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From flat bench to tw@ bench. Healing Power of Medicinal Mushrooms.

Written by: David Rees

March 1, 2024

Time to read 8 min

Letting oneself slip, is indeed a very, very slippery slope. Yes, injuries happen, sickness is unavoidable, jeans sizes go up, Tinder matches go down & worst of all your years of dedicated hard goddamn work begins to erode by the day. Sadly, desirable physiques you gotta ‘use em or lose em’. If only you hadn’t done that one last set, gone that extra round or taken a bloody recovery day (like you were meant to), your cushion would actually get a bit more pushin’ these days.

Gaining a little (or a lot) of timber while sitting crying on the sidelines is an extremely difficult crater to climb out of.

For highly active, image conscious go-getters that pride themselves on making good first impressions & leading by example, picking up yet another physical injury feels like a cruel act of karmic punishment for bad behaviour in a previous lifetime.

This article will explain how to prevent crippling injuries, accelerate recovery time & help physical healing using a few biohacks with functional medicinal mushrooms.

For those thinking ‘oh FFS, take some time off, there's more to life than lifting bro’, fair comment, but for active, type A, get sh*t done personalities ‘time off’ is a literal prison sentence.

My violin story

(Cue Disney orchestra). As I write these words, I speak not as a stacked, ripped or swole protein shake chugging gym shark, but as an injury prone armchair athlete currently nursing bleeding haemorrhoids that's made me unable to lift, train, or even walk for almost 3 months. My, how the mighty fall. I have long forgotten the feeling of being out of breath, wet with sweat or buzzing on endorphins from a morning's hill sprints.

Had I spent more time recovering & less time trying to impress the voices in my head I would likely still be able to fit into my tailor made shirts.

So believe me when I say over decades of physical graft I have learned a thing or two about topless mirror selfies, training, bulking, cutting, nutrition, diet, routine, hormone regulation, supplements, healing peptides & of course injury recovery.

Rewards of routine

The easiest way to adhere to a long term daily structure? Two words - ‘physical challenge’. Doing something physically difficult to begin each day will not only instil a cast iron work ethic, but kick start a flywheel of positive momentum for that day's trajectory.

The satisfaction of smashing the pants off your daily to-do list becomes so rewarding you’ll be hooked on stacking micro wins that add up to macro achievements. Again the key here is starting early. The hardest decision anyone can make is getting out of bed in the morning, so how do we solve that problem? You guessed it, not staying up late & getting to bed on time the night before. I know this is much easier said than done, life regularly throws curve balls, spanners in the works & obstacles in our paths preventing us getting enough rest. Even if you’re thrown off course (which WILL happen), your liferaft through the chaos will always be your clockwork morning routine.

But I’m hungry damn it. What’s the solution?

Each person's definition of ‘physical challenge’ will differ greatly, for some it’s shuffling to the shop without gassing out, for others it’s cycling to work instead of taking the car, or for physically able knuckle draggers with a chip on their shoulders it’s 5 rounds full contact sparring.

I’m not here to cast judgement or define what challenge you should be pushing for, simply ask yourself ‘what do I find difficult?’. That internal voice if you push past all the BS excuses, aggressive projections & flat out denials, will, if you let it, tell you the truth. This is your conscience talking, the undistilled voice of universal truth mainlined to your mind. Allow this voice to be your guiding compass with difficult decision making. So whether you can do 5 push ups or 50, are unable to touch your toes or within striking distance of a Van Damme box split, front loading mornings with the ‘heavy lifting’ tasks will steer your day's decision making along a disciplined road to long term success.

From routine to recovery

Imagine having your daily training, diet, sleep pattern tightly dialled in, you’re looking & feeling like a million bucks, your clothes fit better, people are giving you compliments & best of all you’re making your lovers proud & your haters very, very jealous. All the hard work is paying off & your daily routines are a clockwork way of life that you’ll never let slip again. Not so fast amigo, before you go posting before & after selfies the universe has other plans for you. Nothing like a sobering, cold blooded act of god to put that ego back in check, brace yourself for your next ‘physical challenge’...physical injuries.

The very linchpin that's held this entire disciplined deck of cards together has been stolen from your control & your entire Jenga tower is about to do an illuminati controlled demolition.

Now you must heartbreakingly watch all your hard work, chiselled waistline & dreams of a new summer wardrobe erode into love handles, double chins & cankles.

Suddenly the inability to exercise due to compromised joints, torn ligaments or prolapsed rectums have you playing your own ‘poor little me’ violin on a downward spiral of depression, self pity & chronic masturbation.

So, how does one mitigate & actively prevent such personal disasters from occurring? Thankfully your blog writing crash test gummy-dummy has taken all the tooth-chipping hits & learned the very hard way how to not only prevent injuries but also how to accelerate the recovery process too.

Prevention

This has to be the most effective method, stopping sparks from turning into forest fires. Catching things early (or better still before they even happen) is by far the most superior strategy to adhering to a long term & healthy routine. Discipline takes many forms, not only driving you to do more, reach higher or squeeze out another, it also acts as a danger barometer for going beyond the point of no return. With practice & much time you’ll learn to align the voice in your head with your body's weakness signals to know when ‘tough’s is enough’, choosing to live to fight another day rather than another long expensive trip to the physio.

