Plunging into an ice bath, in the middle of an unforgiving New York City winter? Just thinking about it had my teeth chattering. Would I crack under the pressure? Would I experience the same embarrassing fate as Prince Harry, on his trip to the North Pole? Then again, if Drake can do it, it’s probably not going to kill me to try.
The “Hotline Bling” singer is just one of the boldfacers lining up to take the polar challenge at Remedy Place, a swank wellness club with roots in Los Angeles that’s favored by celebrities, influencers and those who like to rub shoulders with them.
“The world’s first social wellness club,” as founder and CEO Dr. Jonathan Leary calls it, recently branched out to the Big Apple, and out of an array of “remedies” offered to members, who pay up to thousands of dollars a month in fees, the chilly treatments are the most popular — or at least the most viral.
“The more social media blows up our ice baths, the more people get curious and want to try it,” Leary told The Post of joining what’s become known as the “six-minute club,” as in, surviving the ice bath for a cumulative six minutes. Never mind the various benefits to body and mind — this is one hell of a social media flex, especially considering who’s gone before you.
“Kim Kardashian posted her entire experience,” said Leary. “People have said, ‘That’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever done.’ Even if someone jumps out instantly, they’re eager to go back in and try again.”
Kacey Musgraves is reportedly a fan. Snowboarder Shaun White, no stranger to a little cold weather, has felt the chill. Kendall Jenner and Kourtney Kardashian have tried it at home — the Remedy team does house calls. (Kourt wound up purchasing a $7,500 cold plunge tub and sauna set-up for her home, according to reports.)
The ice bath’s instant success in New York took Leary by surprise.
“I thought it’d take a little time, that we’d be dead in the winter and ramp up in the spring,” he said. Turns out, they’ve been booked solid. “Once people add it to their routine, there’s no better feeling.”
Or maybe, there’s just no feeling. With trepidation — and some sticker shock — I booked into the club’s Contrast Suite, which can be reserved by a non-member for $200 for 90 minutes, plus $50 for each additional guest. (Members book for free, but pay from $595 to $2,750 per month in dues, in addition to a $50 application fee, for access to the complete range of “remedies,” from hyperbaric oxygen chambers to lymphatic compression to vitamin drips.)
The compact, low-lit space features two deep-soaking metal tubs, filled at a brrr-inducing 39 degrees, an infrared sauna for bringing your body temperature back up and a shower.
While Remedy offers a guided, $50 per person, class-style experience in the suite, including breathwork, your choice of soundtrack and a coach to help you receive the maximum health benefit, I was here for the full Kardashian — a VIP experience, where the water is kept slightly less frigid at 50 degrees. After a 30-second overview at the front desk, where I was given an iPad so I could time the experience and select my favorite music, it was finally time.
With Frank Sinatra’s “Come Fly With Me” blaring through the speakers, I set the timer for 20 minutes and headed into the wooden sauna to get good and warmed up. Once those precious minutes ran out, it was time to rinse off and join the chilly club. I suddenly found myself wishing for the guided experience, a proverbial hand to hold. With nobody coming to my rescue, I headed for the tub, gritted my teeth and jumped in, feet first.
This might have been my first experience, but ice baths are certainly nothing new: the practice is a couple thousand years old, its biggest champion perhaps the Dutch endurance swimmer and motivational speaker Wim Hoff. He holds the Guinness world record for swimming under ice, calls himself the Iceman and is fond of telling his considerable following that “the cold is merciless but righteous.”
Hoff has a point. Experts say — and studies have shown — that aside from boosting mental health, ice baths can help soothe sore muscles, heal inflammation, increase immunity and perhaps most obviously, lower core body temperature after a grueling workout. Perhaps that’s why high intensity athletes like David Beckham as well as touring entertainers from Harry Styles to Lady Gaga have been known to partake.
Add me to the list. Once submerged, to my surprise I didn’t immediately jump up and run out into Fifth Avenue, crying — just one potential outcome I’d imagined beforehand. In fact, the only extremities that felt at all uncomfortable were my toes; the rest of my body had acclimated just fine. Leary was right when he told me that the worst part “is that first shock, and then you understand what it feels like.”
Ninety minutes later, after a good deal of back and forth between the sauna and the ice bath, the second time for two minutes and the final plunge for one minute, supposedly for full toxin-expunging effect, my mood was indeed boosted. I felt victorious. Physically, I was hard-pressed to detect any difference from how I felt going in, but I’m not an athlete or a high-energy stage act — my muscles had been just fine beforehand.
Still, I walked out of Remedy Place a member of the coolest club in New York — and ready for any weather.