★★★★★
The Cold Water Handbook
A practical, evidence-informed guide to understanding how your body and mind respond to cold water, shaped by current research, fourteen years of coaching and the experiences of nearly 1,000 swimmers.
The experience, the science, and how to do it well.
Understand cold water.
The Cold Water Handbook explores what cold water feels like, what happens inside the body and how factors such as sleep, energy, health, hormones, experience and the conditions can affect every swim. Its aim is not to push you further. It is to help you understand cold water more clearly, so you can make informed decisions for your own body and circumstances.
The experience
What cold water feels like, in swimmers’ own words.
The science
What happens inside the body, and where the evidence is strong or uncertain.
Swimming well
Practical guidance for preparing, swimming and warming up safely.
What customers say
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“An excellent and extremely useful guide, pitched just right in terms of length and tone, balancing science, safety messaging and emotional heft.”
RachelScottish Highlands -
“Comprehensive and easy to read. Unlike some books that feel too technical or aimed at an elite, this resonated with the ordinary people we meet every day on our swims.”
JohnTasmania, Australia -
“The after-swim section is like a friend, gently steering me to do things better. I might have been cold-water swimming for a while, but I respond well to understanding the reasons why.”
GillWorcester -
“I think I have read almost everything written for the public about cold-water swimming, and you have nailed it. Anyone from the curious to the serious will find this a readable, accessible, sensible and elegantly written handbook. I only wish that every person aspiring to swim in cold water could read it first.”
PenelopeMaine, USA -
“Easy to read, so well written and very clearly set out. It is a valuable reminder of the things we can begin to take for granted as regular swimmers.”
TanyaHigh Peak -
“Brilliant, really useful and a powerful reminder that everyone responds differently to cold-water immersion. It makes the science and safety advice feel human and relatable.”
KathNorth East Scotland