Let’s look at six more people who praised the virtues of deep breathing (continuing my blog entry of March 1, 2013) …
(4) JOSEPH L. GREENSTEIN (1893-1977) was called “The Mighty Atom.”
He learned the secrets of “low and high breathing” as a teenager from the Russian strongman Champion Volanko and the Punjabi wrestler The Great Gama.
The Mighty Atom exercised at Lung Time (3:00-5:00 a.m.), curing himself of asthma and lung congestion in the process.
He was shot between the eyes at close range with a .38-.40 caliber revolver in his twenties, and he simply walked into a pharmacy to buy a Band-Aid.
He could change a flat without any tools and support a fourteen-man Dixieland band on his chest while lying on a bed of nails.
He could easily bite quarters, railroad spikes, and dental mirrors in half.
He tethered a Fairchild FC-2 airplane to his HAIR – powered by a 9 cylinder engine revved up to 1600 RPM – and prevented it from taking off.
The Mighty Atom was only 5’4″ tall and weighed only 140 pounds.
Adano Ley (Swami Nitty-Gritty) claimed The Mighty Atom was the reincarnation of SAMSON.
Randy Roach (Muscle, Smoke, & Mirrors, Volume 1, 2008) wrote …
“During his sojourn, Greenstein would gaze at depictions of the Biblical Samson and his shoulder-length hair and dream of one day possessing such amazing strength. Volanko did, in fact, teach Joseph one of Samson’s advantages, the Nazarite diet.”
According to Judges 13:5 …
“You will become pregnant and have a son whose head is never to be touched by a razor because the boy is to be a Nazarite, dedicated to God from the womb.”
(5) SANFORD BENNETT (1841-1926) was called “the man who grew young at seventy.”
He wrote (in 1912) …
“… my father died of consumption at the age of forty-two. I inherited weak lungs and a tendency to that dread disease. By these lung-strengthening exercises, I have increased the expansion of my chest from two and one-half inches to five and one-half inches, and am absolutely free from coughs, colds, or any lung weakness. I strongly urge the adoption of these deep-breathing exercises, in this or any other system of training or physical culture.”
(6) BERNARR MacFADDEN (1868-1955)
He was an early proponent of physical culture who founded a publishing empire.
He called bread the “staff of death.”
Bernarr McFadden (Building of Vital Power: Deep Breathing and a Complete System for Strengthening the Heart, Lungs, Stomach, and All the Great Vital Organs, 1905) wrote …
“Wherever a bit of dead (poisonous) carbon is found in the blood, the oxygen of the air in the lungs burns it up, forming carbonic acid gas, which, together with surplus moisture in the blood, is expelled from the body by the exhalation of the breath. Dust and other irritating foreign substances that are inhaled may be gotten rid of by the act of coughing.”
(7) CHARLES ATLAS (1892-1972)
Pandiculation is a combination of yawning and STRETCHING.
Stretching is essential for squeezing carbon dioxide out of cells).
Charles Atlas got his inspiration for Dynamic Tension by watching a lion stretch at a zoo. (Some sources claim it was a tiger.)
Pitting muscle against muscle while properly breathing is known in the East as Kundalini.
(8) JACK LaLANNE (1914-2011)
He celebrated his seventieth revolution around the Sun by swimming about a mile while towing 70 rowboats containing 70 people.
He was handcuffed and shackled while he did it.
Deep breathing was an important part of his exercise program.
The “Father of Fitness” celebrated his ninety-fifth revolution around the Sun by blowing out all 95 birthday candles with a single breath.
(9) GYPSY BOOTS (1914-2004)
He’d hold his breath till his face turned purple, and then exhale a big whoosh of air.
Gypsy explained, “Forcing the old toxins out, breathing fresh air in. I usually do it for hours.”
Gary Lippman (Living, Learning, and Going Long with Gypsy Boots, America’s First Hippie, 2013) wrote …
“‘Who cares if something’s wrong,’ he used to say to me. ‘You’re still alive, aren’t you? Any day above ground is a good day! Every breath makes you a millionaire!’
