Did The Farmer Have It Right?

 In sports and in life, breathing is not just essential, it is literally our lifeline. Go for days without water, weeks without food but yet can die in a matter of minutes if we don't breathe. These are tough times and our immune system and respiratory system are being tested and it's important just as now or at any point in time to strengthen those systems as best as we can. For thousands of years, breathwork has been the cornerstone to some of the most famous systems of health and exercise such as Tai Chi, Yoga, Qi Gong, Martial Arts, Meditation & Sports. Without proper breathwork, it wouldn't be as effective.

Deep Breathing Exercises can be very simple to do and with studying its principles and techniques, they can be a focal point to how you react to certain situations in intense moments or even relaxed. Techniques can also teach you to tell the difference between panic and focused intent. When we panic, we lose sight of our breathing and eventually channel into fight or flight mode almost instantly, but with control, we can have a better understanding on how to react in areas with better focus and less negative stress. We all have negative stress at certain points in our lives but it is important to learn how to lessen it as best as possible.

Martin "Farmer" Burns who was one of the greatest wrestlers and coaches in American History, emphasized not just the importance of the breath, but how it can lead to not just as a wrestler/athlete but also someone who isn't in athletics. Although his intentions were geared towards wrestling and it how it taught someone to be a man, he threw in wisdom that even the old time yogis could understand. In his book Lessons In Wrestling And Physical Culture, he taught what it meant to practice daily breathing exercises to not just get the blood flowing to the body, but how they'll play out the rest of your daily activities with techniques that break through walls in terms of endurance, control and conditioning. This was talked about more than 100 years ago and it's principles are still being applied today.

In the era of fitness junkies, crossfit maniacs, influencers and bodybuilding; breathwork has its moments in these places but it's almost a lost art unless you're specifically learning how to do breathing techniques in Yoga Classes or Seminars that focus solely on the breath. In MMA, the breath is actually one of the most important factors in how long you can go in a fight and it can determine how you or lose. If you get tired in less than a minute, you've already lost and when you panic breathe, you eventually lose control of your focus and make mistakes much quicker. When you control the breath and are handling the negative stress of a fight or a spar better, your focus can become clearer and you have better chances of finding your opponents mistakes and/or react quicker to finding a submission or a knockout. In my opinion, Rickson Gracie was the man that took this to an extreme in the modern era and is right up there with the best of the best in any sport.

There are a lot of Gurus out there that teach good, bad and at times very ugly ways to teach you how to breathe properly but who can you trust the most? Which ones are the biggest to learn from? The truth is, it depends on who makes it simple to learn and gives you proper application whether in a sport or in everyday life. You can make tweaks to certain aspects of Breathwork such as how Farmer Burns did his style of breathing compared to folks today. His teachings are powerful and do work, but some people need some adjustments and his ideas on breathing and holding the breath can have different effects in how people react to the techniques. I've tried both the actual techniques and the tweaking of those techniques and my areas of tweaking gave me far better results and the actual techniques (word for word) aren't meant for everybody. 

There is a great book that talks about various systems and technique on the breath that is really a nearly "all in one book" concept of what works, what doesn't and better ideas to apply the breath even in dangerous situations. Some Techniques from the Wim Hoff Method to the Breath Of Fire, Upgrade Your Breath is a great go-to book. 

So did the Farmer have it right? With adjustments to your individual needs and applying techniques with proper instruction, he was certainly on the right track and some of his ideas are being used today but overall, from the Farmer to Rickson to Wim Hoff and others, breathing techniques are in your grasp and the better your breathing is, the better quality of life you'll have. 

"Breathing exercises alone, if done RIGHT, will make many a weak man strong and many a sick man well.”- Farmer Burn (1861-1937)

Boost Your Immune System Safe And Naturally With Supplements

 

Your immune system. There is a whole lot that goes into the amazing functioning of the human body to fight off invaders and more. We can divide the immune system in a number of different ways. There’s the nonspecific or innate immune response. Then there is the specific or adaptive immune response. The latter here, is further subdivided into the humoral and cell mediated branches. Perhaps we’ll talk about those another time.

