Introduction:
In the process of improving an athlete’s performance, the recovery methods must be optimized. Recovery is required to maximize training and competition performance; fatigue should be minimized by recovering as fast as possible. This study aimed to assess effects of contrast water therapy on blood lactate concentration after high-intensity interval training (HIIT) in elite futsal players.

Methods:
A total of 30 male futsal athletes volunteered to be subjects in this study. The test session consisted of repeated sprints at the distance of 25 m (3 series of two 1-min repetitions at 90% of maximum heart rate). After HIIT, the participants were randomized into 2 groups; 15 received contrast water therapy (CWT), and 15 were given slow jogging recovery (SJR). The recovery for the CWT group consisted of periodic immersions in cold water (18°C) for 1 min and then in hot water (37°C) for 2 min, with accumulating 15 min in the water. The recovery for the SJR group included 8 min of slow jogging (6.8 km · h−1) around a field.

Results:
After 30-min recovery, lactate concentration was significantly greater (p = 0.001) in the SJR group (7.67 mmol/l) than in the CWT group (6.82 mmol/l) and remained significantly different 60 min after recovery (p = 0.0001; 6.80 mmol/l and 5.01 mmol/l, respectively).

Conclusions:
We demonstrated that CWT after HIIT had an effect on the recovery of elite futsal players by decreasing the lactate concentration and rapid recovery of heart rate.