Wim Hof Method

Has anyone tried the Wim Hof Method?

For those who don't know, he's "The Iceman" who set world records for climbing mountains and running marathons in the Arctic wearing only shorts, running a marathon in the desert with no water, swimming under ice, etc. He does it by mastering a breathing technique that controls the autonomic nervous system.

http://www.icemanwimhof.com/wim-hof-exercises

There are some people on Youtube showing his techniques. I've tried it, seems promising. I'm debating shelling out to pay for the course.

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Get the course. I've went through the entire 10 week course once and I'm doing it again with harder progressions. Its fun and has some really cool benefits. I knew Wim Hof was legit the first time I did his breathing and held my breath for 2 minutes and 20 seconds.

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(05-31-2016 08:09 PM)MiscBrah Wrote:  Get the course. I've went through the entire 10 week course once and I'm doing it again with harder progressions. Its fun and has some really cool benefits. I knew Wim Hof was legit the first time I did his breathing and held my breath for 2 minutes and 20 seconds.

You're 18 years old ... pulling off stuff like that?

You'll make it through Coronado. Putting my money on you.

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It's legit,

I also did the full course. His breathing techniques is a bit odd at first, but it works. I have to check my workbook for time as I stopped doing it, but I was able to hold my breath for a decent period of time.

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Mike Cernovich (MikeCF on the forum) also liked the Wim Hof method. Do a Google search.

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Yes, be sure to supplement the Wim Hof Method with Kratom in abundance.

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(05-31-2016 08:09 PM)MiscBrah Wrote:  Get the course. I've went through the entire 10 week course once and I'm doing it again with harder progressions. Its fun and has some really cool benefits. I knew Wim Hof was legit the first time I did his breathing and held my breath for 2 minutes and 20 seconds.

What are the benefits apart from being able to hold your breath for a long time?

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(06-01-2016 05:23 AM)remarkable vigour Wrote:  

(05-31-2016 08:09 PM)MiscBrah Wrote:  Get the course. I've went through the entire 10 week course once and I'm doing it again with harder progressions. Its fun and has some really cool benefits. I knew Wim Hof was legit the first time I did his breathing and held my breath for 2 minutes and 20 seconds.

What are the benefits apart from being able to hold your breath for a long time?

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Personally I've had great success with using his breathing method when I am under a lot of stress or experiencing a foggy mind.

Very interesting and inspiring man also.

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Could this be used for combat sports? like Muay Thai?

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(06-01-2016 07:24 AM)WalkingMan Wrote:  Could this be used for combat sports? like Muay Thai?

The breathing method helps me to recover after heavy sets of pull ups and dips

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I'm not sure I'd say that's the same as several rounds of sparring.

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(06-01-2016 08:33 AM)cascadecombo Wrote:  I'm not sure I'd say that's the same as several rounds of sparring.

Perhaps it could be useful for increasing recovery inbetween rounds?

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I'm currently recovering from a chronic illness that's affected my autonomic nervous system. Medications haven't helped that much and may have made things worse. I do some basic breathing techniques I saw on Youtube and it seems to help a little. The course is expensive but looks worthwhile...

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(06-01-2016 09:36 AM)R_Niko Wrote:  I'm currently recovering from a chronic illness that's affected my autonomic nervous system. Medications haven't helped that much and may have made things worse. I do some basic breathing techniques I saw on Youtube and it seems to help a little. The course is expensive but looks worthwhile...

Damn man, get better. Also, for whatever it's worth give a look into orthomolecular medicine (megadosing vitamin C and other vitamins). It seems to help, at least palliatively, when conventional medicine fails.

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Quote:Perhaps it could be useful for increasing recovery inbetween rounds?

I'd like to be able to say more, I couldn't help myself commenting on the differences between a legit heavy set of pull ups and sparring.

I'm not saying either won't leave you winded. Because it's possible. I can say for sure that breathing is indeed key for anything physical related and various styles are worth looking into and testing. If miscbrah has any combat experience I'd love it if he could share some knowledge.

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(06-01-2016 10:04 AM)Balkan Wrote:  

(06-01-2016 09:36 AM)R_Niko Wrote:  I'm currently recovering from a chronic illness that's affected my autonomic nervous system. Medications haven't helped that much and may have made things worse. I do some basic breathing techniques I saw on Youtube and it seems to help a little. The course is expensive but looks worthwhile...

Damn man, get better. Also, for whatever it's worth give a look into orthomolecular medicine (megadosing vitamin C and other vitamins). It seems to help, at least palliatively, when conventional medicine fails.

I tried IV vitamin C with gluathione one time last year. Didn't seem to do much so I didn't do it again, it's also quite expensive. I have a friend with the same illness who swears by them though, so who knows, if all else fails maybe I'll try is again.

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(06-01-2016 05:23 AM)remarkable vigour Wrote:  

(05-31-2016 08:09 PM)MiscBrah Wrote:  Get the course. I've went through the entire 10 week course once and I'm doing it again with harder progressions. Its fun and has some really cool benefits. I knew Wim Hof was legit the first time I did his breathing and held my breath for 2 minutes and 20 seconds.

What are the benefits apart from being able to hold your breath for a long time?

I haven't done the whole course yet, but just the two breathing exercises I've tried are helpful both for anxiety and energy.

I do them anytime I'm feeling a little nervous or sluggish.

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(06-01-2016 09:50 PM)Enigma Wrote:  

(06-01-2016 05:23 AM)remarkable vigour Wrote:  

(05-31-2016 08:09 PM)MiscBrah Wrote:  Get the course. I've went through the entire 10 week course once and I'm doing it again with harder progressions. Its fun and has some really cool benefits. I knew Wim Hof was legit the first time I did his breathing and held my breath for 2 minutes and 20 seconds.

