Ice Cold Water – Multiple benefits during a workout

In the July/August 2012 Fitness Magazine (fitnessmagazine.com) there is a reference to a study from Stanford University regarding the benefits of ice water during a workout.

The article states that participants in the study that cooled their hands during their workout, possibly by grabbing onto a partially frozen water bottle, were able to work out longer than those that did not. The article also mentioned that drinking cold water can lower your body temperature, during a workout. Both of these effects can provide great benefit to a person during a workout.

During my workout this morning I decided to try this out for myself. Last night I tossed a bottle of water in the freezer. This morning I pulled it out and by the time I headed to the gym it was partially thawed but still very cold. I placed the bottle in a thermal holder in order to keep it from getting the equipment wet and headed off to the gym.

At the gym I hopped on the treadmill and started my workout. After 15 minutes I tried out the theory of cooling my hands with the bottle. I have to say that the effect was definitely cooling, but I found it to be more distracting than anything else.

A few minutes later I took a sip of the water and that was definitely a good thing. Obviously I can’t tell what it actually did to my internal temperature, but it did cool me down and I kept going with my workout. Every 15 minutes or so I took another drink and I found that I was able to continue my pace longer than I would have been able to typically. I felt as if I was working out harder, but not feeling as over heated as I would normally. This is thanks to the fact that cold water is absorbed by our body faster than warm water. The cold water is absorbed and replenishes the fluids lost through the sweating process, thus cooling our system and allowing us to maintain our workout for longer periods.

So from my personal experience today, I would say that very cold water is definitely going to be my preference during my workouts from now on. Since the cool hands had no effect for me I will be using an insulated bottle to keep it cold but my hands comfortable.

This article was definitely very helpful to me.  Thank you Fitness Magazine, as well as the study from Stanford University and its lead author Stacy T. Sims, Ph.D.