Dosage: A Game of Minimums

Ice baths are good for you, right? Seems obviously true. And, I generally won’t fight you on that fact. I do have a question, though. 

If a few minutes in an ice bath is good, what about staying in for 15 minutes? Is that good? Hell, let’s keep going. Is it healthy to stay in for an hour?

What happens if you stay in for two days? 

This silly series of questions can be applied to anything. Taking part in a quality strength and conditioning session? Sounds healthy to me! What about doing two per day? Better yet, if you have the time, why not do four sessions in a day? Now, that’s super healthy. 

The obvious part of your intuition that feels like two days inside an ice bath or four strength sessions per day is not a healthy idea is getting to the heart of a concept called effective dose. 

There’s a reason the dosage for ice baths tends to land around two or three minutes and that we don’t deadlift three times per week. If you’re a real human in the world, you’re interested in the least possible effective dose. Isn’t it funny how much of the fitness industry seems to be chasing more instead?