He has stood in a box of ice for 112 minutes, climbed up Everest and Kilimanjaro wearing nothing but shorts and shoes and swam 189ft under ice, causing his eyeballs to freeze.
Meet Wim Hof who’s starring in new celebrity survival series Freeze the Fear and has set more than 20 world records, 16 of them while packed in ice.
The show, which starts next week and is hosted by Holly Willoughby and Lee Mack, sees Hof train eight stars to complete a series of challenges in sub-zero temperatures.
The Dutch extreme athlete is dubbed the “Iceman” for his superhuman feats, which are mostly performed semi-naked and also include running a half-marathon north of the Arctic Circle while barefoot and hanging by a single finger from a rope suspended between two hot-air balloons a mile up.
(Image: Instagram)
But not all of his stunts have turned out so well – in 2008, he sat on a powerful jet fountain in an Amsterdam park to give himself a DIY enema, and suffered horrific internal injuries. It was his closest brush with death.
Speaking about his daredevil escapades, he simply says: “I’m not afraid of death, I’m afraid not to have lived fully.”
Hof, 62, believes a daily combination of freezing showers or ice baths, meditation, yoga and a special breathing cycle can have physical benefits and can even help fix health problems including heart disease, multiple sclerosis, depression and fibromyalgia.
(Image: Instagram)
He says it’s about learning to control the nervous system to gain complete power over the body, while he claims cold exposure can also boost mood, reduce anxiety, strengthen muscles in the cardiovascular system and help the brain process emotions and stress.
He’s turned this into his own lucrative Wim Hof Method – catchphrases include “breathe motherf*****!” – complete with merchandise and pricey retreats, where he met current partner Erin, 33.
He says: “You go through my techniques and anyone can bring a deep transformation to their daily life. We can return every person to a sense of feeling good.”
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But there has been controversy over his method. While one scientific study found it could help people control their nervous and immune system, the more excessive health claims have not been proven and he’s been criticised for over-stating the benefits of cold water therapy.
Hof has trained Orlando Bloom and Oprah Winfrey, while Gwyneth Paltrow featured him on her Netflix series Goop Lab. Joseph Fiennes is producing and starring in a biopic of his life, while fitness king Joe Wicks also follows his method.
Hof turned to the sub-zero after first wife Olaya’s suicide in 1995, saying: “The cold was the only release from my great emotional agony. It regulated my mood, it gave me peace.”
(Image: Instagram)
Now the dad of six takes daily ice baths in a chest freezer in his garden and runs on a treadmill in an industrial freezer set to -26c.
Hof – who has a twin brother unable to perform the same feats – has eaten only one meal a day for more than 40 years, claiming he gets energy from his special breathing techniques.
And he even reckons the Wim Hof Method can boost men’s performance in the bedroom, saying the breathing system can help fellas “go again.”
(Image: Instagram)
He’s now hoping Freeze the Fear – which features famous faces including Tamzin Outhwaite, Gabby Logan and Strictly’s Dianne Buswell – will inspire others to try it out.
“It is a profound and emotional show and I hope it will reach the people lying on their sofa eating chips,” says Hof. “The cold is a very effective way to get into the deeper brain area. There is nowhere you can hide from yourself. Tears are shed, emotions are let go.”
*Freeze the Fear starts next Tuesday (April 12) at 9pm on BBC One.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
