The Best Ice Bath Tubs for At-Home Cold Plunges

If you’ve been on the fitness side of the internet long enough, chances are you’ve already heard about the benefits of ice baths. Often dreaded by those unacquainted with the experience, ice baths are actually an invaluable tool for getting the most out of your post-run recovery. While plunging into ice-cold water isn’t the most pleasant sensation at first, ice baths are a rather effective means of boosting circulation, decreasing inflammation, and helping your muscles recover more quickly—and you’ll acclimate pretty quickly once you start a routine.

With a quality ice bath tub, you can transform the way you recover, which will ultimately translate to more time doing the workouts you love—or love to hate. And if you want to invest in one that goes beyond simply holding ice water, keep reading to check out our favorites that can turn your cold plunge into a headache-free experience.

For more great recovery tools, check out our picks for the best foam rollers, back massagers, and foot massagers.

The Best Ice Bath Tubs

• Best Overall: Ice Barrel Ice Bath Tub
• Best Value: Polar Recovery Portable Ice Bath Tub
• Most Durable: Rubbermaid Structural Foam Stock Tank
• Best Premium: Renu Therapy Cold Stoic Ice Bath Tub
• Sleekest Design: Plunge Ice Bath Tub

Why Should You Get an Ice Bath Tub?

To get to the bottom of what makes ice baths work, Runner’s World news editor Andrew Dawson talked to Robert Gillanders, D.P.T., a physical therapist and spokesperson for the American Physical Therapy Association, about how our bodies’ responses to the intense cold benefit us and our fitness.

According to Gillanders, an ice bath works by temporarily constricting the blood vessels in your muscles, which serves two purposes: First, it reduces inflammation immediately, and second, it forces your metabolic waste-filled blood to move through your system more efficiently.

Once you step out of the frigid water, fresh, waste-free blood rushes back into your muscles, helping the recovery process run more smoothly in the long term. Ice baths are also said to have a positive impact on the central nervous system, which can help improve sleep, another occasionally overlooked facet of recovery.

But the unfortunate reality for many of us, especially apartment dwellers, is that you likely don’t have a bath tub big enough to submerge your entire body without spilling over or errantly kicking the faucet (if you even have a tub at all). The average home bath tub tends to range from 40 to 80 gallons, whereas a dedicated ice bath either has more volume (100+ gallons) or at least stands taller, allowing you to dip your shoulders in without your knees poking out on the other side.

As you move up in price, proper ice bath tubs can also take a lot of the guesswork out of controlling your water temperature. Many are insulated, which keeps the water in an ideal zone for longer, and some even cool your water without adding ice at all. Some can also fold up or deflate for easy storage, and others look right at home as a piece of backyard furniture—no cover necessary.

What to Consider

There are lots of ice bath tub options on the market. On the more affordable side, you can get an inflatable or folding tub. These are great for travel or using at home and are generally pretty comfortable to sit in, but they tend to fail faster than solid tubs, and you have to refill them for virtually every use.

For something more permanent, look to solid tubs. These are a bit more expensive, but they can pretty much last a lifetime. They are usually made from heavy-duty plastic that can withstand the elements, and even though you still have to change the water from time to time, they drain more easily than the inflatables.

At the upper end of the price range, there are spa models. These can be very expensive—sometimes costing upwards of $10,000. These are much more permanent fixtures and are a great investment if you’re an avid ice bath-er. Most spa-style models come with filters, which means that you won’t have to change the water once your tub is filled, and most can accommodate both ice baths and hot ones.

How We Selected

The internet, in all its vastness, has a boatload of options for ice bath tubs, but only a few are up to our standards for setup, size, durability, portability, draining capabilities, and how it all relates to the price tag. We researched the key specs of dozens of top-performing tubs from all points on the price spectrum, we consulted other expert reviewers online, and we narrowed it down to these seven tubs that we think are well worth your money, your time, and the frigid temps you’ll experience when you slip inside.