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Cold water is a real stressor. If you have a heart condition or high blood pressure, are pregnant, or take medication that changes how you handle cold, talk to your doctor before you start. Never plunge alone or after drinking.
Quick answer
For most people: sauna first, then the cold plunge, and repeat two or three rounds if you like. That is the traditional order and it is the easiest on your body, because you go into the cold already hot. Cold first works too: former Navy SEAL and physician Dr. Kirk Parsley says a plunge before the sauna lets most people sit at 200°F for 20 minutes and feel fine. If you just lifted weights, skip the plunge afterward and keep the sauna. End on whichever you prefer: cold to feel awake, warm to wind down.
Hot then cold is the oldest recovery routine there is. Finns roll in snow between sauna rounds, Russians and Estonians jump in lakes, and every modern bathhouse puts the plunge pool a few steps from the sauna door. The order questions people ask now are newer: does it matter which comes first, how many rounds, how long each, and what to finish on.
We used Brian Cain’s interview with Dr. Kirk Parsley on the Mental Performance Mastery Podcast as our starting point, because the two of them actually talk through heat and cold together, then checked it against the research.
Heat and cold work your heart from opposite directions
Dr. Parsley opens with the physiology. In cold water, the blood vessels in your skin and limbs clamp down and push blood to your core, so your heart fills faster and pumps more with each beat. In the sauna, the opposite happens:
“Completely opposite. When I go into a sauna, all of my blood vessels on the outside dilate.”
Dr. Kirk Parsley, on Brian Cain’s podcast
Blood moves out to your skin, there is less in your heart, and your heart rate climbs to keep up. Either way your heart moves more blood, which is why he calls both “exercise mimetics”: some of their benefits resemble the benefits of exercise.
The pairing has research behind it. Across a meta-analysis of 18 trials, alternating hot and cold water after hard exercise reduced soreness and strength loss compared with resting, from the first hours out to four days. And in Finland, a 20-year study of 2,315 men found those who used the sauna 4 to 7 times a week had a much lower risk of sudden cardiac death than once-a-week bathers (a hazard ratio of 0.37). That is an association, not proof, but it is the biggest sauna dataset there is.
Sauna first, then cold
This is the default for good reason. You go into the cold already warm, so the shock is easier to handle, and you can stay in long enough to cool all the way through. Don’t skip the rest after the plunge: sitting or lying down while your body rewarms is where the routine actually feels good, and it resets you for the next round.
A simple round: 10 to 20 minutes in the sauna, a cool shower to rinse, 1 to 3 minutes in the plunge, then 5 to 10 minutes of rest. Two to three rounds is plenty. Dr. Parsley’s sauna target after training is about 20 minutes at a heat that is challenging but tolerable, starting around 160 to 165°F and turning it up as it gets easy.
Cold first, then sauna
Dr. Parsley raised this while warning Brian not to compare himself with anyone’s sauna post (Brian had mentioned a 20-minute session at 220°F he saw online). You don’t know what they did first, he said. After a cold plunge, most people can sit at 200°F for 20 minutes and feel fine, because they start the session cold. Heat tolerance also moves with what you were just doing, with where you live and with the season.
Cold first is useful if you want longer or hotter sauna sessions, if the sauna is your favorite part, or if you are plunging before a lifting session (more on that below). The trade-off: the first plunge is harder, because you go in at normal body temperature.
If you just lifted, change the order
This is where the order matters most. Dr. Parsley calls one thing “pretty well settled”: a cold plunge right after strength training reduces the strength and muscle gains you trained for. The sauna doesn’t carry that warning; his post-workout advice is the sauna, before you cool off. So on lifting days, plunge before the workout or in the morning, and keep the sauna for after. Cold plunge before or after a workout: the full breakdown and clips.
