C OMMITMENT

T he cold training and breathing exercises are two major components of the Wim Hof Method. But to properly put these two components into practice, you need to make a serious commitment.

Especially at first, it is not easy to turn off the warm water and stand under a cold shower for two minutes. Those two minutes seem to last forever. And daily breathing exercises are quite a task, too. Where will you find the time? And the motivation?

A day with Wim Hof will give you motivation enough. His enthusiasm and experience will encourage you to get started with his method. This has nothing to do with behavior-changing approaches like neuro-linguistic programming (NLP). It is simply an overwhelming enthusiasm that seems to come from the depths of his soul.

To help motivate you to take cold showers and give the breathing exercises a try, we will describe a fantastic example of what your body is capable of if you make a serious commitment.

R UNNING A M ARATHON B ARE-C HESTED A BOVE THE A RCTIC C IRCLE

Wim Hof underwent an extreme challenge to demonstrate how making a commitment and controlling your mind are more important than physical training. He ran a marathon above the Arctic Circle. This was the most difficult test he had ever undertaken.

Hof took on this challenge in 2009, at the age of 50. Running a marathon at -16°C (3.2°F) was not enough, he ran only wearing shorts and sandals with no socks. He did this to test his knowledge of his body. He knew that a lot is possible, but he didn’t just want to pass that knowledge to others at an intellectual level—Wim wanted to experience it himself.

His preparation training and the marathon in Finland were filmed by Firecrackerfilms, a company that frequently works for the BBC and National Geographic. The documentary was later shown on the television program, Daredevils .

P HYSICAL T RAINING—OR T RAINING THE C OMMITMENT?

People who prepare for marathons in normal temperatures usually have training programs and gradually build up their running distances. But, Wim didn’t use a training program and hardly went running at all. He just trained with the cold and his thoughts, while focusing on the commitment.

Hof prepared by doing extra breathing exercises and cold training. In the winter, he swam in the canals in Amsterdam at night. To get accustomed to even more extreme conditions, he trained in the cold storage at a slaughterhouse where the temperature was -25°C (-13°F). He practiced his breathing techniques and grew increasingly confident that he could take on the challenge. After the training sessions, he felt strong and in good spirits.

Glyn David, an expert on polar survival, had serious misgivings. Breathing is extremely difficult at such temperatures and running makes you breathe more deeply. He felt that it was practically impossible to do that for hours on end in such conditions.

I N F INLAND

Hof went to Finland six days before the marathon. It was cold, even by Finnish standards. The day before the marathon, he practiced once more in the extreme cold by swimming for several dozen meters under the ice. Doctors who examined him on the spot couldn’t understand it—his heart rate, blood pressure and oxygen saturation were the same before and after he had been swimming. Hof felt good and decided he was ready for the challenge.

During the marathon, Hof was constantly balancing on a fine thread. If he ran too fast, he used too much energy and had to breathe in too deeply—which is not possible at 16°C below zero (3.2°F). If he ran too slowly, he would be exposed to the cold for too long and would risk suffering the serious effects of freezing.

After running for two hours, everything was still going fine. His legs felt heavy, but his pace was still constant. At that point, he had run about half of the 42,195 meters (26.2 miles). However, at 30 kilometers (18.6 miles), and running for a little over three hours, fatigue set in. He was clearly tired and suffering from the cold. His second wife, Caroline, was ahead of him in a car with the film crew and a doctor. She was worried because the situation could become very dangerous. But Hof kept going, even when he had to walk after 37 kilometers (23 miles). After 5 hours and 25 minutes, Hof had accomplished the impossible: he ran a marathon above the Arctic Circle in extremely cold temperatures—bare-chested—with no marathon training.

Such an extreme commitment only seems possible for exceptional individuals like Wim Hof. But he refuses to believe that and to prove it years later, he decided to go to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro with a group of people—to do the impossible as a group.

M OUNT K ILIMANJARO

Hof decided he would climb Mount Kilimanjaro with a group of people. Kilimanjaro is a 5,895 meter (3.66 mile) high mountain in Tanzania. It’s a very popular expedition for mountaineers and hikers. Well-trained climbers can get to the top in six days.

To make the challenge even greater, Hof wanted to climb Kilimanjaro in 48 hours with a group of 26 people. Hof wanted to show that we are all capable of doing much more than most people think is even possible. With this expedition, too, everyone said it was impossible to get to the top in 48 hours with such a large group.

As if that wasn’t enough, some of the people in the group were suffering from diseases like multiple sclerosis, rheumatism, Crohn’s disease and cancer. They also had no climbing experience.

The date was set for January 2014, and the run up to the expedition was chaotic. Dr. Geert Buijze of the Amsterdam Medical Centre wanted to accompany the expedition in a personal capacity to help the group. The local guides thought the whole thing was a bad idea. At the last moment, the guides decided not to go. However, Hof was resolute that this group was capable of reaching the top by focusing on their breathing and because they had prepared with cold training. So, they went.

