Insight with Chris Van Vliet - How Cold Plunges & Cold Showers Have Changed My Life With Ryan Duey

Episode Date: November 3, 2022

Use the discount code CVV to save $150 off your Plunge at https://thecoldplunge.com Ryan Duey (@ryanaduey) is the co-founder and CEO of Plunge. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at the Plunge headquarters in Sacramento, CA to talk about the many health benefits of cold water exposure like reduced inflammation, increased energy levels, lower stress and many more. He discusses how the company got started, why he says cold is his medicine, his morning routine, tips for longevity, why Chris looks up to Tom Brady's diet and exercise routine, Ryan's experience on Shark Tank with his co-founder Michael Garrett, getting a deal with Robert Herjavec and much more! For more information about Chris Van Vliet and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests. Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All systems are going. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Bleed! Oh, so good to see you, my friends. Welcome back to another audio adventure on Insight. I'm CVV, Chris Van Vleet, and we're peeling the curtain back a little bit on this one, because this is a pretty personal episode for me. Cold plunging has changed my life in a very real and a very therapeutic way since I did it for the first time a year ago. And yeah, it's as simple as it sounds.

I'm sure you've heard a lot about it on social media or on YouTube. It's cold showers or it's plunging yourself into cold water between 39 and 55 degrees for a few minutes every single day. The health benefits have been amazing. I have more energy, reduced muscle soreness, less inflammation, improved circulation. And a big one for me, I talk about this during this conversation, but I haven't been sick in a year. And that was my goal to not get sick all of 2022. And that was a big one for me because I would normally get a cold and it would just linger for a few weeks. But knock on wood,

this table's made of wood, I guess. Haven't been sick so far this year. Ryan Dewey is the founder of Plunge. And if you watch Shark Tank et all, you'll recognize him from the episode this season where Robert Hershevik went in the Cold Plunge, screamed very loudly, screamed very comically, and they ended up getting a deal with him. So Ryan invited me to the Plunge Headquarters in Sacramento to check out their facilities. And that's where we did this interview.

And I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did. And if you enjoy it enough to want to get a plunge, they're hooking you up. So use the code CVV at the Coldplunge.com. You'll get $150 off your plunge. So use that code, CV. You can find Ryan on social media. It's just his name at Ryan Dewey.

You can check out his podcast wherever you're listening to this right now. It's called The Journey. Please also tag the Cold Plunge. They're at Cold Plunge and take a screenshot. Tag me as well so I can share it. I'm at Chris Van Fleet if you're not following me already. Okay, let's dive into this one. See that?

Fun intended? Plunge. Let's plunge into this one. Please welcome. Ryan Dewey. What an amazing space. you have here. Thanks, man. No, and thank you so much for having me here. What you guys have built over the last two years is really impressive. I've been following Plunge and following your journey

and Plunge's journey. And what's going to be interesting about this conversation is I think a lot of people that are listening to this and watching this might not know about cold therapy. So we're going to dive all the way into like the benefits of that. Let's go. I just want to start with congrats on what you've built. Thanks, man. Thanks. It's always fun to like bring some, an outsider in to the facility. Like, I'm here every day. Yeah. Building it.

And, you know, it's a good moment of perspective when someone comes in like, like, because you have followed us, you know, I think you saw us, like you said, starting a year ago. Yeah. You know, where we've gone today. So it's always a moment. I appreciate it to kind of see that like, holy shit. Like, there's a lot of coal plunges being built and created in here.

So I always appreciate it. And it's been, it's been a hell of a ride. And this, this has got to be much more than you ever expected when you started this. I it's funny I think about that question a lot but here and there because it's like I think Mike and I when we started it we're like there's an opportunity here we were let's build 20 of these like that's how it started like let's email our other because we both had our other companies and we're like we have an email list let's email them and say hey this is what we've been working on through COVID our other businesses were shut down let's do 20 so we were very much like what is the micro movement we have to do

at that time, but I think we sensed, like, we both did this. And we knew how impactful coal plunging was. Did we ever lay out a number and be like, we're going to do this, or from our revenue or tub unit or employee number? Like, we'd never played that game. But we thought that this, there was a really special opportunity. And I think to actually see it, it's almost the magic of it. Like, you, I don't even play, I never played it out to what it could look like.

and then these moments that I actually am seeing it, it's like, wow, like this is, like, we've never, we've always shot short. If that's, that's actually the answer is like, whenever we've tried to plan, we've planned short to what's actually the capabilities of what's happening. So I guess it is a little bigger than we even anticipate it. There's going to be people that are hearing about this for the first time. So, like, they're going to be like, hold on a second. You purposely submers yourself in cold water. That sounds like a nightmare. Why would you do this?

So let's break it down for people. Yeah, so we, I mean, it's a million different names out there now. It's ice bath, cold plunging, cold water therapy, cold immersion, all the things. And it's really getting into cold water and getting your core, your lower body, your core temperature down. And there's a lot of different benefits that start to show up at that point. I mean, the big one that I just like lean into is increases baseline dopamine levels. dopamine is the key chemical into motivation, focus, drive. So it's, you know, you get into a coal plunge.

We commonly hear people see like, I feel more capable, I feel more powerful, I feel more clear into what I want to work on. It's like, well, it's dopamine talking through you. And that's over long, doing it long term, you're going to get those benefits. So, you know, people doing it, it is a crazy concept. I think that's what's been so cool about it is like you got to do the crazy thing. and you get the sensation every single time after two to three minutes. Yeah.

And I don't know of anything out there that's like really all you got to do is get into it. There's no, you don't got to go to the gym and actually work out. You don't have to go for a run. You don't have to even breath work. Like that's a pretty quick access point into kind of changing your state. But a cold plunge, you literally just got to get into the cold water, breathe through it, and the magic happens. Yeah. And it's, you know, we're, you know, to your point of like, why, we're still figuring out why.

I mean, we are seeing benefits that we never foresaw. You know, Mike and I did it for our own reasons. He did it for energy boosting, kind of mental clarity. I was getting sick a bunch. So I kind of, I did it as immune system resilience, kind of beef that up. So we had our reasons, but now we're seeing, I mean, from like, a big one we're noticing is like autoimmune disorders. like massive customers that are coming in with, you know, MS, basically anything with a hormone imbalance that's going on.

