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EASY Wim Hof Method home cold plunge set-up.

Writer's picture: Miles LukasMiles Lukas

Updated: Jan 26


Photo by Tommy Tadeo.


Updated January 26th, 2025.


A 2-minute ice bath can raise your white blood cell count for the week, so why not get comfortable in there.


To get comfortable in an ice bath may sound like a little bit of a stretch, but I know you can get in a beautiful, calm, perhaps even parasympathetic state. I've seen it happen at my workshops to 99.9% of the participates. It may take a little practice so here is my home set-up recipe, which I recommend because of the price and simplicity.


Which tub to get?

Honestly, any tub will do. Plenty of WHM instructors use giant trash cans or livestock troughs. After trying many, my favorite are ones where I can sit up with my neck straight. These ones are great and super water efficient. You can sit in a comfortable meditative position with the water and ice right up to your chin. I used to use the 75cm x 75cm ones at my workshops and they fit my friends 300lbs+ and over 6'8 quite comfortably. I haven't used this one yet but, man, they are getting cheap!


What ice to use?


Great ice cubes are essential. You can buy 6 bags of them at your favorite discount store or if you plan to take ice baths regularly, you make them. Depended on the outside temperate, six large ice rectangles will drop the temperature of a small tub about 20-25 degrees Fahrenheit. They take about two days to make in the freezer. The ideal size is large flat rectangles. I've tried lots. The larger the better for obvious reasons, but the trapezoid shape helps the ice come out of the container, and the flatter side helps them freeze faster.


These are the best ones I've found. They are a great size, the cubes come out easy, and the plastic doesn't crack. I love them.


Lastly, at some point, using a reflective tarp will allow the water to get cold at night and keep it cool all day in the sunlight.


Good luck! Remember appropriate safety precautions when practicing the WHM and visit http://www.wimhofmethod.com/faq for more information.





Happy Hoffing, my friends,

Miles

PS. These are Amazon affiliate links that give me a couple of bucks but mostly I put this info together for my friends who've attended my workshops and ask about creating their own regular practice at home.


Also if the starting temperature of your water is very high. You can freeze an equipment bag full of mini water bottles to drop the temperature before adding ice like we do here.




Remember, go in the ice slowly, not like Andy but that was awesome!

Here I am using a 100 gallon Rubbermaid trough: https://amzn.to/3clivcc


Lastly, if you have questions about your own WHM practice, perhaps I answer them below otherwise, feel free to reach out to me directly. Thanks!





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14 Comments


w.forbes.watt
Apr 21, 2023

Thanks you so much for this info. Thanks to this advice, I’m dropping in 3 blocks before bed everyday and wake up to a ~39F tub every morning and there are still big chunks of ice in there. I’m sure when the summer hits I might start needing more blocks though. 2 additional things I’ve found helpful. 1 setting my freezer to its lowest temperature defo seems to help and if you put in a strong aquarium pump you will get the tub colder faster. eg. I can get the tub down from 39F to 35F in about 30 mins with the pump running but it won’t go below the 39F without it. (I take the pump out before I…

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Thomas Orboe
Thomas Orboe
Oct 23, 2022

Thank you Miles. Great inspiration.

im living on 5th floor, and a leak in a plastic bathtub would have dramatic consequences on the entire building. Thus i am in between the one you suggest or the Ice Barrel. http://www.icebarrel.com/

69usd compared to 1200usd is difference. But the 1200usd looks more solid and safe. Do you have any comments or input that can help me further in my search?


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Kyle Castro
Kyle Castro
Aug 04, 2022

This is great. I don't have enough freezer space to make the large rectangles. Is producing 100 pounds of ice in a countertop ice machine and storing in a 5 day retentin cooler a dumb way to go about it?

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petruch
Sep 10, 2021

Hi, how often do you change the water or how do you manage to keep it clean? Thanks in advance.

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Miles Lukas
Miles Lukas
Sep 10, 2021
•
Replying to

I change it as soon as it starts to smell. 3-10 days. It depends on the outside temp and how many times it was used.

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Mark Cronin
Mark Cronin
Aug 14, 2021

Hi there, thanks very much for your very helpful article. I see that the Amazon link for your ice moulds is actually for storage containers haha. I assume this might be an error, and if so, could you please update the link to the product you use to make your ice please..?

Best regards, Mark

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Mark Cronin
Mark Cronin
Aug 14, 2021
Replying to

Thanks very much, great idea. I just bought the same blue tub you use for full immersion (sorry I couldn’t use your link, as I live in England). Maybe I’ll use this shoe bag idea too as an addition - and also buy a chest freezer, to make the giant ice slabs… Thanks again :)

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