Last week was the highly anticipated annual fitness conference and expo that gets personal trainers, gym owners, and investors more pumped than Leg Day on a Monday. It’s a colossal trade show, the largest of its kind in the USA, where the most respected equipment lines in the industry reveal their latest and greatest. The event is hosted by the United States’ lobbying organization for the health and fitness sector. This organization was formerly called IHRSA, “International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association.” In 2024, it was renamed, appropriately, “The Health & Fitness Association,” HFA.
The star of the show this year was Recovery. What used to be luxury items in the health and fitness space are now expected by many gym-goers. Americans are heeding the call to not only strengthen their muscles and improve their VO2max for longevity, but also to restore their tissue, reset their minds, lift their moods, reduce inflammation and address nagging injuries with the therapeutic aid of Recovery equipment. This “post/plus” piece to a fitness program has become so ubiquitous that a tiny “r” just won’t do. We’re talking about Recovery.
Recovery can be qualified by a multitude of practices. Programs like yoga and massage therapy are nothing new. (In fact, they’re really old.) Likewise, cold water immersion was used by Hippocrates, the “Father of Medicine,” for medicinal purposes and relaxation in ancient Greece. We are sorely mistaken if we think we’re the first to discover the healing power of these non-invasive, non-pharmaceutical, low-risk, high-reward practices. Some of us are sorely mistaken; others are just sore. With Recovery products, we don’t have to stay that way.
Of All The Cold Plunges, Why Did I Choose Echelon ThriveX Smart Cold Plunge Pro (1.0 HP)?
As a personal trainer, it behooved me to get on board with the Recovery trend. (Considering that this “trend” pre-dated Jesus, perhaps the proper term is “tool.”) I needed to get a cold plunge. With more cold plunges available than flavors of ice cream at Baskin Robbins, here are the reasons that I chose the Echelon ThriveX Smart Cold Plunge Pro (1.0 HP) above all of the other options.
Quality Assurance– Echelon, a leader in connected fitness equipment, acquired ThriveX, a leader in advanced recovery products, in 2024. The joined forces meant that the equipment released by the collaboration would match the caliber of Echelon fitness equipment, a reputation earned over nine years, with the craftsmanship and cutting-edge technology that ThriveX is respected for. Their commercial-grade recovery products earned them the throne as the sponsor of Hyrox and Spartan Races. Hyrox is the fastest growing elite sporting craze in the world. I felt certain if it met the quality needs of Hyrox athletes, it would satisfy my clients and me.
Warranty– All Echelon products are backed with a 1-year comprehensive warranty. For a small upgrade to Premium Membership, the 1-year comprehensive warranty is extended to 5 years. I am like a bull in a China shop when it comes to breaking things. (Seriously, I broke one of those plastic kiddie pools. Aren’t those virtually indestructible?) I opted for the Echelon Premier Membership.
Simplicity– I am the last person who needs something cumbersome, complicated, with a parts and pieces and an overwhelming instruction manual. I get overwhelmed easily, and this could easily end up sitting in my shed on pallets, unboxed, if the assembly process was involved. The Echelon ThriveX Smart Cold Plunge Pro is a Two Piece System. I simply needed to put a few screws on the 1.0 HP chiller unit, pump the military-grade canvas tub with the provided pump (easy, like airing up the tires on my road bike), connect the hoses, fill this puppy up with 52 gallons of water (no need to add ice~ the chiller handles the chillin’!) and power it up!
Power– Insert bark, like Tim the Tool Man Taylor on “Tool Time.” (To anyone born after 1990, it was a sitcom where Tim Allen revved up power tools and barked like a hound dog.) This portable cold plunge is available in 0.8 HP or 1.0 HP. I opted for the more powerful motor to rather rapidly toggle the water temperature to my desired setting. The chiller is built with a robust anodized steel casing and features ozone purification, 20-micron filtration, and a 100-micron particulate filter. The filtration system is self-cleaning. The chiller offers touch panel control and can be operated via the machine itself or through a mobile app. With the app, I’m able to remotely schedule when I want the chiller to power on and select the temperature setting.
Versatility– The Echelon ThriveX Smart Cold Plunge Pro can serve as a cold plunge or a hot tub. The water temperature can be set as low as 36 degrees or as high as 104 degrees. The ability to toggle between cold and hot temperatures is among the best of the best features of this product.
Weather Resistant– This product can be used indoors or outdoors. It is rated IPX4 waterproof and dustproof. It is built to withstand various conditions. In February 2025, Texas was pelted with high winds and heavy rain storms. The ThriveX Smart Cold Plunge Pro (1.0 HP) weathered the storms on my backyard patio. (The cooling unit and inflatable tub both come with removable covers.)
