If you are reading this then it means that you want to be strong.
Unlike a lot of other ideas we have about the world strength is
one that we can work at and achieve great results, there are only
two limiting factors, they are health and self imposed limitations
on our own abilities.
The self imposed limitations are exactly that, get rid of those
and you will be as strong as you want to be, you don't need to
be a genetic freak to achieve great results. Health is often over
looked by trying to find a miracle drug or supplements so rare
that no one has heard of it. What I am about to tell you is very
simple and one of the best ways to achieve great health.
As strength athletes or someone seeking strength, the whole body
must work together and act like a finely tunned machine, you have
trained your nervous system and other systems that the body has
now you need to be as healthy as possible because as George Hackenschmidt
stated "Strength cannot be divorced from health".
We all know that there is no one drug that will give us complete
health if there was then there would be no sickness in the world
and everyone would be strong even if they didn't train for strength.
What I am about to tell you may be old news but for others it
will be something that they haven't heard of.
Tempering or fortifying the body through controlled exposure
to the cold. What are the benefits I hear you asking?
1. Aid the immune system and strengthens it.
2. Makes your body more resilient to cold weather
3. Increased muscle tone.
4. Speeds up the metabolism
5. Stimulates the Central Nervous System (CNS)
6. Makes you a better man/woman.
There are a few ways to Temper your body, the traditional method
(if you don't live near a lake or ocean) is to take three five
gallon buckets or metric equivalent and dump them over your head
one after the other first thing in the morning.
Pavel described what can best be named "winter swimming"
or cutting a hole in some ice and immersing your body in the frozen
water. While this method is effective it is not practical for
all people. That is why I favour the bucket method.
In the book titled "The Russian System Guidebook" Vladimir
Vasiliev, shows a method of tempering that is very quick and simple.
Vladimir recommends tempering twice a day, once before 12 noon,
and once before midnight every day. Vladimir goes on to say "as
it was explained to me in the special forces, this way you get
the two cycles of the day involved and thus receive both positive
and negative energy charges from the earth".
The idea that Tempering will kill any virus and aid the immune
system immediately is true, the sudden exposure to the cold is
like a small nuclear explosion in your body that raises the temperature
inside your body to nearly 108 degrees Fahrenheit (42.2 degrees
Celsius). This mini-explosion will kill of most bacteria and viruses
because of the overall body temperature, they cannot handle it
and it is just to hot for them to survive.
Vladimir also states that if he is starting to feel sick or your
getting the flu, you should temper every 2 hours. I have tried
this and found that the next day I was feeling great.
Now I will tell you where I made some mistakes so you all can
learn from them.
My first mistake was when I tried Vladimir Vasiliev's method,
the method is great don't get me wrong but what I was doing was
jumping in front of a heater straight away, it did my body no
good and I got very sick, the doctor said that he had actually
heard of tempering and that I was stupid to jump in front of the
heater straight away. So there we have lesson 1 learned, my suggestion
is to just dry yourself off and put your clothes on and just relax.
Mistake number two, starting my tempering at the wrong time of
year, where I used to live I had a pool, so at about 4 in the
morning when I would get up for work I would jump into the nice
fresh ice cold water, while it was very refreshing I forgot that
it was winter because we had a few hot days, when the cold set
in I continued to temper, this made me sick again. Lesson 2 learned.
My suggestion would be to start in summer the as the water gets
colder keep swimming. Look at it as though it is a powerlifting
cycle that is slowly adding weight to the bar then as you reach
a peak you will naturally cycle down again.
The third mistake I made was constant starting and stopping due
to my work situation. I was sick again but not as sick. The lesson
learned is, keep doing it if you miss out on a weeks worth of
tempering just stop it and pick it up again in summer.
So there we have it I will now out line a basic tempering routine
that anyone can use.
· Pick a method that you will be able to stick to, for
most of us the 3 buckets of water will work wonders.
· Do some joint mobility before you temper or temper when
you finish your training.
· If you choose the swimming method just aim for 3 sessions
a week and on the days you don't temper just turn your shower
to cold for the last 15-30 seconds.
· Don't have a warm shower after your tempering because
as you learned from my heater experiences it is not good for your
body.
· If you miss your tempering for more than a week just
leave it.
· Consult your doctor before you start tempering, it may
not be the best for you.
That's about it most of you will find the three bucket method
the easiest and most convenient. Anyway go and give it a bash.
