Wim Hof uses breathing exercises and cold showers to train his body to withstand very low temperatures. The 55-year-old Dutchman holds the record for ice endurance - he sat in a tank filled with ice cubes for one hour and 52 minutes - and, wearing only shorts, he has run a marathon in the Arctic, at temperatures as low as -27°C. Here's how.
Hof suggests that, over ten days, you get used to progressively shifting from hot to very cold water in your shower. After ten days, stay under cold water every day for two minutes.
Whilst enjoying your frosty shower, you should take 30 deep breaths. You have to inhale deeply enough to protrude your belly totally outwards, and exhale in short spurts, not fully.
After your 30th breath, exhale completely then hold your breath. Then leave the shower and immediately start doing press-ups. Do as many as you can safely manage.
Keep up this routine for at least ten weeks. After that, you will perceive the cold in a different way: "It won't bother you any more, and you won't shiver, for instance," Hof says.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
