Our story started back in 2015 when I was a college athlete. Our new coach insisted we use ice baths as part of our training routine. Honestly, I wasn’t thrilled at first, but after a few sessions, I realized I wasn’t as sore anymore and my performance was actually improving. Fast forward to a few years after graduation, I got back into training and wanted to recover faster. I tried using a big cooler with ice bags a few times a week. It worked great, but constantly buying ice was a pain and got expensive.

That’s when I turned to my dad, who runs an air conditioner company. We decided to make our own DIY cold plunge using some spare parts he had lying around. We rigged up a condenser and fan coil unit into a big water tank, threw in a chair, and voilà—our first cold plunge was born. It wasn’t the prettiest setup, but it worked. For the next version, I got a white acrylic tub and set up the cooling system in a separate container. It looked better and worked even better, and I started using it daily. Not only did I recover faster, but I also felt more alert and noticed my anxiety was way better.

Curious, I started digging into the benefits of cold plunging and found that lots of people experienced the same perks. That’s when it hit me—I wanted to make cold plunging accessible to everyone. On a work trip to China, I stumbled upon a factory that made an inflatable tub and chiller that matched exactly what I was looking for, and that’s how Nōrden Plunge came to life.