Like cold plunging very quickly is going to regulate that state. And so we're seeing like one of our employees here. He got a job. He had MS. Had no doctors were saying we don't know what to do. You know, there's not much treatment for a lot of autoimmune. It's a pretty hopeless community sometimes into what they can go and how they can transform. it. So he started getting into cold water and it completely changes life. And so that's when he was like,

oh my God, this company's here locally. Like I found my purpose. Like I want to go work for this company and get this out there. So, you know, that's the fun bar. We hear the testimonies every single day of like new, the new ways it's impacting people. Is there like an entry level way that people can try this out without, I mean, obviously to buy a plunge, that's a big commitment. Totally. Could you just, you know, make the water in your shower kind of cold? You can do cold water in the shower. I think cold water in the shower sometimes is more challenging than actually getting in a full submerged cold plunge. I just, the shower to me is more annoying. It like hits and it's like it's just like a certain part of your body and it's you can't really surrender into the experience.

But yes, that is a great entry point to do for people, especially as we're getting into the colder months. The, you know, the country cools down. Water's going to cool down so you can do it right out of your tap in the morning. Do a shower. You want to be posting right on like the center of your chest. right on the back of your neck here. Those are, and then the crown of your head.

If you can just do rotations there of like 30 seconds in each of those sections. Yeah. And breathe through it. And ideally, you're really trying to lower your heart rate while you're in this experience. You know, adrenaline's going to kick on. How do you lower your heart rate?

So showers is a great option. I was doing rivers before I ever had a cold plunge. So if you live in a region, like I get the country's cooling down. If you have a local lake or river, great place to go and do it. And then there's a ton of commercial facilities that are popping up. If you just go on to Yelp or Google Cold Plunge in your area, you're probably going to find some facilities that you can go in by a day pass,

hop in a cold plunge. They'd probably have your plunge. Hopefully. Probably a pretty good chance. And if they don't, I admit it's up. But yeah, I mean, those would be the entry points that I would recommend for people. I think the first time that I was introduced to the idea was an ice bath. And it was like, I remember like, I think it was Brock Lesnar because I'm a big wrestling fan.

It was Brock Lesnar like after a big workout, like going in an ice bath. I was like, that looks awful. No thank you. And now that I've learned more about it, I'm like, man, he was like ahead of the curve. Yep, yep. You get these athletes that are doing it. Everyone used to do the ice bath before where it was like you would get in and just kind of suffer through it.

Yeah. And then you had these few, I mean, I think of like Tony Robbins or some of these people that have been doing it for 15 years. Yeah. And they were all in and they knew the secret that that was going like, Brock Lesner, like, this is a thing that I'm going to utilize. And it's cool to see it kind of like having its moment where people are starting to realize like,

oh, this is not some wacko thing that's out there. This is like a really, really tangible. Like, it's a modality that is, it's very simple. Yeah. Cold water. Like, you get into cold water and your body's going to do the rest. Is this part of your morning routine? It is 100%.

All right. So take us through this. You wake up and then what happens? So my morning routine, it's a very hot topic. Not my morning routine, but I feel like morning routines are the, you know, everyone's laying out their morning routine. Mine varies. I am like,

it's not... I feel like everybody wants to take one little nugget from your morning routine and my morning routine and everybody's and kind of put it together. Yes, and it's like finding that.

I think what it... Basically what I'm getting at is I'll lay out the things I do. I probably achieve 70 to 80% of these things consistently. So if I have too much of a rigid process, it doesn't work for me. I got you.

So I wake up, like to do Wim Hof, three rounds of Wimhoff breath. Me too. All right. Right. Right in the bed. You know, I just wake up and kind of, I wake up, I get groggy. Like, I'm a groggy. It takes me a while. I'm not one that just hops out of bed. So I get up, do my breath. And then I've been having it set up, which is a total game changer. I've been having someone, like a trainer come over. So I have X number of mornings a week where someone's working out at my house. So that's been the greatest situation. It's a new thing for me. So if those mornings, I do the workout, then I'll co-plunge after the mornings. That's not happening. I didn't. immediately go out and I'm out kind of getting to the sun. The sun rises right in a beautiful spot at her house. And then I do my cold plunge. And cold plunge is always within, it's always within the

first hour of my day. And that is all the things I listed, some mornings there's a workout. Some mornings there's not. 80% of the mornings there's Wim Hof, 20% there's not, but 100% of the mornings, there is a cold plunge. And that is like fully integrated into my morning routine. I feel like a lot of people could be using the plunge as like their morning cup of coffee. Like this is just a boosted, a jolt of energy. It's, that's what it is. Yeah. I mean, that's, it's, I mean, we've, we've stated that. We want, we want cold plunger to be as calm as the coffee. Like, we want people to be getting in a cold plunge and having that, that natural high, um, coming out of it. And it, you know, cold plunging also, it's like, I do it in the morning. There is so many other times that you can

be using it. It's like, usually we hit a low on the afternoon. You can go in, you can do a face dunk. You know, just put your face in cold water. It's going to send a similar response into your body. Yeah. And you can go in and do that for 30 seconds. You can cold plunge in the afternoon. Some people cold plunge before night to kind of lower, you know, you want to cool your body down.

That helps you sleep better. Exactly. So you can get that core body temperature by a couple degrees. You start to fall, it accelerates your falling asleep process, getting into REM. So there's, you know, you can plunge at different times a day for different purposes, and it will have different benefits. There's also the talk of cold plunging, helping with weight. loss too. 100%.

And this is what's so amazing. We're talking about cold water here. We're not talking about injecting yourself or taking a pill or anything like that. We're talking about submersing yourself in cold water. That's the end of the period. Like that's the end of the sentence. Yep. It's almost the, it's fascinating because it's like, it's the anti-farma because you actually

have to do something. But it is pharma in the sense that it's like, you just do this one thing and you give me two minutes a day and you can get this benefit. Yeah. Like that I, that's why I'm so excited about it. Like, I have not found something that is that quick to get the result. And yes, it sucks. And that's kind of the beautiful part of it.

