Wim Hof

Hof was born in Sittard, Limburg, Netherlands as one of nine children, (in order of birth; Rob [1954], John [1955], Marianne [1957], Wim and Andre [1959-identical twins], Ruud [1961], Ed [1962], Marcel [1964], Jacqueline [1967]) Hof has six children, four of them with his first wife Marivelle-Maria (Also called "Olaya"), who died by suicide in 1995, a son, born in 2003 to his girlfriend, and a son born in 2017 to his last girlfriend. When he was 17 he felt a sudden urge to jump into the freezing cold water of the Beatrixpark canal. Hof has said that his sadness over the loss of his first wife was formative in leading him to develop techniques to face low temperature environments.

On 16 March 2000, Hof set the Guinness World Record for farthest swim under ice, with a distance of 57.5 metres (188.6 ft). The swim at a lake near Pello, Finland was filmed for a Dutch television program, and a test run the previous day almost ended in disaster when his corneas started to freeze and he was swimming blind. A diver rescued him as he was starting to lose consciousness. A new record of 76.2 metres (250 ft) was set by Stig Severinsen in 2013.

On 26 January 2007, Hof set a world record for fastest half marathon barefoot on ice and snow, with a time of 2 hours, 16 minutes, and 34 seconds.

In 2007, Hof climbed to an altitude of 7,200 metres (23,600 ft) on Mount Everest wearing nothing but shorts and shoes, but failed to reach the summit due to a recurring foot injury. In February 2009, Hof reached the top of Mount Kilimanjaro within two days wearing only shorts and shoes. In 2016 he reached Gilmans point on Kilimanjaro with journalist Scott Carney in 28 hours, an event later documented in the book What Doesn't Kill Us. In September, he ran a full marathon in the Namib Desert without water, under the supervision of Dr. Thijs Eijsvogels.

Hof has set the world record for longest time in direct, full-body contact with ice a total of 16 times, including 1 hour, 42 minutes and 22 seconds on 23 January 2009; 1 hour, 44 minutes in January 2010; and 1 hour 53 minutes and 2 seconds in 2013. This was surpassed in 2014 by Songhao Jin of China, with a time of 1 hour, 53 minutes and 10 seconds; and surpassed in 2019 by Josef Köberl of Austria, with a time of 2 hours, 8 minutes and 47 seconds.

People have died while attempting the Wim Hof Method. Four practitioners of the WHM drowned in 2015 and 2016, and relatives suspected the breathing exercises were to blame.

044 The Wim Hof Fundamentals Video Programme – I’ve Signed Up – Hope, Help, Happiness