Resistance training for your hums.

INSIGHT (what we need)

Humming is the most underrated easy recovery method we’re all missing from our workouts.

Occlusion straps are all the rage now in muscle building camps for their ability to restrict blood flow while lifting weights. Why is this good? Studies show that restricting blood flow on lighter weights can produce hypertrophy and get the same results to those of heavier resistance training. This allows the body to get that ‘pump’ and create metabolic stress while recovering quicker: preventing injuries and building muscle (especially in old age) without damaging joints. When muscles start to fatigue faster, then our cells begin to repair damaged tissue to build more muscle.

The principle behind needing resistance training (and why just doing ample cardio, yoga or weekend tennis isn’t enough) is because we simply need to move our limbs against a form of resistance to build muscle tone, bone density, and joint function. Essentially, to exercise anti-fragility in our bodies. An important ‘outside in’ method of defying gravity by building a stronger vessel which can hold ourselves up against it as we age and lose our upright structure.

But what about ‘inside out’ resistance training?

Turns out a breath work technique that has been used for centuries (and one we often do subconsciously when we’re happy because it reinforces oxytocin production) is to ‘hum.’ This is your invitation to hum through the rest of this read!

Exhaling through our nose to create vibration at the back of our throats is part of many healing traditions. Humming is not only a practice of regulating the breath and calming the body, but also an inside-out form of light resistance training to ‘tone’ us at the cellular level. In fact, the field of vibroacoustic therapy has become a ripe territory for research due to thousands of years of anecdotal efficacy.

Turns out, this turbulence in our nasal cavity increases a powerful molecule known as nitric oxide, which is a vasodilator (increasing blow flow through our vessels). Also with widened airways, our blood pressure reduces, our nervous systems relax, and we even stimulate the vagus nerve to turn on our parasympathetic response. Further research on humming has shown that the circulation of healthy nitric-rich air within our sinuses helps guard against pathogenic infection. It won Dr. Lou Iganarro, professor of molecular pharmacology at UCLA, a Nobel Prize in 2018 for his findings. Fatefully, pre-Covid…I wonder how many ‘humming’ practices he inspired?

Humming not only inhibits the growth of bacteria, parasites, or viruses but also fuels our powerhouses (mitochondrial cells) with this fundamental neurotransmitter (nitric oxide) in the production of energy (ATP). Being another way of making our bodies anti-fragile! Regular practice as been known to rearrange molecular structure and create new neural pathways in the brain — perhaps why it’s been used for thousands of years in Vedic, Hindu and Tibetan traditions (hum it with me now…Om, Aum or Hum) as a triggering mechanism for altering states of conscious awareness.

INSPIRATION (what we want)

SAGA Fitness BFR Bands: upper and lower limb blood flow restriction bands using wireless tech to calibrate to your optimal occlusion zone.

• Fully wireless connection to an app that calibrates your blood flow restriction.

• Intelligent calibration for precise occlusion so you can restrict more safely than regular bands that work manually.

• Inflation can be controlled via smart device.

• Ability to get the same results with only 30% 1 rep max loads.

• Takes out the guesswork for the different occlusion amounts needed for hypertrophy (muscle building), strength, and endurance.

Note to non-lifters: restriction bands are changing the game on needing to lift less weight for the same effect, making weight training more accessible to those with joint pain or declining recovery.

INNOVATION (what we wish for)

Humly: vibroacoustic resistance band training for active recovery. 

A connected neck strap (and additional swatches) that vibrate at a frequencies of between 25-150hz that you must mimic in tonal quality and intensity with an equal force hum to induce healing throughout the body.

• Thin 10cm strap that is comfortably worn snuggly around the throat carrying sensors to detect the vibrations caused through humming.

• Connected to an app that takes you through a series of “humming” programs of only 5 minutes each to work on various reinforcement frequencies for the body, from reducing stress and anxiety, to clearing sinuses, to prevention of neurological diseases.

• Press “play” on your daily program and meet the light frequency with a humming sound of equal vibration.

• Intensity is reduced to nothing once you’ve accurately met the tone with equal tonality and intensity, giving you a feedback loop from which to practice.

• Add on additional swatches that can be worn across other various chakras for the same training at different frequencies.

  “The yin to the yang of resistance band training.”