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Micro wisdom delivered to your ears every morning in voice notes ranging from 3 to 15 minutes long. Wisdom on how to live a healthier and more fulfilling life. Every podcast will ground you in the present moment to ensure you know what's important, the here and now.
Hello. Good morning, everybody. So today's topic is does the Wim Hof method actually work? So you might have seen a lot of people doing like cold plunges, cold showers, these breathing techniques, And it's been popularized by this guy called Wim Hof, he's like a Dutch extreme athlete. He basically can sit in extremely cold temperatures for ages and he thinks that everyone can do it and they can have the benefits of it, blah blah blah blah blah.
Speaker 1:So a randomized controlled trial, which is the pinnacle of research really, put it to the test to see if it actually did work. So they found 42 you know, normal weight young males, average age of 27, with no health problems, and a control group. So the control group did their activities every day, the intervention group did the following routine: breathing exercises, they did 30 to 40 rounds of just tummy breathing, emphasizing deep breaths, light breaths. They did mindfulness meditation, so just looking through their body and bodily sensations for five minutes. And they did cold water immersions for thirty seconds under cold water in the shower and then added more time as they got used to it.
Speaker 1:So the routine took about fifteen minutes, and the study found after fifteen days there was no statistical difference in heart rate variability, blood pressure, and pulse wave velocity, which is an indicator of artery stiffness. No changes in mood levels or stress. Now obviously, it's a short study, fifteen days, but the reason I bring this up is you often see on social media these people like Wim Hof who are gifted in the sense that they can do these things, saying everyone can do it. Seeing people with extreme genetics, and what I mean by extreme genetics is they are built for something they're doing and they're trying to act like everyone is available to everyone. You'll see like extreme of like maybe like maybe extreme athletes is the word for it, but athletes who really are in on what they're doing and then they try and sell out to the general public.
Speaker 1:Might think this is brilliant and we can learn a lot from athletes and professional sports people because of the mindset stuff and being in the arena under pressure with crowd watching, know, really really hard. But often we need to think back how does this relate to me? How does my lifestyle match this? And you've got to think about what your lifestyle is. Your lifestyle equals the body you have, right?
Speaker 1:So if you want to be ripped and shredded But what it means is is you have to accept, well, maybe I have to have lower calorie intake because my weight could be lower. I can't really just go out and have meals with my friends, eat whatever I want here and there. I have to be more strict in terms of my energy intake. Maybe I've got to say no to more social plans because they would be hard unless I go to the social plans and control it. My training regime's got to be on point, I might have to increase my training regime.
Speaker 1:And you might think, well, to be honest, Scott, when I think about it, it's not possible for me to do that. And that's absolutely fine, know, like during COVID a lot of people got really, really fit and they'd become their leanest version of themselves, and that proves the point. COVID forced a lifestyle, kind of a social experiment on us where you couldn't go out anymore and socialize. You couldn't just go here, go there. You were at home, nothing to do.
Speaker 1:You had a lot of time to yourself and you could exercise, you could put time into your mindfulness, you could put time into education, you could put time into all that stuff, those habits. You've always wanted to do, but real life made it hard and a lot of people go into the best shape and a lot of people gain weight, so shows as well how it can differ. So you have to say, am I willing to live that lifestyle for that type of body? And a lot of you will come to the conclusion at the end of the journey or like, you know, like down the line as we'd say, nah, it's not worth me missing out on just being spontaneous with this and that, worrying about my energy intake that much and this and that. I'd rather have a bit more fat on my body and have this type of lifestyle.
Speaker 1:And a lot of you are going to get it, you're going go why was I worrying about that much fat? No one's going to see that fat apart from you, you might bring her to the beach one day. You know, in reality your body whilst social media with edit by the way remember edited photos, crazily edited photos, everyone looks amazing. And you look in the mirror in suboptimal lighting and you're like, oh wow, I'm not looking great. So you have to think about these things.
Speaker 1:It's the same as people would be like, well, I want to start my own business, for example. I glory want all that happens when you have a successful business, they might say, and you just look at these millionaires and billionaires. And then if you were to follow them around every day and see how long their days are and how they haven't got any weekends anymore, so just day after day, you'd have to think, am I willing to replace what I got for that? And a lot of people will start saying no to that because it's a lot of pressure every day. So you you need to start thinking about these things because it's gonna get to the point where you decide what type of lifestyle you wanna lead and you might be holding yourself back.
Speaker 1:Maybe you are capable of unlocking level two, level three, level four of the lifestyle you can achieve. So say now you've got five levels and you're currently on level one, you're not exercising much, you're not looking after your calorie intake, you're not eating more protein, you're not getting your steps in, you're not thinking about your long term health, you're not listening to daily podcasts, your head in the right game, you're sluggish, you're lethargic, you're spending too much time on your phone, you're on level one of who you could be. And a lot of you can get a level two, level three very easily, just you got to put some effort and time in and take some time off your phone. There is time to be hard in the day, but we do have twenty four hours, we're limited to twenty four hours or like sixteen waking hours really. A lot of you have got more free time in those sixteen hours than others, a lot of people might have less because they're parents and it depends on your jobs and shift workers and stuff, but you can't have more time, there's only twenty four hours or sixteen hours.
