A year of Cold Showers

To understand a year of cold showers you need to go back 12 months, back to when I started, because the world of the 1^st of September 2020 was very different from the world of today.  Just before St Patrick’s Day (17 March 2020) my youngest child’s pre-school closed, then a few days later the older boys school closed, and that was that until after the summer holidays, the 1^st September 2020. 

 

For the first few days of home schooling, and it was only the first few days, I got the kids to put on their school uniforms, and we tried to be ultra normal, but nothing was normal.  My wife works for the NHS, she needed to be in the office and was away virtually every day.  The jobs I was trying to progress were gone, and they aren’t coming back.  My physical and social outlets were gone, and will never be the same.  I have three boys with three years and three hundred and sixty three days between the oldest and the youngest.  So the kids were never alone, generally a good thing, sometimes a bad thing, but I was the main carer and teacher, and there was a lot of caring and teaching to do! 

 

So after these months I decided that on the 1^st September I’d start taking cold showers each day for a week.  As the children re-started school, this was my re-start, my line in the sand, my demarcation between the then and the now.  I’d taken the odd cold shower in the past, I hated them, but this meant that the concept of cold showers wasn’t alien!  The first few days were awful, the cold water was dreadful, it was on the edge of being sore, by the time I’d finished the shower I actually felt light headed! 

 

Mentally I didn’t want to do it, especially after the first day, that’s how long the novelty lasted(!), I had to force myself to do something I didn’t want to do, and better still something I had absolutely no reason to do.  That’s why I shared it on social media, it was another step in the pathway of self-discipline, of forcing myself to do something I didn’t want to do, of creating the demarcation between the then and the now, the self-conscious decision to re-start.  At the end of the week I didn’t want to stop, but I wanted to stop, if that makes any sense. Then at the end of the month it was the same, I wanted to stop, but I couldn’t stop.  Retrospectively I realise that stopping the cold shower would have been stopping the re-start, it wasn’t just about the unpleasantness of the cold shower, it was about moving on, the then and the now. 

 

I can’t report any profound health benefits, either physical or mental.  That is the kind of outlandish – “here’s 10 superhuman lessons I learnt from cold showers every day for a year” kind of thing.  Well the only perceptible one was staying in the sea (the Atlantic) for a long time with the children and without feeling really really cold during our summer holidays, the seas always cold at Portrush, and the kids had wetsuits, I didn’t.  After the first week of cold showers the water still felt very cold, but not as cold, the shock and the light headedness were gone.  I also learnt that if you breathed in a certain way (and this took a good few months to realise), that is deep quick breaths, you blew the air out with a ‘sh’ sound, the water would stop feeling cold.  You still felt the water, but you didn’t feel the temperature, it didn’t feel warm, it just didn’t have a temperature, this is a pretty powerful breathing technique, which I haven’t explored as much as I should. 

 

Without intention the social media post became connected to physical activity: cardio, resistance, mobility / stretching.  To demystify what mobility / stretching is, it is either a set program of movements or stretches I accessed via an app or YouTube.  The YouTube stuff was yoga, some yoga is just plain weird, it wasn’t that kind of stuff.  The heart of yoga is a flow, the connection of breath and movement.  This stretching and movement (eventually) leads to increased physical awareness, flexibility and flow of movement, at the beginning it’s just hard and awkward, but press on my friend.  Personally I believe flexibility and flow are the most important of all physical attributes, because everything else emanates from them.  Anyhow these three became linked to the cold shower, and therefore part of my daily routine.  Once again to go back a little, during the first part of the lock down I had tried to do this but it had petered out, it lacked consistency and accountability, but not now.  

 

Inadvertently what I had intended as a demarcation, (between the then and the now), had metamorphosed into mental and physical progression.  It was self-imposed consistency, but it was more than that, it was a consistency that was tied to hardship (obviously a minor hardship), but it was an unnecessary hardship, one with no practical benefits.  People can practise a similar lifestyle for business, but the outcome is money, people can do this in martial arts and the outcome is advancement in belts, people can do this with eating and the outcome is a healthy BMI.  But the outcome of a cold shower is a cold shower. 

