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by lambdaba 799 days ago
I suppose it's related, that for athletes, ice baths after exercising are to be avoided because they hinder hypertrophy.
2 comments

I'm not sure there is a consensus on ice baths at this stage? Some athletes swear by it, some say it's useless, and last I looked at it the science was ambivalent (somewhere between small to no effect, either positive or negative).
There was a meta study published in February.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ejsc.12074

Hypertrophy is often not the goal.
Surprising that this fact is being often overlooked in this thread. If you're in a multi-day golf tournament for example, an ice bath for immediate recovery and lack of hypertrophy is exactly what you want.
I think it hinders recovery too though, inflammation has a function, which is why we don't just systematically administer high dose anti-inflammatories for every infection, only when it's too risky to leave the natural process handle it, or when the inflammatory response is pathological (e.g. COVID cytokine storm).
And why do golfers not want hypertrophy exactly?
They do sometimes - like when they're trying to gain strength. At other times, recovery is more important than growing stronger (like during a tournament).
Are there any athletes who want hypertrophy? Bodybuilders aside.
Hypertrophy improves performance in any sport which demands speed and power, up to a point. Anyone playing basketball or gridiron football or hockey at an elite level tends to be pretty heavily musceled.