BRRRRRRRRRReathe!

Why in the world would anyone want to purposefully sit in freezing cold water full of ice? Because it feels fucking fantastic that's why. Not to mention the benefits!

I've been doing cold exposure training since I ran my first Ultramarathon in 2017, and it has continued to be an important and regular part of my life since. Initially I did them with the only intention to speed up recovery, what I came to realize quite quickly was that there is so much more to it than that.

Ask any of the men who have experienced The Nine8 program. By the end of that they became a bunch of cold showering bad asses with little to no prompting.

I won't go into citing published articles backing up the science, but what I have personally experienced in 5yrs of consistent cold exposure practice is a significant increase in:

- focus
- confidence
- resilience
- patience
- vitality
- joy
- recovery and elimination of those annoying aches/pains

Just to name a few.......

I've gone entirely off the deep end when it comes to this, and converted a chest freezer into a dedicated cold plunge in my garage. For anyone that wants to go that route let me know and I'd love to help you out and point you to some great resources. It's very easy and relatively inexpesive once you have the actual freezer (pro tip: people throw these out ALL THE TIME, it only needs to run a couple hours a day on a timer for this purpose).

That being said, I understand not everyone wants or has the room for a spare chest freezer in their garage. Cold showers are fantastic too! Here is a starter protocol to follow:

- week 1: Regular shower with gradual shift to cold at the end. Full cold for 15-30 seconds. 15-30 real seconds, not 15-30 counting while you're yelling because it's cold seconds!

- week 2: Regular shower with transition to 1 minute of cold at the end. Focus entirely on your breathing before the cold and during the cold. What happens to your breathe when you get in? What happens once you get comfortable in it?

- Week 3: Get in with it cold once or twice and don't turn to warm for 30-60 seconds. The rest of the time just increase to 1.5-2 minutes full cold at the end. By now you will be looking forward to the cold and feel relaxed, the panic of the transition will be easy to overcome (if you don't believe me, message me in 3 weeks and tell me I'm wrong).

- Week 4: By now you're ready to try full cold start to finish. You will have already learned that it's possible, and that the key to overcoming your doubt/hesitation and getting comfortable is BREATHING. Quality breathing before, and quality breathing during = walk in the park.

(if you feel cold for longer than 45minutes after your exposure, or experience shaking at anytime, you've stayed in too long. Cut it back and progress slowly. This generally doesn't happen in showers because the water can't get cold enough; however, plunging into dedicated cold tubs, rivers, or lakes is where this shows up often)

It's all about the breath. When we control our breathing we can control our reaction to something as intense as getting submersed in a frozen lake, etc. Imagine all the situations in your life and career that the ability to control your body/minds reaction to an intense event will come in handy?

Seriously, stop for a moment.

Imagine what that experience will be like.

What it will feel like to be fully in control.

To be calm when it matters.

This shit works ladies and gentleman. I guarantee you will notice the results, even when you don't expect them.

If you want help with cold immersion training, or a more detailed plan on how to start, message me and I'll be happy to have a chat. If you also want to become a cold showering badass and learn a ton of ways to mitigate stress, reconnect to yourself and families, and get past those blocks that hold you back; learn more about The Nine8 program here.