE INTENTIONAL APPROACH TO HOT TUB USE BEFORE OR AFTER A WORKOUT
Your hot tub can support you before and after your workouts if you follow these simple guidelines. Remember that one of the most important tips is to always be aware and stay in touch with your body’s cues. If, for example, you’re feeling sore and inflamed right after a hard workout, give your body a bit of time to cool down before your soothing hot tub soak. In some cases, it’s best to wait a day or two if an unusually intense workout leaves your muscles significantly inflamed. But in the days following that intense workout, your home spa can be just the thing to relax you when your muscles are tight and sore.
You are your body’s own best advocate. Consider that the time in between workouts is just as valuable as the workouts themselves. When we push ourselves to intentionally stress our muscles through exercise, we can’t avoid the necessary period of healing and regeneration—that’s what actually results in stronger muscles and an overall healthier body! Your hot tub can be one of your best allies in the quest for personal fitness when you leverage it with awareness and intention.
For more expert advice on how to best use your hot tub, or for a complete perspective on your hot tub’s wide-ranging benefits, get in touch with us by calling 507-288-2639 or emailing sales@thatcherpools.com! We know that your hot tub is much more than just a relaxing place to soak, and we’re committed to continuing these conversations about how to take your home spa AND own personal wellness experience to the next level.
