Armor Up with Lorayne Michaels

Cold, Heat, Repeat

• Lorayne • Season 1 • Episode 3

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Cold bites first, but mastery follows. Lorayne explores contrast therapy—alternating cold exposure and heat—to show how a simple routine can speed recovery, regulate your nervous system, and support hormones without adding more training stress. We start with the basics: what cold plunges, ice baths, and saunas do to your blood vessels, why the vascular pump matters, and how improved circulation and lymphatic flow translate to less soreness and quicker bounce-back after heavy days.

From there, we dig into the mental and physiological edge. You’ll learn how to slow your breathing in the cold to shift out of fight or flight, then use heat to nudge your body toward rest and digest. We talk HRV, vagal tone, and why training stress-resilience beats white-knuckling through your week. For women navigating perimenopause or menopause, we connect the dots between cold-induced dopamine, brown fat activation, better insulin sensitivity, and heat-driven circulation that supports recovery, detox, and steadier energy.

If you want a clear plan, you’ll get it: two to three rounds, two to three minutes cold and five to ten minutes heat, with a simple rule—end on heat for sleep, end on cold for focus. We cover smart timing after workouts, evening wind-down strategies, and when to be cautious. You’ll also hear who should modify or avoid contrast therapy, why pre-lift cold can blunt performance, and how to start safely with 60-second cold shower finishes to build tolerance.

Ready to train stress instead of being trained by it? Hit play, take notes, and try the starter protocol this week. If this conversation helped, share it with a friend who’s curious about cold and sauna, subscribe for more practical health tools, and leave a review to tell us what you’ll try first.

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SPEAKER_00:

