Experience / Enlightenment / Fitness
With the 10 week course finished, and some time to reflect, I’m ready to give you my full review of the Wim Hof Method 10-Week Video Course.
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My introduction to the “Iceman” Wim Hof started while at the Tony Robbins Unleash the Power Within event a few months back.
If you’ve never heard of “The Iceman” click here to checkout some of his more amazing YouTube videos.
Wim Hof is known as “The Iceman” because he has the world record for 1 hour 13 minutes, and 42 seconds. He has also climbed to 22,000 feet of Mount Everest wearing only shorts and shoes.
To say the least, he’s an amazing human!
Tony Robbins brought Wim Hof onstage as one of his special guests, and Wim put us though a couple of exercises.
One of which, was a breathing exercise the included 2 rounds of 30-40 deep breaths, followed by a max breath hold.
During the exercise I was surprised to find that I was able to hold my breath for well over 2 minutes!
I also experienced a euphoric state that stayed with me for hours after the exercise.
Because of this experience, I knew I need to find out more about the Wim Hof Method.
The Wim Hof Method Includes…
This program includes several things that are designed to help you improve mentally and physically.
And over in this review I’ll be telling you how the course drastically impacted my athletic performance.
Breathing
The first component that you’ll encounter is breathing.
The breathing is designed to hyper-oxygenate your body, which if you think about it… can only make sense.
What does your body need more than any other thing…
Oxygen!
We can only live a few minutes without breathing, so adding more air is thought to make your body work better.
Pretty much everyday you’ll start with a Wim Hof led breathing exercise.
The breathing exercises were usually some combination of 3+ sets of deep inhales, followed by a “release”, which is usually not a full exhale, and finally a breath hold for as long as you can.
During the breathing I felt light headed, and tingly all over.
At first this was something to overcome, but as I became more comfortable, I started to really enjoy this feeling, and even look forward to it everyday.
In fact, as the course wrapped up, I found that I didn’t get the light headedness, or tingling anymore, but missed it.
Cold showers
This is the section that usually scares people away, but it might be my favorite part…
When I tell people that taking cold showers can be very good for them, they usually turn their shower to super cold, hop in, and either suffer through a few minutes never to return, or hop right back out.
Now I make sure to preface to these people that they don’t need to start by going all cold, all the time. And that they should start by taking a hot shower, and simply ending with a few seconds of cold.
Then you can build yourself up in cold shower length.
As Wim Hof explains, cold showers can be very good for you, and will really help with increasing circulation.
When the cold hits your skin, your body sends warm blood to that area of your body to protect your internal organ temperature.
It’s a brilliant thing!
And this added circulation efficiency is what really gets me excited! ?
With added circulation efficiency, you body will be able to pump blood better during other situations. Think during workouts…
The Wim Hof Method Course cold shower progression is much the same as I explained above. They start you off with a hot shower that ends with just a 30+ second cold burst at the end.
Then over the length of the course, Wim Hof builds you up to a 10 minutes daily cold shower, and finally getting into some cold plunges in nature.
This might sound scary, but with the thoughtful progression, it’s really not that bad.
The pushups
For the majority of the Wim Hof Method 10-Week Course, each week became a little harder. There was always something that pushed you to that next level.
And, adding pushups to the breathing exercises was one of those things.
Have you ever tried working out while holding your breath?
I had never done this before.
But at the completion of the breathing exercises we started doing a max set of pushups, all while holding your breath.
When we started doing the pushups I had a max set (with breathing) at 43.
To my surprise, the very first time I tried holding my breath for the pushups, I got 44. One better than with breathing. I was pretty amazed to say the least.
Get this… by the end of the Wim Hof Method 10-Week Course I did 66 pushups in a row while holding my breath!
66 pushups is good with breathing! But with no breathing… I was amazed!
Now, I was hyper-oxygenated prior to the pushups (by doing the breathing exercises), but this is still amazing!
Stretching
In order to improve your bodies blood circulation efficiency, Wim Hof includes stretching with a breathing protocol.
The protocol includes going into a stretch, and holding your breath for a few seconds. Then you release, and repeat.
He talks about this protocol being studied in universities, and showing increased blood flow to the target areas.
I also found that my sit and reach flexibility increased beyond what it ever has in my life.
So, something about this protocol worked!
Physical exercises
Other than the pushups Wim Hof has your practice some fun static exercises, such as headstands, and some balancing exercise that challenge your total body.
These were fun, and I felt that they helped my CrossFit gymnastics training by helping me engage my core in new, fun ways.
My Results
Over the course of the 10 weeks I was very diligent about performing the exercise at least 5 days a week. **Which is the prescribed number of days per week.
The biggest result that I gained from the Wim Hof Method (which I realize it’s very scientific), was the ability to breath better during my hard workouts.
Over the 10 weeks of the course the hard workouts that I was doing felt easier than before I started the course.
If you know what it’s like to do some really hard breathing workouts, then you know how nice it can be to feel better about how the breathing feels during you workouts.
If you’re looking for more measurable results that I experienced…
* My pushups went from 43 to 66
* My max time holding my breath went from 2:16 to 3:20
* I took my first 10 minute cold shower
* My hands and feet aren’t constantly cold (this is another big one)
* My circulation has definitely increased in my hands and feet
The measurable results are great, but I am the most excited about my breathing feeling better, and more efficient during my CrossFit workouts (and running).
If my breathing feels better, than I’m able to push harder, and perform better.
Click here to checkout the Wim Hof Method 10-Week Course for yourself
What’s next
This was the only disappointing thing about the Wim Hof Method 10-Week Course…
The ending was very anticlimactic.
You feel like you’ve built yourself up, and are totally pumped to keep growing, but the course just ends.
I feel like there could definitely be an advanced course, or even a membership program that follows after the 10 week course.
All I know is that I feel like a more powerful human, and I WANT MORE!!!
Even with a slightly dissapointing ending to the course, I still HIGHLY recommend it to anyone looking to increase their physical performance, mood, energy, cold feet, or mental performance.
Click here to start the 10-Week Course for yourself
