Warriors love ice water. An unbreakable mind is formed in the river, the ice man explains

The trend of hardening is increasingly permeating the professional world. The world’s best athletes dive into icy water for regeneration, mental training, pushing the boundaries of discomfort or just to feel good about themselves. Their “frozen” feats inspire even MMA fighters, who also enjoy winter outdoor swimming to the fullest.

Regeneration after hard workouts, improving sleep quality, speeding up metabolism and fat burning or improving cognitive functions of the brain. This is just a basic list of some of the great benefits that regular short dips in ice water can provide.

Can’t you imagine standing on the riverbank on a freezing February morning, stripping down to your swimsuit, and the thought of plunging into the icy water causing you fear and loathing? Getting acquainted with icy water should be gradual for everyone.

“It’s not about immediately jumping into an icy pond,” warns hardening coach and Czech ice man Libor Mattuš. Start slowly, he says, by regularly pouring or soaking your limbs with cold water at home, then later with a cold shower. “Everyone will soon get used to the feeling of cold and the unpleasant feeling will become pleasant,” he explains.

Hardening has permeated the world of MMA as well. Fighters and their teams are realising the beneficial effects that cold has on the human body.

“Hardening has many physical benefits for the body, but I personally consider the mental aspect to be the most important benefit of all. Hardening has taught me to calm my body under a lot of stress, which an ice bath definitely is, with the help of my own breath. And this is whereI see the biggest benefit for fighters,” says André Reinders, the leading Czech coach, who is behind the success of popular Czech fighters Michal Martinek, Miloš Petrášek and Tereza Bleda.

After an intense workout or even a fight, an ice bath is a great relief for sore muscles.

“Regular use of cold therapy reduces the level of excessive chronic inflammation in the body, which simply forms during periods of stress, whether mental or physical. Chronic inflammation is dangerous in that it gnaws away at tissues over a long period of time and subtly accelerates aging. Thus, cold therapy helps not only with acute regeneration, but also with long-term management of energy, psyche and overall health,” adds Libor Mattuš, a biohacker and hardening coach who has advised the currently most successful Czech fighter Jiří Procházka on ice dives in the past.

He and the popular samurai are currently working on a regenerative treatment to speed up recovery from a shoulder injury.

“I can say that toughening up is part of my life. It’s great for boosting immunity, great recovery, which I need as an athlete, it improves my sleep, my appetite for hard training and of course the spiritual side and cleansing has its value. I am able to relax and immerse myself, to focus on my breath, which is a great regeneration for the body and mind,” says former OKTAGON middleweight champion Samuel Pirat Krištofič.

He swims in the ice pond near his home several times a week.

Other fighters, who can’t imagine their day without contact with cold water, have also made hardening off a healthy habit and part of their lives.

“It’s even something I couldn’t do without. Ice water raises my dopamine levels, I feel better first thing in the morning, energized for the day. Besides that, of course, it builds discipline, overcomes fear and pain, improves sleep and has a positive effect on recovery. Of course I don’t want to get in the water many times, but it’s about overcoming myself, building discipline. Ice water makes you a more resilient and stronger person. The feeling afterwards is priceless. It’s akind of momentary feeling of immortality,” says Matěj Kuzník, who has found himself in the topics of biohacking in recent months, with a smile.

And his teammate from the Reinders Gym, Jan Malach, agrees. “The health benefits of hardening are already very well known. But besides that, ice water helps me to strengthen my discipline. Of course, you don’t want to get into the ice water in the cold, but you get in and the feeling afterwards is great. That mental rest and building discipline are really important for me,” adds Malach, who is nicknamed the King of the North.

It is in his homeland under Jested that he is used to snow, ice and cold even more often and to a greater extent than his colleagues in Prague.

Discipline, building mental resilience and the psychological aspects of cold therapy are mentioned by other fighters as the most important benefit.

“We can think of cold therapy as a kind of gym for the nervous system and hormonal system. In ice water we are actually fighting for our lives, so the human mind can get into the present moment and fully focus on the situation at hand. It is therefore a proper mental training of the mind of the fighter, who will also have to concentrate fully on the upcoming fight. Proper breathing and coolness are the primary tools of mental training that is increasingly permeating the world of professional sports. Cold and diving in icy water is a regular mental training, for example in the US Navy SEALs,” concludes Libor Mattuš.

Source: Libor Mattuš