I live 25 minutes away from the only gym in Virginia with an Ammortal Chamber, a six-figure recovery pod stacking futuristic sounding therapies like multi-wave pulsed electric field and red photobiomodulation. Out of curiosity, I had to try it.
My husband joined me on a Thursday evening for a visit to Apparati Smart Gym + Wellness. Other than a Washington Commanders left tackle, we had the place to ourselves. The Ammortal Chamber is one of many high-tech and costly training and recovery tools available to its members: AI-powered bikes, cryochambers, contrast therapy, and something called HOCATT HCT-Pro.
As a staff member took us around, she stopped at the BioCharger, a red cylinder inside a clear container with what looked like a golden pencil sticking out of the top. The machine sat on a coffee table surrounded by four chairs. Our guide said one client likes to sit next to this machine, soaking up its benefits as he works from his laptop. This sounded nice enough—until she turned it on. It emitted a loud electrical noise, and the pencil on top twitched with sparks of electricity from the voltage, light, and pulsed electromagnetic fields emitted to recharge its user’s energy. You too can be reenergized from harnessed natural energies—if you’re willing to buy your own BioCharger unit for $17,990. But I wouldn’t recommend trying to get any work done near it.
Gadgets like the BioCharger are part of a biohacking market projected to grow from $30.47 billion in 2024 to $117.78 by 2033. Biohacking, the broader trend behind these devices, draws on science and self-experimentation to fine-tune the body in the hopes of better health and a longer life. We’ve rounded up a few of the industry’s greatest hits below. These high-tech chambers lessen the oxygen in the air, enclose you in freezing temperatures, or vibrate your body—all in the alluring name of maximal training and recovery.
Altitude Chambers
As a result of physiological adaptations in response to decreased oxygen (known as hypoxia), altitude training can increase strength, VO2 max, power output, and lactate threshold. But we can’t all exercise in Colorado. Enter: altitude chambers.
Hypoxico Inc. was the first company to patent and commercialize simulated altitude training, and they do so by reducing the amount of oxygen in a room while leaving air pressure as is. To learn more, I spoke with Brian Oestrike, Hypoxico’s CEO. Oestrike took my call from Malibu, California, where he was overseeing an installation for a high-profile musician.
Oestrike’s seen it all, including one billionaire who turned his entire 8,000-square-foot Midtown Manhattan office into one giant altitude chamber—and then did the same with his 4,000-square-foot gym in the Hamptons. Oestrike said yet another client in Midtown Manhattan installed a room that brought the oxygen level all the way to 30,000 feet so he could simulate the top of Everest while at home (the guy did go on to summit Everest).
Of the tools surveyed, these are the least absurdly futuristic. Any existing room can be converted, so it looks like a normal gym—or a normal office—only it happens to have less oxygen inside.
Cost: Oestrike says the rooms can range from $12,000 to well into six figures, but he finds most room conversions are between $25,000 and $45,000.
Sensory Deprivation Tanks
Sensory deprivation tanks supposedly promote relaxation and healing by eliminating all external stimuli.
According to Medical News Today, floating in Epsom-salted water reduces the effects of gravity. Skin-temperature water and no clothing further minimize tactile sensations. Earplugs reduce auditory sensations. Within the fiberglass pod, there is nothing to see, feel, or hear. All that’s missing from this Minority Report scene are the electrodes.
Cost: A sensory deprivation tank will set you back $10,000 to $40,000.
Cryochambers
Whole-body cryotherapy exposes the body to very cold temperatures. Temperatures as low as -260 degrees Fahrenheit make it bearable for only a few minutes. If you can endure, it’s believed to reduce muscle pain, soreness, and swelling.
Back at Apparati, our guide showed us the cryo:one+. She opened the door, and whisps of cold air gathered at the floor, shrouding my exposed ankles. I immediately decided not to try that one.
Cost: A cryotherapy chamber costs anywhere from $12,500 to $105,000. One company’s site pictured its cryotherapy chamber parked in a garage with a Porsche in frame, a not-so-subtle reminder that these units exceed most budgets.
Ammortal Chamber
Finally, we arrived at the Ammortal Chamber. As our Apparati guide set me up, her esthetician colleague peeked in to say she felt like crying the first time she tried it. Primed for a tear-jerking experience, I climbed onto the reclined platform that, as the Ammortal website boasts, is modeled on NASA’s zero-gravity body-positioning research—in other words, the same position deemed best for launching astronauts into space.
Donning small, black goggles and a nasal cannula for molecular hydrogen, I felt a pang of anxiety as intensely bright red lights flooded my goggled eyes and a loud mechanical noise indicated the top was lowering. A woman’s voice guided me into the session as vibrations rippled through the platform and wind instruments accompanied lapping waves. I knew the session was winding down as the sounds receded, the vibrations ceased, and the red lights clicked off. Just as I was thinking I didn’t feel any different, the voice returned. The moment she suggested I might feel good, a sense of energized calm came over me. It had worked! Or, had my senses been so overloaded that I was awash with relief that it was over?
Cost: Whatever the case, this experience could be yours for a cool $159,500.
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