"Iceman" Wim Hof: biography, books, methodology, interesting facts

Wim Hof is a resident of Holland, who forthe ability to withstand extreme cold is commonly called The Iceman, or "Iceman." He was born on April 20, 1959 in the city of Sittard. In addition to him, the family had eight more children: six boys and two girls. Now Wim Hof has five children: four from the first marriage and born in 2003 a son from his current wife.

The beginning of the way

By the time Wim had reached transitionalage, he was already running without any special discomfort barefoot in the snow. This was the beginning of a large series of confrontations with the cold, in which each time new limits of human capabilities were set, surprising the whole world. The longest stay in the ice is not the only record set by Wim Hof. "Ice Man" has in his account 21 world record Guinness in the most amazing areas.

Thanks to exercises and training, he achieved the following:

In 2007, Wim climbed 6.7 km along the slope of Mount Everest, dressed only in shorts and boots. To get to the top did not work because of the aggravated old leg injury.
In 2008, he broke his previous world record and hit the Guinness World Records, having spent 1 hour and 13 minutes and 48 seconds in the ice bath.
In February 2009, Hof in one shorts reached the top of the Kilimanjaro mountain in two days.
In the same year at a temperature close to -20 ° C,Hof completely ran a marathon distance of 42,195 km long, passing beyond the Arctic Circle in Finland. Dressed only in shorts, he met at 5 hours and 25 minutes. During the test, the operators working for such TV channels as BBC, Channel 4 and National Geographic watched him.
In 2010 and 2011, Hof again broke his own records in the ice bath, his last time: 1 hour 52 minutes and 42 seconds.
In September 2011, Hof completely ran a marathon through the Namib desert without a drop of water.
Half of the marathon distance beyond the Arctic Circle, Wim ran with bare feet and in shorts.
According to official data, Hof swam 66 feet under the ice, the unofficial record is 120 meters.
I hung on one finger at an altitude of 2000 meters.

All this may seem unrealistic, but asbelieves Wim Hof, the methodology he proposes is very simple: "Everyone can learn what I can do." A wellness program called "Activities with Wim Hof" is attended by a lot of people, mostly retirement age. Most come to just learn how to lead a healthy lifestyle.

Management of internal human nature

Wim Hof, whose incredible abilities are notcan not hit, independently learned to control your pulse, breathing and circulation. All these functions are regulated by the autonomic nervous system. Science says that this system does not depend on the will of man, but Wim manages to control his hypothalamus, that is, the area of the brain that regulates body temperature. If an unprepared person under the influence of cold body temperature drops to dangerous values, then Wim is able to constantly maintain it at around 37 degrees Celsius. Even after sitting in the ice for 1 hour and 52 minutes, it maintains a normal temperature. Scientists around the world were simply stunned by this phenomenon.

Science considers it a mystery

Professor Maria Hopman from the Medical CenterUniversity of St. Radbod in the Netherlands city of Nijmegen studied the physiological reactions of Wim. During the tests, the latter was exposed to cold, being on the neck immersed in a cylinder filled with ice cubes. According to the scientist, from the scientific point of view, Wim's abilities can be regarded as impossible. In such conditions, an unprepared person would most likely die of hypothermia. However, Wim absolutely does not take any chances; his body temperature constantly remains at around 37 degrees. The results of the experiment forced scientists to consider the likelihood that this person is actually able to influence his autonomic nervous system, regulating, among other things, heart rate, breathing and blood circulation. Many questions still could not be solved: how a person can double his metabolism without increasing the heart rate; how does it turn out that Wim does not tremble, although such a reaction is normal when exposed to cold? Maria Hopman continues to investigate Wim's body to find answers to these questions.

Recently, this unusual personobserved by many scientists. Endotoxin studies conducted by a colleague of Mary Hopman, Professor Peter Pickers, have shown amazing results proving that Wim can control his nervous system and immunity. He also took blood tests during meditation and breathing exercises, examined fat tissues of the body, and also studied physical reactions at low temperature.

Exceptional results due to exercise

The task is to spend almost two hours in a cylinder with 700kilograms of ice cubes seems almost impossible. It is necessary to be a superman, in order to rise to the highest and coldest mountains in the world, being only dressed in shorts. And how about half the marathon barefoot on the snow and ice? Incredible, but it's true. But the most important thing is that everyone can do it! There are several sets of breathing exercises and cold water exercises that can help you achieve the same results. The author of the technique is himself Wim Hof. The books of many authors recommend first to learn how to breathe properly, is not an exception and unique, one can even say that the unique, exceptional and unique autobiographical work "Ice Man" Becoming the Iceman, which is discussed further in this article.

Being under water, Wim with ease does withoutair for six minutes. This can be achieved by everyone, it is only necessary to master a special breathing technique. With the help of proper breathing and training, you can learn to hold your breath for a long time and establish a conscious contact with your heart, as well as with the autonomic nervous and immune systems. This also has a positive effect on blood circulation.

Confrontation with the cold

After breathing and meditative exercises, yourbody and mind will be prepared for confrontation with the cold. Exposing your body to certain types of exposure to cold, you will make it stronger. You can start practicing right now. For example, take a cold shower immediately after a hot shower. This will help train the tiny muscles of your veins, making them more elastic. Having made progress, you can even sit, walk or run on snow and ice. But more importantly, in the future it will help your body resist disease.

The formation of the "Iceman"

In November 2011, Vin Hof and his student JustinRosales published the book Becoming the Iceman, which describes the life of Wim, as well as recommendations for training, exclusive techniques and exercises used to achieve the ability to withstand extreme temperatures. The book says that any person can control the temperature of his own body.

Fact or fiction?

January 28, 2012 in one of the AmericanTV channels there was an episode of the television program "Fact or Fiction: Paranormal Phenomena", dedicated to Wim Hofu. In addition to Hof, the trial involved a member of the television channel named Austin. Both were placed in tanks full of ice. Austin spent about 20 minutes. When he came out of the water, the other members of the crew used thermal imagers to measure the surface temperature of his body. The device showed only four degrees Celsius. The temperature of Hof's body, like his pulse, remained unchanged all the time. He managed to spend more than ninety minutes in the tank.

In 2016, Vima Hofa was accused of the death of foura person who drowned by performing breathing exercises by his technique. However, Wim repeatedly warned his followers that they should practice in a safe place, not in icy water.