But in this article, I want to keep it a bit simpler than that and give another frame that may be useful in thinking about immune health. And that is as far as time-frame is concerned.

Short Term Immunity (Days)

In the short term we might think in terms of a specific invader, a pathogen such as a virus or bacteria that is attacking you. We can think about this in terms of Germ Theory. Here we identify the germ such as a bad bacteria or virus and thus we want to use something that is specifically antibacterial or antiviral to deal with it. Thus, for short term immunity we can talk about two things. There is prevention in which the invaders cannot get a foothold in your system. This is ideal and related to the longer term functions and if such invaders do get a foothold in your system your body then needs a short-term response in order to mobilize and fight off the infection. All of this can happen in a matter of days. It certainly depends on which invaders we’re talking about but Elderberry is something that they offer at Lost Empire Herbs that I believe best fits into this category. Studies have shown that it may help stop people from getting sick from the common cold in the first place, and if they do lessen the intensity and duration of symptoms.

Medium Term Immunity (Weeks to Months)

As compared to short term with Germ Theory, for medium term immune system response it may be best to think in terms of Terrain Theory. This actually is super important for prevention. If your terrain is such that an invader cannot get a foothold than you’re not likely to get sick in the first place. In that way you get short-term benefits. But you don’t change the terrain overnight, you can think of this in terms of gardening or ecology. It can take weeks or months to setup the terrain for what you want. (For big projects sometimes much longer…which is why Terrain Theory applies to the long term too.)

Some of the other systems of the human body may more strongly come into play here. Inflammation and oxidation are important. Nervous system and hormones too both of which are involved in your stress response. Their best offering in this regard is their new Chiron Immunity Tincture. It is a well-rounded formula meant to make your body more adaptable, specifically in the immune system. It’s to help upgrade the terrain that is your body.

Let’s use an example of one of the herbs in Chiron, Elecampane. According to classic usage, Elecampane appears to be best with more sustained use rather than acute conditions. One example of this may be a cough that lingers. Have you ever been sick before and had a cough that just wouldn’t go away even a month later? Here we need to strengthen the lungs, in other words to rebuild the terrain, to change things. And that is something Elecampane is great for.

Long Term Immunity (Months to Years and Beyond…)

When we’re talking about long term I’m thinking about chronic issues and disease. Most notably here are two things: cancer and autoimmunity.

For autoimmunity, for whatever reason, your immune system is confused. While it normally attacks invaders, here it has identified your own cells as ‘the bad guys’ and wages war. Understand that this is a complex thing that may have a wide variety of causes. Diet is pretty much always implicated (certain cross-reactive foods getting through a leaky gut). Microbiome dysfunction. Viruses that are embedded in your system (herpes, Epstein-Barr, HIV, etc.) that can lay dormant or flare up may also be implicated in at least some cases. And of course, the wide variety of disruptive chemicals, heavy metals and more in our environment causing all sorts of downstream effects.

For cancer, understand that cells going cancerous is a regular and natural occurrence. We all have cancerous cells within us! If things are functioning optimally these will be identified by the immune system and taken out (apoptosis aka programmed cell death). It is when the cancerous process is allowed to go on that eventually we arrive at tumors and a cancer diagnosis.

Many of the same culprits discussed for autoimmunity are also involved within cancer just in a variety of different and complex ways. So when I’m talking about long-term immune system support I also like to think in terms of immune system intelligence. Intelligence to tell the difference between me and not me (in terms of autoimmunity) and intelligence to better detect and handle damaged and deranged cells early on.

In other words, the medicinal mushrooms are extremely helpful here. They help to build immune system intelligence. While each mushroom is great in its own unique ways, for this I trust the process with Mushroom Alchemy.  There is some evidence that the synergistic blend of mushrooms may have even greater effects. At the very least, it will be broader spectrum in that each mushroom does slightly different things.

