Triple your max push ups without training?
Happy Friday!
It's been 9 days since I started working on the Wim Hof Method that I talked about last week. When I started I could hold my breath for 53 seconds. Today I held my breath for 2, 2.5 and then 3 minutes. When I started I could do 11 push ups. Today I did 36.
How much of the improvement is down to the training (or placebo!) effect, it's hard to say. I did do another baseline test a couple of days ago, without doing the Wim Hof breathing exercises, and was only able to do 25 push ups. After doing the breathing exercises, I was able to do 31 push ups that day. An intriguing result, if not conclusive.
The second pillar of Wim Hof's protocol is cold exposure. The cold water temperature in my part of London seems to be around 17-18 degrees. That's just about cold enough to have a beneficial effect on the body, according to The Science. But after building my cold shower exposure up to 6 minutes, I decided I needed something more challenging.
So I cycled one morning to Brockwell Lido, an unheated outdoor pool full of wetsuited and booted triathletes ploughing their lanes at top speed. I plopped myself into the deep end and... just bobbed around. I didn't move too much because that would raise my core temperature and I wanted the opposite of that.
At first the water was comfortably cold. The ice took hold of my brain, putting me in a pleasant state of euphoric awareness. Twelve minutes later it was a different matter entirely and I was struggling to control my shiver response. After eighteen minutes, I hauled my numb limbs out of the pool and hobbled straight into a hot shower. The cold lingered in my gills for a good couple of hours!
Since then, I've been running myself a 15 minute cold bath every morning. The water temperature creeps up from about 17 to 18 due to the warming effect of my body temperature, but it's still plenty cold enough to test myself against the shiver response. There's no better way to start the day, believe me!
As a runner, I've always enjoyed testing myself against the physical limits of my body, pushing myself to go faster and further. I never thought to extend this attitude to the environment around me by welcoming the cold, instead of throwing on a jumper or turning up the radiator. Now it seems obvious - I can stress and strengthen my body simply by staying in a pair of shorts through winter.
The fact that there may be cardiovascular endurance benefits that'll cross over into my running life is icing (ha?) on the cake.
INPUT
Five inputs that have inspired me this week.
BLOG: Does Bedtime Honey Improve Sleep? Nine Reasons to Think So - Seth's Blog
COMEDY: Colin Hoult / Anna Mann in How We Stop The Fascists - Soho Theatre - Last show in London tomorrow :(
PAPER: That's Interesting! - Murray S Davis (1971) - A sociological exploration of what makes something interesting. It's not what you think. Literally.
PODCAST / VIDEO: The Future of Fake News - RadioLab
OUTPUT
Don't miss a thing!
Wim Hof: The Cold is Our Teacher (September)
Stoicism and The Word of God (September)
2040: Don’t Worry, Be Happy (August)
No Shampoo (July)
I'm off to Oxford now, for European Researchers' Night at the Curiosity Carnival - a transcontinental celebration of academic research organised by the European Commission. Catch them now before they all disappear!
I'll leave you with this from Marcus Aurelius, courtesy of my Marcus Aurelius Random Generator Engine (MARGE):
A good man does not spy around for the black spots in others, but presses unswervingly on towards his mark. (Meditations 4:18)
- dc
p.s. Life To The Lees: Cycling Around Britain is still merrily asale.
p.p.s. Oooh... You can forward this email to a friend!
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