ABOUT
US
OUR LIVES CHANGED WHEN
WE DISCOVERED COLD PLUNGING.
FAMILY BUSINESS BORN OUT OF A DIFFICULT EXPERIENCE.
The Backstory
In 2019 Matt Kuiper and his wife were traveling through Ecuador when Matt experienced a sudden onset of severe insomnia, anxiety, and depression.
For seven brutal months, Matt tried multiple healing modalities and natural remedies that provided little relief. His brother had recently discovered cold therapy and introduced him to the practice. Matt started plunging at a gym every day, and through daily ice baths, breathwork, prayer, and mindfulness exercises, he found relief and healing that returned his life to a positive track.
Inspired by his healing through cold plunging, Matt sought to purchase an at-home cold plunge for personal use. He quickly found the models available were expensive, did not serve hot/extreme climates well, and the tubs did not provide a full, deep soak. A good combination of value, performance, and reliability seemed missing in the cold plunge market.
DESERT PLUNGE & COLD PLUNGING
DESERT PLUNGE & COLD PLUNGING
OUR TUBS EVOLVED OUT OF YEARS OF TESTING AND PERFECTING COLD PLUNGES FOR BEST PERFORMANCE.
COVID and chest freezers and stock tanks, oh my!
In 2019-2020 Matt began frequenting a cold plunge gym in Phoenix. With the onset of COVID, access to the cold plunges he relied upon was shut down. There were some existing plunges on the market that were prohibitively expensive. They also didn’t have good cover insulation to keep them cold, which is an important feature in the Arizona summer for both keeping the water cold and minimizing electricity consumption along with the stress on the chiller.
This inspired Matt to research how to build a cold plunge tub for at-home use. He discovered the work of John Richter, who was writing on the internet about building cold plunges using common chest freezers. Matt bought his book and rigged up a chest freezer in his garage.
The first iteration worked well for about a year; the chest freezer was great at maintaining cold thanks to its insulation. But Matt’s engineer mindset ignited him to explore an upgraded filtration system. He began researching different pump and chiller systems he could use to maximize the efficiency and experience of his cold plunge while still maintaining cost-efficiency.
The next cold plunge tub Matt built was a stock tank, custom insulated with Line-x, with an outer wooden frame. This allowed for a 2ft, deep, deep soak, allowing a person to be immersed up to their chin, and allowed for a high circulation flow rate in the tub, which causes the plunge to feel colder than it is because it prevents the body from being able to form a heat barrier. The Line-x worked well for insulation from the sides, but the design still needed insulation on the top of the tub for best insulation and energy efficiency. This tub version was also very heavy which made it difficult to move; it was also intensive to construct.
As Matt’s enthusiasm and expertise grew in making cold plunge tubs, the interest in cold plunging grew amongst his family, neighbors, and friends, who were eager to test out prototypes and have their own at-home ice baths. A friend had a large cooler, and asked Matt if he could adapt it as a cold plunge. They tried it out, finding that the insulation was amazing! It was highly energy efficient, especially in the extreme heat and as a result, didn’t need as a big a chiller. And with that, the current iteration of the Desert Plunge cold plunge tubs was born.
