Who is Wim Hof, extreme cold athlete and star of 大象传媒 One鈥檚 Freeze The Fear?
Safety disclaimer: cold water exposure was done in a controlled environment under the supervision of professionals. Don’t try this at home
You might be aware of Wim Hof as the man that spends a lot of time in cold water and freezing temperatures – and the star of new 大象传媒 One show Freeze The Fear.
Also known as The Iceman, he’s an extreme athlete who claims that his breathing techniques and exposure to cold can reduce inflammation in the body and contribute to better health.
If you’re not familiar with him, then you might wonder why celebrities including Tamzin Outhwaite, Alfie Boe, Professor Green and Owain Wyn Evans are submerging themselves in icy water in the name of entertainment.
The new challenge show Freeze the Fear with Wim Hof, takes the celebs – Patrice Evra, Gabby Logan, Chelcee Grimes and Diane Buswell are also taking part – to the Italian mountains to try out Wim’s methods in a bid to improve their wellbeing. Holly Willougby and Lee Mack present the icy endurance tests.
But who is Wim Hof, and why does he spend so much time freezing?
'I immersed myself in freezing water'
Wim, 62, was born in the Netherlands as one of nine children. At 17, he was walking through a local park with a canal one winter and had what he describes as “an attraction to the thin layer of ice on the water, and I just undressed and got in”.
He says the endorphins he felt after being in the freezing water made him feel so good that he carried on doing it. He developed the Wim Hof Method, a breathing technique that he says allows him to withstand the cold: “I soon learned that if I breathed deeply, I no longer felt the instinctive urge to gasp each time I immersed myself. The deep breathing made my body tingle and it felt amazing. I was only 17 but I felt so alive and excited and I’ve kept doing it ever since, each day, for the past 46 years!”
In 1995, Wim’s wife tragically died. Olaya took her own life, leaving him to raise their four children.
“She had depression and had spiralled into darkness. I was left alone with four kids to look after and no money, dealing with the deep emotional agony and yet needing to be strong for my children,” he tells the 大象传媒.
• Listen to Wim Hof talk about embracing discomfort
He was devastated, but found solace in icy water. According to a previous profile of Wim by Rolling Stone, his techniques went largely unnoticed until a local news crew in the Netherlands filmed him jumping into a freezing lake through holes cut in the ice on the surface. He was filmed rescuing a man from the lake who’d fallen through the ice, and earned the ‘Iceman’ title in his native country.
'Oprah Winfrey and Justin Bieber do the Wim Hof Method'
Not content with simply being able to hold his breath for six minutes and withstand subzero temperatures, Wim set about breaking records.
He holds over 20 Guinness World Records for various frozen feats, including running a half marathon in shorts above the Arctic Circle, attempting to climb Everest, and then successfully climbing Kilimanjaro, again clothed only in shorts, and swimming under ice for 66 metres. He’s also set the world record several times for direct contact with ice, by remaining in a container filled with ice cubes for almost two hours.
He says he is able to do this due to having perfected a method of breathing – the Wim Hof Method (WHM) – that allows him to control his physical responses.
Similar to hyperventilation, but in a controlled manner, the WHM instructs practitioners to breathe forcefully and rapidly in and out repeatedly, before holding their breath.
Such is his reputation and belief in the power of the WHM, celebrities even do it, he says.
Asked about the famous faces who’ve tried the method, Wim says: “Oprah Winfrey lying on the ground in the grass, doing the breathing, being astonished at how long she can hold her breath. Or Justin Bieber – he’s got all the money and all the fame. Matt Damon is doing it. You cannot buy health and your fame will not make you healthy, you have to work on it.”
Several scientific studies have been conducted on Wim to test his claims. Some found that his breathing technique could influence neurological responses to external stimuli.
For more information on the Wim Hof Method and its safety, read our FAQs.
If you have been affected by the issues mentioned, held and advice can be found here.
Watch Freeze The Fear on 大象传媒 One on Tuesdays at 9pm and on 大象传媒 iPlayer.
