Quick Fitness Tip: Ice it Down!

Lift it up!

Fitness tips: We love them around here! No matter how big of an expert you are at lifting, pumping iron, getting your delts in shape, running, whatever workout you enjoy, there is always a better way to do it. Sometimes it’s just turning your body in a specific direction in order to get a small percentage more power. Sometimes it’s placing small weights on a certain part of your body in order to add a bit more weight there, making the workout that much harder.

And sometimes, it’s just icing the fuck up:

Fill a small plastic bag with ice and take it to the gym (you can also use an ice pack). Perform your warm-up, then, before your first heavy lift, hold the ice bag in both hands for one to two minutes.

Rest a couple of minutes, then do your next set. According to Mike Robertson, C.S.C.S., the ice wakes up your body like a cold shower, stimulating your central nervous system to recruit more muscle fibers. “Old time weightlifters did the same thing by standing in buckets of ice,” he says.

Our preference regarding ice in workouts, by the way, is just going to Arctic Circle, getting a big chunk of ice, and lifting that. But if that’s not possible, then sure, go ahead and just use ice to stimulate your nervous system. Sure. Do that.