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Wim Hof Method


Raja Clavata
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Does anyone have any first hand experience of this, good or bad, that they'd be prepared to share?

I bumped into a Polish friend of mine at the gym earlier in the week and he was telling me about his exploits using the techniques on his honeymoon trekking / climbing Mera Peak (odd choice of honeymoon destination but there you go). He reckons he could easily complete the trek / summit in 7 days compared to the usual 21 that most trips take.

I'm particularly interested in first hand experience, thanks in advance.

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I started looking at it a year ago. I tried the whole breathing thing, but couldn't really get into it so didn't carry on with that part.

The cold water part has however, been incredible. I started cold water showering just over 1 year ago. And by cold I mean the coldest setting on the shower. It doesn't take as long to get used to it as you would imagine.

I can only describe it as a reset button on the fog and tiredness I used to feel each morning. I always come out feeling invigorated and ready for the day. I would sweat a lot at work to the point of shirts with embarrassing sweaty armpits, but this stopped. I've had fewer colds. It honestly creates such a physical and mental buzz that my body craves it now. As a side benefit I can now sea swim all year round having been in for long periods a few times this week alone.

My words really cant do it justice, but I honestly believe cold water therapy is the real deal in terms of mental and physical benefits.

I strongly encourage you to do it and set a target to stick to so your body has time to adapt.

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4 minutes ago, Pistol p said:

Download the pranayama app and save yourself the grief of thinking how to breathe. In the meantime, I know a guy selling some magic beans...

I'm not sure I follow. Are you suggesting its all some nonsense for someone to make money off the back of?

Normally with these things I'd agree with you, but I can assure you its not the case here. It costs nothing ( I've probably saved a few quid on the hot water) and there is no need to buy any special kit, get the t-shirt or generally act like you've joined some kind of cult.

Give it a go.

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35 minutes ago, treetree said:

I started looking at it a year ago. I tried the whole breathing thing, but couldn't really get into it so didn't carry on with that part.

The cold water part has however, been incredible. I started cold water showering just over 1 year ago. And by cold I mean the coldest setting on the shower. It doesn't take as long to get used to it as you would imagine.

I can only describe it as a reset button on the fog and tiredness I used to feel each morning. I always come out feeling invigorated and ready for the day. I would sweat a lot at work to the point of shirts with embarrassing sweaty armpits, but this stopped. I've had fewer colds. It honestly creates such a physical and mental buzz that my body craves it now. As a side benefit I can now sea swim all year round having been in for long periods a few times this week alone.

My words really cant do it justice, but I honestly believe cold water therapy is the real deal in terms of mental and physical benefits.

I strongly encourage you to do it and set a target to stick to so your body has time to adapt.

Thanks very much for this. I've just started on the cold water stuff, slowly as I'm a bit of a wuss with the cold (poor circulation), with the plunge pool at the gym and I must admit it does feel good afterwards and I am already drawn to doing it more often and going colder. Plan to start on cold showers soon.

I'm interested in both the cold exposure and breathing as I have a few mountaineering trips booked above 4000m this year and don't yet have a very good gauge on how well I manage high altitudes but I know from cycling that my breathing technique has been a performance limiting factor in the past.

Appreciate your insight 👍

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15 minutes ago, treetree said:

I'm not sure I follow. Are you suggesting its all some nonsense for someone to make money off the back of?

Normally with these things I'd agree with you, but I can assure you its not the case here. It costs nothing ( I've probably saved a few quid on the hot water) and there is no need to buy any special kit, get the t-shirt or generally act like you've joined some kind of cult.

Give it a go.

My mate reckons the inability to market and make money out of it (perhaps with the exception of Wim Hof himself) is precisely the reason these techniques are not more widely adopted. I'm usually quite skeptical but I know and trust my pal well enough to believe there must be something to this and his experience on Mera Peak with respect to the breathing and high altitude is quite compelling. BTW he was on a guided trip and going topless at 5800m was apparently not very popular with the expedition leader and sherpas 🙂

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I find a cold shower feels colder than plunging into ice water.

If I go to a sauna with a ice plunge I love it and float around in it until the water don't feel cold anymore. 

If I go to one with a chilled water cold deluge shower, it feels much colder to stsrt, after a bit it's ok.

Good thing to do as it can save your life and as treetree says, invigorating to your system.

Your braver than I am swimming in the sea this time of year. The North sea is dangerous in summer never mind mid winter.

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On 10/01/2020 at 22:27, Pistol p said:

Just give up on dairy/beef content to increase your lung capacity.

I heard this about processed meats but not dairy / beef in general - do you have more info?

On 11/01/2020 at 08:10, figgy said:

I find a cold shower feels colder than plunging into ice water.

If I go to a sauna with a ice plunge I love it and float around in it until the water don't feel cold anymore. 

If I go to one with a chilled water cold deluge shower, it feels much colder to stsrt, after a bit it's ok.

Good thing to do as it can save your life and as treetree says, invigorating to your system.

Your braver than I am swimming in the sea this time of year. The North sea is dangerous in summer never mind mid winter.

I must admit there is something a bit addictive about it (cold water) despite it really going against the grain (for me at least).

5 hours ago, sandspider said:

Looked into this a bit last year and was tempted, but couldn't bring myself to start cold showers in a cold house in Winter! Will look at it again in spring...

Starting to think it's a bit like a lot of my winter mountaineering - all about the quality of the suffering 🙂 

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9 hours ago, sandspider said:

Should you only have cold showers, or can you mix hot and cold? I like a really hot shower normally...

If you are swapping from hot to cold, you'll never get past the shock of the cold to the point you can make a habit of it.

Ive probably had 6 non-cold showers over the past year, even then it's only warm enough to take the edge off the water.

Just slowly dial the heat down over the next week. I honestly think this is one of the single, most simple and beneficial things you can do. Just Google all the research coming out. 

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