Like, you always have to do this one shitty thing or challenging thing, but it's two to three minutes and you're done. And then you just feel incredible. So it's, yeah, I mean, like you said, weight loss, metabolism, like these, the benefits are, it's pretty massive. Have you always been into biohacking? Because I feel like this definitely falls into the category. biohacking. I never viewed it that way. Like I've always kind of never viewed myself in like the biohacking community. But I think from a actually what I do, I think I do. Um, you know, I have my other company is flotation tanks, sensory deprivation tanks. Those are very kind of, you know,

they're in the wellness space as well. Um, coal plunging. I'm not a, I mean, me personally, I'm not like the most militant when it comes to those things. I just like to feel good, you know, and like actually feel good in my body and feel like I'm on purpose and can work towards the things I want to work towards. So it's like I find the little things that happen along the way, whether that's floating, whether that's cold plunging, breath work, you know, what are those things? But me personally, I've never really identified as like a biohacker myself. But I feel like that's exactly what you're doing.

Before we started rolling, you were talking about magnesium and other supplements you're taking in the morning. What else was it? Symbiotica was the company. And it was like, yeah, it was a magnesium and longevity mushroom chocolates that were, it's just throw it in my morning coffee and just dad get some nutrients that way. And I heard you in a different interview talking about mud, that like coffee replaced mud water. Yeah, mud water. That's it. Yep.

Yeah. Mud water's incredible. super out company. Have you had any other stuff? No. Yeah, it's great.

I think it's an awesome name too. Mudwater. It's brilliant. It's, and they're killing it. So yeah, it's like a cacao, mushroom,

adaptogen, coffee mixture that you could even, if you drink coffee, you could even throw it in there with your coffee. Okay. Or just have it on the side without coffee. If you're trying to,

like, cycle off coffee for a bit, it's a great way to kind of like step off coffee. Yeah. You just want to, like, get off it. You're kind of addicted to it. So yeah, I mean, I'm always looking for the thing that's like, what is the thing that, like, the edge. Like the, and it's, yeah, yeah, I'm always looking to.

And that's probably why we're both wearing like wearable technology here. Like, you know, you're wearing the aura ring. I'm wearing the whoop here. How was your sleep last night, by the way? Dude, I had my highest readiness score ever today. Let's go. 96. I was sitting out for me, which was, you know, 90's a great score. But 96, I don't think I've ever been at a readiness. I got to see what I was now. Let me see. And I woke up at 440 this morning. So let's see. Well, I went to the gym first. 87. That's pretty good to wake up at. What time did you go to bed? I went to bed at, oh, it doesn't think I fell asleep till 10. That's not true. And you got up at 4? That's not true.

I went to bed at like nine something. I woke up to go pee and doesn't realize I did that. Do you like the whoop? So I love the whoop. I love the tracking on it and everything. I just think it's a bit cumbersome. I wish it didn't look like a watch. But I think that the technology is amazing.

It tracks well. Tracks so well. I get a lot of comments in my videos where people are like, I can't believe that guy's wearing two watches. It's like, come on. It's a watch and a whoop. I can't believe people are concerned about that. This is the internet.

I'm sure you deal with this all the time. You probably see all kinds of crazy comments. It gets pretty good. It gets pretty good. I just had to stop looking at comments. I get a little anxious sometimes when I go into our social, where it's like going to go through. It's like, you know, I try not to be in it too much.

I try not to be in the comments section too much. But it is at the end of the day. Our customers, I want to get in there, see it. Sometimes it's like big posts happens. It just naturally. Like, no matter how positive it is, it's going to pull something in that some... What do people say? What could you possibly say this?

Like, good. Yeah, you get people that just take shots at other people, how they look, or they're doing it wrong, or they, you know, this is terrible advice or, you know, this, I could do it bad. You know, you just get that. I mean, where, I mean, at the same token, 95% of most of the cost. comments are the most positive. Of course. So it's like not even feeding those five, you know, but they tend to take the, they get the attention of 100% of the people.

Yeah, like they scream the loudest of, like the small minority, but the loudest. Totally, man. Yeah, there could be 98 great comments, but if there's two that are bad, you're like, well, but why'd they have to say that? 100%. And it's like, and then I'll find myself, I'm getting better at it, but it used to be like, I wanted to defend myself. Like, I would like take it personally as if they were attacking me.

Yeah. And especially do that. The worst was like when I opened Capital Floats and Yelp reviews would come in. Oh, sure. And I was just like in arms. I would take it like they were coming after my like sacred, my integrity. Like they were, it was like, oh, like maybe they actually, they had an experience that had nothing to do with me. And it was about the facility.

So I'm learning to deal with comments better. Where do you think are the worst comments on social media? I mean, I really only am on. I think probably Twitter. Yeah, Twitter's pretty bad. Probably Twitter. Twitter's just so much more intellectual and, like, headspace. There's, like, no heart center in Twitter.

Which Instagram, I feel like could be a little more emotional, and there's, like, a lot of positivity. It's, like, Twitter's, like, draining to me. Like, sometimes I think about, like, do I want to engage more? Because I'm kind of a, I would say I'm a consumer of Twitter. Like, I go on Twitter. I don't post much. It's more of a place that I kind of follow people that I, provide information that I'm into.

Yep. And then I think like, man, and then I just look at all the comments. And it's like a lot of intellectuals. Like this would be, this seems like a full-time job to come on here and engage intellectually with people on Twitter. It's draining to me. And I think it can get the most like nasty. I sometimes feel like people just want to be heard.