Hello, hello. Welcome back to the Armor Up Podcast. I'm your host, Lorraine Michaels. And today I want to talk to you about contrast therapy. If you follow me on social media, I have talked about it quite a bit. Contrast therapy. What is contrast therapy? Well, that is therapy, that is intentional alternation between cold exposure and heat exposure. So cold exposure is, as we know, cold plunges, ice baths, cold showers, any extreme cold exposure. And then heat exposure is just the opposite. So saunas, hot tubs, hot showers. And so contrast therapy is doing both of them and going back and forth and alternating between the two. And the contrast of those two, it creates what's called a vascular pump. So your heart is already doing the pumping. But when you're doing these two therapies, you are causing an additional pump. So the cold causes vasoconstriction, which means your vessels, your blood vessels, everything is constricting. And then the heat causes vasodilation. So then it causes everything to open up and allow circulation to flow easily or more easily, if you, if that makes sense. And so the back and forth improves circulation, lymphatic movement, nervous system regulation, as well as recovery. I personally love doing contrast therapy. Some people say it's miserable, but I really enjoy doing hard things. And I used to do cold plunges in my bathtub. And then I tried it in the pool every once in a while. And then I tried doing just because it was taking so much time to fill up my bathtub with cold water, only to do it for, you know, a couple of minutes. And when I was doing it at home, I wasn't doing the back and forth, you know, cold to hot to cold to hot. I would just do the cold and then get in the hot shower. And it was just taking too much time. So then I stopped doing it. And then I started doing cold therapy when I took a shower. So instead of turning on the shower and then letting it warm up, I would turn it on and get in, because usually it takes about two minutes until it got warm. And then I would do that. And that became an annoyance as well. And now I go to a gym that has a cold plunge and an infrared sauna. So I do my contrast therapy there. And it is amazing. So what are the benefits of contrast therapy? And this is scientifically supported. This just isn't a hype. This isn't a trend. This is science. So it's factual. And you know that I am big on making sure that I provide value and provide facts. And as we know, science, medicine changes, it evolves. So when I am coming to you with information, it's not me putting a steak in the ground and a hill I'll die on. Although it might be at the time, but if, you know, medicine evolves, science evolves, and we learn other things, then I reserve the right to come back to you and say, hey, this has changed and my view on this has changed. Until further notice, I stand firm on contrast therapy. It is highly beneficial. So what are the benefits? Number one, improved recovery and reduced inflammation. So because you're going back and forth, you are helping the circulation. I do it when I am really sore because it helps with muscle recovery as well. And then infrared saunas, any red light therapy, anything of that nature reduces inflammation. And studies show contrast therapy can reduce, reduce muscle soreness, otherwise known as DOMS. And it improves your recovery. And your perceived recovery time is actually shorter when you do contrast therapy. Or either if you don't want to do both of them and you do one or the other, it actually helps with recovery and inflammation. The mechanism, well, as I've explained to you before, the cold with the constricting, the cold reduces acute inflammation and pain signaling as well. And then the heat, it increases blood flow, oxygen delivery, and nutrient transport. So when you're doing the both of them, you're only increasing your, you're increasing your recovery time. Or excuse me, you're shortening your recovery time, but increasing the rate of recovery, right? So you're gonna recover faster just because you're doing this and you're increasing the flow, you're increasing the blood flow, the oxygenation. And that's how your nutrients are transported inside your body is through your pipes, right? Um, everything flows through that, your nutrients. Oxygen and oxygenation is so beneficial. That's why if you've ever heard me talk about ozone, ozone is actually O3. And so when you do ozone treatments, you are putting more oxygen into your system. And where you have more oxygen, disease is eradicated. The more oxygenation you have, the less disease, the less sickness, because disease can't thrive in a highly oxygenated environment. That's we're going down another rabbit hole. So, number two, the benefits of contrast therapy, nervous system regulation. And this is huge for women. This is something, this is another reason why I absolutely do love doing cold plunges, especially because it feels horrible. It feels miserable. I'm not gonna lie, it is horrific, right? You're getting into very, very cold water. Some people do 30, 40, 50 degrees therapeutically for women, we do not need to be any colder than 40 degrees. That's it's just unnecessary. And so the contrast therapy trains our automatic, or sorry, our autonomic nervous system. And the cold exposure activates the sympathetic nervous system and the heat exposure, the heat encourages a shift into the parasympathetic nervous system. So that's the rest and digest. So when you're in the cold, obviously our fight or flight is heightened because we're like, what the crap is going on? This is absolutely miserable. It's painful. I can barely breathe. Some people have a really hard time regulating their breathing. You know, when someone falls into sub-zero water, right? And they go into hypothermic shock, what do they do? They start hyperventilating. And so that is a natural response when you get into the cold water, is to, you know, hold your breath and you're breathing short and you're, you know, your breathing is erratic. And so something that is super beneficial for you is being able to train and slow down your breathing and retrain yourself that you are not in fight or flight. In fact, you are safe and to slow your breathing. And so you're gonna activate