We have published a series of articles on the acute and chronic effects of cold water immersion on molecular responses and adaptations in skeletal muscle after exercise.1-3 These studies were based on two key tenets: (i) cold water immersion reduces inflammation in musculoskeletal tissues and (ii) regular cold water immersion enhances post-exercise recovery and resilience, thereby leading to greater adaptations to training. The first of these tenets is supported by pre-clinical studies on the effects of icing or cryopreservation. By contrast, evidence supporting the second tent has been lacking. We therefore designed two systematic and integrated studies to investigate these proposed benefits of cold water immersion in more detail.The first study involved a randomized controlled trial in which a group of physically active young men strength trained twice a week for three months.3 One half of the group performed cold water immersion after each training session, which involved sitting up to their waist in water at 10 C for 10 min. The other half of the group performed active recovery after each training session, which involved riding on a stationary bicycle at a self-selected low intensity for 10 min. We measured muscle mass using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and strength, and collected resting muscle biopsies before and after the 3 months of training. We discovered that although both groups gained muscle mass and strength following training, these gains were significantly smaller in the cold water immersion group compared with the active recovery group. The cross-sectional area of type II (fast-twitch) muscle fibers also increased only in the active recovery group. Collectively, these findings provided the first definitive evidence against the notion that regular cold water immersion enhances adaptations to exercise training.To understand the mechanisms behind these effects of cold water immersion in more detail, we performed a randomized, cross-over trial. Another group of physically active men completed two sessions of resistance exercise on separate days, using separate legs. After each exercise session, they performed cold water immersion or active recovery (as described above). We collected blood samples at regular intervals, muscle biopsies before exercise and 2, 24 and 48 h after exercise. We analysed the blood samples and muscle biopsies for a range of variables involved in recovery and adaptation to exercise. We discovered that exercise activated kinases involved in the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway, and stimulated satellite cell proliferation. Activation of p70S6 kinase and satellite cell proliferation were significantly attenuated following cold water immersion, 3 which likely accounted (in part) for the smaller gains in muscle mass and strength in the training study described above. We then analysed the same muscle samples for factors involved in ribosomal biogenesis. Ribosomal biogenesis is a key preliminary process involved in gene expression. We observed that exercise a...