Like they just want to have a voice and then have one person like their tweet and go, yes. I'm not the only one who thinks this. Great. Totally. It's a very much like an affirmation. Yeah, that's, yeah. Yeah, it's like, like, just thank you for agreeing with me. I'm not the only one. Great. I'm not crazy. I can move on. Yep. It's just so wild to me. The thing about walking around your facility here is you haven't just created a product, which you have, I mean, it's an amazing, beautiful product. It's incredible. But you've created like a lifestyle for the people that buy them. And I feel like when you look at each plunge out,

out there. It's like, that's a person whose life is about to change. Yeah. Yeah, we were talking about that a little before. It was like it is one of those things. Like, I go out, I'll look at the name on the tub and I'll, you know, I'm going out on the floor, checking something. I'll just grab it and be like, who is, who's this going to? And it just blows my mind. Like, this person is now going to have a plunge in their backyard. They're going to invite their family friends over. You know, if they have kids, their kids are going to start. It's just like, I just see this work. world that's now going to radically change their life. Yeah. And it's, it's not, it's something I think about constantly. And it's like very in tune with it and just grateful for it. Like, these people are,

you know, they've made a commitment to themselves. Yeah. Like, it's like, I'm going to do this. I have trust in first our company. And I have faith that this is going to make an impact on my life. Because it's, you know, you're spending $5,000. Like you're, it's a chunk of change. Yeah. And, But I just, I see it and I hear the testimonies and I go out and just get giddy seeing all the tubs getting ready to get shipped out. I'm like, oh my God, that's going to change a neighborhood. Like that's going to, this is now a new piece of their community that has just not been there before. Yeah. That is a new form of gathering, a new way of like coming together as people.

So, man, that's probably the thing that lights me out the most. Do you find like somebody gets it? Like when you say it changes the neighborhood and changes, you know, creates a sense of community. Do you find that like somebody gets it on the street and then people are like, well, I heard you got this thing. Tell me a bit about, I want to try it, but I'm not sure. I don't like cold. Like, there's probably a whole education process. That's exactly what happens. It shows up. Of course, the person buying it, like, they're so excited. It becomes the thing. And they've been talking about it for weeks, I'm sure.

100%. Like, you've seen it. And, you know, people that bought it, they didn't just buy it on a whim. They've seen other people transform their lives, whether it's through social media, videos, someone maybe in their neighborhood. They've heard it. It's like, wow, I've seen the change, the impact this is making. So they start talking about it. And then the coolest thing about cold plunging is like doing it with other people. Like, it's like to do something hard with someone is like the greatest thing as a human. Like to do it where it's like, I'm going to feel great. It's like we love to go work out with someone, run with someone, like have a challenging conversation. Yeah, going to hike with someone. Exactly. You never go bungee jumping alone.

Exactly. Like you're doing it in with someone and to break through. And so cold plunging is like this incredible starts off very much as a community piece. Most people that have it, you know, you're not going to have people every day. So you have your own solo practice. But to doing it together, like we did a company event here. And, you know, most of us have plunges at our house. But we had a Wim Hof event where we had an instructor come in and lead the team through a full day. And there's still nothing better. I cold plunge every single day. And those cold plunges where I'm with five. other people in a group and we're all cold plunging around together and there's 30 other people around. It's like, it's like I never have cold plunge. It's like the most triumphant thing to come through. And it's, it is the greatest hack. If you're starting out, like, you talked about how to get into it. It's like, do you do it with people? Like, you're so much more, we're so much more capable when we're doing stuff with other people that are accountable with us, that like encourage us. We can go so much farther. So, you know, we've seen it into these cold communities that pop up and people are now, it's like every Sunday, 9 a.m., everyone's over at Tim's house, and they're all

coal plunging together. We've mentioned Wimhoff a few times, and we both do Wimhoff breathing, which if you're hearing about this for the first time, you need to give it a try, it's life-changing. What was it about Wim Hof years ago that made you buy in and go, this is unbelievable? For me, it was the Vice documentary. Oh, so good. It was, I think it won documentary of the year through it. I don't know what what it was through. Anyways, it was I watched, I believe, in 2015. Because when I first saw it,

watched it, was just like cried. It was just like, who is this man? Like, you know, he was having his moment where it was like he was persecuted. He was called crazy. Like his life story is one of the crazy. A movie wouldn't be believable if they made a movie about this guy.

And I remember watching it and just how he was ridiculed and he just kept with conviction pushing forward. And like, you know, this guy, like, vibrating love and was like really wanting to empower people. And I was like, and we just, the whole world was tearing him down. And like, you're, you're not normal. You can't teach other people to do this. You're crazy. And you just kept going. So that watching that show was like one of the most empowering moments. I watched it again the next night. And I was like, this is, this is insane. This is like one of the most hopeful things I've ever witnessed.

You know, not much. I'd started to do some of the breath practices, but I wasn't fully engaged in it yet. And then I went through my own health spout where I was sick for got like six colds in about six months. And I thought I was fairly healthy. And at that time, my kind of health advocate, health guide was like, I think we don't quite know what's going on here. I think let's just incorporate some consistent daily Wimhoff breathing and getting in the cold at least, you know, three to four times a week in the cold water. Incorporated that within a month.

I didn't get sick. Like I was like that had, I don't know really where those symptoms were coming from, but that was just transforming. It was probably something hormonally immune system imbalance. And so that was kind of my intro into like, whoa, this is, I don't know exactly. how and why this is working, but it's working. And then it became kind of a process in my life. And it was still, like, at that time, cold plunging wasn't, maybe Wim Hof's game was becoming more known, but I think using it as a real treatment wasn't a common thing amongst people. It was still a little

abstract or a little fringe. So yeah, that's, you know, and I, this company, I totally, like, honor him in this process. Like he is, he's one of those guys. It's like truly can, you talk about people change in the world. Yeah. Like,

he did it. Like he, I don't know. I have so much gratitude to that, man. Like I could do a whole podcast and talking to him of what he's inspired to me.

He should be on your podcast. I would love to get on this podcast. Have you interviewed him? Not yet, but we've been trying to make this happen. But I'm sure. And we should put this out there. Your podcast is called The Journey.

The Journey. And you've just started this journey of doing the journey. 10 episodes in. 10 episodes in as we sit here right now, but there's no, if you were to write to Wim Hof and say, I'm the CEO of Plunge, he'd be like, yeah, of course.

There's no question. I'll reach out to him. I trust that it'll come. He has a form on his website, actually. At the right side. But I'm sure that you could be connected with him, but I started Wimhoff breathing about a year ago, and I had the goal to not get sick this entire year.

