Whole Body Cryotherapy: What It Is and What to Expect

The Quick Answer

Whole body cryotherapy exposes your skin to extremely cold air, -200°F to -240°F, for up to about three and a half minutes. Research suggests it may support faster recovery from training, reduced muscle soreness, and lower inflammatory markers, though the evidence is still developing and results vary from person to person. Most people also describe a clear-headed, energized feeling afterward. At Defiant in Lisle, IL, we run whole body cryotherapy in an Everest CryoBuilt chamber, and it pairs well with our infrared sauna for contrast therapy. Serving Naperville, Downers Grove, Wheaton, and Chicago's western suburbs.

Whole body cryotherapy is a short blast of extreme cold, usually two to three minutes standing in a chamber where the air drops to -200°F to -240°F. The idea is that a brief, intense cold exposure may nudge your body into a recovery response: less soreness, calmer inflammation, and for a lot of people, a jolt of morning-style alertness that lingers after they step out. Below is a plain look at how it works, what the research actually supports, what a session feels like at Defiant in Lisle, and how it stacks up against the cold plunge everyone keeps asking about.

What Whole Body Cryotherapy Actually Is

Whole body cryotherapy is pretty simple in practice: you stand in a chamber of very cold air for a couple of minutes, your skin cools quickly, and the rest of you stays fine. Our chamber gets down to -200°F to -240°F. Yes, that number looks terrifying on paper. In reality most people handle it better than they expect, because the air is dry and you're only in there for a few minutes. A long, wet, shivery afternoon in the cold is genuinely unpleasant. A short, dry blast of cryo is a different experience altogether, and it's over before you've really had time to dread it.

Here's the basic theory behind it. When your skin senses a sudden drop in temperature, your body reacts to protect your core. Blood moves inward toward your vital organs, your nervous system fires up, and a cascade of recovery-related signals kicks off. Then you step out, you warm back up, and blood rushes back to your limbs. That rapid cool-and-rewarm cycle is what researchers think may drive some of the benefits people report, from reduced soreness to that wide-awake feeling afterward.

Athletes have leaned on cold for recovery for decades, mostly through ice baths. Whole body cryotherapy is a faster, drier version of the same instinct, which is part of why it's become a fixture in recovery routines well beyond pro sports.

What the Research Suggests

A handful of studies have looked at whole body cryotherapy for muscle recovery and inflammation, and the results lean positive.

Studies have shown whole body cryotherapy may reduce markers of inflammation and exercise-induced muscle damage after hard training.¹ They have reported lower levels of inflammatory cytokines and reduced perceived soreness in the days following intense exercise.² That lines up with what a lot of people feel: they train hard, do a session, and the next-day stiffness isn't as loud.

What a Session Actually Feels Like

You step into what basically looks like an upright freezer, wearing minimal clothing plus gloves, socks, and slippers we provide to protect your extremities. Your head stays above the rim, so you can breathe normal room-temperature air the whole time and talk to the staff member running your session. We also provide earmuffs with headphones, so you can pick a favorite song or podcast to get you through the session.

The first thirty seconds feel cold in the way you'd expect. After that, most people settle into it, and the session caps at three minutes and thirty seconds, so it's over quickly. When you step out, the common reaction is a rush of warmth and a noticeably alert, almost buzzy feeling as your circulation comes back online. Plenty of our clients book a morning session specifically for that mental lift, not just the physical recovery side.

A few practical notes. You're always in control, and you can step out at any point. If you have certain heart or blood pressure conditions, are pregnant, or have cold-sensitive conditions like Raynaud's, cryotherapy may not be right for you, so it's worth a quick conversation with us or your doctor first.

How It Compares to a Cold Plunge

This is the question we get most, so let's clear it up. A cold plunge means submerging your body in cold water, usually somewhere between 40°F and 55°F, for several minutes. Whole body cryotherapy uses cold air that's far colder on paper but for a much shorter time, and your skin never gets wet. We offer cryotherapy, not cold plunge, so if that's what you've been looking for, this is the version we do.

Neither one is objectively "better." They're two routes to a similar cold-exposure goal, and the right pick usually comes down to what you have access to and what you can actually see yourself doing on a regular basis. The best recovery tool is the one you'll come back to.

Pairing Cryo With Heat: Contrast Therapy

One of the more popular ways to use cryotherapy is to pair it with heat. Alternating our infrared sauna and the cryo chamber in one visit is called contrast therapy, and the back-and-forth between hot and cold may support circulation and recovery beyond what either does alone. If you want the deeper explanation, we broke down the science and the how-to in our guide to combining sauna and cryotherapy for contrast therapy. It's a great option on a dedicated recovery day.

What It Costs at Defiant

Whole body cryotherapy is easy to try. New clients get a first session for $25, a single session after that runs $50, and if you end up hooked, unlimited monthly is $299. Cryotherapy is also included as a Core Wellness credit in all three of our membership tiers, so regular users often fold it into a membership rather than paying per visit.

We're at 5100 Lincoln Ave in Lisle, and we see clients from Naperville, Downers Grove, Wheaton, Oak Brook, and across Chicago's western suburbs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Last updated July 9, 2026.