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There are about 650 named muscles in the human body (personally, I have 651 when you include Vitamin-L, a/k/a the Vanilla Love Log, but I digress).

In addition to named muscles, there are at least twice that amount in unnamed muscles. All muscles fall into three categories; skeletal, smooth and cardiac. Some muscles we can control (skeletal for instance) and others work involuntarily (e.g. smooth muscles like in the lining of the intestines and cardiac to make your heart beat).

When it comes to muscles resistance is not futile, it’s how we develop strength and endurance. Resistance training can be applied to the diaphragm, the dome shaped muscle under the rib cage that works in conjunction with our lungs so we can breathe.

While working at the DEMA (Dive Equipment Manufacturers Association) Show in Las Vegas last year, I tried a product that promised to develop my breathing. It looked like a runt snorkle and when I wore it felt at times like I was breathing through a cocktail straw.

The POWERbreathe is very similar to what I used at DEMA. When used for a few minutes twice daily, the Powerbreathe forces your inspiratory muscles to work harder, increasing both breathing strength and endurance.

Available in three models, the Powerbreathe works your diaphragm and lungs at adjustable levels. The ‘Wellness’ model is ideal for asthmatics, the elderly or anyone with a respiratory condition. The ‘Fitness’ model is for most of us, recreational runners, cyclists, gym rats, etc. The ‘Sports Performance’ model is for the more serious athlete-in-training and offers the most resistance and therefore greatest benefit.

If you’re looking for strong breath have some garlic, eat a hot dog with everything, smoke a stoggie and don’t bother brushing those stumps in your mouth. If you’re looking to breathe stronger, give Powerbreathe a go.

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I’d be interested to know what percentage of home fitness equipment goes unused. Treadmills, stair machines, rowers, weight and resistance equipment, etc. Sometimes the best workout home fitness equipment offers is from moving it in and setting up, followed by a second rep of breaking it down and moving it out.

Enter the Mechanical Core Muscle Trainer. A sort of super-slow-mo mechanical horse/bull that “simulates the gentle back-and-forth motion experienced while riding a horse at a lazy gait.”

There’s not even a decent place to hang your clothes on this equipment! For $2000USD couldn’t you buy your own lazy horse? I get it, it’s for folks not looking to elevate their heart rate or a burning workout. I picture the late Jack Palance, who once did one-armed push-ups on the Academy Awards stage, scowling at the City Slicker who would actually buy this.

Bitness is not in the business of bashing gadgets, but they at least have to kind of sort of make sense right? Giddyup.

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For those of you not ‘in the know’ a slackline is used primarily by climbers to develop balance by walking the length of tubular nylon webbing (usually 1 inch thick) ala the Great Blondin. The difference between tightrope walking and slacklining is that the slackline, although tight as a drum, flexes and moves – a true test of balance.

How high the slackline is up to the slacker. I set mine up about 3 and a half feet high between trees in the backyard – just high enough to dislocate a shoulder and close enough to the back door so my sobbing is heard from the house. Dean Potter and other accomplished slackers like to go a little higher – like the 2,500 Lost Arrow Spire Gap in Yosemite. Much like myself in the backyard, Dean did Lost Arrow without a tether (yikes).

Just as bouldering was initially used to develop explosiveness for climbers, slacklining has become a sport all its own. More and more surfers, boarders and other balance sport enthusiasts are setting up between trees. Some purchase slackline kits, which greatly simplifies set-up and break-down. I rolled my own with a three carabiner pulley system.

Check it out and start slacking (slacker) – Mr. Cash ain’t never walked this line.