Taranaki farmer Kane Brisco on keeping mentally and physically fit

Exercise and breathwork are essential for keeping Taranaki dairy farmer and fitness leader Kane Brisco on track.

He hopes his new book Tools For The Top Paddock will help other farmers cope with the physical and mental challenges of working the land.

• Related: Farm Fit - Kane Brisco's mission to get rural people more active (Country Life)

Brisco was drawn to farming from an early age, and tells Nine to Noon that his career was progressing well until some speed bumps tripped him up.

“I went 50-50 share milking and bought my own herd of cows and had some financial pressure, and then the payout dropped. Basically, [it got] cut in half over two years. We went from a record payout of $8.40 down to something like $3.95 or $4.”

At the time Brisco was getting into a bit of strife in his personal life, too.

“I guess, outside of the farm I became quite grumpy and angry. Probably took that out on the family quite a bit, unfortunately.

“In terms of farming, I just stopped enjoying it. Every day when I woke up instead of looking forward to the challenges of the day, I couldn't wait for the day to end as soon as I woke up and the things that usually brought me a lot of satisfaction and joy on the farm it was hollow you know, there was nothing there.”

Brisco says he kept going simply because his animals needed him.

“A lot of farmers would agree, you just don't have a choice when you've got animals relying on you, it’s like being the dad to 100 babies, they can’t look after themselves.”

 But at the same time, his confidence was ebbing away.

“That was the one thing that took the longest to get back. Not only my ability but had I picked the right lifestyle for me, you know. Was farming for me?”

Some “tough love” from Brisco's wife Nicole helped get him back on track.

“There were a lot of things out of my control. But, I'd chosen to be a farmer, so I had to accept all the things that come with that, which was really hard to bloody do when you're in a bad spot and definitely gotten to a place where I was blaming a lot of other people and other things.

"For the situation I was in, I really needed to get a kick up the arse and a bit of tough love to take that responsibility back that it was that it was my life and I had to change and adapt to make it better.”

Regularly trading the farm for the boxing ring was key, he says.

“Getting off the farm was a really big thing for me and having a sport and a reason to drive out the front gate and forget about it for a couple of hours was really huge and mentally refreshing.”

Even though farming is physically tough, the physical activity of boxing helped lift Brisco up mentally, he says. 

“I’d do a full day's work on the farm and jump in my ute and drive an hour to the boxing gym and get punched in the face for an hour and a half, or two hours some nights even, and then drive home and I'd be absolutely knackered physically, but I’d wake up in the morning feeling mentally refreshed.”

This experience inspired him to set up the on-farm boot camp Farm Fit.

“I just saw a need for it. And I felt like I could pass on some knowledge about how I'd gone through it and use the exercise to make myself a better farmer and a better person.

“So, it was yeah, it was just asking the local community if they'd be interested and I thought one or two people would turn up and before we knew it we had sort of 10 or 12.”

Farm Fit sessions were first held in Brisco's driveway with some basic kit.

“And over the course of three years, we sort of built a farm gym out in the paddock.

“We had a place where you could hang up boxing bags, I built a squat rack type rig where we could do heavier weights and pull-ups and that sort of thing, and got a whole bunch of tractor tires and sledge hammers and just sort of added to the gear and made sandbags and stuff like that.”

 Now a wide range of people from the community show up to Brisco's fitness sessions.

“A lot of them, they're not regularly exercisers at all apart from coming to Farm Fit. So that's been really pleasing to see people that don't have a history of exercise or playing sport, get enough enjoyment out of it to keep coming back. So that's really humbling and satisfying.”

In addition to exercise, Brisco keeps himself centred with breathwork.

“I've used that a lot over the years for different sorts of circumstances. That really brings you back to the present and lets you feel your body and it can really breathe life into your nervous system, or calm it down if it needs to.”

Writing things down also helps, Brisco says.

“Whether it's jobs you need to do, things that are stressing you out or just things that are taking over in your mind I've found it really helpful to get to spill them out onto a piece of paper... and actually look at them rather than just have them spinning around in your head, whether it's good or bad, I found that quite helpful.”

Reconnecting with the beauty of the land is essential, too, he says.

“Going for a walk, taking a breather, reconnecting with nature has been huge for me. I love to go out in the bush or at the top of a hill and just and just take it all in and remind yourself that you're in a beautiful place.”