Recovery and restoration are key elements to peak performance in the House. At the NoMad location, ice baths have become a post workout ritual allowing athletes to get back in the house for their next workout faster. Below, we’ve highlighted different athletes and how ice baths are being used beyond the House…
LEONARD WILLIAMS, NEW YORK JETS
Leonard wasn’t satisfied with his promising performance and was intent on being better in his second year. That meant pinpointing some of the things he needed to improve on and taking more naps, getting massages, doing more yoga and simply relaxing when he’s not on the field.
“Just being more professional,” Williams said. “Taking care of my body, getting in the ice bath and stuff like that. It’s a long season that I wasn’t used to in college, and I could tell at the end of the season. Just being a more well-rounded player this year.”
-USA Today
USAIN BOLT, EIGHT-TIME OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST
After Usain Bolt won three gold medals at the track-and-field world championships this August, he Instagrammed a video. “I’m about to do one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life,” he said. Then he sat in a bathtub filled with ice water, calling out to God as it reached his nether regions.
Pretty much every professional jock these days concludes his workouts with a pulse-racing, ball-shriveling ice bath. And guess what: It’s every bit as effective for us weekend warriors, arguably the fastest way to undo the damage of a pickup ball game, a Tough Mudder, or a vigorous session on the Wii. But most amateurs think they can get by with a couple of Advils and a bag of frozen peas.
“Sure, you can use an ice pack over your knee,” says Aaron Nelson, head of the Phoenix Suns’ vaunted athletic-training team. “But if you have overall body soreness, an ice bath is the only way to go.” The science is solid: Cold reduces joint inflammation and constricts your blood vessels, which then dilate when the body warms up post-bath. That’s when your muscles get a rush of blood, which flushes out lactic acid—the stuff that’s causing your next-day aches.
-GQ
JAMES HARRISON, PITTSBURGH STEELERS
Taylor, who chalked up 189 games in his 12 seasons in Pittsburgh says that players ‘get it’ early in their careers, and others don’t. “At 22 or 23, you think you can play forever, but you have to understand, what’s my next step from year to year? How can I preserve myself and continue to get better?
“As you get older, your metabolism slows down. As you get older you also find that sleep is really good, and dieting is even better. If you just eat anything, it does nothing for the body. So for the last six years of my career, my dieting was paramount. Sleeping well, ice baths and eating well were the keys.”
-The Guardian