Many professional athletes use cryotherapy to as a method of recovery from injuries and inflammation. But actor Jaden Smith gave it a shot with pal David Blaine, as the famed illusionist was preparing his body for the freezing temperatures he would endure with his “Ascension” balloon stunt. In a YouTube video, Jaden managed to power through a full three minute session with temperatures between negative 200–300°F, and totally blew David’s mind with his willpower and fortitude.
“I’m will try to stay in there for as long as I possibly can,” Jaden told David and a facility technician, who warned, “There’s a lot of pro athletes that can’t do it,” as David elaborated, “Meaning they jump out in like 30 or 40 seconds.” After being told that a professional boxer the prior day had tapped out of being inside the chamber, Jaden excitedly replied, “Wow! This is crazy right now.”
Wearing just blue trunks, heavy mittens and socks, and showing off his ripped shirtless bod, Jaden entered the chamber, took a deep breath, and looked downward with deep concentration. Eventually David encouraged the 22-year-old by telling him, “You’re halfway there,” while knocking on the chamber to tell him he was at the 1:30 mark. Jaden replied with a thumbs up to let everyone know he was doing okay.
“He’s got 45 seconds left, he’s doing great!” David marveled. Towards the end he noted that Jaden was starting to shake, but the After Earth star remained standing in place and determined to go the distance. At the three minute mark Jaden put his arms above his head in victory, but once he was out of the chamber, Jaden let on how cold he really was.
Despite making it look so easy do to three minutes inside the cryochamber, Jaden made chilly “Brr” noises upon exiting, while David gave him an encouraging, “That’s amazing,” for the actor’s stamina. But then it was David’s turn to blow Jaden’s mind, as he did NINE minutes inside the freezing chamber. The 47-year-old explained that, “Now the way this helps in my next stunt is when I’m going up with the balloons, I’m riding all the way up, basically every thousand feet you lose three and a half degrees.”
When David pulled off the three full sessions that made his body so cold his body temperature didn’t register on a thermometer, Jaden exclaimed, “I do not know how…that was insane.” It turned out David needed to be able to handle temperatures that cold, as he made it nearly 25,000 feet above Page, Arizona while holding on to a giant cluster of balloons on Sept. 1, before eventually parachuting back down to to the ground below.