Cold Before or After: Timing the Plunge Around Your Training — Key Takeaways
A concise summary of the key insights from this episode. Watch the full video or read the complete article for the full context.
Whatever protocol works for me is irrelevant for you. Nothing matters more than your n-equals-one experience.
— Dr. Thomas Seager
The Testosterone Timing Principle
The most consequential finding Seager discusses: the timing of cold relative to exercise has opposite hormonal effects depending on order.
Cold after strength training suppresses the post-exercise testosterone and growth hormone response.
The inflammatory cascade that cold blunts — the inflammation many seek to reduce for recovery — is also part of the anabolic signal.
The n=1 Framework: Your Data Matters Most
Seager's most compelling contribution to this conversation is his explicit rejection of the idea that population-level research always supersedes individual experience.
As a scientist, he respects the randomized controlled trial.
As a practitioner, he has learned its limitations.
Seager's Personal Protocol
When pressed for his own routine, Seager is characteristically precise: two to four minutes at 34°F (1°C), every morning, seven days a week.
No rest days for the cold practice itself.
This frequency reflects his conviction that adaptation is cumulative and that the hormonal signaling benefits of cold are most robust when the practice is consistent.
Cold and the Question of When
For those without a strong preference, Seager's default recommendation is morning cold, before any training.
This timing captures the luteinizing hormone stimulus before the workout, allows the testosterone response to support the training session, and places the post-plunge norepinephrine window in the most productive part of the day.
For those who train early and want to keep cold nearby, the alternative is to separate cold and training by at least four hours.
Quick Actions
For testosterone support: cold plunge before training, not immediately after. Pre-training cold stimulates the luteinizing hormone pathway; post-training cold blunts the anabolic signal.
If you train in the morning, consider: morning cold, then exercise. The norepinephrine window from the cold enhances focus and drive through the workout.
Track your own response. Population averages are a starting point. Your n-of-one data is the calibration.