Why We Call It Cold Club®

The Origins of Cold Club: Harnessing Stress as Your Greatest Ally

Imagine stepping into icy waters under a starlit Alaskan sky, your breath steady, your mind clear, and emerging not just colder, but unbreakable. This isn't escape—it's empowerment. In the spring of 2025, Cold Club was born from this very ethos, founded by Matt Soule, a wellness visionary with over 15 years of transforming lives.

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Cold Club isn't just another health brand. It's a movement born from personal transformation, scientific insight, and a mission to empower one million people to harness stress, turning it into fuel for unparalleled health, resilience, and performance. 

We're not here to shield you from stress; we're here to teach you how to wield it. 

Matt Soule's Epic Journey: From Shadows to Strength

Matt's path wasn't paved with ease—it is a testament to the human spirit's capacity for renewal. Growing up amid domestic violence, Matt grappled with fear and uncertainty that etched deep into his nervous system. This early challenge ignited his quest for healing, starting with simple breathing exercises, meditation, and chi gong. But it was martial arts that became his salvation, channeling raw energy into disciplined power, resolving childhood wounds, and equipping him to help others do the same. Through rigorous training, Matt discovered how physical challenge could rewire the mind, building unshakeable confidence.

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In the early 2010s, a leg injury during a jiu-jitsu competition triggered a relentless cascade of inflammation, compounded by 15-hour workdays after leaving financial services to buy a martial arts school. Burnout hit hard—stacking injuries, unrelenting pain, fatigue and a divorce—leaving Matt physically and emotionally depleted.

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In this chaos, breakthrough arrived when Matt joined the first U.S. cohort of Wim Hof Method instructors, later becoming a lead trainer for the WHM Academy.  This new catalyst revealed the power of the cold and pushed him to investigate new applications of breathwork.  Touring globally with Wim, he guided thousands through breathwork, cold plunges, and grit-building exercises.

 

Matt explored deeper into other positive stressors: sauna and heat training, fasting and nutrition. Each practice played its role: cold sharpened focus, breath regulated emotions, sauna detoxified and restored, fasting offered reset.  Armed with these tools, Matt stood resilient in the face of life's challenges and explored new boundaries, recognizing the need to choose certain types of positive stressors to manage and overcome the stress we don't choose.  

 

The discovery that adventure is not only a core tenet of the human experience, but a necessary ingredient to master stress was a standout insight uncovered during his summiting Mt. Kilimanjaro in under 34 hours—no acclimatization, just signature breathing protocols and state-of-the-art oximeters tracking blood and muscle oxygen saturation.  This experience, along with the data collected, clarified long-held questions of human physiology and shaped Matt's breathing protocol designs going forward.  He has since trained world-champion athletes, special forces soldiers among many others the key principles of achieving peak performance.  

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This evolution revealed a profound truth: there are five key pathways to stress in the human body—breath, cold/heat, fasting/nutrition, connection and movement. Matt lived them intensely, learning the delicate balance between adaptive stress that builds and destructive stress that breaks. 

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By 2025, Matt broke free to found Cold Club, blending his 15 years of expertise into a game-changing platform.  Inspired, Matt synthesized a decade of poring over thousands of scientific articles, interviewing doctors and specialists, and tailoring protocols to individual journeys because one-size-fits-all fails.

 

From heart-wrenching stories of clients conquering chronic pain, autoimmune disorders, burnout, and addictions, to elevating athletes and soldiers to peak performance amid harrowing challenges—Matt's work proves stress mastery changes everything. As he shares in his best-selling book, Stronger Through Stress: Mastering Stress for High Performance and Restored Health, not all stress is bad... in fact, the right type and dose of positive stress is likely the thing you're missing.

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Having trained over 10,000 people and 750 instructors across 40 countries, Matt’s field-tested protocols are now a global movement.

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Why Cold Club?  

The Right Stress Is Your Strength

In our chaotic era of endless demands, stress is inevitable—but suffering isn't. Stress isn’t the villain—it’s the spark. Cold Club exists to help you master it, whether you’re a CEO dodging burnout, an athlete chasing gold, or just tired of life’s chaos. We blend science-backed tools—breathwork, cold exposure, saunas, fasting, and movement—into tailored protocols that evolve with you.

 

Forget one-size-fits-all; drawing from Matt's odyssey and global expertise, we bridge silos in wellness. We will tailor the right approach for you based on your individual needs and goals.  

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The Science of Stress Mastery: Evidence-Backed Pathways to Power

What sets Cold Club apart is our unwavering commitment to science while integrating reliable ancient wisdom, positioning us as leaders in stress optimization. Our protocols aren't guesswork; they're rooted in rigorous research across the five key pathways.

• Breathwork: Studies show breathwork significantly reduces stress and anxiety, with meta-analyses revealing improvements in mood and parasympathetic tone, countering the fight-or-flight response.  The right techniques balance controlled inhalation-exhalation ratios which lower resting heart rate and blood pressure, enhancing mental clarity and emotional regulation.

• Cold Exposure: Regular cold immersion reduces inflammation, boosts insulin sensitivity for better blood sugar management, and elevates mood while decreasing depressive symptoms. The right timing and frequency of the cold boosts performance and recovery.  Research indicates it enhances immunity, sleep quality, and overall well-being, with time-dependent effects on stress hormones.

• Heat Training (Sauna): Sauna bathing lowers risk of cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, and stroke, with frequent use (4-7 times weekly) linked to 66% reduced dementia risk and improved circulation. It aids detoxification, pain relief, and stress reduction, mimicking moderate exercise's benefits, while other protocols have demonstrated a true performance edge in endurance.  

• Fasting and Nutrition: Intermittent fasting promotes weight optimization, boosts memory, and improves heart health by enhancing metabolic markers. Evidence suggests it reduces inflammation and supports brain function, though balanced application is key.  Choosing the optimal nutrients and fasting schedule is a skillful blend of art and science, and Cold Club is here to guide you. 

• Strength and Movement is essential to physical and mental health.  It has the capacity to help alleviate trauma symptoms, reducing anxiety and depression while fostering power, emotional expression, and social bonds. Integrated with our protocols, it builds physical resilience, mental fortitude and longevity.​

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These insights, synthesized from thousands of participants and studies, ensure our tailored approaches deliver predictable results, adapting as your capacities evolve.

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How We Help: Proprietary Protocols and Elite Guidance

Cold Club's signature protocols blend these pathways into transformative routines.  Delivered by world-class coaches in the US, Austria, Germany, Mexico, and expanding globally, our programs include free online guides, paid expansions, intensives like Alaskan adventures, and a selective Instructor Training (12 weeks online + 6-day practical). We've witnessed miracles: fears conquered, communities forged, lives reclaimed.

 

Step Into Your Power: Join Cold Club Today

You hold the key to a life unbound by stress. Let Cold Club be your guide—embrace the challenge, ignite your potential, and thrive. As Matt affirms, "Fear is a signal, not to retreat, but to step forward." Dive in, access free resources, join webinars, or apply for certification. Together, we'll turn your stress into your superpower.