Cold water immersion practices have become popular over the last five or six years, as the many benefits of cold water have become increasingly recognized and well-known personalities have championed the value of the practice.  Predictably, a small industry has grown up around cold water immersion, and it’s now possible to spend thousands of dollars to make good on that New Year’s resolution of a daily cold water bath.

I have had a cold water practice for most of my adult life and can personally attest to the benefits that I have experienced.  Many of these have been related to health: A cold water session ensures incredible energy and a great day. Since I started, I rarely get sick.  Related to these are the spiritual and psychological benefits.  There’s nothing like 38 degree water to quiet the mental chatter and noise that can play like a series of broken records in the rigmarole of life.  It is also the best possible courage practice I know of.  If you understand that having a virtue requires practicing that virtue, and you want to be a courageous person, there are few more practical, responsible activities you can do on a daily basis to acquire courage than cold water exposure.  Nikki has said that she thinks cold water is the best training she can imagine for childbirth.

One of the beauties of cold water is that it’s accessible.  Anybody should be able to develop a practice, no matter their situation or resources.  But this can be forgotten as many cold water exposure products come onto the market.  To buy a tub and water chiller will typically set you back thousands of dollars.  Just the excuse you needed to delay!

As someone who has utilized cold water exposure training for more than 12 years, using several formats, I can tell you that you do not need to spend a lot of money, or any, to get started.  In fact, it is advisable – as Wim Hof suggests – to begin with more incremental and accessible options.  Here are some options to get you started on a cold water practice today.

Transition Showers

James Bond showers, Scottish showers, transition showers – whatever you want to call them, this practice is, hands down, the best possible way to get started enjoying the benefits of a healthy thermoregulation practice. In fact, transition showers could be all you ever do – if it was good enough for James Bond, it should be good enough for you. 

What’s more, Wim Hof recommends cold showers as an entryway to his cold water routine.  If James Bond and Wim Hof agree on something you had better give it a hard look.

There are lots of variants for the transition shower – here’s what I recommend: 

1. Take your normal hot shower.  
2. When you’re done, turn the water all the way to cold.  You will be tempted to avoid allowing the cold water to hit you everywhere.  Don’t give in.  Move around, breathing evenly, allowing the water to strike your chest, back, the inside of your thighs, your head: everywhere. Don’t hide from the water!
3.  After 30 seconds, turn the water back to hot.  The first time you do this, it should feel amazing.  After 30 seconds in the hot water, turn the water back to cold.
4. Repeat this process three times.

If this is too aggressive, limit the cold exposure to 15 seconds and, if needed, do not turn the water all the way to cold.  The important thing if you start with a handicap is that you push yourself to get uncomfortable.  If you’re comfortable, you need to get colder. 

Over time, this practice will become easier and easier.  At that point, lengthen the cold exposure times to 45 -60 seconds and the number of repetitions to five.

Some hardened vikings out there may complain that the water is not cold enough, especially in the summer months when the groundwater temperature rises.  Having lived in Arizona, Texas, and Florida I understand the objection.  But for most people starting out, the groundwater temperature will be a healthy challenge.

Cold Water Dousing

My favorite cold water training is a Russian practice known as cold water dousing.  Cold water dousing involves taking two cold 5-gallon buckets of water and pouring each one over your head at a moderate speed. 

All this requires is two five gallon buckets filled with cold water and the strength to hoist them.  Regular practitioners douse twice a day – once first thing in the morning and once later in the evening – but I have often only doused in the morning. The process could not be simpler:

1.   Prepare two 5 gallon buckets of water (see below for chilling strategies).
2. Lift the first bucket up to chest level.  Usually I find it easiest to grab the handle with my right hand and hold the bucket up from its bottom with my left.
3. Raise the bucket up and pour it over your head at a steady pace.  You will be tempted to pour the water all out at once, but push yourself to breathe evenly and pour slowly.  Pour strategically so that the water pours over your head, shoulders, and chest.
4. Stretch and breathe.  You should feel amazing
5. Repeat this process with the second bucket of water.

When getting started, you might just begin with cold groundwater.  In the beginning this will probably be a sufficient challenge.  Once you are ready to get a bit colder and depending on the outside temperature, you might leave the buckets filled with water out overnight.  If it is cold at night, the water should be ready for your morning douse the next morning.  If the night time temperatures don’t help to chill the water, there are some easy, cheap hacks to get the water temperature down.  I used to put large blocks of ice made by freezing Tupperwares of water in my douse buckets overnight.  If you have an empty chest freezer, you can place the buckets in the freezer overnight.  They should be very cold but not frozen by the next morning.  Remember to remove whatever pieces of ice may have formed on the surface of the water so that they don’t land on your head or feet.

Dousing is the most active of the cold water exposure practices.  While the transition and the bath require fortitude, the cold water douse is a question of courage.  Psychologically, the shower and the bath require that you endure something that is being done to you.  But there is a distinct sense with the douse: You are doing this to yourself.  Ask someone else to pour the water over you, and you will immediately notice the difference!

One challenge for some might be the weight of the buckets.  A 5-gallon bucket of water weighs around 45 pounds.  You have to be able to lift the bucket up to chest height and then again, over your head so that you can pour it over yourself.  If needed, you can get someone else to pour the cold water over you.

Ice Bath

Utilized by many celebrities, the ice bath is the most well-known of the cold water exposure practices.  However, it requires more equipment and space.  You need some sort of tub or container large enough for you to get in.  Folks use rubber inflatable tubs, trash cans and cattle feeders.  The expense surrounding the ice bath is the water chiller, which actively brings the water temperature down.

Of course, if it is cold outside, you can simply fill the tub with water and wait for the water to get cold.  Alternatively, if you do have a chest freezer, you can fill it with buckets of water and then use them to partially fill the ice bath.  We used to do this all the time at my martial arts studio.

How long you remain submerged in the ice bath will vary, but beginners may just sit in the bath for a minute or two while they acclimate and build up to lengthier exposure times.

Final Thoughts

As the New Year approaches, many of us prepare to start January 1st off right.  I have always been a person of resolutions.  I don’t resolve to establish new habits out of guilt or duty.  I simply enjoy developing a plan to improve.  But that doesn’t keep me from making all of the classic mistakes that most of us suffer from when we try to make a personal change for the better: being impatient, aiming too high, trying to accomplish too much too quickly.

After having a cold water practice for years, primarily cold water dousing and contrast showers, I can say without a doubt that I have greatly benefited.  I strongly encourage you to try one of these practices out, but to start simply, on the cheap, and with a reasonable level of discomfort that you will steadily increase as you become stronger and more tolerant of the cold.