Every athlete has had some version of this moment.

It’s mid-July and your heart rate is pounding through your chest. It won’t come down between intervals and your splits are falling apart. You know you have more in the tank but your tank is saying absolutely not. It’s hotter than hell and a blanket of humidity is draped across your face, as if you’re being waterboarded.

Yup. That’s what its like to live on earth in 2026.

And there’s nothing to do about it except wait, pour cold water on your wrists, or grab some ice and hold it in the hands or put it down your shorts.

You see, heat and humidity are the oldest performance limiters in sport, even far outweighing your own limitations. And for most of us, the solution hasn’t changed much since someone figured out that holding ice in your hands actually works.

But ice melts and is messy and what fun is there in that?

Therabody thinks they’ve built a better version of that.

The CryoTherm Palm is their first thermoregulation device. A portable, cordless, dual-ended tool designed to sit in both palms simultaneously, pulling heat out of your body through the same pathway coaches have been targeting for years: the AVAs, or arteriovenous anastomoses, in your hands. These are specialized blood vessels that sit close to the skin surface and function as one of the body’s most efficient natural heat exchangers.

Cool them down at the right temperature, meaning not too cold, and you drop your core temperature fast.

So when Therabody reached out to see if we wanted to give the device a try in hell, I mean, Austin Texas, we said, absolutely. Here’s what we found.

First Impressions

Pick it up and the first thing you notice is the form factor.

In terms of sheer size, think of a standard 12-pound dumbbell in your hand — same shape, same footprint, thicker grip, but the same general feel in both hands. But obviously it weighs almost nothing by comparison, just 2lbs. It’s portable in a way that the dumbbell comparison might seem dumb but for context and the photo above, you get our point.

The build quality is immediately impressive. This doesn’t feel like a $100 wellness gadget off Amazon that’s going to crack in your gym bag. It’s backed by Therabody and it shows. The housing is solid, the surfaces feel premium, and the device communicates “serious, high quality build” from the moment you hold it, which matters when the whole point of this gadget is that you want to hold it.

Setup is nothing and there is no learning curve. You turn it on, select your setting, and within about 30 seconds you feel it working, though Therabody says it can take up to 1 minute to really work.

The Science Is Real

Therabody didn’t just slap a cooling surface on a handle and call it innovation. The AVA pathway is well-documented in sports science, and the calibrated temperature range, the three cold settings at 46.4°F, 53.6°F, and 60.8°F matters specifically because of vasoconstriction. Go too cold and the blood vessels close down; the cooling effect actually reverses. The CryoTherm Palm is designed to stay in the optimal window where blood keeps flowing and cold/heat transfer actually happens.

They commissioned two controlled studies before launch. One with 21 Division I athletes at USC found 28% more total training volume and 58% more reps in the final set compared to control. A second with 22 elite soccer players at IMG Academy showed a 2.45% increase in top sprint speed and a 4.7% improvement in sustained sprint velocity across repeated efforts — with athletes reporting feeling 60% cooler during work intervals.

It is worth noting, Therabody’s own fine print acknowledges results “may not reflect outcomes in other training contexts, athlete levels, or populations.” The USC study is a strength training protocol and how it translates to a 90-minute threshold run or a 5-hour ride is a fair question, and the data for that specific use case isn’t published yet. The science behind the device suggests it should transfer but we’re not going to pretend the endurance-specific research is there when it isn’t.

What we can tell you is what we felt when using this in our 90+ degree garage over the last few weeks. While dripping sweat and deeply uncomfortable, our core temperature was noticeably lower within roughly 2 minutes of use. Solid timing for between set intervals.

🔥 Here’s What Works

It works. That’s where we have to start. Does this do what it says it does and the answer is, yes. The cooling is great, it’s fast, and it’s calibrated to actually do the do. Holding the sides of the device for the first time is a fun experience. You don’t know what to expect but the metal gets, cold. Like condensation cold, and within 30 seconds of holding the CryoTherm Palm, we felt a measurable shift in how our body was responding. It’s fun and innovative and easy.

Three settings for maxmimum comfort. Depending on how sensitive your hands are, you can dial it from manageable to aggressive. The coldest setting at 46.4°F is like a cold plunge for your palms and our favorite setting. But the mid-range is likely the practical sweet spot for most athletes. The good news is, try em all for different moments.

Year-round use case. This is not a summer-only toy. The heating mode also has three settings on the warm side, making it useful for cold-weather racing and training as well. We envision it being great for sideline warming during winter track sessions, pre-race hand warmth in a cold-start triathlon, and post-cold-run recovery. To be honest, I bet we see these on NFL sidelines, soon. It’s a thermoregulation device in both directions, which stretches the value argument considerably.

The social factor is real. Bring this to a group workout and you become the most popular person there. The questions just never stopped. We pulled it out between sets on a hot track session, passed it around and people loved it. Not because it’s flashy, but because it works immediately and anyone holding it understands the concept within seconds. If money is not the limiting factor, this is also a genuinely memorable gift for the endurance athlete who already has everything. Nothing else on the market does exactly this.