Which order, by goal
| Your goal | Order | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Relaxing, social bathing | Sauna, cold, rest. Repeat 2 to 3 rounds | The traditional order and the gentlest |
| After strength training | Sauna only after the workout; plunge before it or in the morning | Post-lift plunges blunt muscle and strength gains |
| After a run or ride | Either order | Dr. Parsley: cold timing doesn’t matter for aerobic fitness |
| Longer, hotter sauna sessions | Cold first, then sauna | A plunge first raises how much heat you tolerate |
| Winding down before bed | Cold, then finish warm | Ending warm lets you rewarm before you sleep. Best time to plunge |
| Waking up | Finish cold | A minute is enough. The morning cold plunge |
End hot or end cold?
There is no study that compares finishing hot with finishing cold, so pick by how you want to feel. Ending cold leaves you alert and keeps the cold’s jolt going; it is the classic way to finish a morning session. Ending warm, or simply resting until you rewarm on your own, is gentler and better before bed. Your core temperature keeps dropping for a while after you get out of cold water (the gap peaks about an hour later), so if you finish cold, dress warm and move around.
The cold-first effect Dr. Parsley describes now has a trial behind it. In a 2026 crossover study, 16 adults did two 15-minute sauna rounds at 185°F, with or without a 90-second dip in 68°F water in between. After the dip, the second round ran cooler, heart rate was 17 beats per minute lower, and people felt more able to tolerate it.
How hot, how cold, how long
Sauna: 160 to 195°F is a typical range for a Finnish-style sauna; Dr. Parsley suggests holding around 20 minutes and raising the heat before adding time. Cold: most home plunges run 39 to 55°F. Colder isn’t better by default, and the first minute is the hardest at any temperature. See how cold a cold plunge should be and how long to stay in.
Safety
Going from hot to cold swings your blood pressure and heart rate fast. If you have a heart condition, high or low blood pressure, are pregnant, or take medication that affects either, talk to your doctor first. Get out of the sauna slowly, step into the plunge rather than jumping, keep your breathing slow, and never combine either with alcohol. The real dangers of cold plunging.
Want the sauna side in more depth? Our sister site Sauna Marketplace, which supplied Brian’s sauna, wrote up the heat half of the episode: Dr. Kirk Parsley on sauna and cold plunge recovery.
FAQ
Should you do sauna or cold plunge first?
Sauna first is the traditional order and the easiest. Cold first works too, and Dr. Kirk Parsley says it lets most people tolerate much more heat. After strength training, use the sauna and save the plunge for before your next workout.
How many rounds of sauna and cold plunge?
Two to three rounds is typical: 10 to 20 minutes of heat, 1 to 3 minutes of cold, then a few minutes of rest. More rounds aren’t needed for the benefits.
Should I end on hot or cold?
Either works. No study compares them. Finish cold if you want to feel awake; finish warm, or rest until you rewarm on your own, if it is evening. If you end cold, dress warm and keep moving, since your core keeps cooling for a while after you get out.
Is contrast therapy good after a workout?
Yes, for soreness. A meta-analysis of 18 trials found alternating hot and cold water reduced soreness and strength loss compared with resting. If you lift for size or strength, keep the cold part away from the hours right after training and use the sauna instead.
How long should you wait between sauna and cold plunge?
No wait is needed. Walk out, rinse off, and get in while you are still hot. Between rounds, rest a few minutes until your breathing and heart rate settle.
Sources
- Bieuzen F et al. Contrast water therapy and exercise induced muscle damage: a systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS One, 2013. Source
- Laukkanen T et al. Association between sauna bathing and fatal cardiovascular and all-cause mortality events. JAMA Intern Med, 2015. Source
- Stephens JM et al. Core Temperature Responses to Cold-Water Immersion Recovery: A Pooled-Data Analysis. Int J Sports Physiol Perform, 2018. Source
- Owen TF et al. Thermal and cardiovascular responses to sauna are attenuated by adding cold water immersion to cooling breaks. Exp Physiol, 2026. Source