Affordability– Some cold water immersion tubs cost more than a car. There is tremendous value in adding a cold plunge to training- and I’ll go into those details below- but as a sole entrepreneur who’s also paying for kids’ braces, sports, theatre, band, a mortgage, and all the things, I needed to find a cold plunge that was engineered with integrity but that wouldn’t break the bank. The Echelon ThriveX Smart Cold Plunge Pro (1.0 HP) cost less than replacing the fence around my backyard. As a personal trainer, I was able to use the discount code PFP500 to take $500 off the already competitive price. {Permission was granted to share that discount code in this article. The code is valid through September 5, 2025.}
Portability– For the most part, I keep the cold plunge set up on my backyard patio. I personal train my clients in a garage gym, then escort them to my backyard to cold plunge. Once a year, though, I lead a regional wellness retreat. As an author, life coach, and personal trainer, I rally women in the Austin area to join me for a weekend of fitness and life coaching. Over this wellness retreat, meals and lodging are provided, guided exercise sessions are conducted where I provide all fitness equipment, and time is spent learning how to stack the dominoes up straight to create a life that feels approachable and safe. With the hassle-free portability of the Echelon ThriveX Smart Cold Plunge Pro, I am able to empty the inflatable tub and toss the two-piece unit in my SUV and transport the equipment to the retreat. (I can do this on my own; no need to call in favors!) I am then able to offer retreat guests the amenity of cold water immersion, an immensely valuable amenity at a wellness retreat.
How a Cold Plunge Is Useful for EVERY Client I Personal Train
Science supports the benefits of cold water immersion. I currently personal train clients seven days a week. When I got a cold plunge, I knew that every client that I train could benefit from it, but the ways are diverse. My current client roster includes adults with the following conditions: obesity, Attention Deficit Disorder, psoriatic arthritis, hypersensitivity, and depression. I don’t have any athletes at this time, but I am an athlete, myself! The one thing that all of my clients have in common is that all of them can benefit from a cold plunge. Here’s how.
My obese client (okay, more than one of my clients is obese. ’tis the state of America. Bravo to them- they’re doing something about it!)
Here’s why a cold plunge may help this client.
Brown fat, a type of adipose tissue that we only have in trace amounts as humans, uses glucose and fatty acids to help keep our bodies toasty. When the body is exposed to cold water, brown fat cells are stimulated for thermogenesis (as the name sounds, genesis: creating thermo: heat).
When I’m working with obese clients, my prerogative is to use every tool in my power to help create heat energy (the very definition of burn calories). I have them eat roughage from vegetables, because they body has to work to push the fiber through. I have them take the parking spot furthest away from the places they go. I pump their biggest muscles with some real weight (no mamby pamby pink dumbbells), because those big glutes are metabolic machines. I have them swim, kettlebell swing, use an AirBike, pull the bejesus out of a ski erg, push me in my car in neutral. If this sounds like a lot for obese clients, it is! It’s how I’ve been able to help them turn their lives around! I have one client who couldn’t even go from seated to standing, unassisted, two years ago. Now, she’s overweight but not obese. And she can do planks, step-ups, and rise from seated into a vertical leap, clearing 12-inches off of the ground. How? How did this transformation happen? By a lot of hard work on her part, but also strategy on mine. As stated in the first line of this paragraph, I use EVERY tool in my power to help obese clients create heat energy. Now that I have a cold plunge, I use that as one of the tools.
My client with Attention Deficit Disorder
Here’s why a cold plunge may help this client.
My client with ADD struggles to keep her attention focused on the task at hand. The workout may be an EMOM of 4 front squats, 4 split squats, 4 split squats on the other leg, 4 alternating lunge backs and 4 bodyweight plyometric lunges. Keep the dumbbells for the first 4 moves and no equipment on the last one. 20 minutes. (Pretty great “Every Minute on the Minute” workout, you guys! Try it!) For any other client, I could name the moves the first four minutes and the remaining 16, they would know what to do, freeing my time to assess form, make adjustments and give feedback. For my client with Attention Deficit Disorder to follow this workout (which is the exact same 5 moves, 4 reps each, repeated every minute, 20x), I have to write it on a white board, visibly demonstrate as her mirror-image in real time, verbally call every single action just before transitioning to that move, and set a bell to ring at the top of each minute. Even still, she’ll forget which one doesn’t use the dumbbells. I have trained clients with ADHD in the past. In the milieu of exercise, it seems the clients with ADHD have been able follow the game plan and execute (with exceptional precision, actually). This client with ADD tries but really struggles. Retaining instructions are hard. Remembering form is hard. If a red bird flies by, she’s preoccupied with the good luck it may bring- game over with whatever exercise we were doing.
This is a long way of saying that focus can be a unicorn for my client with ADD. She knows she lacks it, but doesn’t know how to grasp it. It’s like it doesn’t exist. Except. Except when she’s in the cold plunge.