your sympathetic nervous system. And then when you get out and you're going into the heat and the sauna, now your rest and digest is gonna be activated. And so over time, this improves stress resilience, it improves emotional regulation and your vagal tone. So you have something that's called your vagus nerve. And when you do these therapies, you are exercising it, you are working it and you are strengthening it, which in turn strengthens your nervous system and that resilience and this going back and forth and this training and you're regulating your breathing. This is also going to improve your HRV, which is your heart rate variability. That's something that I've been pretty obsessed with lately. And it's fascinating to me and I absolutely love it. So, for women who live in a constant state of go mode, this is one of the most powerful non-supplemental tools available. Because when you're in constant go mode, you have to learn to slow down. You have to learn how to quiet your mind. You have to learn how to slow your breathing, regulate your breathing, and doing the cold exposure especially helps you train that. Number three, the benefits of contrast therapy is hormonal metabolic support. I am huge on making sure women 30 and above, we are focusing on supporting our hormone, our hormones because our hormones are changing and they become wack-a-doodle and out of balance. And so while contrast therapy doesn't balance hormones directly, it supports the system that regulates them. Cold exposure has been shown to increase your norepinephrine and your dopamine, improve your insulin sensitivity, and it activates brown adipose tissue. So that's what I don't know if you've ever heard of this, but brown fat. So when you're doing the cold exposure, it activates the brown tissue, the brown fat, which supports metabolic health. And then the heat exposure, that's gonna improve your circulation, just like I've said, support detoxification through sweat, and it mimics some cardiovascular benefits, similar to exercise. Um, it's definitely not gonna replace it, but sometimes when you are in the sauna or heat exposure, your heart rate increases. And so that for perimenopausal and menopausal women, this can be especially beneficial when energy, metabolism, and recovery begin to shift and kind of slow down or decline, if you will. So this only helps improve it, and that is why it helps balance your hormones or can be a tool in helping balance your hormones. Number four, improved circulation and lymphatic flow. I've been talking about this, um, I've mentioned it briefly with the lymphatic flow, but women are more prone to sluggish lymphatic drainage, water retention, and lower extremity swelling. And this contrast therapy acts like a mechanical pump. And so you don't need much for the lymphatic system. This, like I said, with the cold and hot, with the constriction and vasodilation, it's acting as an additional pump. And your lymphatic system is a pump in your body. And sometimes when you don't move, when you're sitting a lot for your job, or you're not even working, and so you find yourself sitting more often, or you're not getting up and moving. When we move, our body is pumping. They say that your calves are your second heart, and that is because that is an additional pump. Those muscles everywhere, all these muscles. Anytime that you're moving and contracting your muscles, you're helping the flow, you're helping pump, you're helping the pumps pump, right? And so with this, it helps with your lymphatic system. And your lymphatic actually helps detoxify and get rid of the toxins that are in your body. It helps those move along so it doesn't get clogged and stuck. I know this sounds like a plumbing issue, and it is. It is our internal plumbing. Number five, mental resilience and confidence. Let me tell you, cold therapy makes me certain that I can do hard things. Cold exposure increases dopamine levels. It's shown actually to rise up to 250% above baseline in some studies. So, what does this translate to? Cold exposure, not just the heat. The cold exposure, improved mood, greater mental clarity, increased confidence, and discipline. Many women report feeling more grounded, emotionally steady when they do contrast therapy and it becomes consistent. I know I'm a weirdo, but I freaking love it. I really do. I love being able to do something hard, to do something miserable that helps me. I I love being in there and seeing how long I can go. Or, you know, when I first get in and it's super cold, and my propensity is to start to breathe rapidly and I can slow my breathing. Sometimes, if I'm wearing a device that I can track my heart rate, I like to see if I can get it to go down. I like to see how long I can stay in. I don't go more than two or three minutes. And you might be like, oh, that's barely anything. You sit in 30 degree water and tell me how long you can stand it for. But, anyways, therapeutically, women do not need to be in it more than two to three minutes. But I like to see how long I can do it. And I like to notice, wow, you know, it didn't start to bother me until the very end, or oh, I could have gone longer. And also another thing, what I do notice is my initial one is pretty difficult. And then I get out after my time, go to the infrared sauna, and then get back in. And the second time that I get into the cold plunge, it's easier. My breathing is slower and I can stay in it longer. The two minutes come faster. So I find that to be incredibly fascinating with how I have trained my body and my mind to withstand it. So, how women specifically benefit? This is where your voice matters most. Women often carry more stress, they have fluctuating hormones. We recover slower when we're under-eating and overtraining. And we live in a chronically inflamed state. So, this is, I mean, historically, women often experience these things. In contrast, therapy helps by teaching the body how to adapt to stress instead of being overwhelmed by it. It helps by supporting recovery without adding more exercise stress. And it's helping women reconnect to their bodies in a powerful way. It's not about pushing and powering through it, it's about training your nervous system to actually slow down and be present. So, when