Is Heat Better Than Cold For Muscle Recovery?

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Today’s Health Upgrade

• The recovery games: Heat vs. cold

• How many eggs are ok?

• The surprising reason people quit diets and workouts (right before they succeed)

Fact Or Fiction
Is Heat Better Than Cold For Muscle Recovery?

For years, you’ve been told to reach for the ice pack after a tough workout or injury. But new research suggests that when it comes to healing, you might want to take the opposite approach. 

Scientists found that hot water therapy significantly improves muscle recovery compared to cold water therapy.

In a controlled study, scientists create a lab-simulated injury (through electrically-induced contractions) meant to trigger muscle damage. Then, the participants were assigned to one of three 10-day recovery protocols: cold, room temperature, or hot. The researchers tracked recovery using muscle biopsies, inflammation markers, and performance tests.

All groups recovered muscle strength at similar rates, but only hot water immersion reduced perceived pain and improved two key blood markers of muscle damage.

The hot water triggered a significant increase in heat shock proteins, which play an important role in protecting and repairing muscle tissue. It also reduced inflammation.

Cold water immersion, often praised for reducing soreness, failed to improve pain, reduce inflammation, or facilitate cellular regeneration in this study.

One fascinating detail? Many participants were convinced cold water would work better — but the data didn’t agree. Sometimes, what we think helps isn’t what actually helps. Researchers believe the cold may blunt some of the body’s natural repair mechanisms.

In other words, icing may feel good temporarily, but if you’re trying to rebuild and repair, heat might give your muscles the warm embrace they need. But it might take some time. Studies suggest you might need to spend 30 to 60 minutes in a warmer environment to experience the benefits. To achieve the correct temperature, the water used in the experiment was 108 degrees Fahrenheit (42 degrees Celsius). 

Health 
Why Two Eggs Might Be Better Than None

Earlier this week, we shared that egg yolks are healthier than people believe. Many of you messaged us and wanted to know how many eggs you can have per week without harming your cholesterol or heart health.  

When you dig into all the studies, the truth about eggs is more scrambled than a simple number — the real culprit might be what you eat in addition to your eggs.

A new study found that total saturated fat in your diet — not dietary cholesterol from eggs— might be the real cause of increased LDL cholesterol.

Researchers explored how dietary cholesterol and saturated fat independently affect LDL levels—the type of cholesterol often labeled as “bad.” They put adults in three different diet groups: (1) a high-cholesterol, low saturated fat diet with 2 eggs per day, (2) a low-cholesterol, high saturated fat diet with no eggs, and (3) a high-cholesterol, high saturated fat control diet with just 1 egg per week.

The egg diet — despite containing 600 mg of cholesterol from two eggs daily — lowered cholesterol levels. You know what increased cholesterol? The high saturated fat diet with no eggs. 

The researchers believe the explanation comes down to how your body processes fats: saturated fat alters the way your liver handles LDL particles, increasing both quantity and risk. In contrast, eggs—when consumed in a lower saturated fat diet—seem to be neutral or even beneficial for cholesterol management.

If you’re concerned about your diet, the best first step is to get a comprehensive blood test to determine if you have elevated LDL cholesterol. If your LDL is healthy, you might not need to make any dietary changes. If your LDL is high, it’s wise to work with your physician to address changes that could help.

But if you’re worried about eggs, the research suggests even at two eggs per day (and some studies have found more), you’re not putting your health at risk, as long as the rest of your diet is in check.

Adam’s Corner
Why Most People Quit Right Before They Succeed

Do you know what winning looks like?

It’s a question I’ve asked clients over the past 25 years, and it usually catches people off guard. (About 15 years ago, people thought I was channeling some Charlie Sheen energy.)

But it’s a question that could change the way you approach exercise, diet, and even your professional life.

Most people don’t quit on their goals because they’re lazy. They quit because winning often feels like losing—if you don’t know what to look for.

Such was the case with Carsten, who shows up and works hard in The Pump Club app.

Carsten recently completed a workout where the goal was 4 sets of 12 pushups. Here’s how it went:

Set 1: 6 reps.
Set 2: 8 reps.
Set 3: 8 reps.
Set 4: 8 reps.

Then he posted something that stopped me: “I didn’t hit 12 reps. I still suck at pushups.”

That’s 30 pushups. It’s progress. But it didn’t feel like a win—because he didn’t hit 12 reps.