And I was always the person who I'd get a little, just touch of a cold, linger for like two weeks. So I'd be just coughing, running nose for like two weeks. Never sick, but just it would linger. This year, knock on wood, got a beautiful table here. I haven't been sick. And we're in October right now. And I'm hoping, you know, we got two and a half months left. I'm hoping that this continues. But that's mind-blowing to me that, like, what was such a trend for me has now just not happened. It's, yeah. I mean, what I had something similar. I did, uh, I usually get my blood levels test and kind of hormones test it. And I did this new one that's called like a true age.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. So it's like your biological age and then it's like my immune age as well. It measures your telomers. Is that? Yeah. I'm going to say that wrong. Yeah. A lot of like it's interesting too. It'll break down like a lot of my genetics like what I'm predisposed to. Okay. Kind of my markers of interesting stuff. It was great, great, something I'm going to incorporate more. but I did get it and I'm 36 years old and they came back with the test and my immune system's at like a 29 to 30 year old. So it was like I'm healthy, but it's like that, but I'm not like rat. I'm not militant healthy. And, you know, looking at it, I credit that all to whim off breathing and getting in the cold.

Like those things like really allowing me to maintain like a young, healthy, robust immune system. I look at someone like Tom Brady and like I'm 39, he's 45 and I'm like, man, if he's still able to do this at his age, not that I'm playing any sort of professional sports, but I'm like, he's tapped into something there. The ability for us to live healthier longer is definitely there. Who are your people that you look to for that? Like in terms of like where should I, like, where am I taking advice from? Yeah, like who are you that you look at as like inspiration or someone that's like, they seem to have something figured out.

Tom Brady's a big one. Like 45. I looked at the list the other day of like the oldest players in the NFL. And obviously Tom Brady's number one at 45. 45's insane. And he's still playing. I mean, they lost last night as we sit here right now,

but insane. And the next youngest, or the next oldest player is 40. So he's five years older than the next, oldest player. And he has players on his team that will say, I watched, there's a player on his team or a few players on his team

that weren't even alive when he started playing in the league. That's insane. So that's someone where I look at it and I go, there's something with the pliability that he's doing and like the lengthening

and softening of the muscles, like there's something there. Obviously, I look at Dave Asprey and like everything he's doing with biohacking, like there's little things there. Tim Ferriss is brilliant when it comes to that stuff.

Totally. What about you? Who I look at? I mean, Mark Sisson, he's the, primal kitchen. Yep. Guys,

like the most jacked, healthy, vibrant, older guy I've ever seen. Who else is the epitome of...

You know, much hate I'm going to get for liking Tom Brady, by the way? Because you're a... You're a... I'm a Browns fan, but just for liking

Tom Brady in general. People are like, you know, he's a cheater, right? You got to respect the goat. You got to respect. Oh,

he's not the goat, and then people will go down that path. Like, come on. He's the goat. Yeah. And I'm not even a big Tom, but I've never...

Not a Patriots guy. I just started reading the TB12 method. And just the way that he approaches hydration, especially, and nutrition. Like the first thing I do when I wake up, like, before my feet even hit the floor, I drink 20 to 30 ounces of water. Yep. And that's such a huge thing to just get everything going, like after not drinking water for six, seven, eight, nine hours, however long you were sleeping.

Yep. That's been a, it's kind of hit or miss of that. And I just incorporated to get the whole squeezed lemon in there, cayenne, a lap, Sider vinegar. Yeah. Just get that whole, the metabolism, like just the body kind of like starting to wake up. Yeah.

Yeah. There's something about seeing someone that's in their late 40s, 50s, even 60s that's in great shape, that I go, that. Yep. I aspire to do and be that one day. There's a guy name. He's not very well known, but his name is Doug Steiny. And he's a Wimhoff instructor.

And he's, Doug's probably mid to late 60s. Maybe 70. And he's one of those guys that is the biggest epitome of health. He studied right under Wim. He was on his deathbed when he was 60, unhealthy, like completely paralyzed. Found the Wim Hof method. His family was rolling him in the shower to basically get cold. And he started to just breathe because he could breathe from his hospital bed.

And they thought, like, you might be paralyzed forever. Like maybe death is a potential. I forget exactly what his condition was. radically transformed himself. He's the most healthy guy. He would be right here doing a power clean, drop down in the splits. Wow.

And he's like, he's just a, he's a girthy guy. Like, he's just healthy. And I'm just like, those are the guys I look at where I'm like,

man, you can do, like, you're up at 6 a.m. every morning in your cold plunge. Yeah. You're, you know,

a great father, like all the things. Yeah. And he's got, you know, he had kids a little, little later, so he's still, you know, got kids in the household. But he's one that I look at, like, from a health standpoint that is like, man, you're really doing it. Yeah. You're, you're fully

tapped in. You're like, you know, I think it comes down to like, it's just so fulfilled and, like, found a passion to be of service and share this method with people. But Doug Stein, he's one to, I'm going to have to look him up. Check it out. It's stories like that that make me so inspired and get me so inspired because it makes me realize that we're, it's not for too late. Like, there's a lot of people who are in their 20s, 30s, 30s that are going, well, I've always been like this, so therefore I will always be like this. And it's like, no, you can make a change today. Totally. Into changing your entire life. And I feel like it's like in the sooner you can get it, yes, you can do it when you're 60. It's also probably to get that momentum is going to be that much

harder. Yeah. So it's like if I can catch it now, wherever we're at, wherever now is for the person and listening. Yeah. You know, there's always going to be later, but it's just like, start it now. Do the one degree now.

And one degree, like one thing, whether that is, like two pushups that day. Do two pushups the next day. Like, that makes, you do that for,

you know, one degree, 180 degrees, that's, you know, six months, you're going in the other direction. I love that.

You're completely, you know, in the direction you want to go. So it's like, and that's if you were fully in a spot that you weren't happy with. Yeah. But yeah,

I mean, there's always, the human body is incredible. Like, it wants to get back into a vibrant, healthy, into homeostasis. Like, it just, we just got to feed it right. And I mean that not just feeding it with food, but feeding it with people around, feeding it with how we talk to ourselves, you know, how we sleep. Just all these, like, and it doesn't have to be perfect overnight.

Just like start somewhere. Yeah. Like it's, you know, I would actually say start smaller than bigger. Like don't, sometimes I get caught in the place. If I see these super healthy people and I'm like, I want to be there. that. And it's like, okay, that's, I'm witnessing a tree that has been growing for years where I need to plant a seed. And it's completely different than like, quit comparing myself to their journey. Take the inspiration for the moment, but get focused into how I can do it in my life.