is the best time to do contrast therapy? I was just talking about this today while in the sauna with someone. And this is why I did this podcast today, because she didn't know a lot of this. And um, I don't like yapping people's ear off while at the gym because I don't want to seem or come across like a miss know it all. But when this person said that she was doing it and she stopped because she's trying to get pregnant and she didn't know um if it was inhibiting her ability to get pregnant, and she didn't even know what the benefits were. So she just was like, I don't know, I heard it's good for you. So I wanted to try it. So I was explaining to her, you know, the benefits of it. And she's like, I don't know when to do the cold or the sauna first, second, or what order to do it in. And I said, as just like I say in all aspects of health and fitness, is what is your goal? What are you trying to do? So um, the best time for contrast therapy. The best time is post-workout or later in the day. Um, if you're doing it post-workout, it's great for recovery, especially on heavy training days. In the evening before bed with modifications, if the heat is the final exposure, it can improve relaxation and sleep quality. And then on rest days, it's excellent for active recovery and stress regulation. So, me personally, today, when I did it, I was really sore from a previous lower body workout. So I wanted to do it to help with recovery. And so I started with cold and I ended with hot. And I did it twice. So I did cold, hot, cold, hot. So I started with cold, ended with hot. And I did it, it was later in the morning because I trained and then I went and worked out myself and then did this. So I absolutely love the cold therapy for energy, and um, it definitely helps with recovery. And then ending on the is going to be more relaxing. Times to be cautious immediately before intense training. So cold exposure can temporarily reduce power output if done right before lifting. And that is because the cold is constricting. And so it's think of it like before you work out, you're not gonna just walk right into the gym and start lifting weights, right? No, you're gonna warm up, you're gonna stretch a little bit, maybe foam roll, walk on the treadmill. You're gonna do something to warm up your muscles because if your muscles are cold and tense, you have a higher risk of injury. So you're you don't want to do a cold plunge right before you work out. Another time to be cautious is during high stress or extreme fatigue because you are introducing or you're inducing basically stress by doing this. It's not necessarily a bad stress, it's a good stress because you can regulate it. So, women with either adrenal dysfunction, if they are amenorrhea, which means that they're not getting a period, or just burnout, you should start to slowly and shorten. So prioritize shortening these cold exposures or limiting it. I wouldn't even do it because your nervous system is on overdrive at that point, anyways. So making sure that your hormones, your adrenals, because your adrenals are heavily affected by cortisol and your stress hormones. I just started thinking about adrenal when you're uh in adrenal burnout and due to um overuse of stimulants, so coffee, energy drinks, those things. Um, that's another thing. So if you're constantly tired, if you're not getting a period, if you're just burnt out and and and you're just run down, it is not a good idea to do the cold exposure. So a simple person. Protocol for you. So this is some practical guidelines for you. If you're thinking about starting contrast therapy, or um, if you've been doing it, you're like, I don't even know if I'm doing it right. Here's a simple protocol for you: two to three rounds. So, like I did today, two rounds, cold hot, cold hot, two to three rounds, two to three minutes on cold. And then when you go to your heat, five to 10 minutes. End with heat if sleep and relaxation are the goal. End with cold if energy and mental sharpness are the goal. And if you are new to this, warm shower 30 to 60 seconds on cold. So instead of jumping straight into a cold plunge somewhere, start to do cold showers. So do your warm shower and then 30 to second 30 to 60 seconds on cold, doing a cold shower, and start to build tolerance over time. Consistency matters more than intensity. So don't jump straight into a cold plunge. You will uh be very disappointed. So, who should avoid it completely or modify it? Definitely pregnancy. You should definitely consult your physician. Uncontrolled high blood pressure. These people, all of this, this is not medical advice, first of all. I'm gonna have to put that in the beginning as well. This is not medical advice. You should definitely seek your medical provider before doing this to see that if you are even a candidate for it. But from my experience and my knowledge and certifications and what I know and what I'm trained in, these are people who should avoid it. Pregnancy, anyone who's pregnant with anyone with uncontrolled high blood pressure, anyone with any type of cardiovascular conditions, and anyone that has had a history of fainting with cold exposure. But always, always, always speak to your healthcare provider before starting or changing anything in your health routine. So I hope this has helped. I absolutely love doing contrast therapy because of the benefits that it provides. It helps tremendously with my HRV. It helps with just my overall energy, it helps with my recovery. I love, love, love red light therapy. It helps with detoxification. So if I can't do cold therapy, I will definitely do the sauna just because it is so beneficial and I absolutely love it. So, my friends, thank you for joining me on another episode. And if this episode has helped in any way, shape, or form, please make sure to share it. Make sure to save it, leave me a comment, and I would love for you to leave me a review. How has this podcast helped you in your fitness journey? Or, you know, previously when you heard it as the bite size podcast, just leave me a review. I would love it. 2026 is here, and I'm so excited of what this new year is going to bring. And I hope you have had a fabulous 2025. And here's to many, many more episodes. Health is wealth.