That’s the trap.

We’re told that achieving big goals comes from smaller goals. So we track our progress.

But most of us don’t know how to keep score. We aim for perfection. We base success on expectation rather than effort. And we miss the wins that stack up right in front of us.

The Deception of Progress

If you want to get better at winning, you must accept delayed gratification.

In many areas of life, impatience is the enemy.

Imagine being an intern, putting in a week of hard work, and expecting to be treated like an executive—given bigger projects and a hefty raise to celebrate your effort.

That example feels ridiculous. But it’s how many of us approach personal growth.

We join the gym and expect movements to feel easy, muscle to appear, and soreness to vanish.
We eat better, lose a few pounds, and want cravings to disappear.
We meditate once and ask, “Why can’t I focus and change my bad habits?”

Change happens slowly, sometimes painfully—because progress is paid in patience.

And yet, the wellness industry sells speed. You’re fed promises that satisfy impatience at the cost of real progress.

You’re told that if you take action, everything changes—and fast. That you’ll have abs in six weeks, hunger will vanish, and your mind and body will transform.

But the road to a better you doesn’t work like that.

That’s not to say you won’t see results each week or that life-altering change isn’t possible. It’s that the process is different than what you’re sold.

Behaviors rarely change overnight.
Old habits are stubborn.
Motivation ebbs and flows.
The scale goes up and down.
You feel great…then exhausted.
Even after real progress, old, self-limiting thoughts creep in and whisper, “Why bother?”

Winning never requires perfection.

Look at any sport—or profession—and you’ll see how imperfect success really is.

Arnold didn’t win his first competition in America. He lost and cried all night, wondering if he made a mistake.
Only one Super Bowl champion has ever gone undefeated.
The best hitters in baseball succeed just 30 percent of the time.
The world’s strongest men don’t win every event.

Our view of progress is warped. And it creates roadblocks that stop us before success can begin.

It’s essential to have a vision. To see the end state so clearly it plays in your mind like a movie.

But like any great story, you have to earn the heroic ending. And that means not confusing bumbling beginnings and messy middles for failure.

Those are the moments that build resilience—and make the eventual success more meaningful.

So it’s time to shift your mindset. Because if you can’t see progress relative to your effort, you’ll quit just when it’s about to get good.

You Get What You Celebrate

In psychology, reinforcement is one way behavior is shaped. You do something hard. You get a reward. That reward makes you want to do it again.

It’s simple. It makes sense. But in the real world, it falls short.

Most health goals take weeks or months—or longer. And when the payoff doesn’t show up fast, we lose motivation—even when we’re on the right path.

But here’s the trick: you don’t have to wait for the outcome to feel the reward. You can create the reward based on the changes you make.

Recognize your effort. Acknowledge your changes. Celebrate your new behaviors—not just the final result.

That’s how you build consistency. That’s how you stay in the game.

Frank Blake, the former CEO of The Home Depot, once told me: “You get what you celebrate.”

Frank helped transform a struggling company not just by setting better goals—but by recognizing when people were on the right path. He’d send handwritten notes. He’d highlight small wins. He shared stories of those who went above and beyond—not because they were perfect, but because they showed up the right way.

That changed the culture of Home Depot. And the same principle can transform your personal growth.

You need to build a culture of recognition in your own life.

Want to become more consistent? Celebrate every day you show up.
Want stronger relationships? Acknowledge when you listen instead of reacting.
Want more confidence? Celebrate the times you keep your word—even when no one’s watching.

Your job is to spot success before the results show up.

Like a good athlete, the practice you put in when no one’s watching won’t show up immediately on the scoreboard. But in time, it’s the difference between winning and losing.

Every time you show up and give your all, it’s a win. Not a consolation. Not a “nice try.” A real win—worthy of celebration.

But you’ll miss it if you only reward perfection. If you only cheer at the finish line.

You want lasting change? You want to feel proud of who you are? Then make it easier to stay in the game.

Set a clear vision. Recognize the small wins. Mark the moments you usually overlook.

Because if you want to build better habits…
If you want to become the person who follows through…
Then remember: you get what you celebrate.

And if you don’t let struggles throw you off the path, you won’t just feel proud of how you behaved — you’ll get to celebrate the person you’ve become. -AB 

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Publisher: Arnold Schwarzenegger​

Editors-in-chief: Adam Bornstein and Daniel Ketchell