Yeah. You know, for me, it was like I said, like, I'm grateful and privileged that I can get a trainer come over my house. But it's like, okay, I'm going to get a trainer at my house. Like, that's how I know I'm going to be accountable. It's know how I'm going to do it. And then it's like, well, see how this goes over the next few months. I feel like people want a quick fix, and they want it right now. And one way or the other, I think there's a lot of people who continue to drink Mountain Dew every day or Diet Pepsi. I'm not trying to single out one specific soda, but they're like, well, I like doing that and like it's, it's not killing me. It's fine. Like, why would I switch over to just drinking water? And I think it's that idea that like,

you seem to make these incremental, tiny little changes now that's going to create a better future for yourself down the line. That's it. I mean, the example I have is with coal plunging. We get so many people that want a cold plunge. And they're like, I'm going to get it. I'm going five minutes at 39 degrees. And I'm like, whoa, that's not the long game here.

So where should they start? My recommendation is started at 60 degrees and do it for two minutes. And can you do that every single day for the next week? Like, and just don't even worry about like, am I doing enough? Should I be doing more? like you're playing, you're building a pattern, you're building a habit, takes whatever that is, 21 days, 30 days to even get into some level of consistency. And most of the time, I think we, we overshoot ourselves. You know, we go back into the gym for the first time. It's like,

this is it, it's the year I'm getting back in shape. I've been there, I've done that. And that's like, go hard, go hard in the paint, I'm there. And then I'm burnt out. And I'm not back in. And I kind of lose the momentum. It's like inspiration only, lasts for so long. So you have to like be, you actually have to meet yourself where we're at. Yeah. So for cold plunging, I get to it. It's like our nervous system, our nervous system has been sitting on the couch for the last X number of years. And that's what the coal plunge is working on. It's working on your nervous system. You, if you went to the gym, you wouldn't go do a three-hour workout at your max on every single thing. Like, you just wouldn't be able to move the next day.

You wouldn't, that's not how you work out. Doing 39 degrees. at five minutes to me is in that capacity. Like, yeah, it's one-off you want to max out. But if you're not in that shape and your system, you haven't been doing this, that's probably not the most beneficial for you. Yeah, maybe you proved yourself you could do something. That's cool. That's great.

If you're doing it one-off with a group of friends and you're not really doing it consistently, that's a good, do the 39 for a few minutes with people. I get that. But if you're actually trying to build the practice, you got to find the temp higher, find the time that you're going to show back up and do it again tomorrow. And then you just kind of listen to your body. It's like, cool, I think I'm ready to take it down to degrees today.

Like, let me do that. Like, let me, oh, you know what? I can probably go another 10 deep breaths in this plunge. Like, count your plunge through breaths as opposed to time. Because breasts are going to, you know, you could do, you can go four minutes and just, or like, you could do four minutes, but like really shallow breaths

and you never really surrender into the experience. But if you could do 30 really deep breaths, you might be going a little longer in four minutes, but your body adapts to the cold. And that's what you're actually wanting. You're wanting to signal your body through a stress response that you can actually calm your system down. Like, because, you know, adrenaline's going to kick in,

whether you're getting in cold water, whether someone's robbing you on the street, whether your partner's screaming and you're, like, you know, whatever it is. Your co-worker's mad at you. Like, adrenaline, it's all the same on the inside. So then how do we, what's our response to that? Cold water is just a manufacturer environment

that's a safe environment to get an adrenaline, dump onto the body, and actually regulate the system down and learn how to breathe in that. You sound like somebody just came out of a cold plunge right now. I love it. I'm a few hours out. I feel like I should have gone into one first and then came in here. Dude, we could have you plunge. We'll do that after. There we go. I got so excited when I saw you guys on Shark Tank because I know that like the type of built in advertisement that is, whether you get a deal or not. And spoiler alert, you guys did get a deal on the show with Robert. But like, how much? should that change everything for you here? It's, it definitely made, the web traffic was insane. I bet. I mean, it's been really fun that first night when we aired in May.

You've also got great branding, by the way. Like, we're talking about cold plunges. The company's called plunge. The website is cold plunge, the cold plunge, right? Like, it's brilliant. Yeah, we. You have all the SEO. Totally, man.

Which brings up its own dynamic of like, we kind of named ourselves the thing. And so it's like, it's great for SEO, but then there's this, you know, getting into trademarks and a whole other conversation, which is a challenge. But yeah, we, the show was, it was such a cool experience. Like it was, they reached out to us from the beginning. So that was kind of, it wasn't on our radar. And they reached out and we're like, oh, shit, this would be incredible. And they're like, we think you should apply. Wow.

And so we're like, let's do it. And so we apply. And it was probably the most intense. application process I've ever been through, like more than I would assume becoming a U.S. citizen. Like, it was, it was a lot of docs, a lot of interviews, took probably, I don't know, a month of just, like, concerted effort of things that we had to go through. So we got on, got to select the show, you know, we're coming, booked in, we got your flights down, you're coming in. So we went down on Sony Studios. It was like the show. I didn't know.

I got to knew a few people that had done the show, but I didn't really know what to expect. Like what, how stage did this? Like, what really goes on? And it was like a really authentic show. Like,

it was cool to see how much they cared about business, how much they cared about, like, raising up entrepreneurs. And it is, you know, we go out to the show and it was really authentic. It was us and the Five Sharks. You walk out, you like, say that pitch,

you know, I'm Ryan from Sacramento, California. Yeah, go through that two minutes. spiel, outside of that, nothing, everything's, it's open. Like, that happens. And then it's just, here we go. Really?

And it's just that the set is silent. Like, no one mentions a thing. Did they tell you before you go in, like, you got to know your numbers, you got to know this, this, this, this. They prepped us a lot. So we had to practice our, like, our pitch, you know, the two-minute pitch that's practiced a number of times with producers. Do you do that before producers? And they're like, you know what?

Let's actually change this part, make this something else. I would say 90% was us. They gave us like little bits of feedback. The big thing was like they don't want, okay, if we set a stat, it's like we need the study. We need to know that this is real. And so like we would, not that that ever switched on our pitch, but they would say it's a little long or it's a little short. Or, you know, what are you trying to achieve? So they would coach us a little on it.