When the group arrived at Horombo Hut—a small huddle of climbing huts at an altitude of 3,705 meters (2.3 miles)—the temperature had fallen to 3°C (37.4°F). As if climbing to the top of Kilimanjaro in 48 hours with 26 people, many of whom were ill, was not enough, Wim suggested they walk bare-chested and in shorts. Breathing and cold training were the secrets.

He gave instructions to his mixed bunch of companions, then divided them into pairs. Each partner had to watch out for each other—and in particular, they had to make sure to keep doing their breathing exercises. They had to keep breathing in deeply, and exhaling calmly and slowly. To combat altitude sickness, they also woke up during the night to keep performing the breathing exercises.

To everyone’s amazement—except Hof’s of course—the group performed an exceptional feat. Twenty-four of the 26 reached Uhuru Peak, the top of the mountain at 5,895 meters (3.66 miles). The temperature at the peak was -15°C (5°F). The fact that such a large group had reached the top was an achievement in itself. It was extra special since the group had no climbing experience. When they reached the top within 48 hours, it was almost impossible to comprehend. The feat attracted the attention of the media. Hof and Buijze found themselves sitting at the table on Pauw en Witteman , a leading Dutch current affairs program. Several newspapers carried stories about the triumph.

How was something like this possible?

Hof is convinced of the power of his breathing exercises. And although the group had no climbing experience, they were well trained to withstand the cold. Commitment to the feat was of course an important factor.

The members of the group who were suffering with diseases included Anna Chojnacka (MS), Mark Bos (prostate cancer), Henk van den Bergh (rheumatism) and Mathijs Storm and Hans Emmink (Crohn’s disease). They all walked to the summit, too.

All of these people knew they were ill, but they did not see themselves as patients. They made that clear time and again. This idea proves to be an important component of the commitment. “Of course I’m a patient, too,” says Mathijs Storm, “but I’m also just Mathijs who wants to—and can—do all kinds of things.”

K ILIMANJARO 2015

In January 2015, Hof returned to Kilimanjaro with a new group. This time, the goal was to get to the top in 36 hours. Once again, Hof wanted to show people that they can accomplish much more than they might imagine. The WHM exercises worked well—15 of the 19 participants succeeded in completing the climb bare-chested.

The group did not climb all the way to Uhuru Peak, but stopped at Gilman’s Point, on the rim of the crater at 5,685 meters (3.53 miles). The group chose safety over their egos. One of the members proposed to his wife at Gilman’s Point.

S IDE E FFECTS OF THE WHM

The Wim Hof Method comprises three components: cold training, breathing exercises and commitment. It also involves more. The interviews conducted for this book showed that people who did cold training and breathing exercises, found that other things in their lives changed too.

They slept better, walked or played a sport more often, and appreciated the daylight more. We are not going to examine all these changes, but two were particularly noticeable, as they were often mentioned: walking barefoot and eating less.

W ALKING B AREFOOT

A surprising number of people who use the WHM start walking barefoot. After ten interviews, eight of the interviewees had started walking barefoot—it can’t be a coincidence. Hof himself doesn’t pay much attention to it, but he often walks barefoot, too.

Many people consider walking barefoot to be healthy. Once you start looking for it, you see how many people run barefoot, and the subject crops up regularly in newspapers and magazines. The main message of these articles is that walking barefoot strengthens the muscles in the foot—muscles that are hardly used when you wear shoes—and increases your bone mass. The feet contain 200,000 nerve endings which sounds like an enormous amount. It explains why walking barefoot is so sensitive. Setting your feet down lightly can feel very pleasant and comfortable; to some people, it feels like a massage. We also walk differently on our bare feet, and put more weight on the front of our feet.

Steven Robbins and Adel Hanna’s study of 17 recreational runners in 1987 showed that after four months of not wearing shoes, the longitudinal arch of the foot was shortened by an average of 4.7 millimeters (3/16”). Robbins and Hanna suggested that this change must have been caused by the enhanced activation of the foot muscles, and that this may help in reducing or preventing stress on the plantar fascia, on the underside of the foot. This worked well in the study, because the transition to running barefoot was gradual. Studies where the change happened too quickly reported an increased risk of foot injury.

E ARTHING

Proponents of walking barefoot emphasize that “earthing”—making contact with the Earth’s electrical field—has a favorable effect on health. The Earth is negatively charged while the air is full of positive ions. The quantity of positive ions has greatly increased in recent years with the widespread use of radios, televisions, cell phones, and other forms of wireless communications. Too many positive ions can disrupt the balance between positive and negative.

“Because of our modern lifestyles, we have become isolated from the Earth—not a healthy situation,” says electrical engineer, Clinton Ober. He discovered the positive health effects of earthing, which connects us with the negative electrons on the Earth’s surface.