Recovery

After hauling ass, getting a sweat on & draining the gas tank before breakfast, I only wished I had spent more time allowing my body to heal rather than overreaching & causing more setbacks.

Muscles are worked in the gym, fueled in the kitchen & built in the bedroom.

You only actually build muscle when you are in deep sleep & your body has a chance to rebuild strained muscle fibres from the day's activities.

Here’s my personal top 3 bro science ways to aid the bodies recovery process & heal physical injuries:

#1 Saunas & Ice baths

Cold water exposure releases heat shock proteins that help reduce inflammation in the joints & muscles. When steam rooms are stacked with cold water plunges it creates a great way to sweat out physical toxins & repair damaged muscle fibres.

#2 Supplementation

Unflavoured BCAAs - avoid high-calorie protein shakes & replace with the nutritional protein compounds your body actually needs to repair.
Collagen peptides - rebuilds muscle protein, also fantastic for skin & digestive track repair too.
Sonic Shroom Smoothie - a fast-on-the-go Shroomstar™ recipe to replenish the body's nutrients as well as soothe muscle tension with a unique formula of functional fungi.

#3 Healing Peptides

For severe injuries, broken bones, torn tissues or post-surgery recovery, look into BPC-157 & TB-500. Many athletes swear by these exogenous peptides' ability to rapidly speed up the body's natural healing process to take you from being out of action for months to as little as a couple of weeks.

Healing Power of Medicinal Mushrooms

Shroomstar™ contains a unique formula of 6 functional & medicinal mushrooms. Each mushroom was carefully selected to help optimise a specific physical & cognitive function. When it comes to recovery Lion’s Mane will aid muscle relaxation, increased blood flow, allowing deeper sleep cycles thus helping repair muscle tissue faster. Both Royal Sun & Turkey Tail also help combat any infections & support compromised immune systems from overexertion. Reishi & Chaga contain powerful stress relieving properties, helping settle the heart rate, reducing both anxiety levels & muscle inflammation. Lastly, Cordyceps is widely known for its energising & mood-boosting effects, the synergy of all 6 medicinal mushrooms combined creates a potent healing remedy that accelerates the body's natural post-training recovery. When used consistently as part of a daily training schedule Shroomstar™ gummies will help prevent injuries through your proactive daily recovery routine.

How to consume

Either chew 3-5 gummies immediately after a training session
Or, try blending 3-5 gummies into your post-training smoothie to get all the nourishment you need in a single shaker. Check out the recipe for a Sour Shroom Slingshot Smoothie.

Now of course I am biassed here, it’s no secret that I actively operate, promote & sell a mushroom supplement brand. But to be honest I don’t care if nobody ever uses my product, know why? Because I use my product. I actually made Shroomstar™ for me, nobody else. I got sick of buying rank, hard-to-swallow mushroom capsules & started looking for a company that would make something sweet, fruit-flavoured, that would both look dope not only on my desk but also in my gym bag.

With world-class oversight & creative direction form my cat Fudge, together we co-designed the packaging, the branding & the formula purely as a passion project. Next, we sourced a manufacturer to produce a small order so we could have our own personal supplements exactly the way we wanted them.

Very quickly the eye-catching packaging & neon green bottle cap caught the attention of friends, housemates & co-workers. I regularly got asked where they could also buy some. Truth was they couldn’t, I had literally only ordered 50 jars, just enough for a 6-months personal supply of daily use. I was my first & only customer, I loved my product & didn’t care if nobody else wanted them. I was perfectly happy getting ‘high on my own supply’ (figure of speech, technically Shroomstar™ doesn't actually make you high).

One year on I had so many order requests from friends I decided to place a chunkier 500 jar order, despite losing 200 jars to FedEx dumb-asses & European customs retards, we had pre sold all the remaining stock to my other company’s followers. So don’t take my word for it, my customers are my best brand ambassadors, check it out:

The 30 Day Mushroom Mission

In summary, supplementing your daily exercise regimen with a careful recovery routine will not only keep you injury free, fit & healthy but also prevent long-term setbacks, ball aches & disasters. Adding functional medicinal mushrooms to your supplement stack will help relax the body, decreasing stress & reducing joint inflammation. Again, Shroomstar™ is not a silver bullet or magic miracle mushroom solving all life's problems overnight, let’s be realistic, when used consistently, alongside your daily fitness practice they will help speed up natural recovery, boost energy levels & prevent annoying injuries from recurring.

So the gloves come off, here’s my challenge to you…

For the next 30 days simply take 3-5 gummies after every workout to see how much better your joints feel, how much more relaxed & energised you are in your day-to-day life.

Let me know how you get on, love hearing your progress.

Out.

David Rees

Founder, CEO

Shroomstar™

With a forensic eye for aesthetic detail & Navy SEAL operational discipline, founder, CEO & creative director David Rees drives the strategic business vision of Shroomstar™.