Speaker 1:So you've got to see how far away are you from actually making your day as optimal as it can be without you on a sacrifice and go down the path of like I have to do cardio every night after workout so I can get this lean. A lot of people fall into that trap. They do forty five minutes on the StairMaster or on this treadmill every day because they need to do this for the calories and they've got to keep going. So I'm sure a lot of you have not unlocked your full potential. I'm sure a lot of you can get up to level four, level five, which means you're smashing your calorie intake, your protein intake is high, your steps are brilliant, your mind's in the right place, you're feeding it with good information, you're giving yourself time to focus and meditate or not just meditate, mindfulness, like can you just be aware, can you be in the now each day.
Speaker 1:You start deciding to eat foods because they're good for you and the energy they give you and how they don't make you bloated and feel sluggish as opposed to like you think you have to eat them. You start doing exercise even if it's once a week or twice a week and you notice what that does to your mental health and your muscle mass and your bone mineral density, all these things. And then you start thinking of maybe I should do some hobbies that are more active again start doing hobbies and you love these hobbies, you start doing, you join a club locally, you do dance class, you go hiking a lot, there's loads of stuff you could be doing and then you start unlocking level four or five of who you could be And that's when all of these small things that you might think they are come together over some time. That's what we should be going for. Not, I'm here today and I've just seen the number one athlete in the world on Instagram and I wanna be like the athlete, so I'm gonna start doing like their crazy regime and Wim Hof Method, all this stuff.
Speaker 1:You're so far away from that image that you're gonna feel like crap trying to get to it because you'll never get to it. But if you can focus on you know or yourself, you know deep down, all of you listening, you know deep down you've got more in the tank, you've got more effort available, you definitely know so. And all I'm asking is to bring that out which is already there as opposed to trying to be someone you're not. So think about that now. And I want to answer a few questions on today's world.
Speaker 1:Want talk a bit about water and carbohydrates and what happens in the body. So a lot of people are worried, Why am I drinking more water? How does drinking more water make me weigh less? All this stuff. So in the bodybuilding world on a competition week, so before they do a show a week out, people tend to water load where they drink four, five, six, seven liters of water go up and up every day drinking eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve liters of water a day.
Speaker 1:You know, and then a day or two before the show or like thirty six hours before the show, water intake drops down to pretty much sips every few hours. And what happens there is the body is always peeing, peeing, peeing, peeing, the water's coming in and out, in and out, in and out. What happens in the last bit is when all this water is expected to come in, there's a lot of peeing that happens in that thirty six hours and there's a lot of water releases from the system and the muscles and everything don't feel the need to hold on too much water because there's so much water coming in. And they don't exactly know why this works in a sense. I've spoke to some people who are like competition prep coaches and it works but the science on it is quite like we don't know exactly, but that's kind of what the gist of it is.
Speaker 1:And in thirty six hours because you haven't drank any water, you're not holding onto any water because you peed it all out and you look as lean as possible on stage. So how does that apply to us? Well, if you don't drink enough water, the theory is the body might hold on to more water to conserve more water and you start feeling more fluffy, more soft. If you're drinking a decent amount of water a day, the body may not need to think that way or not necessarily think that way, the mechanics of it may be that there's water coming in, it's coming in, it's all good, there's no need to hold onto it. That's the current consensus on it and obviously a lot of people who do drink about two liters of water a day do notice they feel leaner, they pee in more regularly, the pea color's clear, which is better, and just more hydrated in general and it works better.
Speaker 1:Now when it comes to carbohydrates for example, your body can store about 700 to 800 grams of glycogen, and that's just for easy sake carbohydrates, in the muscle. So before my competition on Sunday, I loaded up on carbs on a Saturday, and I was meant to do more on the Friday. I left a bit too late, but I did some training Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and I would have been a bit depleted because I was thinking about making a weight class but in the end I went to higher class anyway, but my plan was to make a weight class. But on Saturday I consumed between 500 to 700 grams of carbs And you think I said, wow, that's a hell of a lot. And you know, I timed it through the days and I ate carbs that agreed to me obviously.
Speaker 1:I didn't try and go for carbs I hadn't had. So I was having the carb sauces I'd already eaten. And the goal there is, and you drink a lot of water, is to make sure that your muscles are filled up with glycogen. And you know, if you got 700 to 800 grams of carbs in your muscles and you're full up, and that brings in four grams of water per gram, so you're looking at another two to three kilos of water and the carbs in itself. Your body now, think of your muscles, they are primed, are loaded with ammunition, they are locked and loaded and they're maxed out.
Speaker 1:You've got maximum glycogen levels, that means maximum energy available to the muscle, which is a good thing when you're doing sports. So when you do sports, you will burn through that very quickly though. So that is the problem when you think of endurance versus short short matches and stuff like that, you will burn through those glycogen storage quickly. And you might think and the thing is your body can store seven hundred eight hundred grams of carbs and I think a 150 grams in the liver. So say just for the sake, it can store a kilogram, so one kg of carbs or glycogen.
