(drum rolling)
- I have really big goals in life.
But a lot of the time
I feel like I just can't make them happen.
(groaning) (screaming) (laughing) It's so cold, I'm done.`
That's why I've decided to take cold showers
for the next 30 days.
Oh my god, stop shivering!
Setting small goals and then trying to accomplish them
is how you get to those big goals,
those circumnavigate the earth in a sailboat goals.
I know, I know, it's a crazy dream
to try to sail around the world.
But it's something I've always wanted to do.
And if you think about it,
dreams are supposed to feel out of reach at first,
that's why we call them dreams.
(gentle music)
(waves crashing)
So, that's where 30 days of cold showers come in.
Because to make the impossible possible
takes hard work and grit.
- Grit is passion and perseverance for very long term goals.
- In certain situations, grit can be a more accurate
predictor of success than social intelligence,
good looks, physical health, talent or IQ.
- Everyday parents and teachers ask me,
"How do I build grit in kids?"
- Feels like ice.
I'm guessing, deep down, you already know how to build grit.
Because when you take an ice cold shower
for five minutes a day you get a little bit of grit.
The next day you get a little more.
And I'm hoping that after 30 days
of cold showers I'll have a lot of grit.
I'm an ice block.
So I'm gonna do one minute today
and then work my way up to five minutes,
and put the shower on the coldest
possible setting for the whole entire time,
not like ease in from warm to cold.
So I'm gonna do coldest setting
possible that my shower can do.
And we live in New England right now,
we're home with my family, so it is cold.
It is winter here, so I think it's gonna be pretty brutal.
But I guess we'll just have to see how it goes.
Okay, so we're going in for day one
of the 30 day cold showers.
I'm really nervous.
Whoa, jeez.
There's a lot of water pressure.
Hoo, ho, close the door.
Oh, okay.
(alarm beeping) (squealing)
It's so cold, I'm done.
I'm happy I did the one minute instead of five to start.
Wow, it's kinda fun.
It's freezing, but fun.
Oh my gosh, my brain has like brain freeze
from the outside.
(upbeat music) Whoo!
(groaning)
I feel like I need to MEASURE the temperature of this water.
Can we do that?
- [Lou] Mm hm.
- It's like ice.
- [Lou] Four minutes.
- I'm like in a daze.
That was really intense, Lou.
- [Lou] Yeah, you're cold.
- Yeah, the water gets so cold.
It's like weird, it's like I could cheat
'cause if I put it like just a little bit
it's actually ice water, but if I just go a teeny bit more,
it's still on C, it's like manageable cold.
So today, when it started, I was like, oh.
It's cold, but then it got a little bit warm-cold,
and then I was like, "No, be tough,"
and then I put it back down to freezing.
And then that was like the last three minutes,
and I was like, "Maybe I shouldn't have done that."
(chuckling)
So I feel like, what is considered a cold shower?
That's, I think, my question.
Because I feel like that water coming out,
it's like actually ice water.
Does it shoot the counter or the glass?
- [Lou] I think it goes through the water.
- Yeah.
This is stupid.
- [Lou] Or you've been taking 52 degree showers.
- No, I don't believe it.
- [Lou] No?
Just keep measuring the temperature of the tiles.
- [Dana] Yeah.
- [Lou] You know?
- [Dana] I say, lame.
- [Lou] You've been taking 50 degree showers?
- No, it's so cold.
I trust the flamingo.
This thing, whatever.
(chuckling)
So it's like 48?
See that?
- 48? - 48.
I mean that's like really freaking cold.
It's not obviously freezing or our pipes would freeze,
I'm like wonder what other people's cold showers are.
Wow.
What? - What?
- It's 70 degrees.
- 70? - 70 degrees Fahrenheit
is a cold shower.
- [Lou] According to google.
- Well, yeah, according to medium.com.
Let's see what else we have.
- [Man] So I've got a cooking thermometer.
Right now I'm gonna do an actual test.
(chuckling) It's 61 degrees.
(laughing)
I think it's broken.
There's probably something wrong with this.
- I think Mathew Della...
I think he's in LA, so just like maybe,
depending on where you live, cold is just different
for like how cold your pipes are even getting.
And then there's obviously, there's tons of people
who are living in like way colder temperatures
and doing like underwater ice swims,
or like there's--
Even you, your ice baths are more intense.
So I feel like there's just a huge spectrum
when it comes to cold water therapy,
and I'm proud of myself for being at the 48 degree mark.
(chuckling)
So it is day five of the coldest shower challenge
and so today I'm working my way up
to five minutes cold shower which is what I think
I'm gonna stick with for the rest of the challenge.
Yesterday was four minutes and it was so cold
by the end so I don't know if I'm gonna make it.
But hopefully I do 'cause that's the whole point
of this challenge.
Stick with it and fingers crossed.
(breathing heavily)
Okay, gotta stay calm.
