Cold water immersion attenuates anabolic signaling and skeletal muscle fiber hypertrophy, but not strength gain, following whole-body resistance training

Abstract

We determined the effects of cold water immersion (CWI) on long-term adaptations and post-exercise molecular responses in skeletal muscle before and after resistance training. Sixteen men (22.9 ± 4.6 y; 85.1 ± 17.9 kg; mean ± SD) performed resistance training (3 day/wk) for 7 wk, with each session followed by either CWI [15 min at 10°C, CWI (COLD) group, n = 8] or passive recovery (15 min at 23°C, control group, n = 8). Exercise performance [one-repetition maximum (1-RM) leg press and bench press, countermovement jump, squat jump, and ballistic push-up], body composition (dual X-ray absorptiometry), and post-exercise (i.e., +1 and +48 h) molecular responses were assessed before and after training. Improvements in 1-RM leg press were similar between groups [130 ± 69 kg, pooled effect size (ES): 1.53 ± 90% confidence interval (CI) 0.49], whereas increases in type II muscle fiber cross-sectional area were attenuated with CWI (−1,959 ± 1,675 µM2 ; ES: −1.37 ± 0.99). Post-exercise mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 signaling (rps6 phosphorylation) was blunted for COLD at post-training (POST) +1 h (−0.4-fold, ES: −0.69 ± 0.86) and POST +48 h (−0.2-fold, ES: −1.33 ± 0.82), whereas basal protein degradation markers (FOX-O1 protein content) were increased (1.3-fold, ES: 2.17 ± 2.22). Training-induced increases in heat shock protein (HSP) 27 protein content were attenuated for COLD (−0.8-fold, ES: −0.94 ± 0.82), which also reduced total HSP72 protein content (−0.7-fold, ES: −0.79 ± 0.57). CWI blunted resistance training-induced muscle fiber hypertrophy, but not maximal strength, potentially via reduced skeletal muscle protein anabolism and increased catabolism. Post-exercise CWI should therefore be avoided if muscle hypertrophy is desired. NEW & NOTEWORTHY This study adds to existing evidence that post-exercise cold water immersion attenuates muscle fiber growth with resistance training, which is potentially mediated by attenuated post-exercise increases in markers of skeletal muscle anabolism coupled with increased catabolism and suggests that blunted muscle fiber growth with cold water immersion does not necessarily translate to impaired strength development.

Postexercise cooling impairs muscle protein synthesis rates in recreational athletes

“…This is in line with a recent study showing that prolonged muscle cooling around resistance exercise does not change the gene expression of these markers of muscle protein breakdown compared to muscle heating (Zak et al 2018). In addition, it was recently shown that there were no clear effects of postexercise CWI on markers of muscle protein breakdown both before and after 7 weeks of resistance-type exercise training (Fyfe et al 2019). Together, these findings suggest that muscle protein breakdown may not be elevated following postexercise muscle cooling in humans, despite indications in rodents that 24 h of cold-exposure will increase markers of muscle protein breakdown (Manfredi et al 2013).…”

“…In addition to dietary protein ingestion, postexercise cooling is a strategy applied by many athletes to support postexercise recovery, with CWI being a popular form of cooling (Ihsan et al 2016;Broatch et al 2018). However, there is now evidence to suggest that postexercise CWI blunts important molecular pathways involved in the regulation of myofibrillar protein synthesis, such as anabolic signalling and ribosomal biogenesis (Roberts et al 2015;Figueiredo et al 2016;Fyfe et al 2019). This would suggest that postexercise cooling may lower postprandial myofibrillar protein synthesis rates.…”

“…The fact that daily myofibrillar protein synthesis is substantially reduced throughout 2 weeks of exercise training would suggest that postexercise cooling negatively affects the skeletal muscle adaptive response to prolonged exercise training. Although some studies have not been able to detect (clear) detrimental effects of postexercise cooling on gains in muscle mass and strength (Ohnishi N, 2004;Yamane et al 2006;Fyfe et al 2019), others have reported attenuated gains in muscle mass and strength as a result of postexercise cooling during prolonged resistance exercise training (Frohlich et al 2014;Roberts et al 2015;Yamane et al 2015).…”

Post-exercise Cooling Impairs Muscle Protein Synthesis Rates In Healthy Young Males

“…mTOR, p70S6K Thr421/Ser424 , rpS6 and 4E-BP1). In addition, it was recently shown that there were no clear effects of postexercise CWI on markers of muscle protein breakdown both before and after 7 weeks of resistance-type exercise training (Fyfe et al 2019). This could potentially be explained by the fact that our biopsy timing, which was chosen to detect differences in myofibrillar protein synthesis, may not have allowed us to assess transient changes in phosphorylation status of these signalling proteins.…”

“…To assess myofibrillar protein synthesis rates over this entire 2 week period, we applied D 2 O tracer methodology (Fig. Although some studies have not been able to detect (clear) detrimental effects of postexercise cooling on gains in muscle mass and strength (Ohnishi N, 2004;Yamane et al 2006;Fyfe et al 2019), others have reported attenuated gains in muscle mass and strength as a result of postexercise cooling during prolonged resistance exercise training (Frohlich et al 2014;Roberts et al 2015;Yamane et al 2015). This allowed us to measure the incorporation of 2 H-labelled alanine into muscle tissue over the entire 2 weeks (Gasier et al 2010).…”