But we had the whole thing. I mean, we kind of came up with it. I remember Mike and I, we would rent Airbnbs and get away and just practice our, like, two-minute pitch. So we would just, like, get away from the office, go away for a night and just, like, practice back and forth. Oh, that's great. So we were, it got to a point. I remember we went to a festival, like a music festival the week before. And it was like, we couldn't stop.

All we were doing was saying our pitches, like, you know, and like, queuing each other up and ready. And then when the moment happened, I actually walk out, I remember, I mean, it's a very surreal moment. It's like, you're at those doors. You know, it's the shark tank doors. Yeah.

And you're on the set. And it's a massive, massive warehouse set. I don't know how many people are in there. That hallway looks really long, too. It's, it's a good, it's, there's length to it. Yeah. And it's just, it's a buzzing set. And all of a sudden, it's just, it gets quiet.

It's just like, it's this little village that's going berserk, and then it just gets quiet. And then you just, have this one, like he's the stage producer. He's one guy right in front of us. And he's just like, I think he's half therapist, half like stage manager. And he's just kind of talking to us. And he's just like, all right, uh, you guys, how are you guys feeling?

You guys ready? And it's like, it's like, whoa, this is eerily quiet. Like this is, this is no, this isn't the practice session anymore. The camera's right there. And he's like, we're kind of prepped. And I remember looking over at Mike, co-founder. And he's like a tall 6-6 guy. And I just see him and he just starts like dancing.

Like, you know, this is right before the door's open. I look over, I'm like, oh, what's going on with this guy? Come to find out, he's like, I forgot my lines. Like, I was like certain. He's like, I couldn't access them. Like, I was done. Like, I couldn't remember my lines. And he's like, all I thought was like just dance.

Like, dance. Like, that's the only way. And I kind of looked at him and I just started laughing. I'm like, whoa, what are we getting into here? And yeah, then those doors open. in and we just walked out, and we set our pitch, and I, you know. How long was your actual time in there? Because it cuts down probably eight to ten minutes usually. Yeah, I think ours was like, yeah, it's like six to seven was ours. And we, we're probably out there 40 to 45 minutes.

Wow. So it's, yeah, they added a lot out. They do. And they, it's interesting to see what makes the cut and what, how they want to position it. You know, for us, they got real into the negotiation pretty quick. Like it was kind of numbers and then boom, into the negotiation. So there's like a whole story, you know, because they don't have any concept of our business prior. Wow. So you, we have to go out and really like tell the story. Like, what are your numbers? What, what's your background? Who are you as entrepreneurs? Is it your first time doing business? Is this not? Like, you know, why, where's the product market fit? Like, you know, we have to get it all on the court for them. Be like, like, this is who we are. So there's like a, you know, there's an education piece. And then they're all kind of talking over each other. They all, they're all jockeying

for things. And, you know, you start talking to one and the other just yells something in and you kind of have stage control, like telling them to, hey, I'll get to you. Like, because they're kind of, there's definitely like the ego piece for them. They all want the deal. Sure. They don't want the deal. If it's a good deal, they're going to fight for it. Um, and this was evidently a good deal because most of the time when people go into the shark tank and they're asking for a million plus, they get, you got laugh. Actually, you guys kind of did get laughed at when you first said, what was it, 1.2 for 5%. 1.2 for 5%. 1.1.1.4. which we upped it. So we originally had it going into the show. We were $1 million for 5%. And they were already like our, we had good numbers.

So you get casted with like a producer. Like a producer works with us specifically. So they kind of coach us. And they're like, okay, like this is a pretty high ask, but I think you have the numbers to back it up. So we go in and we're getting like, you know, they're like redoing our powder or whatever makeup before. So we're about to go out in like probably eight minutes.

and Mike and I we were like I think our valuation's low and so we're like we're gonna up it we're gonna up it to 1.2 for 5% and our producer guys like

are you guys kidding me like okay this is insane like you guys like fine you guys can up it but Ryan when you say because my part of my pitch was 1.2 for 5%.

He's like when you say that like shut up for three seconds he's like because they're all gonna make comments to you which they did like they were all like Oh, I bet. Like, you know, that whole thing.

But then you got four offers. We did get four. Yeah, I think were they the best offers? Like, I still don't even know what Mr. Wonderful was offering. Like, that one was still, I think he wanted a royalty add-on to every unit. That's what he does, right? Yeah, it was. I felt like Barbara made an offer for the sake of making an offer.

Exactly. Barbara, she was making comments on, like, she wanted it to be cool for her grandkids, and she thought it was cool for her grandkids, so she just threw out an offer, little outside of what we wanted. And then it really came down to Robert and Mark into, you know, the piece that we had, which we had kind of identified those two,

because we did know that Robert was going to get in the plunge. Did you plan that? We had, yes, we pitched it to Shark Tank because we were like, we have to get someone in the plunge, whether it's us or someone we bring or like a celebrity or one of, and they were like, let's get one of the sharks in. They're like, Robert's our guy. Robert does everything.

Exactly. So that was like the only known piece that I think Robert knew he needed to show up in a bathing, have a bathing suit. That was the, he was going to be getting in a bait suit. He didn't know what the product was. His reaction was incredible. The shrieking, it was, oh, it was like one of the best moments like, and it was, I remember when it started to happen, I was like, almost like, oh, shit.

Like, dude, calm down. Like, we got to get this guy to calm in. It's supposed to be zen. Exactly. ladies yelling, shut up. Like, you know, and so we finally, but to his credit, man, he did it. And I think he was plunging in the 50s, which, you know, is cold water. I think you said 55.

Yeah, which is absolutely cold water if I'm doing that consistently. It's freezing. There's definitely a moment where he like sinks into it. That's 100%. There's a clear moment where he can see is just nervous. He just calms down. And a lot of credit to him, like, yeah, it's TV and he's getting on and there's a dramatic effect. But he settled in.

I give him a lot of credit. And he came in, he took it seriously once he got to that moment into the sense of like, okay, I'm actually going to see what this is like. I'm going to listen to these guys and control my breath. And he had a great experience. So I think that helped. We had more of a connection with him. He'd used the product now.