 

Cold showers are easy, the discomfort is always there, you don’t have to go anywhere or buy anything, all you need to do is turn the water to cold, then stay there for however long you have decided to stay there for.  On a practical note use a timer, and at the start be realistic. 

 

I think I’ll keep having a daily cold shower, I might mark the month off via social media or something, but I won’t do it every day.  But it has been very important to me.  It kept me focused.  It gave me something special, something that is mine, I don’t see the lock down as an awful time, it just came and went like everything else.  I was productive and some of that productivity will see the light of day between now and Christmas.  I also lost lots of things, things that will not come back, but they have been placed firmly in the then, but I live firmly in the now.  I didn’t go on a mystical journey, instead I decided to do something unpleasant, something I didn’t want to do, something I didn’t need to do, something that was completely personal.  I’m starting to realise that I found more than I appreciate, and that with time I may become conscious of even more.  During the lockdown, which was a very unusual time, a time when many people regressed, I progressed physically, mentally, and practically, maybe not lots, but I progressed.  I can’t say that the cold showers were the cause of these changes, but I do think that the cold showers created unique circumstances.  Then within these circumstances, new choices became available, new ways of looking at the world evolved, pre-existing opportunities became clear, and unhelpful routines or rituals were so disrupted, you were no longer part of them.  Life is full of choices and opportunities, sometimes the oddest of choices can lead to a situation where the most profound of changes can happen. 

NB I wrote this in the final days before completing one year.

#Diatia 10: Diet as a way of life

I’m going to take a third go at diet.  Earlier this year, the summer seems to have been a big hindrance to this, but anyhow, earlier this year I started a simple but rigorous system of diet.  This isn’t a magic formula, nor is it that profound, but it worked. 

 

There were three parts to the changes I made, firstly, eat three meals a day, no snacks and no supper.  Secondly, plan in detail what I would eat at lunch time.  I don’t mention breakfast and dinner because I already planned them, I eat the exact same breakfast every day, and when we order the groceries (click and collect is great!) we decide what we’ll be eating for the next week.  Thirdly, reduce portion size.  I had to do this because my portion size was far too big, I had the mentality, “it’s a sin to waste it!”  I still think it’s a sin to waste good food, but you can use it at lunch time the next day, and still not waste it!

 

When you’re trying to create a diet, a diet that is a way of life, you need to work out what has gone wrong in the past.  When did failure happen?  Does failure follow a pattern?  Did the initial failure happen due to specific circumstances, but then continue in normal circumstances?  Add your own questions, but you must be emotionally impassive, think about how you fix the problem, never ruminate on the problem, it is your problem after all, and if you don’t fix it no one else will.  For me lunch time has been a problem, it’s always been a problem, and the answer I’ve arrived at is a pick and mix list of potential elements. 

 

A)     Protein: chicken, eggs, bean based (vegetarian chili con carne or vegetable soup with lentil and barley.)

B)     Starch: home made whole meal bread, brown rice, whole meal pasta, couscous.

C)     Veg: lettuce, pepper, carrot.

D)    Fruit: small fruit salad, with time I’m going to work out a weight in grams!

E)     Yoghurt: 75g

 

With time the above will evolve, but it’s something to work from, and I’m pretty happy with it.  From now on I’m going to put my lunch into lunch boxes in the morning or night before, have a set time you’ll eat, and then follow the routine. 

 

I’ve said that I eat three meals each day, but I need to have a plan for a snack, just in case.  When I’ve needed to eat a snack, I’ve always found myself doing the same thing, taking far more than I should, because I’ve placed no limit on myself.  If you fail to plan you plan to fail, so even plan for what you don’t plan to do. 

 

[I’m really going to have to come back to this on in 3 month]

#Diatia 9: A good weight is a good thing

Before I say anything else, I want to confess that I weigh myself, that I have a target weight, and that I want to maintain it when I get there.  Weighing yourself is important, but it’s only so important, especially at the start.  Muscle has a greater density than fat, a pound of fat and a pound of muscle are the same weight but not the same size.  If you're trying to lose weight, what you really mean is you want to lose fat, but if you judge this via weight, it is quite possible to lose fat and gain muscle, and therefore stay the same weight.  What we really want to do is reduce our body fat to an appropriate level.  At the beginning it is better to measure the places you carry fat: your gut, your hips, etc.  If you’re following a sensible diet and exercise regime you will soon notice a change. 

