I know my bag says to put 2 cups so that’s what I’ve always used.
I’ve never noticed a thing from epsom salt baths though, maybe it wasn’t enough.
Sure, hot baths are relaxing but I consider epsom salts the big placebo addition.
As to the magnesium issue, athletes are often deficient, I recall one odd paper showing that it can actually be absorbed through the skin and have wondered if that wasn’t one reason some felt epsom salt baths ‘worked’. That is, perhaps the bath was helping to correct a nutritional deficiency that is prevalent among athletes .
But I doubt you’re going to absorb so insanely much that you’d need to drop out bedtime magnesium or other supplementation or whatever.
The hotter you get the more the pores of the skin open.
What I do is put enough hot water in the bath to cover the belly button, 2cups or better of epson salts, 2 beers, a book and a sweat towel. Lay in bath reading and drinking for 1/2 hour or better, keep topping up with hot water. A glass or two of ice water when I get out.
Who cares how it works it works and any one worth their salt ( not pun intended ) knows this. Their is also a reason people of all walks of life excluding athletes go to the ocean to heal. ( hey maybe its the sand) Maybe its the water and maybe its the salt but more likely it is both. Water on its own has been used to heal for centuries but too simple for most now. Gee how do you make money from say the hot and cold calender I was going to do for example.( ie my avatar soon to be taken down) The idea of showing people the effects of such a therapy seemed like a good one as anyone who rolls around in snow must be crazy. ( I am ) Yet I realized who cares? No one can really sell the idea that going to the pharmacy to buy some salt and putting it in the bath might help you! Or rolling around in the snow with almost nothing on can reset your central nervous system. Come on Lyle. No offence intended but maybe you are not training the muscles hard enough to need the bath;)
Angela this is why you should post more, good stuff.
The bit re the sea and Ben’s comment of " not too hot, stay in for about 20 minutes " makes me think that cooler may be better despite how nice a hot bath feels. Sort of like contrast showers, the cold is horrid at the time but afterwards you how good it was.
John, I definately don’t feel good after a hot ES bath, sweat for 20 minutes after getting out, when you dry yourself you feel oily, have to have a cool shower 2 hours later, if a cool shower is taken straight away the benefit of hot is wiped out.
The recovery is quicker, after all isn’t it what it’s all about.
CF is one hell of a good coach, I am not taking the mickey out of him or what he did with Ben, simply offering an alternative that I was told to use.
Have you tried it cooler? Like you I have done them hot and feel the same way. I’ll try it later after training. Probably have a quick shower to de-scunge then a cool low level bath with approx 250g ES (that is all I have right now)
Derry Willis, Karuah, 80 year old does manipulation/realignment (from the back of joints) I have seen people who fly from Adelaide and back just to see him). I had a cool bath with ES and 2 days later rang Derry to ask him why I still feel like I have been mauled by a bull. His comment was you young kids always have to reinvent the wheel, do it my way or put up with the pain, it will go in about 4 days anyway.
We cant all fly to germany to see Wolfhardt but it would be nice.
R you kidding me? A fricken bath is …Free!
Last time i checked that works for me.
works for some does not mean all. Remember the individual? no one can comment about what someone else is doing really because their are countless variables at play. What did you eat, how intense was the training and what is your training age in years?
I am sure this guy is like some of the gifted few who can treat others like magic. No question there are some who have this skill. ( very few for sure) But i am not confident that most adhere in a way to the tools for proper regeneration that will give the results I have had over many years and seen with the very best athletes in the world. Like this guy said dont reinvent the wheel.
I did foam roller,stretch then had a shower to clean up (2-3 mins?) and let that water run in the bath then topped it off with cold only to just above thigh level and sat in it for 20 minutes. While I haven’t been out long and the next few days will really tell it feels good and refreshing. Possibly didn’t have enough ES so next time will put in 500g.
My situation is different to most, to give an idea the photo is for real, I have had a few scratches and bruises in my day. Now that I am old I sometimes get a cramp on one sidefrom my shoulder to my butt, it has lasted for 6 days, DW and his method is the only alternative I have left, I definately would not do it if it wasn’t.
As a coach I used the more conventional methods of recovery but never thought to use ES, in hindsight it is a brillant idea. If I had used it for recovery the water would be cool in summer and warm in winter.
In hindsight I should have looked and not replied to the post.
Sady,
I love your avitar!
The philosophy I was trying to articulate was we do the best we can.
Ben stopped by the day before last to see Charlie and he was not here.
It was a fun morning and Ben was telling me things that he has never shared with me before after knowing him for 20 years.
He told me he used to come to our house ( as we live in the Charlie’s family home) with Desia, Ray Daly ( spelling?) and not sure who else and Charlie would give them all massages on the carpet!
I said no table ( the princess that I am) and I know he didnt have a table because we bought our first table against my wanting to spend a thousand dollars in 1991 that we didnt have! I was very angry about this but CHarlie said it would be a good thing and it changed everthing for us at that moment for the better.
Sady sounds like you are doing well seeking out something that works for you!
well there you go and I expected with you being an Aussie you’d have thought all NZers were sheep shaggers :eek: :rolleyes:
Certainly my experience with a cooler temperature was a lot more positive. Did a really good tempo session and felt fine, energy levels good and ROM on stretches were better than usual. Was it the cool 20 min bath, the salts or a combination? Don’t know or really care, just know it worked.
So you can do it with cool water! Thank god, it was 40 degrees (celsius, of course) in sydney yesterday and I couldn’t bring myself to even think about a hot bath. Good thread guys
I think when you are dealing with that kind of temperature ( in excess of 30 degrees or very high humid conditions ) you need to keep the body cool.
In most places in Canada there are not too many places that have the kind of heat I experienced in Australia.
Our summers in Toronto ( with the exception of this past one;( ) it typically can get very hot and when we finished speed sessions or extensive tempo a rinse in warm to get clean but then the colder the better to get the body temperature back to normal as soon as possible so the energy is spent bouncing back for the next days training or maybe the next session later that day.
Does anyone who lives close to the ocean take advantage of it the way Charlie used to encourage people to do? Just curious
Like you I have done them hot and feel the same way. I’ll try it later after training. Probably have a quick shower to de-scunge then a cool low level bath with approx 250g ES (that is all I have right now)
yep.