Select a region
Ice baths have long been favoured by athletes as part of their post-performance routines, but did you know you don’t have to be running marathons or playing rugby to reap the benefits of cold immersion?
Bailiwick Express spoke to a local former-wrestler-turned-ice-bath-specialist to find out what the cold does your body and how we could all breathe a little more deeply...
Owner of Evolved Human, Russ Allchin is a personal strength coach, sports massage therapist and an official Wim Hof Method Instructor.
The method, which is based on a combination of breathing, cold therapy and mindset, was developed by extreme athlete and motivational speaker Wim Hof, also known as 'The Iceman'.
Pictured: Russ (right) with Wim Hof, also known as 'The Iceman'.
A former professional wrestler, powerlifter and martial artist, Russ has been either training or coaching people in fitness, strength and conditioning for over 30 years. He discovered the Wim Hof method, “like most people, through the Vice documentary”, just over two years ago.
“I watched it and there’s a bit where he does the breathing and I was able to hold my breath for two-and-a-half minutes the first time I did it,” Russ said. “Now, I can do a lot more, the longest I’ve done is 5.58 minutes.”
Pictured: “Within a week of doing cold showers, I dropped my resting heartbeat by 10 beats a minute, I did not change anything else in my training," Russ said.
Russ said the feeling he had after doing his first breathing exercise inspired him to learn more about the method and, ultimately, qualify as a Wim Hof instructor. Since then, he has also qualified in four other different types of breathing techniques, which he is now teaching to islanders.
“I have certified in all those because I discovered that breathing was the top of the ladder,” he explained.
“Being a personal trainer, it was all about nutrition and training, but when you go into breath work, you discover that the way you are breathing affects how you sleep and everything else."
Soon after starting on his breathwork, Russ started testing cold showers and he has never looked back. Today, he says he never has a warm shower.
“I started doing 30 seconds at first and then I increased. Doing 15 minutes in the ice is not a worry now,” Russ said. “Within a week of doing cold showers, I dropped my resting heartbeat by 10 beats a minute, I did not change anything else in my training.”
“The health benefits of cold water are many - there is a lot of science behind it,” he continued. “It lowers your heart rate, it strengthens your vascular system, your blood vessels, your arteries, your veins, as much as running.
“It gives you a much more robust immune system, people who do cold immersion very rarely have respiratory health issues. It’s also a good way of losing weight because of the thermogenic effect which burns brown fat.”
Pictured: Russ is a certified Wim Hof instructor.
Whilst jumping into an ice bath will naturally put your body under stress, Russ explained it provides a “mental reset”, as well as being a good exercise that helps build resilience.
“People usually panic when they first get in the water, then they realise they can control it and at the end, they have a big smile and they discover they are far more powerful and stronger than they know,” he said.
“It’s a stress exercise. How you deal with stress in the bath is how you deal with stress in your life. The body deals with stress as stress, it does not care where it comes from.”
Russ’s advice to get started with cold immersion? Start under the shower. “You have a nice warm shower and then you start with 15 seconds under cold water and then you slowly increase the time you are in there. Your shower is probably not as cold as you think it is.”
When combined with breathing and mindset, as the method recommends, Russ says the effects are “something different”.
Pictured: During his workshops, Russ also teaches participants how to breathe properly.
“It changes your mental state, it’s so much more powerful,” he said. “You wake up, you are usually calm in bed, you do the rounds of breaths, then you jump into the cold shower. Your body is now set in a different state and able to deal with different stresses through the day.
“With the breathing, you change your body’s chemistry and how it deals with cold and how it handles pain. You are blowing off more CO2, you have five times more oxygen flowing through your body, and you have two times the adrenaline of someone about to do a buggie jump.”
Russ regularly hosts "fundamentals workshops" about the Wim Hof Method in the island - the next one is on 13 November - during which he discusses the science behind breathwork and cold immersion and guides people through their first ice bath - if they want to!
Through these, he says he has witnessed the benefits of both techniques, which he himself experienced, in participants.
“I did a workshop in the women’s section of the prison recently and at the end they were all in tears because they have so much trauma and stresses,” he said. “The feedback from the team a week later is that they are still feeling the effects of it, it’s very powerful."
Pictured: Humans have forgotten how to relax.
“It makes you understand that most people do not breathe properly," he continued. "If your shoulders lift when you breathe, your fight or flight system is triggered all the time. If your body feels you are under stress, your adrenaline will rise, because you might need to run away if there was a real danger, but throughout the day, you do not need that stress. Breathing that way will make your body feel you are under stress, which has an effect on inflammation.
“Humans have forgotten how to relax, we are in panic mode all the time. Most people do not have the ability to relax. What I have seen in my workshops is that people who do not relax, are in a completely different state after. It’s really interesting to see. Everyone has a smile on their face at the end.”
“It’s about listening to your body and not forcing it,” he added. “It’s not about trying to push yourself to hold your breath. That’s when you get into trouble, if people try to override their body, the brain goes ‘okay you’re not listening to me’ so you pass out and then you wake up and your body is breathing for you. Be safe and think about what you are doing, your body will tell you what to do.”
For more information about Russ's work, follow him on Instagram.
This article first featured on Bailiwick Wellbeing, your free weekly guide to wellness in work and island life. Sign up now here.
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.