“‘But we all get the blues sometimes,’ I’d reply. ‘How can we fight it?’
“Gypsy’s answer was immediate and loud. ‘Take an enema or take a hike!’
“And he meant both options literally, of course.”
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'Strongmen Who Knew the Value Of Deep Breathing' have 5 comments
August 20, 2013 @ 3:33 am atomb
My e-books are available at …
solarman111.com
Here are the first three strongmen from my March 1, 2013 blog entry (Deep & Shallow Time Conscious Breathing) …
Let’s look at some people who praised the virtues of deep breathing.
(1) WILLIAM BANKIER (1870-1949) was called Apollo, the Scottish Hercules.
Part of his strong man act was harness-lifting an elephant and its rider.
He was also able to support a piano with a six person orchestra and a dancer.
He recommended deep breathing exercises, and wrote (in 1900) …
“I open the window from the bottom and lean out, with my hands on the window-sill, then take a deep inhalation through the nose, holding the breath a few seconds while the lungs are fully inflated. Then slightly pressing the abdomen on the sill, I let the breath slowly leave through the mouth; repeating this movement twenty or thirty times. I also practice this while walking.”
(2) GEORG (GEORGE) HACKENSCHMIDT (1877-1968) was called The Russian Lion.
He recommended breathing through the nose and inhaling deep breaths during intense exercise.
The hack squat is named after him, and he helped popularize the bench press and many other exercises.
Theodore Roosevelt declared, “If I wasn’t president of the United States, I would like to be George Hackenschmidt.”
Dave Yarnell (The Secrets of Age Defying Strength, 2009) wrote …
“While many of the other strength greats of the day mentioned deep breathing practice as a big part of their regimens, George had a bit of a different angle on this idea than most. He suggested running, especially up hills, as being the best deep breathing exercise one could do, and that it was very simple to do this way, as opposed to some of the other trainers of the time’s methods for deep breathing. He suggested that the technique came naturally when running and required little in the way of thought or study,”
(3) GHULUM MOHAMMED (c. 1880-1963) was called The Great Gama, Lion of the Punjab.
He did a lot of his deep breathing while doing 500 Hindu Squats (Tiger Squats) a day.
Each rep of a Hindu Squat starts with a deep breath, filling the lungs while pulling the outstretched arms into the chest and clenching the fists.
The body is lowered by bending the knees and extending the arms downward and behind the back, exhaling on the way down.
More deep breathing was done while doing his 500 Hindu Pushups (Hanuman Pushups) a day.
A Hindu pushup starts in the “Downward Dog” position, swoops down into a “Cobra Pose,” and returns to “Downward Dog.”
The head and hips move in circles instead of up and down.
The Great Gama also taught Joseph L. Greenstein – before he became known as The Mighty Atom – how to wrestle trees, assuring him that if you could win against a tree, a man was easy.
Gama went undefeated in 5,000 wrestling matches in a career that spanned more than fifty years.
To date he is the only wrestler in history who never lost a match in his entire career.
August 27, 2013 @ 10:29 am Ryan
Atom,
What is happening during deep sleep that restores cell vitality?
Is it the same mechanism that you mention above – “squeezing carbon dioxide out of cells?”
Thanks as always!!
August 27, 2013 @ 1:49 pm atomb
The opposite occurs at night, Ryan.
Rest requires fasting and less air.
Nitrogen (night-rogen) and carbon dioxide are necessary for anabolism (growth and cell reproduction) to balance the day’s catabolism.
The Buteyko Method of breathing is valid when you’re sleeping or meditating.
August 28, 2013 @ 6:59 pm John
Hi Atom, do you have 3 simple breathing exercises that we could use for better health ?
September 5, 2013 @ 1:26 pm atomb
Read “Until You Learn to Breathe Through Your Skin,” August 30, 2013. :)