TLDR

• Therabody’s CryoTherm Palm is a portable, cordless palm cooling device engineered to lower core body temperature between efforts. No ice necessary, you get 120 minutes of battery life, $399.99.
• Two controlled studies showed significant performance gains when athletes used the device. 28% more total training volume in resistance training and a 2.45% increase in sprint speed for elite athletes.
• For endurance athletes training through summer heat and humidity — especially in cities like Austin; this makes a lot of sense.

I was mid-conversation with an athlete when this announcement hit my inbox.

We were talking about the thing every Austin-based athlete knows intimately by early June: your numbers are going to suck.

Like clockwork, we hit June and BOOM, heart rates climb, paces slip, and power drops. And it’s not because fitness is going backward but because the humidity parks itself on top of the city like a wet blanket and doesn’t leave until October.

You can be getting fitter every single week and your data will never show it. That’s just training in Austin.

So when Therabody drops a palm cooling device with actual peer-reviewed data on the same day I’m having this exact conversation, its something we need to cover.

What Is It

The CryoTherm Palm is Therabody’s first thermoregulation device — a portable, cordless dual-surface cooling tool designed for both palms. The concept isn’t new to sports science as researchers have known for years that the palms, feet, and face are the body’s primary thermal radiators — areas where blood vessels sit close enough to the surface that cooling them creates a fast, measurable drop in core temperature.

As coaches, we always tell athletes to hold ice in their palms to regulate their body temperature.

What’s new here is that Therabody built a device around that science that athletes can actually use. No ice needed, no water dripping all over the place, and no setup. Just pull it out, grip it (that’s what she said…) and cool down.

Three calibrated cold temperature settings, from 46.4°F, 53.6°F, and 60.8°F — let you dial in the intensity. The device stores your last setting.

Also, importantly. It takes USB-C charging, has a travel lock, and comes with an included pouch. And yes, it’s TSA compliant. The whole thing is built for real-world use no matter where you’re travelling.

What the Data Says

Most recovery and performance devices launch with vague claims and a handful of testimonials from sponsored athletes. Therabody went a different route with the CryoTherm Palm.

They actually went directly to the source. The first was done with 21 Division I athletes at USC performing overhead presses to failure. Athletes using the device saw 28% more total work volume compared to control, 58% more reps in their final set, and a 7% increase in post-session grip strength.

The second study involved 22 elite male soccer players at IMG Academy running repeated sprint protocols. There, results showed a 2.45% increase in top sprint speed, a 4.7% improvement in sustained sprint velocity across repeated efforts, and athletes reported feeling 60% cooler during the work intervals.

Stats are stats and these two use cases show improved efforts. Will it work for you and I, likely but who knows. But it’s at least reassuring to see.

The Austin Case

Every athlete training outside in Central Texas right now is fighting the same battle. Summer heat and oppressive humidity drive heart rate up 10-15 beats per minute at the same effort levels you held easily in March. Perceived exertion skyrockets and the brain starts pulling the emergency brake earlier because it wants to protect you. You hit your limits faster, recover slower, and the data on your watch looks like you’re regressing.

The CryoTherm Palm’s job is to give your thermoregulation system a reset. Drop core temperature between hard efforts and if you look at the above, it does that, letting the brain stand down from the alarm and lets you push deeper into the next interval.

A Few Considerations

At $399.99, this isn’t an impulse purchase.

If you’re a serious amateur athlete racing year round, or worry about your health in the heat, this might be a consideration. Therabody is positioning this as a performance tool first, recovery tool second. The cold therapy, heat therapy, and contrast therapy modes built in give it flexibility beyond just between-set cooling.

England’s national football team who will be playing in the FIFA Waorl Cup this summer are using it in training camp ahead of upcoming matches in the brutal US heat. Elite organizations don’t introduce new protocols mid-cycle unless the results are compelling.

We haven’t used the device so we can’t speak to our own validation but the the bigger question for most endurance athletes is, for $400, how does palm cooling translate to steady-state or threshold endurance work — the 90-minute run, the 3-hour ride? The science suggests it should help there too, but those specific data points aren’t in the release.

The Bottom Line

Therabody built something that actually addresses one of the most frustrating realities of summer training in hot climates. you basically want to die when training outside.

Yes, their data is real, and the technology is grounded in established thermoregulation science, but is it going to replace training adaptation? No. Will it make your HR look like March in August? No.

But if it lets you complete one more hard interval at quality before your body shuts it down — that’s a measurable fitness gain. Compounded over five months of Austin summers, that’s the difference between maintaining fitness and actually building it. The choice is yours.

CryoTherm Palm is available here at $399.99.