Before you jump in get a thermometer. Let me repeat that …get a thermometer! My wife got me a cold pod by The Cold Pod company as a Christmas present. I set it up and filled it with water shortly after the holiday. I live in Indiana so the overnight temperatures were in the low 20’s. The water was not frozen, so I knew it was above freezing and thought I would give it a try…
I have a long history of doing a hot shower with a cold rinse and figured this would be similar …uncomfortable but bearable. I did the research and knew the ideal temperature should be near 50F. If you go colder than this you go for a shorter time. Since the water was not freezing I knew it was above 32F. The recommended time is 2-10 minutes. Based on this I hopped in the water hoping to start with two (2) minutes. I barely lasted 1:30! It was so cold. I got in the cold pod another two times and made it the full two (2) minutes, but knew something needed to change.
I did some research on heaters and landed on this GRILLME 1500W Immersion Water Heater with Intelligent Temperature Controller. It allows you to set the temperature and then it monitors and heats as needed. I turn off the power and remove the heater and temperature sensor before I touch the water. The first thing I wanted to know is the current water temperature. It was 37F! I set the heater to 50F and it was worked extremely well. This week it has been below zero F every night and my cold plunge holds the temperature at 50F.
My first try at 50F I set a timer for five (5) minutes and hopped in. While still cold there is a tremendous difference between 37F and 50F. I went the full time and came out feeling frozen …but in a good way. Now I had a good set up for the winter. I am not sure if I will do ice or buy a chiller for summer but I have time to figure that out.
I choose to do this for my health. I am currently going three (3) times per week totaling 15 minutes. I feel energized after the cold plunge. I feel good. I like it and plan to keep it a part of my routine for the foreseeable future.
One interesting thing I notice is when I feel cold. Immediately after getting out of the water I am cold. I dry off and put on warm clothes and start to feel warm. The internal coldness doesn’t take effect on me until 10 minutes or so after the cold plunge when I feel cold to my core and often shiver a bit. I didn’t expect this. I thought I would get out shivering but it doesn’t work that way for me.
There are health benefits to the cold plunge and it is significantly different than a cold shower due to complete submersion to my chin. Check out Andrew Humberman’s page on cold therapy if you want to dive into the specifics of health and wellness.
I will caution you to understand the timing of cold plunges in relation to your workouts. You can diminish your returns on some workouts if you do the cold plunge immediately after since you are blunting the inflammation from weight training. It is worth doing your own research to fit your routines.
I work out every morning. During the week this is 5-6am. My cold plunges are done in the afternoons so there is good separation from my workouts. I typically shower before getting in my cold plunge and I ordered this water stabilizer by Ice Barrel to help keep it clean.
douglas adams 