Where to plunge13 min readPublished October 2026

Gyms With Cold Plunge:
which chains actually have one, and what it costs.

Quick answer

Life Time is the US gym chain most likely to have a cold plunge: in October 2026, 82 of its 209 club pages listed one, usually next to a sauna. EoS Fitness has 50F in-ground plunges at 37 of its 186 open gyms, but only on the Will Power tier, and Equinox lists one at 21 of its 120 US clubs. Chuze, VASA and Gold's Gym have them at select clubs. Planet Fitness and Bay Club offer cold recovery chairs, not tubs. Check the amenity page of the exact club before you join.

CPS

Written and edited by

The ColdPlungeSpot Editorial Team

We read the published cold water immersion research and the manufacturer specifications, then write up what they actually support. We do not perform first-hand product testing, and we say so on every page that reports a number.

How we research

Which gym chains have cold plunges

Life Time has the most cold plunges of any US gym chain, followed by EoS Fitness and Equinox. The table comes from each chain's own website in October 2026; where a chain publishes amenity data for every club, the figure counts the club pages that list a cold plunge. A listed plunge can still be closed for repairs, so treat this as a shortlist.

Chain	Cold plunge	Sauna	Tier needed	Published price
Life Time	82 of 209 club amenity pages list a cold plunge	Most clubs (183 of 209 pages)	Club membership; access can vary by club	Adult plans at plunge clubs: $119 to $389/month
EoS Fitness	Refresh area (50F plunge, 104F hot tub) at 37 of 186 open gyms	Infrared sauna inside Refresh	Will Power membership only	Most gyms from $9.99/month base tier; Lux from $39.99; $59.99 annual fee
Equinox	21 of 120 US club pages, e.g. Hudson Yards (hot and cold plunge pools)	38 of 120 US club pages	Club membership	Not published online
Chuze Fitness	Some clubs, e.g. Lakewood, Colorado	Infrared and traditional sauna (Lakewood)	Premium, More or Max; not Basic	Lakewood Premium: $24.99/month on a 12-month plan, $59.99 annual fee
VASA Fitness	First plunge opened July 2025 at North Union Blvd, Colorado Springs	Sauna, steam room and hot tub at that club	Not stated	From $14.99/month
Gold's Gym	2 of 190 US gym pages (Midlothian, VA and Capitol Heights, MD)	100 of 190 gym pages	Ask the club	Set by each club
Crunch Fitness	None listed in its FAQ; hot and cold contrast therapy announced for one Texas club in 2026	Signature clubs and some others	Relax & Recover area not in free guest passes	Varies by club
Planet Fitness	No water plunge; a Recovery Lounge with targeted cold at participating clubs	None listed	PF Black Card for spa perks	Classic from $15, Black Card from $24.99/month; $49 annual fee
Bay Club	No water plunge listed; CryoLounge+ chairs, PolarWave Dry Plunge at Griffin Club only	Yes, listed as an amenity	Recovery area: members and guests 13 and over	Not published online

Life Time said in January 2025 it would add cold plunges at more than 70 clubs, on top of more than 20 it already had. Club pages list the plunge beside the sauna, steam room and whirlpool, note that amenities vary by location, and show a starting adult price: $119 to $389 a month across the 82 plunge clubs, median $229, with no join fee at 67 of them.

EoS Fitness calls its version Refresh: a 50F in-ground plunge, a 104F hot tub and an infrared sauna, included only with Will Power. Half of its coming-soon gyms (31 of 62) list Refresh, against 37 of 186 open ones, so newer clubs are the better bet. Equinox describes "hot and cold Plunge Pools" beside the lap pool at Hudson Yards; 21 of its US club pages list a cold plunge, 10 with a hot plunge too. It does not publish prices online.

Chuze Fitness lists a cold plunge at its Lakewood, Colorado club in every tier except Basic. VASA Fitness opened its first club with a cold plunge tub in Colorado Springs in July 2025. Gold's Gym is mostly a no: 2 of 190 US gym pages list one.

Several big names offer cold without a tub. Planet Fitness has a Recovery Lounge chair with targeted cold, and Bay Club has CryoLounge+ chairs and one PolarWave Dry Plunge. These cool a body part with air or a chilled surface, a different stimulus from sitting in 50F water; our cold plunge vs cryotherapy comparison explains the difference. We could not confirm 24 Hour Fitness or LA Fitness, whose websites did not load in October 2026, or Anytime Fitness, whose franchise clubs set their own amenities.

Recovery studios and spas with cold plunges

Recovery studios are the other place to find a cold plunge, and the question is what the cold actually is: a shared tub, a private tub, a cold shower or cold air.

