A 3-month review of the Wim Hof Method Fundamentals Course
I have to start this off by saying that I am a massive Wim Hof fanboy and have been for years. This being said, I had been putting off the purchase of the full Wim Hof Method video courses.
Well, that all changed about 6 months ago when I took the plunge and dropped £150 on the Wim Hof Classic 10-week course. I threw myself into it head first and loved it.
But I wanted more.
That's why I reached out to Wim and the team to see if they'd be game on sending me the Fundamentals course to see if it would meet my lofty standards.
Laura, Wim's daughter, agreed to it and the next day I got cracking.
Who is Wim Hof?
Wim Hof is the main man.
He is a dutch 'extreme athlete', yogi, multiple world record holder and all round madman (in the best sense of the word).
Think this sort of thing, then imagine that all the time - and more extreme, and basically you've got the life of Wim Hof:
I won't drag out this bio because I can't do him justice, but check out his Wikpedia page if you want to learn more. You'll be flabbergasted by what this man has done in his life (marathon in the Sahara...with no water, etc, etc, etc.).
What is the Wim Hof Method?
Essentially, the method is stretching, breathing, stretching again and then cold water exposure.
An average bout looks something like this;
Yoga poses
3 rounds of 30 Wim Hof style breaths (Deep inhale, shallow exhale, followed by max effort breath hold on last exhale and 15 second hold on the next inhale)
More yoga poses with deep breathing
Cold exposure in the form of cold showers or ice baths
It really is as simple as that. You can see it explained far better by Wim in the video below.
You can also see exactly how to do the breathing exercises correctly in this one:
Wim Hof Fundamentals vs Classic 10-week course
As stated at the beginning, I actually dropped £150 of my own dough on the Classic 10-week course - and was about to pay the £225 for the fundamentals course too before I shot the team a message.
So, what's the difference? Why is one worth more than the other and do you need both?
The classic course is exactly that - it's the original. It involves doing the breathing, post-breath stretching and then some yoga poses followed by cold exposure.
The fundamentals course goes deeper. There are more homework tasks, more variety of breath work and different little snippets that help to really perfect your practice, such as isolating your hands to cold water exposure to increase blood flow. This is meant to help battle Raynaud's disease - something I, and a lot of people (whether known to them or not) actually suffer from.
In short, the fundamentals course offers much more 'take-home' value than the classic course. That being said, I have taken lessons from both and applied them to my own variation of the method. This is just my favourite stretches, amount of breath work and length of cold exposure.
Once you have tried the method for a few months, you'll get a feel for what you like best and can adjust your practice accordingly.
How do the paid courses differ from the free one?
In the full method, each week ramps up the intensity. You'll do varied rounds of breath work, different styles of yoga and you'll even get homework activities to take your practice to the next level.
The free method, to my knowledge, is just the breath-work tutorial and cold exposure. The stretching is actually a key component and I certainly felt the difference when I incorporated things like headstands, upward dogs and cat-cows into my practice.
With each paid course, you also get a workbook which allows you to log your breath retentions alongside the weekly videos of Wim guiding the class, a 1-on-1 breathing lesson, stretching how-to's and your homework video. It's rather jam-packed...
There's also an option for a stripped back version if you're ever in a rush. Perfect for you busybodies.
My progress
From week 1, I could feel the changes already taking place.
The one thing I noticed more than anything during my time on the fundamentals course was that my cardiovascular performance was absolutely flying.
I love the gym and lift weights 4 days a week, but I had always neglected my cardio, despite needing strong lungs for when I play football.
Silly boy I know...
But as the weeks passed by, I noticed that my breathing was becoming nice and steady, whereas before it had been quite laboured, even when walking around at a leisurely pace.
I also noticed that my mood improved greatly too. I'm usually a chilled out bloke, but I can get stressed out quite easily. Doing the breathing and the exercises was almost like meditation without having to meditate - if that makes sense?
It also helped curb my road rage which is a nice bonus...