Speaker 1:Your body can store a lot more than fat, a lot more fat than that. So you can store I mean, I'm sure there's people walking around with thirty, forty kgs of stored fat in their bodies. Some of you have got 20 kgs of stored fat, 30 kgs of stored fat. And you might be thinking, well why not use fat then as the energy source because there's so much more fat and it's more dense in energy. Why not use that when you're trying to compete in sports or to be active or to perform at your best ability?
Speaker 1:The problem is the body can't utilise fat energy quickly enough during high intensity or during sports than carbohydrates. It's called keto adapted or fat adapted. This was a theory, well if you can adapt to using fat instead of carbs first then maybe we can burn through fat quick and we can actually use that because it's a better energy source in terms of the vast amounts we have. But it just doesn't work that way, the body needs the glucose, it's like three to four times quicker than trying to use fat and convert it into energy. So this is the problem with the fat adapted stuff.
Speaker 1:So you've got to think of carbs, they are really useful for us, know, if you want be peak performance and maybe not even just sports, but the brain uses a lot of glucose, you want to start thinking of your water intake and your carbohydrate intake sometimes. And your carbohydrates are going to come from your pasta, your rice, some breads, if you agree with breads, and oats, fibrous veggies, all these types of stuff, and fruits, all these amazing things. So when it comes to oh my God, I feel bloated and heavy, you could have by accident have had a high, high, high carb day or few days and you've had a lot of liquids and waters and stuff, yeah you're going to feel heavier, you can feel significantly heavier, you can be significantly heavier, but it's not fat. It's just that you are maxed out in glycogen storage and you've got a lot of water pulled in, and that's actually good news. So the next time you have a overindulgence from a carbohydrate source, your carby source, what you need to say to yourself is this, I am now a primed animal ready to do something, ready to go on a workout and ready to go and do something.
Speaker 1:I've got energy to burn, my muscles are ready, I'm going to do something. You know, if you don't do any exercise at all just go well, you know, maybe I'll go and do a class or something, I'll ask my friend if they want to go for a do like a body weight workout that's really easy to do. You can find those on YouTube as well, really beginner stuff. You go and utilise your muscles that are filled to the brim with glycogen. So I wanted to cover that because people asked about it.
Speaker 1:So it is important to have a consistent water intake whether it's one litre that's compatible for you or whether it's two litres, some people around three litres. Salts are important as well, you don't want ignore salts, you want to get the salts in. And that's it, don't need to worry about this stuff too much, I'm talking about performance nutrition, is a very different feel to fat loss, but it's good to understand what happens because feels can get muddled up. But back to the original point of this podcast to start with, like the Wim Hof Method and all that, look, if you want to try these things and they help your day, who am I to say don't do it? I'm not saying don't do it, I'm just saying the scientific benefits behind them and what they claim on social media isn't quite there.
Speaker 1:But whatever routine works for you, do it. A lot of people spend an hour, an hour, sixty to ninety minutes in the morning doing some crazy routines when they can just get straight into what they need to do when they wake up. I've tried many routines in the morning and my favorite one is I wake up, I walk to the kitchen, I get a cup of coffee going and I read. That for me is peak morning. I've tried waking up, going straight for a run for twenty minutes, then back to do some meditation for twenty minutes, followed by journaling for twenty minutes, you know, then shower, get ready and all this stuff.
Speaker 1:And whilst I had some nice days doing that, it was more what can I say? Maybe more effort than I was getting it was a lot of effort, but I wasn't getting the gains back for me now, and I wasn't reading as well, which I wanted to do. So you gotta pick the routine that works for you. Walk waking up and going for a walk is a good one. Some of you might say, I wake up.
Speaker 1:I would need a shower first, then go for a walk, so I'm fresh. Some of you might say, I like waking up, getting straight outfit on, and going for a walk, getting a bit of a sweat on, coming back then showering and feeling fresh. So test them out guys, test them out because walking in the morning is important, getting your steps ahead of the day is important and when it comes to your one big thing for the day, what am I gonna do today that moves the needle or that one thing, could be going for a little early morning walk especially if you've blue skies, even if it's cold, it's all nice to get out and go for a walk when there's blue skies and there might not be many blue skies around at this time of year, but they will be coming soon so you better get used to them. But I hope you have a good day, focus on the metrics that matter, don't overwhelm yourself with tracking too many data points, If your goal is weight loss, you know exactly what to do. You hit your protein target.
Speaker 1:You try and come near your, you hit you try and come near your protein target. No problem if you're not getting near it yet. Your calorie intake, try and hit your target. If you go over under, that's fine. It's your weekly average of matters.
Speaker 1:Get some water in. Get your steps in, and ideally weigh yourself every morning after you wake up and go to toilet because daily weigh ins with the weekly average is a very good indication, and it can let us know if your progress is happening, and it can also let us know if the calories and protein targets that you have are correct. So other than that, crack on with your day guys, don't fall for the extremes you see on social media, focus on you, unlock yourself. If you're on level one right now, let's see if you can get to level two of who you're meant to be, and I look forward to seeing level fives of all of you very, very soon.