I have been practising the Wim Hof method for the past few months now and whilst I have noticed a difference and have felt certain health benefits, my experience has been different from other people's.
For instance, when you do the breathing you are meant to get tingling in the hands and feet, and during the breath retention phase, you are meant to see colours. With some people reporting vivid greens, pinks, and blues.
However until recently I had only been getting the tingling in my feet right at the beginning of the session and couldn't see any colours.
On top of that my breath retention was not very long, I managed just over a minute once, but the average was around 35-45 seconds.
I found that after around 30 seconds of holding my breath very strong convulsions would start to pulse through my body, and I just couldn't hold on.
Wim Hof claims that this shouldn't happen, instead you should be calm and still as you hold your breath and not try to force it.
Luckily I'm a member of the Wim Hof Method Facebook group and I posted a few questions in there and got some great answers.
Capacity For More
What I've discovered is that because of my rather large lung capacity (68 Vo2 Max), I wasn't getting the full benefit of the breathing method as I was taking far too long to fill my lungs.
Now instead I rapidly draw in through the nose, and when I relax I open my mouth and let the breath out (not forcing out), then before the air has even finished exiting my lungs I'm breathing in again.
Tingles!
Using this method not only am I getting tingling in my feet, calves and to some extent fingers, my breath retention has shot up!
The first day I tried the new technique I managed to hold my breath for a little over two minutes and then a second session at just under two.
This morning I did three sessions all at around the two minute mark.
Colours
I can't really say I have seen colours beyond what I see anyway when I shut my eyes. I kind of got a splodge of lime green this morning, however it was so fleeting it was hard to determine whether I imagined it or not.
I think that will come, however I'm happy to wait and not seeing colours doesn't seem to have stopped me feeling benefits from the method.
Recovery
One unexpected bonus I'm experiencing is my recovery time after really intense gym sessions has really shrunk down.
For instance two days ago I did an absolute killer sessions on my chest and arms. I watched an old Arnold Schwarzenegger documentary whereby he talks about shocking the muscles, and I thought to myself, yeah I'm gonna try that!
Believe me when I say that I absolutely went mental, pause sets, metabolic, progressive overload, and even though I felt the burn and had some muscle soreness yesterday, it was nowhere near what it should have been.
Speaking of yesterday I was back in the gym and did a crazy shoulder workout, which there is no way I should have been able to do after busting my chest so hard the day before.
Cold
I have been slacking off the cold training a bit, however I'm going to have a nice cold bath a bit later . . . I'll report back on how that goes!
HAVE YOU HEARD OR TRIED OF THE WIM HOF METHOD BEFORE? ARE YOU INTERESTED IN FINDING OUT MORE ABOUT THE LIMITS OF YOUR MIND AND BODY?
AS EVER, LET ME KNOW BELOW!
Title image: Pavel Lozovikov on Unsplash