Dutch athlete Wim Hof joins celebrity line up for new ITV show Freeze the Fear
dailystar.co.ukHolly 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.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.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.
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