cold shower after workout?

Taking a cold shower immediately after strength training or hypertrophy-focused workouts might not be ideal if your main goal is muscle growth and strength. Andrew Huberman suggests avoiding cold water immersion up to four hours after such workouts to not inhibit muscle and strength gains. This is due to the potential interference with biological pathways important for muscle repair and growth, like the mTOR pathway 1.

However, if your goal is not focused on maximizing hypertrophy and strength, or if you're engaged in different types of physical activities, a brief cold shower may still provide some benefits without significantly impacting your workout results. Dr. Huberman acknowledges that while the research on cold showers specifically is limited, it is hard to imagine that a brief cold shower could completely reverse the effects of strength training. He suggests that unless you're very focused on maximizing gains, a cold shower might be acceptable after your workout 1.