When this client is in the cold plunge, her brain quits the game of whackamole and focuses on one thing: This is cold. Very cold. I am cold in this moment.
Some studies have shown that improved focus is one of the mental health benefits of cold water immersion. This article by a licensed professional counselor explains how and why focus can be improved by taking a cold plunge and gives the rationale for how cold plunging improves her experiences of anxiety and ADHD.
My client with Psoriatic Arthritis
Here’s why a cold plunge may help this client.
Psoriatic arthritis is an autoimmune disease. It’s a painful case of chronic inflammation that attacks the skin and joints. Visible scars can be seen on the skin from this condition. The inflammation can be so debilitating that the joints hurt too much to get out of bed. Fortunately, psoriatic arthritis can go into remission. That is the case for my client at this time. With no cure, the best thing a person can do is manage symptoms with lifestyle choices. My client consumes an anti-inflammatory diet, exercises with me three times per week, walks, tries to manage stress (I’m a life coach in addition to certified personal trainer, so we work on that together), and now that I have a cold plunge, we have another tool to use to combat inflammation.
While in a cold plunge, blood vessels are constricted and blood flow to the areas submerged under the cold water is decreased. Because of this, we know that cold water immersion reduces inflammation. With conditions like psoriatic arthritis that wage war on the skin and joints, it only makes sense to fight back with anti-inflammatory treatments. Cold water immersion is a drug-free approach.
My client with Hypersensitivity
Here’s why a cold plunge may help this client.
One of my clients has such a sensitive nervous system that her brain amplifies pain to the max. To give an example, if we’re doing a boxing workout and she has wraps cushioning her wrists and knuckles with overlapping triple-layer protection, 10 ounce gloves over the wraps, and a padded focus mitt to throw her front jabs and crosses, she’ll double-over in pain after the hand hits the punching mitt. She’ll say her knuckles and wrists hurt. If I ask for a pain level of 1-10, she’ll say it’s a “10!”
She’s not making this up. She has a hyper-sensitive nervous system. Her hand punched the mitt and sent word to the brain that impact had been made. The brain decided to dial up the threat to a five-alarm-fire and send pain sensations on that level. The brain’s response was totally incongruent with what had structurally happened: a padded and protected hand touched a padded mitt designed for impact. The discomfort should have been a “1.” But the brain overreacted and brought pain as if she had punched her bare hand through a concrete wall.
If it sounds like I know a lot about this, it’s because I do. I can relate because I’m also a Highly Sensitive Person. When I was 9-years-old, my parents brought me to a psychologist because I never spoke up at school, always looked at the ground, and was so shy that teachers were concerned. The psychologist assessed me as having an avoidance disorder. I would, in fact, avoid anything that seemed like it was too much. Everything felt too much. I was and am a highly sensitive person. (That had not been discovered in 1990.) Loud noises are very loud. Violence of any kind wrecks me to the core. I startle easily. A runner’s high, takes me to the highest of highs. Conflict takes me to the lowest of lows. I feel pain as if something’s structurally wrong. But more often than not, nothing is wrong. My brain has just amplified threats.
If my client and I sound like you, I’d recommend you read these three books: The Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine N. Aron, Ph.D., Mind Your Body by Nicole Sachs, LCSW, Think Away Your Pain by David Schechter, M.D. (Think Away Your Pain also offers a companion 30-day workbook.)
I’d also recommend you cold plunge. When you begin cold water immersion, you will activate the sympathetic nervous system. You’ve certainly heard of it explained as “fight or flight.” This can give a jolt of energy. (Highly Sensitive People are keenly familiar with the sympathetic nervous system; our brains seem to live on the ready for a fist-and-cuffs fight.) As your brain adjusts to the cold water, a shift takes place. The vagus nerve* is stimulated; it relaxes the body after it has been under stress. The autonomic nervous system trusts that this is a safe place: a restorative gift that you’re giving your body and mind. It cools the jets on sympathetic activity and dials up the parasympathetic nervous system. Parasympathetic is the “rest and digest” branch of the autonomic nervous system. Cold water immersion becomes a calming experience. Plenty of people feel that cold water immersion aids sleep. (Me!) The whole process shifts from a threat to a treat. Highly Sensitive People need to learn that this evolution is possible. It enables the brain to make “if-then” connections. If I can rest and digest in a cold plunge, not fight or flight, then I must be able to adapt in other areas, too. The learning can carry over and new neural pathways can be built.
*The vagus nerve is closest to the skin of the neck. To best stimulate those nerve endings, the neck and head should be submerged into the cold water (just a quick, brief bob). The vagus nerve travels from there through the chest and around the abdomen for head-to-gut calming.
My Client with Depression
Here’s why a cold plunge may help this client.
