During exercise a lot of waste products are produced within and around the
muscles as the body converts fuel into energy. As exercise continues a point
is reached where these waste products build faster than they can be
removed by normal blood ow. Eventually the build up becomes excessive
which leads to the pain caused primarily by the increase in acidity. The pain is
a signal that you are reaching your bodies maximum endurance level and
eventually the concentration of waste products makes it very dif cult for the
muscles to convert any more ‘fuel’ into energy. You feel exhausted and sore.

Once the exercise stops your body has a natural mechanism for removing the
waste products through normal blood ow to and from the main organs.
However this is a slow process and can take many hours.

By immersing your body in an ice bath at the correctly controlled
temperature, the sudden drop in the body’s surface temperature signals a
potential life threatening emergency to an area of the brain known as the
hypothalamus that controls body temperature, hunger, fatigue, sleep, and
circadian cycles. The hypothalamus immediately directs a response to
prevent you from freezing to death. Blood ow is quickly directed away from
all surface tissues to the body’s core to preserve your remaining heat. In
doing so all of the built up waste products in the blood are carried quickly to
the major organs where the waste can be removed.

In summary, the ice bath ‘tricks’ the brain into believing that you are freezing
to death and it initiates a rapid ow of blood from the muscles and soft outer
tissues back to the liver and other major organs where toxins can be removed
and the blood balance returns to normal much sooner, in fact hours sooner
than at normal room temperature. The result is a much faster RECOVERY
than would otherwise occur.