Studio	What the cold is	Format	Where	Price
Othership	Ice baths with sauna, guided	Shared sessions	New York, Toronto	NY guest pass valued at $64
Remedy Place	Guided ice bath, up to six minutes	Private booking	Boston, New York, West Hollywood	Membership by inquiry
SweatHouz	Cold plunge, infrared sauna, vitamin C shower	Private 60-minute suite	Franchise studios	Intro price on first visit
Perspire Sauna Studio	45F rainfall shower for up to 45 seconds, not a tub	Private sauna suite	Franchise studios	Intro offer on first visit
Restore Hyper Wellness	Whole-body cryotherapy (cold air), no plunge listed	Private sessions	Over 220 US locations	Varies by location

Othership's ice baths are shared, and it states that its pools are filtered, chlorinated, cleaned daily and checked by hand. SweatHouz gives you a private suite, so you share the water with nobody but your guest. Perspire and Restore are cold but not plunges, so a search for "cold plunge studio near me" can surface places with no tub at all.

How to find a gym with a cold plunge near you

The fastest way to find a gym with a cold plunge near you is to check the club pages of the chains above, then fill the gaps with a map search and ClassPass.

Check the chain club page

Life Time lists "Cold Plunge" on each club’s amenities page, EoS calls it "Refresh: Hot & Cold Plunges", Chuze shows it by tier in its "What’s Included" table, and Equinox and Gold’s Gym put it in the club amenity list.

Search maps with three phrases

Search "cold plunge", "ice bath" and "contrast therapy" with your city or ZIP. Studios often use the last two. Favour photos from the last year, because tubs get removed.

Look on ClassPass

ClassPass has city pages for sauna and sports recovery, where studios sell sauna and cold plunge slots for the same credits as a class. It is a cheap way to try a place first.

Call the front desk

Ask whether the plunge is open this week and which tier includes it. At EoS and Chuze the cheapest tier does not.

What to ask before you join

Ask about temperature, sanitation, sharing and time limits before you join, because none of these appear on an amenity list. Cold plunges sit in a regulatory gap: San Francisco's Department of Public Health says a cold plunge does not meet the state or local definition of a pool or spa, so it publishes best practices instead of rules. Our cold plunge temperature guide gives ranges by experience level.

Checklist: seven questions for the front desk

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Water temperature. EoS lists 50F. San Francisco public health guidance recommends 40 to 59F. Ask for the setpoint and whether it drifts up in summer.

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Sanitizer. The same guidance recommends free chlorine of 3 to 10 ppm or bromine of at least 4 ppm, pH of 7.2 to 7.8, and chlorine or bromine even when a tub uses UV or ozone.

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Water checks. It calls for daily logs kept for two years. The CDC suggests asking whether levels are checked at least twice a day and what the latest inspection showed.

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Filtration or drain-and-refill. Filtered water should cycle through treatment at least once an hour. An unfiltered tub should be drained and refilled between users.

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Shared or single-occupant. A pool-style plunge holds several people; a prefabricated tub is usually for one at a time.

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Time limits. San Francisco recommends a 5-minute cap. Ask whether you book a slot or queue.

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Your tier and guests. Confirm your plan includes the plunge and whether a guest pass covers it. Crunch excludes its Relax & Recover area from free guest passes.

Etiquette and hygiene in a shared plunge

Shower before you get in, keep to the posted time and stay out when you are unwell: shared cold water is only as clean as its users and its treatment. The CDC's advice for shared hot tubs at gyms transfers well. Shower first, do not swallow the water, and stay out if you have diarrhea. Test strips should read chlorine of at least 3 ppm or bromine of 4 to 8 ppm, and pH of 7.0 to 7.8. A strong chemical smell or sticky, slippery tiles point to a problem.

Regulation depends on where you live. Minnesota treats a cold plunge open to the public as a licensed, inspected public pool, unless it is run as a plumbing fixture that is filled and dumped between every user. San Francisco has no cold plunge rules yet and says tubs should carry a sign stating they are not regulated or inspected. If you see that sign, the checklist above is your inspection. Beyond hygiene, etiquette is about the queue: do your minutes, get out, and let the next person in.

Safety in a shared setting

The main risk in any plunge is the first minute, when the cold shock response makes you gasp and breathe fast while your heart rate climbs. A 2017 review in Experimental Physiology describes cold water immersion as a precursor to drowning and cardiac arrest in some situations, so technique beats toughness: lower yourself in slowly, keep your face out of the water, and breathe out long and steady.

A gym puts people nearby, which beats plunging alone at home, but staff are rarely trained lifeguards, so tell someone you are getting in. Othership asks guests with a heart condition, high or low blood pressure, or a history of fainting to get a physician's approval first. Skip it after drinking: in a Finnish study of sauna deaths from 1990 to 2002, half of those who died had been drinking. Get out if you shiver hard, go numb or feel confused. Read the most common cold plunge mistakes before your first session.

