PODCAST - I took a cold shower for 30 days (here’s what happened)
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[00:00:00] Welcome to the Athlete with Asthma Show. I'm your host Johnny Ha, an ultra runner endurance athlete, and yes, a guy who's had an inhaler prescribed since birth. Despite doctors telling me I could never play soccer nor run a marathon, let alone a hundred K ultra. I prove them all wrong. This show is where I share everything I've learned from breathing techniques to mindset shifts to help you become the athlete and the person you truly want to be.
So if you're ready to achieve your goals, despite limitations, let's get started.
earlier this year, I found myself waking up extremely stressed ~early. One day earlier this year, I was repeating a pattern that I had had happened so many times before waking up filled with stress, and ~instead of [00:01:00] deciding to do what I typically did in these situations, which is jumping ~right ~into work, I ~took a moment, took a step back, and ~decided to do something different.
I had experimented with cold therapy multiple times in my life. I've gone into cryotherapy chambers that are negative 160 to 200 plus degrees Fahrenheit, all the way to doing 40 to 50 degree cold plunges for three to five minutes at a time. I've done foot baths filled with ice for 15 minutes at a time.
As an ultra runner, that is actually one of my favorite things to do after a long run. ~I have even, and ~I have dabbled with cold showers here and there, but for whatever reason, I decided ~that ~this day. I was going to start integrating cold therapy into my life for good.
~Tony Robbins would probably call it. I have had enough. ~Tony Robbins would probably say that this was my, I've had enough. Moment in my life. ~Now I have blah, blah, blah.~
~So I ultimately committed myself to doing a cold shower every single morning for 30 days. Well, I, ~so I ultimately committed ~myself ~to doing a cold [00:02:00] shower every single morning. Ugh.
~So I jumped in the shower.~ So I set my phone alarm for 10 minutes ~and ~jumped in the shower and breathed through it. By the end of the shower, it felt like a switch had flipped ~in my brain. ~My mood was ~immediately ~elevated. I had energy and I was ready. To take on the day ~I was, this was the moment that I decided that I was going.~
This was the ~moment that I decided at, in this ~moment, I decided that ~at least ~for the next 30 days, I would take a cold shower every ~single ~morning.
~Yeah.~
~And here's what happened,~
~and here's, ~and here's exactly what happened. I have experienced seven significant changes in my daily life. The first is. I now have an on switch when I wake up or throughout the day if I'm feeling a little down, maybe I'm feeling a little depressed. Maybe my energy's lacking. ~Well take while ~taking a cold shower has become my on switch. I'm able to go from feeling low to going in the shower for three to five minutes ~all the way ~up to 10 minutes and completely changing my mood, and I do [00:03:00] recommend ~that ~if you are ~going to start integrating this into your life. And I do recommend that if you were gonna start integrating cold exposure into your life that you've, and I do recommend that if you're ~going to start integrating cold exposure into your life to check with your healthcare professional.
It's exactly what I did before doing this myself and I recommend starting on the lower end. You could even start with 30 seconds to a minute. Now, I've experimented at a lot of different time intervals. My favorite is five minutes, 10 minutes also is extremely. Powerful, but I started getting bored after a while. Five minutes gives me enough time to ~really ~get all the benefits that I'm sharing with you today. Don't you wish ~that ~you could have ~an on switch in your life or ~a switch that you could flip to change your mood from ~feeling ~down in the dumps to ~feeling ~on top of the world? Well, I invite you to take a cold shower the next time you're feeling low and see what happens.
~Number two, after about three to five minutes, shit,~
~number two, after about three to three and a half minutes, I feel a sense of undying determination. Okay.~
~Unstoppable determination number two, after about three to three and a half minutes of, okay,~
number two, three to three and a half minutes into a cold shower, I feel unstoppable
determination.
It's amazing. I start pumping my fists, [00:04:00] let's go. The excitement, the energy, the abundance ~that ~I feel in my body, three to five minutes in is unmatched. ~I don't know any other, ~I don't know any other thing ~that ~you can do for three to five minutes to feel this way. ~When I won my. ~When I won my a hundred K Ultra race ~back ~in 2024, I definitely felt this by the end, but that's after running for 12 hours.
After three to three and a half minutes, I feel like I can do anything. This energy I bring into my day.
Number three, I breathe deeply if you're gonna get through a cold shower for three to five minutes. ~You're gonna need to breathe. ~You need to focus on something. ~Well, what it does is ~it forces you back into your body. It forces you to focus on your breath. This has been extremely powerful, not only for my life, but for my asthma.
