Less pricey than those expensive cryotherapy treatments but more convenient than polar plunging oneself into a freezing ocean, ice baths have become a popular wellness go-to for the Hollywood A-list, from noted almond mom, vaginal-health guru and Goop founder Gwyneth Paltrow to professional athletes like LeBron James, Cristian Ronaldo and Naomi Osaka.
Ice baths are pretty self-explanatory: they're a form of cold therapy where a person submerges themself in a bath or vessel filled with ice or ice water for a limited duration of time. Though ice baths have risen in popularity among the rich and famous only recently, they've been utilized for centuries—in Scandanavian countries, for example, it's customary to follow up a hot sauna session with a plunge into a freezing cold pool— and the purported therapeutic benefits are numerous, from reducing muscle soreness to aiding in pain management to reducing inflammation.
Though far brisker and (likely less) relaxing than those scenic outdoor baths and cushy indoor jacuzzi favored by other celebrities (that bath looks mighty balmy, JLo), it's clear that the demand for ice baths is heating up among showbiz's most notable names. Here are some famous folks who count themselves as fans, plus the health and fitness benefits they proclaim to gain from the cold-water immersion trend.
Which Celebrities Are Big Proponents Of Ice Baths?
Lebron James
Ice baths seems to be gaining popularity across many disciplines in the entertainment industry, but cold-water immersion is probably best-known as a method of speeding up muscle recovery and reducing swelling and tissue breakdown for professional athletes.
One of the true NBA GOATs, Los Angeles Lakers power forward LeBron James, has a long history with using cold temps for post-game recovery, from whole-body cryotherapy to waist-deep ice baths. Though he jokingly called the latter "borderline torture," per Business Insider, the basketball icon has regularly publicized his use of those glacial soaks after a grueling game on his Instagram.
The Kardashian And Jenner Clan
It's not only pro athletes who seek out the bod-boosting benefits of cold plunges. Members of the Kardashian clan have famously adopted the ice-bath trend as a method of self-care, with sisters Kendall Jenner, Kourtney Kardashian and Kim Kardashian all seeking out the chilly services of Remedy Place, a "social wellness club" with locations in West Hollywood and NYC's Flatiron neighborhoods.
The wellness center reportedly does house calls, which Jenner took advantage of with a portable Remedy Place ice bath at her own home in California.
Big sis Kourtney apparently liked the at-home treatment so much she installed her own private ice bath at her Calabasas abode with husband Travis Barker, to the tune of $7,500, reports The Sun. She even hosted an entire ice-bath activation at her brand's Poolside with Poosh event, where the reality star and her famous siblings and friends were challenged to take a dip in a barrel bath filled with icy water.
Per The Daily Mail, Kim Kardashian initially didn't enjoy the frosty sensation, jumping out of the ice bath and jokingly dubbing herself "the weakest link" of the group. However, an Instagram video proves that the SKIMs mogul would later learn to love the benefits of ice bath, as she stopped into a Remedy Place location for an icy, full six-minute dip.
Madonna
Many popular musicians, whose bodies have to withstand exhausting touring schedules and high-energy, multi-hour live performances, have also adopted the practice as a conditioning tool.
Her "Madgesty" herself, Madonna, has been one of pop music's most enduring and dynamic entertainers for decades, and the key to that longevity might just be in the singer's dedication to her physical fitness. Post-show ice baths are one element the 65-year-old performer famously includes in her wellness regimen to help soothe any aches and pains she might have from all of those hours of intense dance choreography.
Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga has long admitted to following in Madge's footsteps, and it looks like her self-care routine is no exception. Mother Monster maintains her own performance levels with a nightly post-show routine centered around a cold plunge.
The singer broke down the post-show wellness routine she implemented during her Las Vegas concert residency, which includes what's called a "contrast bath," an icy bath alternated with a hot bath. Gaga wrote on Instagram:
Post show routine: ice bath for 5-10 min, hot bath for 20, then compression suit packed with ice packs for 20.
As physical therapist Lee Hanses explained to Allure:
Contrast baths are used after a tough workout or a period of increased activity to help reduce inflammatory processes, delay muscle soreness, and to decrease fatigue and pain levels. The whole body or just one part is immersed in hot water between 100 and 110 degrees Fahrenheit, then cold water that is between 55 and 65 degrees Fahrenheit; and this process of alternating between the two is repeated for up to 30 minutes.
The "Born This Way" singer has been candid about her struggles with fibromyalgia, a chronic condition that can cause widespread pain and tenderness throughout the body. In her 2017 Netflix documentary Gaga: Five Foot Two, the Oscar winner described the illness as a "cyclone of anxiety, depression, PTSD, trauma, and panic disorder," so she could very well be utilizing the baths as much for their mental health properties as their physical benefits.
Harry Styles
Harry Styles is also a big fan of a cold-water plunge, both out in nature and in the comfort of a private ice bath. The former boy bander has been regularly spotted by eagle-eyed fans taking frigid outdoor swims, such as at Vico Baths in South Dublin. He also has been known to employ an indoor cold plunge after getting offstage from his high-octane live performances, including his world-spanning Love on Tour gigs. He showed off his ice-bath set-up following a Cologne concert on his Instagram in June 2022.
@lizzo ♬ original sound - lizzo
Lizzo
Styles' famous buddy Lizzo has also jumped on the ice-bath bandwagon, displaying her own outdoor cold plunge over on her TikTok:
And, seeing as how she's explored nearly every wellness trend from dry brushing to oil pulling, it's not a surprise that wellness queen Gwyneth Paltrow also has a custom cold-plunge pool in her elaborate home spa in Montecito, California.
Yet it is a surprise that, though Gwyn once sought out the "Iceman" expertise of Wim Hof to teach Goop staffers the benefits of cold therapy in her Netflix docuseries The Goop Lab with Gwyneth Paltrow, it's actually Paltrow's husband, Hollywood producer Brad Falchuk, who is the "obsessive cold plunger" in the family.
What Do Kim K And Other Celebs Say About Ice Baths?
It's one thing to jump on a Hollywood trend, but it's another if that Hollywood trend actually works. And according to cold-plunging celebrities, they're really feeling the body benefits of ice baths. The Good Place star Kristen Bell has said that she seeks out ice baths for its help with "mental acuity and alertness throughout the day," with cold plunging shown to "increase dopamine concentrations by 250 percent."
In the aforementioned TikTok, Lizzo hypes up the anti-inflammation benefits of ice baths, captioning the clip:
It's so cold, I'm numb. But it helps my inflammation. My body feels better.
Styles publicly touted the virtues of a cold-water dip in a 2022 interview with Better Homes & Garden:
I feel like people who have discovered cold water swimming are just so happy for you that you’ve also found it...That’s the thing with a swim—it’s the one thing you never regret.
Tennis great Naomi Osaka has also exalted the restorative properties of ice baths, but like Gaga, she combines the practice with a warm bath following those intense matches. As she told Vogue, it "flushes the lactic acid" out of her system:
After tough matches, I like to go into an ice bath for 15 minutes, because it flushes the lactic acid out of your system. After, I’ll relax in warm water with Japanese bath salts.
Though Kim K was initially scared of the frigid temps, she later said in that Instagram video that the cold isn't that bad "once you get past it":
Once you get past it, you don’t feel anything, it’s only the initial.
As with any wellness trend, you're going to want to do your research before taking the plunge—literally, in this case. But if it's good enough for the world's best athletes and most popular entertainers, we're thinking there might actually be something to this ice-bath phenomenon. Grab the ice tray, we're ready for a dip!
