man runs 2 hours on frozen lake INSANE !

It take all kinds, right? Good for him!
 
His feet look perfectly fine, he also did this with barely any clothes on. Did i mention he follows the teaching of Wim Hof?

No! He got heavy frostbite. Wach till end and read comments on youtube. If you thinking your brain or lacking science wim hof method will heat your toes, you're dumb.

Bigest mistake he made was running shirtless last half. No more CIVD for feets because of it, when body trying to keep core warm. Also he not telling, what his barefoot running experience at autumn and begining of winter for better adaptation to cold.

Edit: CIVD - cold induced vasodilation - way how body heating feets and some other parts at cold.
 
Last edited:
Bigest mistake he made was running shirtless last half. No more CIVD for feets because of it, when body trying to keep core warm.

Exactly! Keeping core warm is rule #1 when barefoot in freezing conditions.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Christian Lemburg
I read the book of Wim van Hof, "The Iceman". Basically, he advocates getting used to the cold, gradually. Not only the feet, but the whole body. Very tough, but definitively interesting from an experimental viewpoint. No miracles here, but a lot of adaptation work. Very good descriptions on how exposure to cold progresses, very interesting stories of his experiences.

However, everybody should recognize that this is very experimental, on-the-edge type stuff. You absolutely need to know what you are doing, and you should have a safe bail-out when things go bad. Monitoring wind conditions is essential. If you get surprised by strong wind in cold conditions without a possibility to bail out, things get ugly very fast, not only for your feet.

Wim van Hof himself has injured his feet severely with heavy frostbite trying to run a half-marathon on ice in Lapland (Chapter 12 & 13 of his book). According to his description, he was fine during the first 18km, and somehow ruined his feet with third degree frostbite in the last 3km of the distance by deciding to finish the race. It took him quite some time to heal, and there was danger of losing both feet.

As Einar and Paraganek have said, if you want to keep your feet warm, you need a warm core. That is essential. Compromising this principle is downright dangerous, and will very likely result in injury. Learn from other's mistakes ...

In cold conditions, always wear a hat, windtight jacket, and enough other clothes to keep your core warm. Always expect the wind to pick up speed, and make sure you can get through your run even if the wind gets stronger. Always check for rain and snow. Weather forecast apps have been improving a lot in the last years. Rain radar pics help a lot. You should always have a planned option to bail out (emergency shoes/socks, warm up locations along the route, mobile phone and someone to call, etc.). Remember - you could also slip and fall, and be forced to crawl the rest of your route. I often wondered about this when running a 10k in the morning at 5:00 or so, running over ice ... who would come when to pick me up?

Most of this has nothing to do with barefoot running, just with common sense. Shod runners face the same dangers, essentially. Running barefoot in the cold just will make any mistakes very clear very soon.

If you plan ahead a little bit, you can have a lot of fun in the winter barefoot. It is very surprising how well our feet can adapt to the cold :) ...
 
I read the book of Wim van Hof, "The Iceman". Basically, he advocates getting used to the cold, gradually. Not only the feet, but the whole body. Very tough, but definitively interesting from an experimental viewpoint. No miracles here, but a lot of adaptation work. Very good descriptions on how exposure to cold progresses, very interesting stories of his experiences.

However, everybody should recognize that this is very experimental, on-the-edge type stuff. It is very surprising how well our feet can adapt to the cold :) ...

I also read the Wim Hof book. Since then I am taking daily cold showers (I start warm)...and I like doing it. No science but I am giving it the benefit of the doubt that it has a postive effect on my overall health.

The think I liked most about the book is a sideremark about eating less. It got me on the track of intermediate fasting, which is also someting I have been doing for 2 years now. I feel more energised!
The fact to be a runner also helped me to move away from burning sugar to burning fat (and yes, I still have some fat left ;-) )

But the claims that Hof is making about the cold and all the pseudo-science talk around it is a lot of bullshit. "Backed-up by science" - there has been a very small scientific experiment about his teachings but that's nothing compared to the claims he's making.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Einar
I read the book of Wim van Hof, "The Iceman". Basically, he advocates getting used to the cold, gradually. Not only the feet, but the whole body. Very tough, but definitively interesting from an experimental viewpoint. No miracles here, but a lot of adaptation work. Very good descriptions on how exposure to cold progresses, very interesting stories of his experiences.

However, everybody should recognize that this is very experimental, on-the-edge type stuff. You absolutely need to know what you are doing, and you should have a safe bail-out when things go bad. Monitoring wind conditions is essential. If you get surprised by strong wind in cold conditions without a possibility to bail out, things get ugly very fast, not only for your feet.

Wim van Hof himself has injured his feet severely with heavy frostbite trying to run a half-marathon on ice in Lapland (Chapter 12 & 13 of his book). According to his description, he was fine during the first 18km, and somehow ruined his feet with third degree frostbite in the last 3km of the distance by deciding to finish the race. It took him quite some time to heal, and there was danger of losing both feet.

As Einar and Paraganek have said, if you want to keep your feet warm, you need a warm core. That is essential. Compromising this principle is downright dangerous, and will very likely result in injury. Learn from other's mistakes ...

In cold conditions, always wear a hat, windtight jacket, and enough other clothes to keep your core warm. Always expect the wind to pick up speed, and make sure you can get through your run even if the wind gets stronger. Always check for rain and snow. Weather forecast apps have been improving a lot in the last years. Rain radar pics help a lot. You should always have a planned option to bail out (emergency shoes/socks, warm up locations along the route, mobile phone and someone to call, etc.). Remember - you could also slip and fall, and be forced to crawl the rest of your route. I often wondered about this when running a 10k in the morning at 5:00 or so, running over ice ... who would come when to pick me up?

Most of this has nothing to do with barefoot running, just with common sense. Shod runners face the same dangers, essentially. Running barefoot in the cold just will make any mistakes very clear very soon.

If you plan ahead a little bit, you can have a lot of fun in the winter barefoot. It is very surprising how well our feet can adapt to the cold :) ...

That is very good insight Christian. Thank you.
 
I dabbled a little bit with wim hof -stuff few years ago, but really didn't feel like it would make barefoot running a better experience.. A bit like low heart rate training, do something that sucks for a long time so that maybe later you could enjoy some benefits. Nah. Rather enjoy running at its fullest right now. Even with longer training of wim hof -method, it's pretty doubtful if barefoot running would be any good option at winter. Ground feel at winter is not really enjoyable, ice and snow don't feel any good. Slippery with sharp points and frozen trail of snowmobile - nothing enjoyable even if my feet could withstand the cold.. And risk factor sucks too, rather enjoy running than have a gamble of losing toes or feet to cold bites.