Understand a Multi-Layered Approach to Immunity

This timeframe approach to immunity may help you to better understand your needs and thus what herbs support you. All of the above is definitely overly simplified but used to help instill these ideas.

This may be why we see some poor reviews for Mushroom Alchemy because of some misunderstanding of how best to use different herbs and formulas and thus expectations unfulfilled. Margie said, “I was taking this to build up my immune system and I’m sick. That was after one whole bottle but I’m on my second one now. It tastes horrible!”

While we have some people reporting immediate benefits, the mushrooms are often more subtle in their effects. They’re not likely to help you to deal with the acute cold you have now. Compare that review to this one from Kahroliné di Passero. “I love this mushroom alchemy tincture! From the first day it began working (this after almost a year taking an inferior mushroom blend from some other company). It’s been a couple months now, and I feel as though I couldn’t get sick even if I wanted to! My skin feel more taut and clearer as well!”

The best results come from taking medicinal mushrooms long term. Some have been taking them for over a decade now and they wouldn’t have it any other way. And they use that short and medium term support as needed too.

Big Bertha Packs A Wallop At Nearly 73 lbs

 When you add weight to a hammer, how far can it go or how far are you willing to go? The hammers made by Ryan Pitts at Stronger Grip are made to be filled with various things but mainly steel shot or lead shot. The Epic Sledgehammer starts out at 26 lbs and with steel shot can go up to 70, well I went past that with the lead shot. I have never handled a hammer that heavy and she packs a hell of a punch.

Because of the added weight, I don't have any desire to do hundreds upon hundreds of reps with it and what would the point be? If I felt like it, I might shoot for it maybe once but just to lift that thing takes some serious strength. The technique involved and speed is completely different, it's more methodical and almost no one can put great speed on a hammer that heavy, unless you're Bud Jeffries or Nick Nilsson plus, it takes practically your full body just to move it. At best, 100 Reps done in sets with a hammer that big is more than enough even for the strongest of men. 

For the most part, the heavier the hammer, the more it becomes a feat of strength than a big workout. Even a few reps will have you breathing hard and can give you a pump pretty damn quick. The benefit though, is that you're lifting a heavy ass hammer and with control along with staying as injury-free as possible, you're building some crazy muscle and your tendons and ligaments are tested big time. For a guy lifting a hammer of that caliber size even at something like 50 lbs, would jack up his testosterone like a rocket and feel like he just handled the hammer of the gods. It's not typical strength like you see in the gym, this is on a different level and when you handle a hammer this huge, you're in a category that is far above the average person. 

Imagine having the strength of John Henry or even DC's Steel. The power you can possess and the ability to take strength to a level that even the strongest lifters would make them question themselves. To be fair, I'm just one of those guys who wants to see what he's capable of doing and be able to train hard without getting hurt. This is not meant for hot shot strong guys or the typical gym rat, you'll have to be in a different mindset of crazy or insanity and be prepared if something went wrong. 

I had made a video that not only shows what it takes to move a hammer as heavy as this but actually show the weight of the hammer on a scale that it is legit. Like I said, it's more of a feat of strength than anything but it also took me years to get to get to this point and I'm proud that I'm able to do it. My strength gets a little higher and I have no idea how far I can go. Do we ever truly know how far we can go?

Two Hammers Have Made Some Gains

 Since I got this new Sledgehammer, I've just been going crazy with it. After doing a 1000 Rep Workout with it, I decided it needed to put on a little weight, so I fed it some Lead Shot. After some time, it now weighs 25 lbs which is the same number for my favorite baseball player growing up Barry Bonds. I originally nicknamed the hammer Lou Seal after the Giants Mascot but now with his weight gain, might as well name him Big Barry; if it weighed 24 lbs, it would be a toss up between Big Willie or the Say Hey Hammer (Willie Mays #24) but I think people might get the wrong context if it was Big Willie.