TSA compliant, travel pouch included. For athletes who race or train in multiple environments, this matters. It goes with you.

🤢 Here’s What Sucks

The price. Plain and simple, the $400 price tag is a lot and it doesn’t go away. We’re not going to bury it. The technology is real, the build quality justifies a premium price point, and the use case is genuine — but $400 is a lot for most athletes, and we’d be doing you a disservice if we said otherwise. If Therabody brings a trimmed version to market closer to $200 or $250, this review ends very differently. But at $400, it’s a device that most athletes will admire and hope their training partner buys.

The noise. This isn’t make or break at all but like a lot of devices, the CryoTherm Palm is louder than you’d expect. Outdoors, at a track, in a noisy gym — it’s a non-issue. You’ll never notice it. But if you’re in a quiet environment, like your house, peole around you notice. This is not a device you pull out in a library or a hotel room at 6am without considering who’s nearby.

The contrast therapy mode is a question mark. One side hot, one side cold simultaneously. The concept is interesting. Whether it produces measurable benefit beyond the individual modes is something we can’t confirm, and Therabody’s research doesn’t specifically isolate it. For most athletes, the standard cooling or heating mode is the core use case here.

Our Experience With the CryoTherm Palm

We came in open minded. Therabody has a long history of delivering on their products. And at $400, this device needed to prove itself immediately, and it did. The 30-second response time is the thing that made us, well, giddy.

When time is limited between sets, it’s fast enough to actually fit into an athletic workflow. Even if you leave the device on; given the battery life, you’re not waiting for it, it’s ready when you are.

The three cold settings took a session to figure out which was best for us. We started conservatively going mid-range and then of course moved toward the coldest level as we got a feel for what our hands could handle.

It was heavenly.

The heat mode got less time from us in Austin in June but it works and we can see exactly where it fits in. The year-round versatility is one of the stronger arguments for the price, and it’s one Therabody probably undersells in how they’re positioning this right now.

And of course, the social element. It’s just cool. The CryoTherm Palm is the kind of device that starts conversations in a group setting. Anyone working out outside right now understands the heat problem viscerally. When you hand someone this device and they feel the effect in 30 seconds, the conversation changes and puts a smile on their face. We’re envisioning all those people in AZ sitting in their cars post 115 degree workout. They’d seriously benefit, and be so happy.

The Real Takeaway

The CryoTherm Palm is solving a real problem.

How do you regulate your body temperature quickly in the middle of a session, without stopping everything, in summer heat or winter cold when the window between efforts is short and the margin between performance and fading is thin?

The answer it delivers is fast, practical, and backed by actual science. The build quality is premium. The year-round use case is genuine. The social and gifting angle is legitimate for the athlete who has everything. And it works in a way that’s immediately felt, not just theoretically justified.

We can’t speak to how well this device holds up when dropped, or in 6-months time, or when it inevitably gets dirty, but for those moments when you simply need relief, you’re not thinking about all that anyway. It simply works.

But the price is still the price and the CryoTherm Palm is expensive.

But if you’re ready for it — this is the real deal.

What To Know

• Price: $399.99

• Modes: Cooling (3 settings: 46.4°F / 53.6°F / 60.8°F), Heating (3 settings), Contrast Therapy (one side hot, one side cold)

• Response Time: Reaches therapeutic temperature in under 60 seconds

• Battery Life: Up to 120 minutes (varies by mode and intensity)

• Charging: USB-C

• Size: Comparable to a standard 5lb dumbbell — significantly lighter

• Built-in Features: Stopwatch, session memory, travel lock

• Included: Travel pouch, charging cable

• Travel: TSA compliant

Verdict

The Therabody CryoTherm Palm is impressive and does exactly what it claims to do. The thermoregulation is real, the hardware is premium, and the 30-second activation time is fast enough to be actually useful inside a real training session.

The $400 price tag is the only thing standing between us recommending this device and a much wider audience purchasing it. If you’re in a position where the price doesn’t change the decision — buy it, use it, and pass it around your training group. It will earn its keep on contact and make you a lot of new friends too.

For everyone else, it’s a device worth knowing about but we’d wait for it to get cheaper. If it ever gets down to $250, we’d likely buy it.

Should You Buy It?

Buy it if money is not the deciding factor and you train in extreme heat or cold regularly, because this solves a real problem, fast.

Buy it if you’re looking for a gift for the endurance athlete who has everything — nothing else on the market does exactly this.

Buy it if you’re a coach, team, or organization where athlete thermoregulation at race pace matters.

Buy it if you already spend on performance tech and want something that works immediately, visibly, and gets you clout.

Skip it if you’re on a tighter budget and go for a frozen water bottle. Even if it will get you 70% of the way there, its almost free.

Skip it if quiet environments are your primary training context — the device makes noise.

Purchase the Therabody CryoTherm Palm at therabody.com