PJ Nestler’s contrast therapy cold tub and sauna (plus other product picks)

Welcome to Health Stack, a series where founders, operators and experts share their favorite health and wellness products, gear, apps, and routines…

PJ Nestler is a human performance specialist, international speaker, educator, and coach with extensive experience preparing the world’s top athletes for competition.

In his 18+ years in the industry, Coach PJ has trained hundreds of athletes from the UFC, NFL, and NHL. In his current role as the Vice President of Performance at FitLab Inc, he is responsible for building education curriculums and translating the world’s best training systems from iconic athletes and brands into authentic and exciting consumer experiences.

Here’s PJ to share his favorite health and wellness products:

Cold Stoic 2.0

“Cold therapy is an essential part of XPT and this tub has been a staple of my personal practice for the last 5 years. For performance, it keeps the water cold (37-39 degrees F) and clean (through filtration and ozone) so I can use it anytime I want. Aesthetically this is my favorite cold tub out there as the design looks great in my backyard matching my wood sauna.”

Nordic Sauna

“The other half of my regular contrast therapy, this Nordic sauna is a powerhouse. I can easily fit 8 people comfortably, 12 when we’re stacking in, and the performance heater is capable of maintaining “european temperatures”. The square sauna is much preferred over the popular barrel saunas due to better spacing to fit humans, ability to sit upright vs hunched over, and having two bench levels for different heat zones for individuals. Extra bonus is the performance bench set up allows the benches to flip up and lock to the wall so I can stretch and move in the space as desired.”

RPM Sandbag

“I’ve been through a ton of sandbags in my training and this is by far my personal favorite. It has all the features of your favorite sandbag with three major perks that I love. First, the handles are tight to the bag which eliminates a lot of the floppiness you encounter when performing sandbag cleans or presses, or which limit range of motion in bent over rows or RDL’s. A seemingly simple solution but this is the only sandbag I’ve ever used that figured it out.”

“Second, they have perfectly measured the proper mix of sand to rubber to hit the target weights and keep the right density in the sandbag, eliminating the second biggest issue with floppy half filled sandbags. And finally, the velcro patches with weight indicators make it easy to swap between bags without having to guess the weight or tell people “light, medium-ish, and heavier” as their weight options.”

Rucker 4.0

“Rucking has become a staple of my training, from long intense rucks on the weekends to random daily rucks around the neighborhood while taking calls or walking the dog, the Rucker 4.0 was a huge upgrade from my previous pack. The sturdiness of the pack, padded shoulder straps and lumbar support, and ability to load significant weight and keep it high on my back has reduced the excessive thoracic spine, neck and traps pain I used to struggle with during anything longer than an hour or heavier than 40lbs.”

Descent Mk 1

“This has been my daily wrist watch since 2020, great for tracking steps and regular workout activities like runs, hikes, and swims. Paired with the waterproof triathlon HR monitor I’m able to track HR during those swims or XPT pool training much more accurately than any wrist wearable. But with my love of the water, and desire to be under it often, the depth and dive features of this watch make it stand out above the rest. Whether I’m measuring pool depths for XPT pool training, or tracking surface times and dive info during freediving and scuba, this watch has been an all around workhorse for my active lifestyle.”