I had some shot left over so I thought I'd feed the rest to Big Bertha (Epic Sledgehammer) and boy, the old lady can pack a wallop. She went from 59 lbs to approx 73 lbs. Just moving that thing was a chore but for this particular Hammer, its not meant for conditioning, just pure strength. Although if you were to lift and slam it down or reps, you will feel it and you will be breathing hard, it's a full body movement. The coincidence of the 73 lb hammer is that it's the same number of Homeruns Barry Bonds hit in a single season and no one has touched it since 2001. 

Hammers are one of the best tools to build real world strength and conditioning. What boy or man doesn't want to hit things or smash something into an oblivion? It's in our DNA to have some form of aggression but it does need to be channeled to be useful and not for going berserk and trying to kill anyone. Hammers are a cheap form of therapy in my opinion. The testosterone results alone would be worth it, not to mention having a killer metabolism and muscles that actually do something instead of looking good. Have you ever wanted to shake the hand of a person who trains or works with hammers? I didn't think so.

For Big Barry, every now and then I'd swing it like a Mace to get some core and upper body conditioning. A hammer is not just something to hit a tire with, it's a tool that has many exercises to choose from and can be done just about anywhere (as long as you don't drop it). I don't know if Big Bertha could be handled like a Mace, it would take some serious strength and power and very few people on the planet can probably do it but I have yet to see it. For me, every few days or so would be good to get one of the hammers out. I've been going nuts ever since I got Big Barry a few days ago and it may be time to take a day off so I don't overwhelm the tendons and ligaments along with creating back issues. The guys who work with hammers day in and out have my outmost respect and to be able to do that for years on end is freaking nuts. 

Whether it's Big Barry or Big Bertha, these hammers pack a punch and are great tools to create some serious muscle and strength building. After messing with them for a while, your forearms might get inflated and look like Popeye Arms. Think of the grip strength being developed and having a hell of an appetite after a workout. Don't be surprised that after a workout, you'll be eating like an NFL Lineman. God I think after one workout I had a 12 oz steak, 5-7 fried eggs, a bowl of cereal and 3 tall glasses of milk and didn't feel full. Hammer away my friends and have fun.  

Disney Metal? Has The World Gone Mad?

 With all the crap going on lately with Covid and making things miserable for everyone, we need to find something unique and step out of the shitstorm. When it comes to today's mainstream music, most of the time it's not that great but every now and then, something comes along and just wakes your ass up and thank the universe there's still some awesome music out there.

I've been a metal fan for the longest time and I'll take it over any pop song of any era but other forms of rock has its perks plus you can never go wrong with Joan Jett or Jimi Hendrix or Metallica. I've also been a born and bred Disney kid and having fun at Disneyland and all that stuff. However, when you mix Metal & Disney, that almost sounds like an abomination especially if you're a die-hard Disney fanatic but for some reason, someone comes along and actually makes it work and sounds so amazingly awesome.

 I never thought I could imagine a genre mixed with the House Of Mouse can be so bad ass yet beautifully done at the same time. If you ever remembered from your childhood, watching the original Mulan from the 90's and seeing what it took for a woman to be among the warriors of men and battling against the huns. That big song I'll Make A Man Out Of You was a great hit and made the movie legendary, what if a new version was sung for a new generation that not only blew the original out of the water but made you feel it should've been in the live version? That song is more than a reality, it's already practically gone Viral. 

A singer named Peyton Parrish does some incredible songs (mainly Viking style metal) and does some covers that are just incredibly powerful but his adaptation of Mulan's I'll Make A Man Out Of You jumped that song into not only the memories of those who adored the original film but gave it a new feel that just makes you want to get up and battle whatever it is you're facing with vigor and inner strength. 

He's been sampling this song for months until it was released yesterday and for me, it was well worth the wait. Hell, I used it as my start up workout of hitting the tire with my new sledgehammer. Did rep after rep until the song was over (over 3 minutes long) and just feeling alive. It was a great way to start the day. 

Has the world gone mad? Sometimes going mad can bring out interesting things and I believe this is more than interesting, it's a vital part of why music continues to inspire us and do things we never thought we could. Listen and let your heart burn with passion and vitality.