Why Lying Down in Ice Baths Goes Against Nature

Challenge the traditional approach to ice baths by trying an upright position during your next cold plunge. Embrace a more natural response to cold and see how it changes your experience

While interviewing Wyatt Ewing, CEO of Ice Barrel, on Power Athlete Radio he commented, “I’ve been thinking a lot about the way we approach cold water immersion, especially after my own experience at the North Platte River in Colorado. It got me thinking about how people instinctively respond to cold. When a group of us entered that freezing water, not one person tried to lie down. Everyone stayed upright, either squatting in the river or sitting on their butts - and it just felt like the natural thing to do in that environment. The experience was raw, and it made me question why we’ve come to associate lying down in an ice bath with recovery, especially when our bodies are in full fight-or-flight mode.”

It’s no secret that cold exposure kicks the body into survival mode. When you're hit with that shock of cold, your nervous system fires up. The theory goes, the thing your body wants to do is lie down and relax. In fact, lying down almost seems counterproductive to what cold immersion is all about. If you look at nature, animals don’t lie down when they’re exposed to cold or stress, they stay more upright, alert, ready for action. The only time you see something lie down under duress is when it’s freezing up in fear, like fainting goats. But that’s not what we’re aiming for in recovery or performance.

NFL players are no strangers to cold-water immersion. For years, athletes like myself have used stainless steel whirlpools after practice or a game to speed up recovery. Typically, these tubs were designed for sitting, not lying down, there just wasn’t enough room for that. At the Eagles' NovaCare Complex, we had two sizable spa-like tubs - one hot and one cold for full-body contrast therapy. I remember stepping into the cold tub and squatting down as deep as I could to submerge my chest and shoulders. But I never once laid back in the cold water. It wasn’t a natural reaction to that setting.

When I saw the setup of the Ice Barrel, it felt more intuitive to me. The design, encouraging people to remain upright, just made more sense. It’s a more natural way to engage with cold and it aligns with how our bodies are wired to respond. I think the key to making cold immersion even more effective is focusing on keeping the body in that active posture, letting the cold do its work while we stay in tune with the process. That’s what makes the Ice Barrel different, it taps into that primal response, and I think it’s something more people need to experience.