keeping muscles warm after workout

[faipdeooiad]

i was having a think the other day. whenever i come out of the gym, i'm usually in shorts (either if i go home to shower or if i'm heading into uni (i wear shorts because my labs are roasting)).

the thought i had though was in relation to keeping the leg muscles (could apply to any in the body) warm after workout. would keeping them properly warm (in a pair of joggers or jeans) for a sustained period (i.e. all day) help with recovery?

the reasoning i had behind this thinking was that obviously the warmth would keep blood vessels dilated and keep blood flow to the area up, where as the legs being cooler may cause vasoconstriction

there may not be anything behind it, but i'm just interested in whether or not i'm doing myself a mischief by not keeping wrapped up, especially in the winter months

[HIT-Trainer]

What you need to do is light cardio ( walking on running machine ) after traininh just to allow you to cool down . Rather than keeping warm what you need to do is get the blood flowing the following day .
After leg training , I tend to gocycling just to get the legs pumping and the blood flowing . Tends to help with the DOMS .

[wilfred]

could be wrong, but this seems illogical, given that ice baths are the preferred form of post exercise recovery for the elite performers.

[MiniHulk]

Quote

could be wrong, but this seems illogical, given that ice baths are the preferred form of post exercise recovery for the elite performers.

True, but they are not as effective as a ice cold shower followed by a hot shower post-workout in my experience.

[craig1014]

Elite performers will be moving away from cold immersion immediately post-exercise, particularly in the off-season/training period, as it has the potential to blunt training improvements. During the immediate pre-competition training phase, or post-competition, they would be more likely to be used.

I tend to leave about 4 hours between training and an ice bath, and limit their use to only when needed during hard training. I favour a one-off, ten minute submersion - this is used more to dampen inflammation. During a pre-competition training phase, I would go more for 2 mins cold, 2 mins warm x3-4.

In fact, there is a greater move towards warm baths etc. recently, as it can improve range of motion and dilate blood vessels, increasing blood flow (as mentioned by the OP)

[dope540]

i go for a warm bath and then stick on my compression kit.