Podcast episode (Heroic +1) in which Brian Johnson introduces the Wim Hof Method and argues that regular cold showers train the vascular system’s tiny muscles, improving energy and resilience; includes a simple 4-week cold-shower protocol (30s → 2min) and brief evidence claims about Wim Hof’s records and eight supporting university studies.
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Hey hero. If you're enjoying these daily plus ones, make sure you head to heroic us to check out all of the other goodness we have to help you activate your best every day. And now, today's plus one. Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic plus one, Wim Hof. Also known as the Iceman. If you're into optimizing, you've almost certainly heard of him. As you may know, he holds multiple world records for his feats of endurance and exposure to cold, such as climbing Mount Kilimanjaro wearing only shorts and shoes, running barefoot half marathons in the Arctic Circle, and standing in an ice filled container for more than 112 minutes. As you may not know, the effectiveness of his methods, which are now practiced by millions, have been validated by eight university research studies. Today we're going to talk about some wisdom from his book, the WIM HOF Method. Specifically, we're going to talk about the idea that a cold shower a day can keep the doctor away. First, did you know that our vascular system, and I quote, if laid out end to end, would stretch nearly two and a half times the length of the world? Yep. And get this. I quote again. There are approximately 62,000 miles of veins, arteries and capillaries in each and every one of us. The vascular system is constructed after millions of years of evolution with millions of little muscles that contract and open the veins and the vascular channels in reaction to the weather. But in our climate controlled modern world, we rarely give those millions of little muscles the workouts they so desperately need. Which isn't a good thing. Enter that cold shower a day that keeps the doctor away by deliberately training those muscles to do what they need to do to keep us energized. The WIM HOF method has three pillars. Cold breath and commitment. In the book, Wim Hof walks us through a simple way to build a cold shower protocol. Here's the short story you can start putting into action today if you feel so inspired. In week one, just turn the warm shower to cold for the last 30 seconds. Then in week two, make it one minute of cold water at the end of your normally warm shower. In week three, move it up to a minute and a half of cold at the end. And in week four, make it two minutes of cold water at the end of a warm shower. Boom. Done. Repeat and give those millions of muscles a workout. Wow. Working out your mind? Doing something you don't want to do. When? How about today? Target swipe. Cold shower. Let's go. We hope you enjoyed today's heroic one. For more ancient wisdom, modern science and practical tools to help you flourish in energy, work and love, head to Heroic US where you can get started on your heroic journey for free.