Sleep was another huge improvement. I love sleep, don't we all? But sometimes I find it really hard to nod off at night. My thoughts usually race around for what seems like forever until I finally drift off. After religiously doing the method for a few weeks, probably around week 5, I noticed I was getting off to sleep much quicker and wasn't waking up at all in the night.
And finally, since starting on the Fundamentals course, I haven't been ill once. This has coincided with switching back to a plant-based diet which I fully recommend if you want to really boost the benefits of the program.
Wim himself is a vegetarian, which I believe goes to show that it's probably the way to go. Don't take that as gospel though - if you want to crack on with the animal products, feel free. I'm not going to stop you.
But as someone who used to get sick constantly, this has been a godsend, so I won't be going back.
Is the Wim Hof Fundamentals course worth it?
In my humblest of opinions - yes.
The Wim Hof Fundamentals course takes the regular method and completely pimps it up. This is the method that Wim teaches his in-person students and is what he uses to take them on a walk up mountains in blizzards wearing just their shoes and shorts.
It's crazy. It's mad. It goes against everything science has ever said. But it works.
The Iceman has endured study after study, with science finally conceding that he has completely shifted the paradigm of what they thought the human body capable of. There's a reason he holds 26 Guinness World Records...
If you want amazing health benefits, try out the free method. If you want to change your life, the fundamentals course is the way to go.
I had been practicing the method for about 18 months prior to this review and I can't tell you how much difference it made to actually sit down every day with a full plan laid out for me.
In short, the Wim Hof Method is an unbelievable tool for wellbeing. The Fundamentals course takes this a step further and takes you to health heights you never thought you could achieve.
I'm not going to say to buy the courses straight away, because I didn't. But definitely try the free method first and you can see the benefits first hand. When the time is right, you might want to then go and take the plunge.
And when you do, you can find Wim's courses here.
Be sure to follow me on socials to keep up with the daily goings on of The Man Blueprint. You can also sign up for my inner circle using the newsletter form above. Just drop your email in there and it’s job done. Completely free and completely brilliant. Whilst you’re here, have a little browse of some other article you might like below too. You won’t regret it.
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The life changing power of ice baths
I love ice baths.
I'd happily marry one if I could, such is the feelgood factor they bestow upon me.
The fear can be crippling just before you dip your hairy wee toe in, but after 5 minutes when you get out, you enter into some mad state of euphoria, trust me on this one.
Let's give you a quick history lesson, run through the benefits then tell you how to do it.
And yes, I am teaching you how to take a bath...
Ice baths
Let’s talk a little bit about Ice baths shall we?
It’s as simple as it sounds, just get a bath that is ice cold. You can fill a tub entirely with ice if you’re crazy, you can fill it half with cold water and half with ice or you can just use the ice cold water.
I’ll be straight with you, I’ve just been using the ice cold water and that is more than enough to shrink your gonads inside your body.
Sometimes I’ll pop a bag of ice in with me but to reap the benefits, I’d wager the cold water does the trick.
Do you want a quick history lesson? No?!
Doesn’t matter, still gonna give you one.
Cold water immersion has been around since the dawn of time itself, with loads of different civilisations giving it a go - the Romans, Ancient Egyptians and more recently - sort of, the Victorians.
In The Victorian era, cold water therapy was prescribed for just about any ailment you could think of, be it hysteria (whatever that meant) or the flu.
People rated it.
And so they should have.
Cold Water therapy has come full circle and is now back in fashion thankfully, with Paula Radcliffe (famous for being a world class marathon runner, infamous for taking a poo at the side of the road during one of her races) attributing her 2002 Olympic gold to cold therapy - barmy.
What are the benefits?
The list is basically infinite when it comes to the benefits of taking ice baths. It offers even more than my trusty favourite, the cold shower.
Euphoria & Natural energy
This is without doubt my favourite byproduct of an ice bath. You get a sense of euphoria that’s extremely hard to match.
When you step outta da tub, you feel like you’re floating 3 inches off the ground - it really is heavenly.
Do some Wim Hof breathingbeforehand and you’ve got quite the potent 1-2 combo for a drug-free morning high.