I feel like when you freak out, it just makes it worse.
Almost half way.
It took a lot of days to really learn how to stay calm
in the freezing cold showers.
Day 13.
But one day at a time I started
to grind my way through this 30 day challenge.
If I was smart, I got the cold shower out of the way
first thing in the morning, when I have the most willpower.
I like taking it first thing in the morning though.
Out of the way.
But some days I forgot,
and trying to stay calm became impossible.
(screaming)
(laughing)
- [Lou] You get in your armpits?
- Whoo, nelly.
(squealing)
(laughing)
And done. (alarm beeping)
I gotta turn this off.
My brain like takes a second to get back into life.
Let's check this guy, and, two weeks.
There we go.
It's getting easier and easier.
Some days.
So during the first two weeks
the cold showers did get easier and easier,
with one notable exception.
So cold. (laughing)
Let's just say the amount I wash my hair
decreased dramatically this month.
Let's do it.
Oh, I don't wanna wash my hair.
- [Lou] That's the question.
- I'm gonna skip it. (laughing)
I probably shouldn't, though.
Cold showers will take a lot more grit and willpower
if you have long hair like me
and intend to wash it from time to time.
It's a little like that ice bucket challenge
everyone was into, except you've actually got
to get shampoo and conditioner into
and out of your hair the whole time.
Speaking of time, it moves a lot slower
when you're washing your hair in a cold shower.
- Three, two, - Oh.
- [Lou] And you're halfway there.
- (laughing) you're so mean.
I was like, "That was so quick."
(Lou laughing) Oh, cruel.
There's something about the cold exposure that draws me in.
Maybe it's because human beings aren't supposed
to be able to survive below freezing,
until this guy Wim Hof came along and shattered that myth.
I first heard about Wim Hof Five years ago
while watching a vice documentary
that chronicled the Iceman
and his legendary accomplishments.
From setting the world record
for the longest swim under ice,
to summiting Mount Kilimanjaro wearing nothing but shorts,
to running a full marathon in the Namib desert
without drinking, Wim Hof has harnessed the power
of cold exposure, breathing techniques, and meditation
to push the limits of human experience.
It takes only a couple minutes on google
looking at the benefits of cold showers
to realize how much unexplored potential there is here.
But the real beauty of cold therapy,
and the reason that Wim Hof
has become so successful in popularizing it,
is because cold showers are accessible and affordable.
With a shower and the willpower
to turn the handle all the way to cold,
almost anyone can tap into that inner iceman.
And that's our shower.
Whoo, it works really well.
You don't need much.
As the weeks passed, I could feel myself
getting tougher and building up grit.
(sighs) I am not afraid of the cold.
It's not that the water felt any warmer,
but rather that I got stronger.
I feel like my legs don't get that cold
because it's like I'm just doing my back.
So now I'm gonna try to lift up my legs.
The cold water became temporary, a short term shock,
but I could overcome it.
It's much nicer just to be relaxed about the whole thing
because even though I have, literally have brain freeze
right now from the outside of this cold water,
it's like, I'm doing this challenge, so I better enjoy it.
Okay, so it's day 25.
Day 26, only four more!
Day 27.
Today's day 28, right? - Yep.
- Day 29.
It's day 30!
The first 30 day challenge is done.
(fireworks exploding and crackling)
And yeah, it's been such a crazy experience
and I'm really pumped and I kinda think I'm gonna
take another cold shower tomorrow.
I like them now.
So the reason I like cold showers
is not just because they've made me tougher
and helped build up grit,
but also because they are an incredible way
to reset your body emotionally and physically.
When I make that first giant step into the shower,
and the icy water hits my neck,
I let go of anything that's been bothering me that day,
whether it's an aggressive and upsetting email
or anxiety about the future, or even a driver
who cut me off in traffic, it all becomes irrelevant
in the face of a five minute cold shower.
- [Lou] (sighs) I got you a present to celebrate day 15.
- What? - Yeah.
I'll be right back, okay?
Bum da da dum! (laughing)
- I'm a polar bear?
Oh my gosh, it's so warm. (laughing)
That's awesome!
What is this?
- [Lou] It's a heat pack.
- Oh, that's nice.
It's a very nice after a cold shower.
Cold showers can make you feel better,
if your anxious, or you're stressed, or worried
or anything like that.
I feel like when I would get in the cold shower
after the five minutes of just having to focus
on my breathing and just, really you can't think
about anything in the cold water.
It's just so intense.
I would come out of it feeling like a new person
and it's almost like--
You know, like when your computer is being weird
and you turn it off, restart it?
It felt like that, like it was just a restart
and then you like, do-do-do-do, and you have a fresh mind.
(sustained musical note)
(audience applauds)
- [Lou] Look at that.
- Whoo hoo!
I checked off all the days.
Our first Lou Creatively challenge.
There are eight challenges that correspond
with each chapter of our ebook.
The next one is meditation.