i first heard of wim hof from the JRE podcast back in october of 2015. wim spoke of the benefits of cold exposure through cold showers and cold water immersion. i was very intrigued to say the least, but in no way ready to do any sort of cold water immersion. however, cold showers did not seem like an unreasonable task. i began taking cold showers in the winter of 2015-2016. at first, this began with 10 seconds of cold at the end of each shower. my body quickly adapted and i was doing 2 minutes in no time. once the weather warmed up, i paused my cold exposure practice until the following winter season as the water was no longer sufficiently cold from spring to the end of fall. for the next 5 years, i would include cold showers off and on in my routine during the cold months of the year.

during the late fall of 2020, tyler and i decided we wanted to try a cold plunge in the peters creek along the montour trail. in hindsight, the water was most likely between 50-55 degrees fahrenheit. i was able to stay in the water for a whopping 8 seconds!

holy shit was that hard!

for christmas that year, my wife ann gifted me a wim hof method workshop that took place in cleveland, OH on january 17th, 2021. tyler’s wife olya bought tyler the same so we could attend it together. at the workshop, we learned of the many benefits associated with cold exposure. we also learned holotropic breathwork and how it can be used to prime yourself for the cold. additionally, we learned several tools to use when in the ice bath to help overcome the discomfort. many of these tools we use to help coach TubClub™️ members today.

the next week I bought a 100 gallon rubbermaid cattle trough. tyler and i started plunging at my house 2-3 times a week. after a few weeks, tyler and i went to a GOATA movement class taught by the one and only mitch riehle. shortly after meeting mitch, he came over to plunge with tyler and me. he was hooked immediately. he soon invited his friend m!ke “shake daddy” shåke, keeper of mortimer. m!ke sat 6 minutes his first time, longer than tyler or i had ever sat before. after a few more cold-plunge meet-ups, we became the 4 best friends that anyone could have and TubClub was born.