Let’s call it; Wake and Lake (lake is the only water-based word I could think of to replace bake - maybe it’ll catch on, who knows - #WakeAndLake).
Reduce stress, depression and anxiety
This is such a key benefit to consistent ice baths. They can actually help to alleviate symptoms of all 3 of these potent mental illnesses.
I can become riddled with stress really easily and I have no idea why but I find it can be kept well managed when I am taking cold showers and ice baths regularly.
This is due to the fact that when you plunge yourself deep into cold water, you cant think about anything else but breathing and the sensation on your body.
You become instantly present and it feels good. Your mind becomes empty and that immediate lift you get really gives some mental clarity to your day, trust me.
I like to do an ice bath in the morning, do a workout, go in the sauna, steam room then the plunge pool (if your gym has these - make use of them!), have a cold shower, meditate and do some Wim Hof breathing. This will all usually be done by about 2pm, meaning the rest of the day I can relax with a quiet mind.
I’m well aware that this sounds like some optimal guru parody but all of those activities have been clinically proven to alleviate stress, depression and anxiety and I know for a fact that doing them keeps all 3 at bay for me.
It is especially important in today’s climate that you take care of your noggin as well as your physical state, so doing a combination of physical activities like the ones I have outlined above is a double edged sword in terms of its efficacy at improving both the mind and body.
Mental willpower
Stepping into an ice cold bath every single day builds major mental fortitude. The willpower to force yourself out of your comfort zone every day will have a positive effect on your overall willpower.
I am notoriously terrible with my self-control and willpower but about 3 weeks after I started regularly doing cold immersion I noticed I was snacking less on garbage and I had managed to stick consistently to my 5am wake ups.
I think it’s a case of not wanting to waste your day now that you’ve done something so difficult if you get what I mean?
Say for instance, you take a big fat ice bath in the morning, do a bit of meditation and Wim Hof breathing - you don’t then want to break the chain by having a snickers for breakfast or drinking so much Guinness that you poo your pants.
Feel me?
How to do it
Ideally, you’d want to do this in the morning or if you’re at home, when you hit the afternoon slump around 2-3pm. I tend to do it in the morning as I wake up around 5am and need something severe straight away to wake me from my zombie-like state.
Fill the bath up so that when you get in and lie down, only your head will be poking out. This way, your full body is getting hit with that cold ass h2o.
I tend to put my feet in first (like anyone was going to dive into their bath head first...) and just stand there and take 5 deep breaths to brace myself for the onslaught of feels about to come my way - I highly recommend this step.
Then lower yourself in and sit in the water for another 15 deep breaths. This acclimatises the majority of your body to the cold.
Once you’ve taken your 15 breaths, it’s time to lower yourself down into the lying position. This takes major stones - it’s okay if you wuss out the first few times. But if you feel like going the full 9 yards, dump yourself back and let the water flow over you.
You’ll feel like screaming - do so if you wish. After a few sharp inhalations, you’ll actually get used to it and the water won’t even feel that cold at all.
You may also get some numbness but that’s all part of the fun - obviously if you start to feel too weird, get out. I won’t be held responsible for you drowning in a tub full of your own filth you animal.
Anyway, take another 30 breaths and then dunk your head under briefly before getting out. This will give you a final shock and if you weren’t already awake before that, you certainly will be after it.
Get yourself out of the tub and get dried. You’ll feel instantly better. Literally as soon as you stand up out of that water you’ll feel like a new person.
Take a look in the mirror and more than likely, your skin will be pink as anything and it’ll feel tight - in a strangely rather good way.
Put your clothes on, feel on top of the world and get out there to smash whatever goals you may have.
That sounded a bit GaryVee didn’t it lol.
The sentiment still stands though. An ice bath will set you up for success in whatever you do, I don’t care if anyone disagrees with me they’re all wrong and stink because they didn’t take a bath.
Be sure to follow me on socials to keep up with the daily goings on of The Man Blueprint. You can also sign up for my inner circle using the newsletter form above. Just drop your email in there and it’s job done. Completely free and completely brilliant. Whilst you’re here, have a little browse of some other article you might like below too. You won’t regret it.