Physical Wellness

Massage, compression, foam rolling and contrast therapy reliably reduce soreness and perceived fatigue, with modest cuts in damage markers, while their effects on maximal performance are small; emerging modalities show promising but lower-certainty signals.

Regular cold-water immersion in hypertrophy-focused resistance training may reduce muscle growth and adaptive signalling, which makes it situational rather than default.

Ten to fifteen minutes at 10 to 15 °C after training when soreness matters more than adaptation: one way to carry out what the review summary this entry was written from reports: that cold-water immersion reliably reduces soreness, does less for performance, and may blunt muscle growth if used routinely.

These reliably make you feel less sore, and do considerably less for measured performance. Compression means wearing compression garments after training.