Can you counteract the surplus of positive electrons by being in contact with the Earth? That’s a tough question. The contact is partly thwarted by thick rubber soles, which insulate us from the electrical discharge. Walking barefoot puts you in direct contact with the earth, and that gives you more energy.

One interviewee who said that he now walks barefoot more often is Richard de Leth. De Leth studied medicine at the VU University in Amsterdam and applies a mix of Western and Eastern medicine in his practice. His book Oersterk , which has sold more than 70,000 copies, is an appeal to people to eat healthier foods. One of his pet topics is eating less sugar. De Leth has a favorite quote, by T.S. Eliot, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1948:

“Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?

Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?”

In his quest for wisdom, De Leth came across Wim Hof. In 2013, he took part in one of Hof’s workshops. He did the breathing exercises and sat in a bath of ice cubes. He described his experiences that day as exceptional. After only a few exercises, he could hold his breath for 2.5 minutes and did 60 push-ups without breathing. The ice bath felt good, too. His body turned red immediately, a sign of good circulation.

Several months after the workshop, we asked De Leth whether he still uses the methods he learned. He said he still does the breathing exercises and looks forward to the snow in winter so that he can go barefoot outside. What has changed permanently for him is walking barefoot much more often, in the house and outside—and that it feels good.

D IET

Many people who start applying the Wim Hof Method also start eating differently. Hof hardly eats at all—he rarely has breakfast and doesn’t eat lunch. He only eats in the evenings, but as much as he wants and whatever he feels like eating. Jack Egberts was one of the first people to study Hof’s eating habits. Jack is the lawyer from Leeuwaarden who we mentioned earlier in the chapter about cold training. We will examine his detective work more closely here, because his results show parallels with the WHM. Jack’s approach to eating is simple to do, but effectively penetrates to the core of many diseases related to prosperity.

Egberts discovered a dietary philosophy very similar to the way Hof eats, the “fast-5 diet”. Just to be clear, Wim does not encourage people to actively adopt this way of eating, but eats this way instinctively. What Hof and Jack Egberts do can be summed up very simply:

Eat during a five-hour period each day, no more.

The fast-5 diet was (re)discovered by Bert Herring, a former Air Force doctor. As a doctor, he knew that there is no physiological reason for all men and women over the age of 40 to become overweight. And yet, in the mirror he saw a man with a large double chin, breasts, and a belly. He wanted to get rid of his excess weight. But, instead of going straight to the gym, he first went to the library. He learned more about diseases of prosperity and their causes. He re-read his old textbooks. He discovered that it is not only important what we eat, but how often.

Often, other large mammals eat only once a day. They are hardly ever overweight and rarely suffer from cardiovascular disease, diabetes or cancer. Since we are also large mammals, Herring felt that people are not made to eat all day. He talked to his wife Judi—also a doctor and a few pounds too heavy—about it, and they decided to do an experiment together.

For a month, they ate as much as they liked and whatever they liked, but only between five in the afternoon and ten o’clock at night. The results were astounding. Herring saw muscles appearing in places where he only knew of their existence because of his anatomical knowledge. He shed the pounds, his blood pressure fell, his gums were no longer infected. He felt much more energetic and had the desire to go running. The same thing happened to his wife. She was also pleasantly surprised at the effects. Curious friends adopted the new eating habits and experienced similar results.

Herring decided to name the method of eating for only five hours a day the “fast-5 diet”. He wrote an e-book about it, which he made available for free on the internet. The former Air Force doctor said that he didn’t want to earn money from such a simple physiological truth. He emphasized that the basis of his method could be written on the back of a beer-mat: only eat for a period of five hours a day. In the book, he explains that this practice trains your body to mainly use fat as fuel instead of glucose. This idea also ties in with the production of brown fat during cold training.

At first, like Jack Egberts, most people will still feel hungry. At five o’clock in the afternoon, they will likely have a serious attack of “the munchies”. That is normal. But after a few days, that desire will have almost disappeared. There’s no need to fight against it, as the desire will soon weaken. You don’t need to worry about fainting—even though you might feel a bit weak in the first few days—unless you have diabetes and don’t adapt your medication.

The “fast-5 diet” way of eating imposes no restrictions on your calorie intake, but soon you start to automatically eat less. That is why it is important to mainly eat food with a high nutritional value. Herring recommends a combination of vegetables, fruit, meat, fish and chicken to provide a good variety. You will notice as your body becomes accustomed to this “simpler” diet, and as you use up more fat than glucose, you will lose around 300 grams (0.66 pounds) a week. Your energy levels will also be more constant.

Now that we have described the Wim Hof Method and the link between breathing, cold and commitment, what does science say about the WHM? In the next chapter, we describe the research conducted at the Radboud Medical Centre and the remarkable insights of Professor Pierre Capel.