It has taught me to breathe even better than before. And it's given me this tool to bring [00:05:00] outside of the cold shower, to bring my breath into calming myself if I don't have access to cold exposure. And I've gotten to the point where I set my timer. For five minutes, but then I count 120 to 150 breaths, and by the time I get to this range of breathing, depending on how long my breaths are, when I'm doing deeper breaths, I'm closer to the 120 breath range.
And when I'm breathing a little more shallow on the 150 breath range. ~But the point is. But either way, ~I don't ~even ~focus on the timer anymore. I just breathe. I just focus on my breath, and you can do this too. Learn how to breathe more deeply and become ~even ~more in charge of your body and your asthma.
If you have asthma like me.
Number four, have more energy. Not only get an immediate energy boost. I find that I have more energy throughout my day. ~I find that, I find that, I find that ~I'm more excited [00:06:00] about my day. ~I find ~abundance becomes the fuel ~for my day. This is ~the best substitute you could ever have for coffee or an energy drink, and you are not only gonna feel way better after you partake in your cold shower.
The benefit is much more immediate and intense.
Hey, friend, I wanted to take a moment to ask you a quick question. Are you struggling to lose weight due to your asthma? If so, I get it. I used to run marathons and still kept gaining weight. It wasn't until I learned about the three pillars of healthy living that everything changed,
so [00:07:00] I put together a healthy living guide that you can access absolutely free by clicking the link in the description. This guide shares these amazing three pillars of healthy living that you can easily integrate into your life. To start losing weight and live healthier today. Click the link in the description or go to athlete with asthma.com/healthy-living-guide to grab your free copy.
Now let's get back to the rest of the show.
Number five. I have more endurance.
And confidence.
Now that I put myself through this amazing practice every single day when I'm lifting heavy, when I'm [00:08:00] running fast, when I'm doing anything that takes endurance, I come back to my breath. ~I can hold, ~I can hold my weights above my head for an extra 10 seconds. I can push for an extra 30 seconds on the rower because I know that as long as I breathe through it.
I am gonna get to the other side. I've trained my body to ~really ~focus on my breath. ~And ~when I focus on my breath, I'm in my body. ~I'm in my body. I'm, hmm, I'm in my body and ~I'm way more powerful. ~I'm in my body driving my power to, I'm in my body, ~bringing my presence and ~my ~power to a ~whole ~new level.
~Fuck.~
Number six, increased mental capacity. ~Since I use my cold showers as a on off switch, since I use my cold showers as a, ~since, I use my cold showers as a reset, as an on switch, I'm able to process. My emotions faster and show up more presently in my life. I have much more mental capacity for what I'm going through, for what others are going through.
I'm able to show up more [00:09:00] present. This is huge. When you're more present in your life, you're experiencing your life more deeply.
And number seven. The cold doesn't bother me. I didn't ~really even ~notice this until a couple weekends ago. We were at this haunted house and it was getting cold outside and yeah, I was getting a little cold, but I don't think I really comprehended how cold it was outside until my fiance brought up that.
~It brought up that, it brought up that it felt a lot different this evening than typically it that ~it felt a lot different this evening than it had so far this fall. And I was like, huh, I guess you're right. And then she brought up that, wow, those cold showers, you must really not ~even ~feel this. ~And ~I'm like.
I definitely feel less. The cold doesn't bother me as much. Now, I don't know if this is ~a ~good or ~a ~bad ~thing. All I know is ~when I'm out in the ~cold or I'm experiencing ~cold, I look at it differently. It no longer deters me ~from doing things in the cold. ~I've been taking runs in the morning ~ever ~since that night, [00:10:00] and it is cold ~in the morning, ~but it doesn't bother me.
~I go out there, ~I get ~a little bit of ~cold exposure and ~I get ~a workout in ~as well, ~and our dog prefers running in the cold, so it's great for her as well. Now if you wanna take your health ~and wellness ~to the next level, I have a free gift for you. ~It is ~my three pillars of healthy Living guide, ~movement, accountability, ~movement, tracking, and accountability. You can grab your free guide link in the show notes or ~on ~the description below this video ~on YouTube, ~or go to www.athletewithasthma.com/healthy-living-guide to grab your free copy today, and I'll see you in the next episode.
Thanks for tuning in to the Athlete with Asthma Show. I hope today's episode inspired you to overcome any perceived limitations you may have. Remember, your health and wellness journey isn't about perfection. It is about progress. So I invite you to take a small step right now towards your goals, and if you found something helpful here, make [00:11:00] sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share the podcast with others on a similar path.
Until next time, keep challenging yourself and redefining what's possible.