Using the gym's sauna and plunge together

The usual pattern at a gym with a sauna and cold plunge is a long hot block, a short cold block and a rest, repeated two or three times. Othership's starter circuit is 15 to 20 minutes in the sauna, 1 to 3 minutes in the plunge, then 10 minutes resting. EoS pairs its 50F plunge with a 104F hot tub, the highest temperature the CDC recommends for hot tubs. Our sauna and cold plunge routine lays out full protocols, and if your gym has a hot tub instead of a sauna, read whether to finish on the cold plunge or the hot tub.

Timing around lifting matters, because the plunge is right there after your last set. In a 2015 trial in The Journal of Physiology, 21 active men strength trained twice a week for 12 weeks; those who sat in cold water for 10 minutes after each session gained less strength and muscle than those who did an active cool-down. If muscle growth is the goal, plunge on rest days or hours after lifting. Endurance training seems less affected, as our guide to cold plunges for runners explains.

Gym membership vs a home cold plunge: the yearly math

For most people a gym membership is the cheaper way to plunge; a home unit wins only over several years or against a premium club. Prices below are the ones the chains and brands published in October 2026. Ice and power ranges come from our cold plunge cost breakdown: $60 to $150 a month for bagged ice bought daily, $10 to $40 a month to run a chiller.

Option	Upfront	Per year	3 years	Notes
Chuze Premium, Lakewood (12-month plan)	Enrollment varies	$359.87	$1,079.61	Gym, plunge and recovery studio
Life Time, lowest-priced plunge club	$0 join fee	$1,428	$4,284	$119/month adult plan
Life Time, median plunge club	$0 at most clubs	$2,748	$8,244	$229/month adult plan
Ice Barrel 300, cooled with ice	$1,149.99	$720 to $1,800 in ice	$3,310 to $6,550	Ice bought daily all year
Plunge Pop-Up with chiller	$4,490	$120 to $480 in power	$4,850 to $5,930	Cold-only model

Worked example: what the plunge itself costs

At Chuze Lakewood on a 12-month plan, Basic is $9.99 a month and Premium, the cheapest tier with the plunge, is $24.99. The plunge and recovery studio cost the $15 difference: $180 a year. An Ice Barrel 300 at $1,149.99 equals more than six years of that step-up, before any ice. Now flip it. If the only reason to join a $229-a-month Life Time club is the plunge, that is $2,748 a year, and a $4,490 Plunge Pop-Up plus about $300 a year in power catches up in 1.8 years ($4,490 divided by $2,448 saved per year).

The gym side also buys saunas, pools and classes, so a home tub rarely replaces the whole membership. For the EoS-style hot and cold pairing at home, see our guide to hot tub and cold plunge combos.

Frequently asked questions

Does Planet Fitness have a cold plunge?+

No. Its membership page lists no cold plunge and no sauna. PF Black Card members get massage chairs, HydroMassage and, at participating clubs, a Recovery Lounge that applies targeted cold to sore areas: a chair, not a tub. Classic starts at $15 a month and Black Card at $24.99, plus a $49 annual fee.

Does EoS Fitness have a cold plunge?+

Some EoS gyms do. Its Refresh area pairs a 50F in-ground plunge with a 104F hot tub and an infrared sauna, included only with the Will Power membership. In October 2026, 37 of 186 open EoS gyms and 31 of 62 coming-soon gyms listed Refresh.

Does every Life Time club have a cold plunge?+

No. In October 2026, 82 of the 209 club amenity pages on its website listed one, after a 2025 push to add plunges at more than 70 clubs. Life Time states that amenities vary by location, so check the exact club.

Does Crunch Fitness have a cold plunge?+

Not as a listed amenity. Crunch's FAQ mentions HydroMassage, red light, saunas and tanning, but no plunge. A trade report in August 2026 said a new club in Mesquite, Texas would offer hot and cold contrast therapy, so ask your local club.

How cold is a gym cold plunge?+

Usually 40 to 59F, the range San Francisco's health department recommends. EoS lists 50F, which is on the cold side for a beginner, so keep the first visits short and get out at the first sign of numbness.

Is it cheaper to use a gym cold plunge or buy one?+

For most people the gym is cheaper. At Chuze Lakewood the plunge comes with the $24.99 Premium tier, about $360 a year with the annual fee. Buying wins mainly when the alternative is a premium club joined only for the plunge.

Sources

What this page relies on. Research links go to the abstract on PubMed. Specifications and prices from manufacturer pages change often, so check the brand before you buy.