Is Soaking in a Hot Tub Before or After Exercise Good for Sore Muscles?

Like a soothing reset, your hot tub can help bring your body from stiff and overloaded to supple and rejuvenated. Heat therapy helps increase blood flow, stimulate healing, and relax muscles. In fact, you'll benefit from soaking in the hot tub before and after exercise.

Studies have shown that both heat and cold therapy can promote healing and prevent muscle damage following exercise. Your home spa offers the most immersive therapeutic opportunity available, especially now that you have the option to set your spa as a hot tub or a revolutionary cold tub. As you stay in touch with your body's cycles of stress and recovery through exercise, hot tub sessions can enhance your workouts and your progress toward a healthier body.

There's even more good news for hot tub users. According to a recent article published in The New York Times, muscles can recover best after exercise if they are warmed rather than chilled.

Tapping into the Benefits of Your Hot Tub Before and After Working Out

Your hot tub is already a part of your daily lifestyle, but how does it interact with your exercise routine? Consider these guidelines carefully, and use your best judgment to create new routines that will support your exercise and recovery. It's also a good idea to talk with your doctor when designing a health and workout routine that works best for your needs and your body.

• Before you exercise, have a 10-20-minute hot tub soak. This helps get the blood flowing and loosen up your muscles. Then, be sure to spend at least 10 minutes stretching out those warm muscles before you start your workout. (You could even do some gentle stretches while you're in the hot tub.)
• After you exercise, let your muscles and your heart rate cool down. Try a gentle walk or stretches. Then, take advantage of a hot tub session to help your mind and body relax and to stimulate the healing and recovery process.

This handy view of Dos and Don'ts can help guide you toward using your hot tub to best complement your exercise.

Do	Don't
Keep track of your exercise schedule and allow your body to rest and recover between high-intensity workouts. Taking advantage of healing practices such as heat and cold therapy can support your recovery.	Push too hard and neglect your limits.
Hydrate early and often, whether you're incorporating the hot tub into your routine or not. Plan to drink even more water if you'll be getting in the hot tub.	Underestimate the importance of staying hydrated to support your body's natural process of sweating during exercise and in the warmth of the hot tub.
Help your muscles loosen up (and prevent injury) with a short hot tub session (10-20 minutes) and stretching before your workout.	Dive right into working out when your muscles may still be cool and stiff. Neglecting to at least stretch before a workout puts you at risk of injury.
Do plan to soak in your hot tub after your heart rate has returned to normal and your muscles have cooled down a bit. This heat therapy will promote deeper relaxation and stretching for your now-stronger muscles, offer a well-earned hot tub jet massage, and help prepare you for the next phase of your fitness journey.	Miss out on your hot tub's incredible benefits.

Embracing the Intentional Approach to Hot Tub Use Before or After a Workout

Your hot tub can support you before and after your workouts if you follow these simple guidelines. Remember that one of the most important tips is to always be aware and stay in touch with your body's cues. If, for example, you're feeling sore and inflamed right after a hard workout, give your body a bit of time to cool down before your soothing hot tub soak. In some cases, it's best to wait a day or two if an unusually intense workout leaves your muscles significantly inflamed. But in the days following that intense workout, your home spa can be just the thing to relax you when your muscles are tight and sore.

You are your body's own best advocate. Consider that the time in between workouts is just as valuable as the workouts themselves. When we push ourselves to intentionally stress our muscles through exercise, we can't avoid the necessary period of healing and regeneration—that's what actually results in stronger muscles and an overall healthier body! Your hot tub can be one of your best allies in the quest for personal fitness when you leverage it with awareness and intention.

For more expert advice on how to best use your hot tub, or for a complete perspective on your hot tub's wide-ranging benefits, get in touch with your local Hot Spring dealer. Or you can check out our blog, which offers tips for wellness, lifestyle, and practical considerations of hot tub ownership. We know that your hot tub is much more than just a relaxing place to soak, and we're committed to continuing these conversations about how to take your home spa experience to the next level.