I was watching a documentary on Netflix yesterday. It followed top CrossFit athletes as they competed in their big annual competition – “the CrossFit Games” – a few years back.
They do several very intense and totally different workouts each day, for several days on end. One of the things they were doing were ice baths – where you fill up a trash can with water and a couple bags of ice, and sit in it from the waist down for 10 or 15 minutes – to help them recover faster.
It brought me back to my college football days. We used to do this every day during training camp, to help bounce back from the morning practice and get ready to hit it again in the evening.
It actually did help quite a bit!
But little did we know, it could also have been helping us burn more calories!
There was a new study published by the Endocrine Society on April 28, 2020 that showed short-term cold exposure may help people with brown fat burn 15% more calories that those without.
(Unlike white fat, brown fat burns calories through fatty acid oxidation and heat production and is considered a promising target in the fight against the obesity epidemic.)
Now the study said that they have to learn more to figure out the definitive effects of cold exposure on fat loss.
But I like the idea, from both the perspective of this research, and also the fact that we can train our bodies to better cope with physical stress, so that we can be metally ready for whatever life throws at us.
A super easy way to try this out is the contrast shower. You get the water as cold as you can stand for one minute. When the minute is up, you go to hot for the next minute. Alternate for three to five cycles total.
Try this weird cold exposure hack today to start speeding up your metabolism.
Let me know how it goes if you give it a try.
And let’s make it a great week!
-Forest Vance
Master of Science, Human Movement
Certified Personal Trainer
KettlebellBasics.net
ForestVanceTraining.com
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