He'd been in it. He got it. Mark, obviously, from the pro sports side, we were thinking there might be something there. He looked upset when you took Robert's deal. I don't even remember what. Oh, yeah. If you watch it back, he was like, really? you took it. I mean, I think it was 12% versus 15%.

Because you countered Mark. Yeah. That was kind of our final, we had discussed that that was our threshold that we would go to. So I was really happy Robert hit that because we wanted to walk out with, you know, we wanted to do something with someone. Yeah. And Robert was able to hit that number. And we also got that line of credit. Yeah. It was like a big, big piece to it of, you know, helping with like POs and things like that.

Yeah. So, yeah, overall, I mean, the deal was, I think, yeah. The overall lump sum of the amount was higher than we even went in. 2.4 million. Exactly. Yeah, including the line of credit. It's amazing. And then, you know, the promotional side, like you asked, like, what was that like?

It was, um, it's aired twice now since the date. So we had the original air date. And then we re-aired on ABC probably six weeks ago. Oh, wow. So that's always like you get those nice bumps again. And then it will re-air on CNBC for the next 50 years. So exactly. Like that's the, uh, and then we always get that.

as seen on Shark Tank now. That's amazing. Like we're talking SEO and the videos and the trade show events and all the stuff now with the video of as seen on Shark Tank.

So, yeah, company-wise, huge personal experience. One of the most, I'd never been so tired for not really doing anything in my life. Like I blacked out.

I was so present. I remember coming out being exhausted. Yeah. And I was like, I just stood out there for 40 to 45 minutes talking to these people.

The business is growing. own so much since you guys started. It's been just a little over two years. What do you think's been the biggest lesson that you've learned, either personally or professionally, over these last two years? I've learned a lot of lessons. Yeah, I mean, I think I've learned from like a, from a co-founder, that's been massive. My other company, I did not have a co-founder. So the fact of how much more we've been able to accomplish together is like a real front and center testament to, you know, the saying is like go fast, go alone, go far, go together. Yeah.

And I think when you find the right co-founder, you can do both, which Mike and I have very different skill sets. And so I've learned a lot about that dynamic. I think like learning for us as a company, like the people we bring in, like just being all into this process, it just, it's a, you know, there's, we've gone through. different stages where people have side hustles and do a different stuff, but we've really learned of like who, for the company itself and for the mission that we're at, it's like it takes everyone being all in on this process. So those have been some massive, massive like learnings overall.

And I'm still learning shit every single day. And that's probably the best thing about it. Yeah. Like the amount of growth you guys have had so quickly and that you continue that momentum, it's really impressive to see. Thank you. Thank you. I mean, we're, I mean, two years in, we've surpassed what we thought we were going to do. So it's like, you know, we're planning out the next year,

two years, five years, and it's almost scary sometimes. Like, what are we shooting for here? Who do we want to be as a company? Yeah. You know, something that's really getting clear to us is we want to be, you know, we want to be a big player in, like, preventative health care. Like, you know, coal plunging is a piece. and there's a there's a fun dynamic to it.

We want a fun connotation to our brand, but like at the end of the day, we want help people to build resilience and just be healthier, more vibrant humans. And that's like, how do we achieve on that mission? I mean, I think it's gonna be stepping outside of just coal plunging, new products that we're gonna roll out, how we educate, how we think starts internally,

how our team and our culture is built, and how we treat each other in here into what that's going to play out to the consumer. We've talked a lot during this whole conversation about gratitude, and that's how I end every conversation, because I wake up every day, part of my morning routine, is I say out loud three things I'm grateful for, the second I wake up.

You say it out like you say it into the... Yeah, into the world. I'm so grateful for my fiancé Rachel. I'm so grateful for my health. I'm so grateful for my parents. And then sometimes I just add on some extra ones. I'm so grateful for today. I'm so grateful that we get to have this conversation.

So what are three things in you? your life that you're grateful for right now? I am grateful for my health at the forefront that I can move my body. I have my limbs. I have my, I can think clearly like 100% that is constantly there every day. I am grateful for my parents. They have, I grew up in the most, like, they loved me. You know, and I don't, to me, that's been the key ingredient for my whole life is just I know I'm loved. So I'm grateful for them. And I'm grateful my partner, Raya. She is incredible to supporting me.

She's the biggest cheerleader in this company into what I'm up to, also keeping me grounded and accountable and calling me all my shit and doing all the stuff. So it's, you know, I think those are three things that are like constantly there that I'm, you know, grateful for. But then there's all these like micro things that I'm grateful for. It's like, you know, my best bud just moved back. He'd been down in Brazil and just to be able to like spend time with him and be with him.

You know, this team, we've hired some new people recently. We've had a couple employees go through some personal development programs. And it's just like the coolest thing for me to see the impact that's having in their lives and how that's bleeding into their family relationships and their personal relationships. So that's like actually happening right now, like within the last week or two. so that's been some of the, you know, things that I've brought a big smile to my face. Yeah. I've thoroughly enjoyed this conversation.

Likewise, man. Yeah. So again, thank you for your time and thank you for just having us up here and being able to have this conversation in person. This is great, man. Yeah. Cool. Thank you so much.

Appreciate you, man. Well, there we go. Big thank you to Ryan for inviting us to the Plunge headquarters for this great conversation. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. And I hope that you consider taking a cold shower. or if you have a pool that's not heated, dipping yourself in there and dipping your toe into the world of cold plunging and all the benefits that come along with it. And if you're ready to take the plunge into owning a plunge and joining me in the world of owning a cold plunge, use the code

CVV. You've got $150 off at the cold plunge.com. So CVV at the coldplunge.com. Confucius has an amazing quote. And there's different versions of it floating around there, but the actual quote, I love so much. A healthy man wants a thousand things. A sick man only wants one. Be great and be grateful. We'll see you on the next one for some more insight. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary. Back in the 80s, there were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock, but there was one band that had it all. Hammer Allie. Whatever happened to Hammer Alley? How did they go from top of the rock?

I'm looking for a music video. They're a band from 1987. Hammer Alley. Ever heard of them? To Rock Bottom. Dude, I was born in 1987. I can't believe he's doing this. Hammer Alley.

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