The question is when, not whether
Whether a lifter should use a suite at all is a separate decision, weighed in lifting with or without heat and cold. This guide starts after that choice. You lift, you like the sauna or the ice bath, and you want to know where in the day each belongs so it does not work against the training.
RPM's recovery suite has a Finnish sauna, an aroma steam room and an ice bath on the same level as the strength floor. You will find no durations or temperatures on this page: the suite's posted guidance and your doctor's advice come first.
What the two studies actually timed
Roberts and colleagues (The Journal of Physiology, 2015) ran two linked studies. In the first, 21 physically active men strength trained twice a week for 12 weeks, with either cold-water immersion or active recovery after every session. Strength and muscle mass rose more in the active-recovery group.
In the second, nine active men did single-leg strength exercise on separate days, followed by either cold water or active recovery, and gave muscle samples before and at 2, 24 and 48 hours after. Markers linked to muscle growth rose less after cold water. The authors concluded that cold water as a regular post-exercise habit should be reconsidered.
Bleakley and colleagues' Cochrane review (2012) pooled 17 small trials with 366 participants across varied exercise. Compared with rest or doing nothing, cold-water immersion was followed by less muscle soreness one to four days later. The reviewers rated the trials as low quality, and most did not actively watch for side effects.
- Both placed the cold water after exercise, in Roberts's case after every session. Neither compared different gaps between lifting and the cold, so nobody can tell you how long a gap is long enough.
- Roberts studied young, physically active men. Whether the result holds for women or older lifters was not tested.
- Neither tested a sauna or a steam room.
A lifting day, moment by moment
A cautious reading of the evidence for someone lifting for strength or muscle. Your doctor's advice comes before all of it.
| When | Sauna or steam | Ice bath | What it rests on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before the session | Leave it. A movement warm-up prepares the joints you are about to load | Leave it | Coaching practice. No study here tested it |
| Straight after the main lifts | Fine if you enjoy it and feel steady | Hold off on strength or muscle days | Roberts: cold after every session went with smaller gains |
| Later the same evening | Fine, if it does not cost you sleep | Unknown. No study tested a gap of hours | A gap in the evidence, not a green light |
| The next morning | Fine before work if you have time to cool down | Unknown, for the same reason | As above |
| Rest day | A visit just for the suite, where your tier permits it | The least likely to clash with lifting | Distance from the session |
| After a match or a running-heavy day | Fine | Reasonable if soreness before your next session is the concern | Bleakley: less soreness than rest, low-quality evidence |
When the trade tips towards cold water
The two studies point in different directions because they measured different things. Roberts measured long-term gains in strength and muscle. Bleakley measured soreness over the following days. Which matters more depends on what comes next.
- A normal training block aimed at strength or size: long-term gains matter most, so keep the ice bath off lifting days.
- Two hard efforts in quick succession, such as a two-day event or a match the day after a session: next-day soreness matters more for that short spell.
- Running-heavy sport alongside lifting: in Bleakley's exploratory analyses, trials using running-based exercise showed larger effects on soreness. That is one more reason to save cold water for those sessions rather than the bar.
Heat after heavy sets
There is less to say about saunas and steam rooms, because neither study tested them. In the four trials in Bleakley's review that compared cold water with warm water, the pooled results showed no evidence of a difference in soreness. That was water, not a sauna, so it settles nothing about heat rooms. It is a reminder, though, that cold is not proven better than warmth for soreness.
- Heavy squats and deadlifts can leave you light-headed. Wait until your breathing and heart rate have settled before any heat.
- Drink water before you go in, more so from May to September when the drive in has already cost you some.
- Leave at once if you feel dizzy, sick or unwell, and tell a member of staff.
- A late visit that pushes back your bedtime may cost the next session more than it gives.
Everything here is general information rather than medical advice. Heat and cold do not suit everyone, and nothing here means either suits you.
Worked example: a lifter who plays Saturday football
Take a logistics manager who lifts on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings to build strength, and plays five-a-side on Saturday mornings. His doctor raised no objection to heat or cold at a routine check-up.
- Tuesday: a sauna visit after lifting, once he has cooled down and had water.
- Sunday and Thursday: no suite. Thursday is his heaviest day, and he wants to sleep early.
- Saturday: after the match, a suite-only visit with the ice bath, since football is running-heavy and his tier allows rest-day visits. He wants less soreness going into Sunday's squats.
After eight weeks his log shows steady gains and his coach is happy with the pattern. It is a judgement call on thin evidence, so he reviews it whenever his goals change.
Lifting and the suite at RPM
At RPM, one club on Level 4 of AD HUB Sports Complex in Al Manhal, photos of the strength floor show a squat rack with colour bumper plates, fixed-weight barbells, plate-loaded machines including a leg press, cable towers and dumbbells. The suite is on the same level. No set point for the ice bath is published.
- Ask which tier or pass includes the suite, and whether suite-only visits on rest days are allowed.
- Ask how the suite works for your section: men train in the Mixed section, and the Ladies section is for women only.
- Ask whether suite time is booked or open after training, and whether towels are provided.
- See the racks and the suite at your usual lifting hour on a free guided tour.
Sources
- Bleakley C. et al., Cold-water immersion (cryotherapy) for preventing and treating muscle soreness after exercise, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (2012)
- Roberts L.A. et al., Post-exercise cold water immersion attenuates acute anabolic signalling and long-term adaptations in muscle to strength training, The Journal of Physiology (2015)
Questions, answered.
How long should I wait after lifting before an ice bath?
Nobody can give you a tested number, because these studies did not compare different gaps between exercise and cold water. If strength is your goal, the simplest option is to keep cold water to rest days or non-lifting sessions.
Is sauna then ice bath better than cold water alone?
The Cochrane review found no difference in soreness between cold water and contrast immersion, which alternates warm and cold water. Those trials did not use a sauna, so see any heat-then-cold routine as a preference, not a method.
Will an ice bath let me lift heavy again sooner?
The evidence covers soreness, not how much you can lift the next day. The review found too little evidence to judge other outcomes, so judge your sessions by your log.
Is the steam room any different from the sauna for a lifter?
No study cited here compared them. The sauna gives dry heat and the steam room humid heat, so choose whichever you find comfortable, and skip both on days you feel drained.