It is well documented that exercise is a drug for treating depression. Feel-good chemicals of dopamine, serotonin, epinephrine, and endorphines are released post-exercise and these excitatory benefits counter depressive feelings. (In 2008, I had an elderly client named Betty tell me that she had struggled with depression all of her life. After exercising with me for a few months, she said that her doctor told her, “I’ve seen you good and I’ve seen you bad, but I’ve never seen you this good.”)
Cold plunging has been found to release these feel-good chemicals, too. One study showed that a cold plunge caused a 250% increase in dopamine and 530% increase in noradrenaline (norepinephrine).
Read “The Surprising Wellness Hack I Learned in the World’s Happiest Country.“
My Athlete
Here’s why a cold plunge may help this client.
At this time, I’m training one athlete: myself. I compete in triathlons, running, and trail running events. My routine consists of heavy strength training, high intensity interval training, and power endurance workouts (some high impact, some low impact). These modes of exercise are exhilarating but also exhausting. In order to recover enough to train hard one day and wake up the next morning ready to do it again, I eat a high protein, high fiber diet; supplement with whey protein, collagen peptides, Vitamin C, and Branched Chain Amino Acids; feel and heal stress; get plenty of quality sleep in a cool, dark, quiet room; drink sooooo much water; live alcohol-free; maintain strong social connections– and– I cold plunge!
Studies have shown that cold water therapy can reduce the degree of exercise-induced muscle damage. This recent Mayo Clinic article referenced the validity of cold water immersion for muscle recovery. Seventeen small trials showed that cold water immersion reduces delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) after exercise. The brightest minds in exercise physiology, including Dr. Keith Barr, athletic performance’s leading expert in tendon health, support ice baths for recovery.
As a 43-year-old athlete, I am heart set on pushing my limits and performing strong in races. My Mind Gym is as sharp as ever, but the perimenopausal body absolutely must prioritize recovery to train this way, injury-free.
In 2023, I was led through a human performance test by Andrea Weiland, PhD. Dr. Weiland was the Director of Sports Performance at The University of Pennsylvania. She tested my VO2max (61 ml/kg/min), Functional Movement Screen, strength, and mobility-flexibility. With the data from my physical performance and my cooperation in a sports psychology session, Dr. Weiland placed her clipboard down, looked me in the eyes and said, “You remind me of Dara Torres.” (At 41, Torres was the oldest swimmer to earn a place on the U.S. Olympic Team.) She advised, “Like Dara Torres, you can still train hard. But train differently.”
It was great advice. At the time, I was injured. I needed this golden advice. Hook, line, sinker- I took it!
I now load my muscles and tendons with heavy weight; I practice open water swimming; I adopted the nutrition and wellness habits listed above; and I plunge my body in a 47-degree cold plunge for three minutes most evenings. I’m training differently. And it’s working.
I had my client with a heart condition obtain consent from her cardiologist prior to introducing cold water immersion into our personal training sessions. This is a prudent and important step when training clients with heart disease. In her case, the medical doctor gave his approval with the words, “Sure. If you’re feeling adventurous, go for it.” May we all have adventurous spirits. Maybe the best remedy of all is an adventurous spirit. As you can tell by the breadth and depth of this article, I’d say another fan to the adventurous flame is an Echelon ThriveX Smart Cold Plunge Pro (1.0 HP).
About Yours Truly- Brook Benten, M.Ed., ACSM-EP
I am a long-winded writer. In graduate school, a professor told me that he believes I write ten-page term papers because I don’t have time to write two. I love storytelling. I believe all of life is a story. It gives me great joy to dish out the details. My freshman year as an undergrad, a professor took note of my writing and encouraged me to major in journalism. Perhaps, had I followed that path, this graduate professor would have enjoyed my lengthy literature. But I followed the path of exercise science. (The criticism about the length of my assignments came from the Dean of the Department of Health and Human Performance. He preferred a more brass tacks approach.) I love the human body. The power of movement to change us physically, mentally, emotionally, socially, and spiritually is just fascinating! I achieved a B.S. in Exercise and Sports Science from Texas State University in 2003 and a M.Ed. in Physical Education with emphasis in Sport and Fitness Administration from The University of Houston in 2004. I am an ACSM exercise physiologist and ACE personal trainer. In 2023, I earned a professional life coaching certification from Baylor University. Although I am a scholar in fitness and wellness, I’m a standout in the school of storytelling. Writing is not my expertise, but rather a vessel for me to relay stories. That being the case, kindly excuse grammar errors, over and abundant use of commas, starting sentences with “And,” conversational parenthesis and things that make you go hmmm. When I write for magazines, an editor cleans those up zippity quick. When it’s just you and me here on this blog, it’s peppery. (You know, the coarse kind that gets stuck in your teeth- that kind of unbridled imperfection.) I hope you found this story to be informative and entertaining. If not, I have others. You can follow along my weekly “Musings from My Cold Plunge” on Instagram @BrookBenten.