What are the benefits apart from being able to hold your breath for a long time?

I haven't done the whole course yet, but just the two breathing exercises I've tried are helpful both for anxiety and energy.

I do them anytime I'm feeling a little nervous or sluggish.

Strong this. The breathing exercises are excellent for anxiety. If I get nervous before an approach, I do 5-10 Wim Hof breaths to get in state. Look up the vice documentary about Wim Hof. It contains some good information in addition to the Joe Rogan interview.

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Interesting stuff that I'm going to research more.

I'm wondering if doing it over time would help someone hold their breath longer underwater, e.g. when surfing and you wipe out on a big wave, being held underwater for even 10 seconds feels like eternity as the water is thrashing you about and your instincts are to freak out.

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Does anyone experience tinnitus at the end of a set?

I've had constant tinnitus for a couple of years since I used to listen to music really loud on my earbuds. I had gotten used to it and only noticed it now and then when I went to sleep. A couple of months ago I tried a few basic Wim Hof breathing sets after reading about it on DNP.

While doing a set(30 breaths) I was light headed and towards the end I felt like my nose and the area around it were vibrating, but just like MiscBrah, the first time I held my breath I managed around 2.20 minutes so I figured I would stick to it. Then I noticed that as I finished a set, my tinnitus would either disappear or change in tone(from high pitched ringing to a kind of distant hissing, sort of like the sound you get when you hold a seashell close to your ear).

But then the ringing got worse, more intense, and it's been like that ever since. It started bothering me again, just like when I got it the first time. I don't know if the ringing got more intense or I just somehow became more aware of it(that's a whole can of worms in itself) but either way it's became a major nuisance and source of anxiety. Now I sort of got used to it again, but I'm fearful of doing the Wim Hof method. It's barely tolerable now, I would probably go insane if it got even worse.

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The Wim HOF method is legit. I feel more relaxed when I do 4 sets of his breathing. Does anyone know if the course is different than the breathing techniques he mentioned in the Joe Rogan podcast?

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There was a class in Austin today. It was about six hours, with an hour break for lunch. I paid $99 for it. It was very interesting.

We spent about three hours doing various breathing exercises. Toward the end of the class, we all went outside and got into a kiddie pool of ice water. They said they had spent about $150 on the water, and it was a warm day in Austin (about 80 F). There were 18 or so in the class, and we all got in one at a time.

We were supposed to go into the water for one minute. The instructor told me to get out at 42 seconds on the first one. For whatever reason, I just wasn't relaxing. She could tell that I was forcing it.

During the next try, they hadn't timed it. So, I don't know how long I was in the water. I got out and had a tough time getting back to normal.

I do take cold showers, too. So, I was somewhat used to doing stuff like this. Still, it doesn't quite prepare you.

I met another guy who has a cooler that he fills with water. He said he would take it under 50 degrees.

I have sneezed a lot today, too. I am not sure what is up with that. Maybe I am just purging.

Some people put their faces in the water. I wasn't ready to try that.

I will look into this more.

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(05-07-2017 12:33 AM)puckerman Wrote:  There was a class in Austin today. It was about six hours, with an hour break for lunch. I paid $99 for it. It was very interesting.

We spent about three hours doing various breathing exercises. Toward the end of the class, we all went outside and got into a kiddie pool of ice water. They said they had spent about $150 on the water, and it was a warm day in Austin (about 80 F). There were 18 or so in the class, and we all got in one at a time.

We were supposed to go into the water for one minute. The instructor told me to get out at 42 seconds on the first one. For whatever reason, I just wasn't relaxing. She could tell that I was forcing it.

During the next try, they hadn't timed it. So, I don't know how long I was in the water. I got out and had a tough time getting back to normal.

I do take cold showers, too. So, I was somewhat used to doing stuff like this. Still, it doesn't quite prepare you.

I met another guy who has a cooler that he fills with water. He said he would take it under 50 degrees.

I have sneezed a lot today, too. I am not sure what is up with that. Maybe I am just purging.

Some people put their faces in the water. I wasn't ready to try that.

I will look into this more.

We have a russian bath house here with cold pool. I can go in it for a while and get into a zone, but damn its tough. I would guess Austin would have a gym/spa/sports facility for the public, to use a cold pool. Some people are affected more harshly by the cool and heat though.

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I suspect Wim has a natural talent which makes it easier for him to bear the cold, never mind the fact that he's been doing it for decades. It is normal and natural that you can't sit in freezing water after one session of this shit. To be honest I query the need to go all-out cold immersion on this. The breathing exercises combined with the stretches and the challenge to do pushups while not breathing seem to be the major part of the work. It's brilliant stuff (and I've gotten both tinnitus and a cold out of it, funky) but I doubt you'd ever get to being able to stand a cold ice bath after 6 hours of breathing exercises on one day - the body needs longer than that to adjust. Even the course tells you to start slow on cold immersion and work up over time.

The central idea of Hof's breathing method is that altering the breath pattern forces the body to change how it processes oxygen, that lacking a constant steady stream of inhaled breath it forces the arterials and veins to fully dilate, thus allowing the body to pull every bit of oxygen it can from from where it's being carried in the bloodstream. You're trying to train the lungs to also work harder pushing oxygen into the bloodstream as well, trying to make the lungs optimise their performance.

The cold immersion is designed to optimise that process too: to fight cold, your body at first pumps more blood around faster to distribute heat. Ergo if you immerse yourself in cold regularly, the body at least theoretically should adjust its baseline circulation to prepare for those bouts of cold. On the other hand, the body has a limited capacity to combat it: when temperatures get too low for too long, the body pulls back from the extremities to protect the heart and head. This is how frostbite begins.

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