Having tried meditation in the past without consistent success, I now feel I’ve found something I can maintain on a weekly basis for the rest of my life. I was a little stuck about how I could articulate myself here so I’ve literally gone outside to do the Wim Hof Method for about 20 minutes and returned to my laptop, and now I’m inspired to type! My Sleep is Amazing
#Wim hof breathing exercise full#
I felt super-charged and full of energy most days of the week and managed to keep my weight down without even thinking about it. While “super human strength” wasn’t something that I necessarily achieved, I did sleep deeper than I can ever remember. If you read my previous post on the Wim Hof Method you will see a number of bold statements that are proposed to be positive side effects of Wim’s Method. I am eager to test this more profoundly, but we’ll have to wait until the next criterium season begins, in October 2017. This would suggest an improvement in cardiovascular ability but unfortunately there’s no remedy outside of training to condition the working muscles to endure a solid A grade criterium.
#Wim hof breathing exercise trial#
During my Wim Hof trial however, I don’t recall one instance where I reached my max heart rate or became out of breath before lactic build up in the muscle resulted in redlining. Before my Wim Hof trial I would often max out by my heart rate redlining or there would be a lactic build up in the muscles, not allowing me to continue at the same power output. The biggest improvement I noticed from engaging in the Wim Hof Method was in my breathing and heart rate. sixty minutes of aerobic activity with many anaerobic bursts) I participated in and the weekly bunch rides I did during the 10-week period were my benchmarks for assessing these benefits. By repeating this process every day, your cells become “conditioned” to deliver more energy to working muscles, and thus, an improvement in cardiovascular health can be achieved. With your blood more alkaline, your muscles become supercharged, leading to a higher output than usual. By pouring unprecedented amounts of oxygen into your cells via heavy breathing exercises, you inadvertently decrease the amount of CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) in the blood. The breathing exercises in combination with physical activity demonstrate an ability for the body to condition itself, becoming efficient with ATP production.ĪTP is the high-energy molecule that stores the energy we need to do just about everything we do on a day-to-day basis, including intense exercise. By week 10 I got to mid sixties each time, with my personal record being 74 push-ups on empty lungs. At week four I could get to just over forty push-ups before needing to stop. The main benefits are: Improved cardiovascular systemĪt about week four of this 10-week program you start doing a max push-up effort on empty lungs (doing push ups without breathing, having emptied your lungs beforehand). In fact, I spent a number of hours researching the science with a goal of being able to break down the effects in layman’s terms. The science behind these breathing exercises gets technical rather quickly.
![wim hof breathing exercise wim hof breathing exercise](https://www.timvandervliet.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Wim-en-Tim-new.jpg)
This involves 30 deep inhalations followed by a period without a breath, repeated across multiple rounds. What I’ve noticed in fitness levels (on the bike)īreathing exercises are the cornerstone of the Wim Hof 10-week program. In addition, my peripheral motivations related to athletic performance – such as stress management, sleep, diet and energy – are all areas I can provide context on post completing the Wim Hof Method. However, I was still able to do some riding during this time-challenging period of February and March (including a couple of criterium races in March) enabling me to provide an informed perspective on changes in my physiology on and off the bike over the past 10 weeks. Due to unprecedented travel commitments in February, followed by some sickness, I was unable to maintain the training required to truly benchmark my peak fitness levels using a well-regarded test called “the step test”. My initial motivation to trial the Wim Hof Method was to find out if it could improve my cycling performance. However, what I have been marvelled by the most isn’t my body’s ability to complete these tasks, but more so a noticeable change in my physiology, courtesy of the Wim Hof Method. Headstands, 5-minute breath-holds, cold showers, and bizarre looking yoga moves have all formed part of my daily repertoire. Over the past 10 weeks of trialling the Wim Hof Method I have surprised myself.