Like any training environment, the goal isn’t for all people to experience the same absolute stress. That wouldn’t make sense. To do that would mean to prescribe the same weight back squats for Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and my Great Grandmother, Edith.
The goal is always a relative stimulus.
That’s why for ice baths the goal is equivalent stress, not always equivalent temperature. The research is beginning to continually support the notion that women can achieve the same stimulus as men in the ice at lower temperatures. This is in large part due to the fact that women have different thermoregulation than men. According to Dr. Stacey Simms women have more cold receptors in their skin than men.
While this isn’t a prescription, the advisable starting range for new ice bathers is 50-55 degrees for men and 55-60 degrees for women. Many of our students regularly bath in colder waters than these (while is appropriate), so pay less attention to the absolute figures and more attention to the difference between men and women as 5 degrees on average.
Colder isn’t always better.
If you’re getting into ice baths, make gender a consideration on water temperature and go from there.