 

I go Rucking from time to time, well my version of Rucking, in my rucksack I carry 8kg of sand, that’s 17.5 pounds, or just over one stone.  When you carry that weight you can really feel it, and when you’re finished it is great to take the rucksack off!  Lots of people carry that amount of extra body fat every day! 

 

BMI (body mass index) and weight are the result of cause and effect, primarily it’s our genes, this hugely affects how we process the food we eat.  Two people could eat the same food and do the same exercise, but look totally different, and that’s just the way it is!  The next cause and effect is the amount of calories we put into our body, this comes from the kind and amount of food we eat.  The next cause and effect is exercise and general activity, activity burns calories, so the more active we are the more calories you burn.  Remember you can’t out run a bad diet, a world famous chocolate bar that you can eat in a couple of minutes has 230 calories, you need to walk 3 to 4 miles to burn that off!  There is another important cause and effect, illness or medication, if this is so for you, then you need to talk to your doctor.  Our objective should be the maintenance of a healthy weight and BMI, not chasing after an unrealistic body image.  The only way we can do this successfully is moderation in eating, consistency of exercise, acceptance of body type, and being in it for the long haul!

#Diatia 8: Diet as a way of life

I haven't been looking forward to writing this section.  I enjoy cooking and I like food, that’s not a good start.  Please choose one of these sentences: food is fun; food is fuel.  Most people, like me, think of food as fun.  Let’s face it, every cookery program on TV and piece of food advertising you see incessantly repeats the mantra, food is fun!  My problems start with not knowing enough about food, I do know about preparation and taste, but my understanding of nutritional value is, in my view, basic.  There are certain obvious things I avoid, biscuits, fizzy drinks, chocolate and things like that, you know, junk food!  I have avoided these types of foods for years, in an attempt to keep my weight under control.  After all removing high calorie, highly available, and mentally high foods can do nothing but help.  To a certain degree I’ve succeeded, but my weight has plateaued.  But avoiding these foods does not negate the fact that my diet is not what it should be, and it is something I really need to focus on!

 

Diet is more than what you eat, it is the quantity you eat, it is when you eat, and it is mentally why you eat.  The word diet, comes from a Greek word ‘diaita’, which means ‘a way of life.’  Too often we think of a diet as something we go on for a few weeks or months.  We diet to targets, then once we’ve got there, it’s over, back to normal, back to the reasons you needed to go on a diet in the first place.  I’m really going to state the obvious here, but we always eat food, everyday, all the way through our lives, eating is a way of life.  Too often our eating is mechanical and instinctive.  So long as we enjoy it and our stomachs are full, we give eating no thought.  Some people have very specific diets, things like the carnivore diet or being a vegan, people buy into these as a way of life.  They really think about their food and are very aware of what they eat.  The best place to start with diet is simply being aware of what, when and how much you’re eating! 

#Diatia 7: Think about moving.

You need to stretch, you need to stretch regularly, you need to stretch regularly in a proactive manner.  So now that I’ve said that, what should we do?  The first thing is mental, you need to make a self-conscious decision that you WILL work on your flexibility / mobility.  Added to this, you need to accept that it may be a long slow process.  Then you need to do something, and do that something regularly.  I’m going to give you some ideas, which I’m going to split into three areas, they aren’t split into levels of difficulty, but ease of access. 

 

Firstly, online.  There are good apps that guide you through various stretching routines.  To get going these can be brilliant.  They offer routines, diagrams, videos, and even use TTS (text to speech) to talk you through what you’re doing!  There are some really good YouTube channels for yoga: Yoga for BJJ and Yoga with Adrienne.  Unfortunately I’ve never found a good one for Pilates, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, it just means I haven’t found it! 

