Installing a custom ice bath as past of a contrast therapy suite

Brass Monkey and 1Rebel

We’ve just completed a fabulous job with the guys at 1Rebel. One of our ice baths was installed alongside a cutting edge sauna to deliver a truly unique contrast therapy experience. Our founder Dan sat down with James from 1Rebel to get his thoughts and see if he had any advice to share with businesses thinking about doing the same. 

Dan: What are the biggest business benefits that you've seen from implementing cold water therapy and Brass Monkey commercial ice baths into your business? 

James: I think from our perspective 1Rebel has been known for sort of its core disciplines of high intensity boutique training in a fun inclusive environment.As the business scales and as we try and reach a broader market, it's important for us that we're also seen as premiumising the business. We do a contrast zone here so it's sauna and your cold plunges and I think that's really in keeping now with what people want. They're getting the adversity of a high intensity exercise. Typically spas would be a bit more relaxing place, the cold plunge adds that sense of adversity in a luxurious environment.

Dan: And how have members responded? What's the feedback been like?

James: The numbers don't lie really! Whenever you set up something new, you’ve got some teething problems. You've got to teach people that behaviour, let's say in a new concept. But overwhelmingly our occupancy is some of the highest we've got, albeit it's a small number of people at this stage. But we couldn't really be asking for sort of a better launch. 

Dan: You guys run a number of programs and classes, and that I think is one of the things that makes you pretty distinct. From that perspective, how do you program the plunge? Because this is a key problem I think people have with ice baths… is it a piece of kit that I plonk in the corner and people will figure that out. Or are they baked in some way? How have you overcome that challenge? 

James: I think it has to be baked into the experience. So one of the things that we took into account was a ratio of 1 to 3 with the sauna and plunge. So three people in a sauna at any point with one person in the plunge. Getting the temperature right so that people aren't spending a huge amount of time, but aren't so shocked that they jump out and never want to do it again. We feel that the number is six degrees. That will give people anything from 30 seconds to three minutes, in the plunge whilst they might spend 15 to 20 minutes in a sauna. So in a 45 minute session, I'd expect two rotations at a minimum for people to get the full experience. 

Dan: So one of the challenges that we get in-market is people saying, how cold should I set them? What kind of discussions did you have internally on setting dosage of time and temperature?

James: We wanted to make sure that everybody could get a go. We've also tried to remove the sort of machismo effect of some person saying I want to stay here for 10 minutes. They'll know that there'll be other people waiting for their turn. And I think six degrees sets it at the right amount so that you're not putting people off, but people are, gonna want to leave after a certain amount of time. 

When we launched, we also did a few videos on breath work. And we encourage in some of our signage, some tips and tricks to enter the bath with a certain breath work technique. So you don't have that shock factor, which makes you just want to leap out. You can actually take it, rest into it, lean into it. And invariably when people control their breath, they can stay in there for longer. 

Dan: I think that's really wise. I think being able to control your nervous system reaction is where the benefits are. And it's interesting, isn't it? The internet now, Instagram specifically, with people in very cold water and holding on for dear life. It's just not conducive to a great experience or even a set of benefits really. 

Is there a particular lens that you guys have on recovery here? There's a lot of science on cold water immersion. What’s your take of how you've approached that here?


James: I think the science is pretty clear, but it's also sometimes a lot to sell. We're also not the authority on science, we don't try and pretend to be. I think most of our customers are listening to the Andrew Huberman podcast, they are getting this information for themselves, which is why we're seeing the take up be so strong. I think the best way to package this is a mental health benefit. I have one of your barrels at home, I do it every day and that sort of mantra of starting off your day doing something difficult in order to set yourself up for the rest of the day.

If you just sold that and just believe that it's still a worthwhile thing to do. Our classes are high intensity, they're meant to be hard, you're meant to get results from them. But this is another way by not necessarily stressing the body running all the time or doing weights all the time.

That you can get that same mental health benefit that you can do from a class by taking on something difficult, but still in a premium, luxurious environment. 

Dan: I agree. I think you're ahead of the curve there, actually. Because I think in the next year or two, I think we'll see that ice baths come to the fore more from a mental health perspective. Specifically emotional wellbeing. Because that short daily exposure is what creates the feel good. And accumulated over time you've got the nervous system adapting and responding. A challenge creates change, which is how we refer to it. Just like your classes, you need to show up repeatedly and create that.

James: There’s lots of good science, especially around sauna, with maybe limiting the effects of dementia and Alzheimer's. Cold plunge reducing your heart rate over time. But sometimes that's too much for people to really think about and I just encourage anyone to tell me, do you feel better or worse after a cold plunge? I think a hundred percent of the time it's, I feel better and that sometimes is enough.

Dan: This is your first Brass Monkey installation across - we’re hoping - a number of venues in your estate - which is amazing. What are the lessons learned that you would share with anyone else thinking about installing ice baths in a commercial environment? 

James: These are, in my mind, here to stay. There are lots of fads, and there are trends in the fitness industry. I think this is a trend. I think it's here to stay. Anyone who's not doing it now, it took us basically a year to almost get it from conception to execution because it's worth really thinking through the customer experience. I think in terms of, getting up and running, building a bit more time for the local teams to really understand the implications and the operational effort it takes.

These are products which are not cheap, but also require the right attention because once you've got a car, you want to maintain it. And so there are various challenges that surround that. Also the M&E (mechanical and engineering), the space you've got, but overall, we feel that we were able to overcome those relatively quickly. We have 10 clubs right now. We're launching it in our second club next week. And our hope is by this time next year, it will be within 50 percent of the estate. 

Dan: What’s the single biggest piece of advice that you would share? 

James: Drainage is something that stands out. Because people come out of the bath and water goes on the floor and when you're trying to do a premium offering, nobody really likes to see stagnant water. We've got drainage there And it's perfectly manageable, but I think the challenge when we try and do more than one bath is that we're gonna have wet floors. So I would say be bolder with the amount of drainage, and factor that into your turnover times to make sure it's a little bit more presentable. Because I think that in a pool environment wet floors are a given, but in a more spa environment it's less tolerable to the consumer.

You can learn more about how to plan and deliver a world class cold water immersion experience in your gym or wellness centre here(LINK).