New research throws cold water on a popular exercise recovery regimen, finding that ice baths, after a workout, may actually impede muscle building.

The study team found that cold or ice baths can impede the generation of new protein in the muscles, according to a report in the Journal of Physiology.

Researchers recruited 12 healthy young men, with an average age of 21, for a series of tests.

After the men did some lower-body weight lifting — leg presses and extensions — they were asked to place one leg in icy water and the other in room-temperature water. Afterward, the men consumed a protein drink.