 

Secondly, IRL (in real life). With a quick online search you will find local classes for Yoga or Pilates, these will require an investment of time and money, but it can prove to be money well spent.  If you haven’t worked on your flexibility for a long time, this will be the best place to start.  You have the regularity of the class: a time, a place, a teacher, the encouragement that flows through a group of like minded people.  The most important part of any class is a good teacher, they explain and demonstrate the movements clearly, they make sure you are doing them properly, and they encourage you to keep going.  I remember one time doing an exercise, I thought I was doing it properly, but the teacher changed the form of the movement very slightly, what I had found really easy suddenly became really hard!  Having written this, I’ve suddenly realised I’ve never come across a class that is for stretching or flexibility! 

#Diatia 6: You’ve got to move

I’m writing this as I wrote the list, but flexibility should have gone first, because it is absolutely essential!  It’s of fundamental importance to develop flexibility / mobility, and it is something we rarely think about.  When we don’t have it, it’s a big problem, for sport, strenuous physical activity, and in every aspect of life.  When we don’t have it, it makes all our movements harder, and then forces us to move in ways that are unnecessary, or problematic, or potentially damaging.  I’m writing this early in the morning, and if I tried to touch my toes I wouldn’t be able to.  Okay, I just did the obvious thing and tried, I got half way down my shin.  However, I’ve a stretching routine for my lower back and legs, one I’ve used a lot over the last few years, once I’ve done these I can touch my toes!  So if someone asked, “can you touch your toes?”  I’d have to give a “yes, but...” answer!  Flexibility is hugely important in a subconscious way, we won’t try to do what we believe we can’t.  Therefore good levels of flexibility, strength and cardiovascular stamina open doors, while their absence closes them.

#Diatia 5: Think resistance

The most visible part of weight training are the weights, but the weights are only a means to an end, the creation of resistance.  Here’s a little challenge, lift your hand above your head to full extension, then move it back to where it started.  This is both a simple and easy movement.  But if you do the same movement pulling a rubber resistance band or holding a dumbbell, the movement remains simple but is no longer easy.  That’s how uncomplicated the concept of resistance training is!  But something can be too simple, and then we have an irresistible urge to make it more difficult, or complicated, or profound, and then lose sight of the whole point. 

 

Years ago I remember going to a gym, there was an old guy, probably my age now, but he stuck out for all the wrong reasons.  He would do arm curls with dumbbells, but the weight he was using was far too heavy for him.  I’m now going to do my best to describe his action.  He bent his knees forward, pushed his bum backwards, and moved the dumbbells behind the line of his shoulders.  Everything that had gone backwards now went forwards, his arms swung forward, his pelvis thrust forward, his knees straightened, and the dumbbells he was holding swung forwards.  He got himself into a rhythm and did his reps, it was like watching the pendulum of a clock.  What he was doing took effort, but not the effort you needed to honestly arm curl that kind of weight.  People love to say I can squat this amount of pounds, or bench press ‘x’ amount of kg, but doing this is all about the amount of weight and ego you have.  However, if you’re a power lifter, or working towards goals, or sensibly and humbly talking to those who are interested, that’s different, you can talk weight.  Mentally you need to understand the purpose of resistance training, and then you need to understand the physicality and biology of your body.  

#Diatia 4: You've got to push yourself

You need to push yourself, and you need to push yourself in such a way, that you purposefully place yourself in a position where you have no choice but to push yourself.  When you’re out and about walking or running or rucking you can slow down a bit, the same goes for an elliptical trainer, or static bike, or rowing machine.  Your problem is your internal dialogue, it tells you things like, “slow down a bit,” or “take a little rest,” or “you’re trying your best,” or “you’ve nothing left to give.”  When your body tells you this, it’s time to stop, when your mind tells you this, it’s time to grind it out.  These two are not the same thing.  The only places that don’t allow you to stop are one on one combat sports, and certain mechanical machines.  This brings me back to the running machine, you don’t work it, that is your effort makes it move, like an elliptical trainer, or static bike, or rowing machine.  Instead the track of the running machine moves and then you have to keep with it.  The machine doesn’t stop, it keeps going, and there are plenty of videos of people being fired of the back of them to illustrate the point.  Tell the truth have you laughed? Because they are pretty funny, well, if you think things like that are funny.  It doesn’t really matter how you trick yourself, or force yourself, or manipulate yourself into doing something, all that matters is that you do it, and that you’re successful.  Before leaving this point, there are machines that have productively linked mechanisation and competition.  For example, there are static bikes that allow you to race other people, you can even see your progress via CGI (computer generated image).  From what I can see they appear to be pretty expensive, but look amazing!  This concept has existed for a long time, I remember twenty years ago using a rowing machine where you raced another boat.  The graphics were extraordinarily basic, but the mental stimulation was huge.  The moral of the story is you need to purposely push yourself, and if you don’t do it on purpose you won’t do it at all! 

