In 2018, I did ice baths a couple of days weekly for about six weeks. My summary of the whole experiment is that the results and feelings after you get out of the bathtub are not even close to being worth the torture of sitting in ice water for 7 - 10 minutes. You'll get much better results and feel way better afterward with cryo tank therapy than with ice baths, and you'll only have to stay in the cryo tank for 3 minutes. My experience with that is documented here if anybody is interested.
Why do you think you experienced such a marked difference in both experience and outcome between the two?
Seems impractical, at least for me, since I presently work out soon after waking up. Also probably unnecessarily cutting edge for an aging weekend warrior like me. In any event, I just do cold showers. I realize it's probably not as intense as an actual ice bath, but it's a lot more convenient than either buying or making ice. Although cold showers during the summer months won't be nearly as challenging as they are now.
Pissed me off when the Bally's gyms took out the cold plunges, guessing the &%^$ lawyers had something to do with it.
I definitely don't disagree with the fact that it does feel like torture at first. I have gotten to the point that when I do an ice bath as opposed to shower I get comfortable (using that fairly loosely) after a minute or so. Also I think the science indicates you don't have to sit in it for that long. I think 3 -5 minutes is good for an ice bath. The hard core, Wim Hof types, go for the 10 to 20 minute soaks, but I am pretty sure I have read that isn't necessary. Akin to my daily meditation, I use my breathing to remain in control.
On the cold shower front, Hof said in one of his videos that only 2 minutes are required to get the full physical beneficial effect. Doing it for longer, say, 5 minutes, becomes more of a mental thing.
But then why was the ice bath so much less...pleasant? Since a water and air comparison is like comparing apples and oranges, I wonder at what temperature the air would have to be to be equally challenging as ice water for the same duration. I'm not being rhetorical here, I'm genuinely curious.
The ice bath isn't as good because: 1. You've got to make it yourself. In my case, I had to by four 20lb bags of ice to get it down to the proper temperature 2. You've got to stay in it for three times as long as the cyro tank, and every second matters when you're freezing. 3. It doesn't create the same level of feel-good chemicals in the body. There's a slight feel-good component to the ice bath after you get out and warm up, but the pleasure chemicals that the body releases from the cryo tank therapy is about the closest feeling to doing a recreational drug that you're ever going to experience naturally.