#Diatia 3: Enjoy it - even just a little bit

Whatever cardio you do, it needs to be enjoyable.  There’s a huge difference between grinding out something that’s hard, and enduring something that you absolutely hate.  Consistency is vital, so you need to remove all unnecessary hindrances.  I’ll never stick at running, it hurts my joints and I just don’t enjoy it, I could tough it out, I know I could for a while, but why would I?  For a long time I’ve had a half notion of doing a 5k park run.  If I trained for it, and then did it, it would be a one-off and I’d never do it again.  Tick it off the bucket list and move on.  Consequently it would actually be counterproductive.  To be fit, or stay fit, or to get fit, cardio needs to be a regular and consistent part of your life, not just your training routine.  You could get away without doing resistance training, but not cardio.  That’s why it needs to be enjoyable, or maybe even fun.  I really enjoy a day’s hiking, but my life circumstances (having three youngish children) makes this difficult to do.  I enjoy walking, but again life circumstances make it hard to be away for long periods of time to put in the miles.  But the walking machine is perfect for me, you’re never far away, the steep incline makes the workout harder and therefore shorter, and you can listen to music without the fear of being knocked down.  You need to do something hard on a regular bases, something that gets your heart rate up.  So make sure you enjoy it, even just a little bit!

#Diatia 2: Cardio

 If you want to be fit, you need to do a number of basic things, they aren’t easy, but they are simple.  They are: cardio, resistance, mobility, and diet.  Cardio, or cardiovascular, is to do with the heart, in fact cardio comes from the Greek word meaning heart.  Cardiovascular training is getting your heart rate up to a sensible level, and then keeping it there for a period of time.  Being older, and potentially slightly more sensible, I think (for me) walking is much better than running.  Firstly, I find the impact from running very hard on my lower body joints, ankles, knees, and hips, remember I’m old.  But there is another reason, and an even more sensible one, I can walk much further, and much more often, than I can run, and that’s without hurting myself!  We happen to have a rather old running machine, so when I’m using it, I set it to the steepest incline, I start slowly to warm up, then build speed, and keep going for 30-40 minutes, which puts me in the cardio zone for most of the time.  Having the running machine at home makes this form of exercise much more accessible.  For all the people who waste a fortune on unused gym memberships, they’d be much better spending the money on a static bike, or running machine, or elliptical trainer. 

#Diatia 1: Know what you're doing.

Lately I was given a Fitbit watch.  It’s a lot more than a pedometer, that’s a thing for counting your steps.  The data’s fascinating, especially if you’re a bit sad and interested in stats.  The magic number is 10k steps, which is easy to reach if you’re being reasonably active.  I’ve only failed once, that day I shared in the driving of nearly 500 miles, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.  Ten thousand steps means you’re being generally active, but you can get there without pushing yourself.  The other thing the watch constantly monitors is your heart rate.  It gives you zone minutes, that’s when you’ve raised your heart rate into certain zones of BPM, beats per minute, (Fat Burn 105-126, Cardio 127-155, Peak 156+).  To get here you are really pushing yourself, for a point of contrast, my average BPM at rest is 59.  I’m pretty regular with my steps, they’re usually around 11-12k, but the zone minutes are nowhere near as consistent.  You could be in the zone the whole time for a brisk 3000 step walk, on a steep incline, but walking 10k steps on the flat haven’t given you a single minute.  It’s also interesting what actually raises your heart rate, lifting weights does a bit, but not much.  Weights are important for strengthening muscle and bone, but they aren’t cardio.  The watch has taught me that it’s important to know what you’re doing, not what you think you’re doing.