You have plenty of options when it comes to brain fog.

One is to sit in a chair and be listless all day long. Another is to watch television and look at your mobile devices as you eat.

But all the options mentioned above are likely to increase your brain fog.

Even most types of meditation will increase brain fog because the body is not engaged in a way that stimulates and activates the peripheral nervous system while increasing neurogenesis. This can be readily observed as so many long-time meditators will openly tell you how they are “losing their words,” which they view as a good thing. It’s not.

As soon as your feet hit the floor in the morning, you have an entire day to stimulate your brain and body so that fogginess has no place to perch upon.

But the first order of business is engaging your feet before they hit the floor.

“Wiggle your big toe,” is not just a great line in a movie (Kill Bill). It’s one of the unsung keys to seeing how well your brain is connected to your body.

More than 25 years ago, I remember asking a husband and wife I trained if they could feel their big toes. Both of them reached for their toes to wiggle them.

“That’s not what I mean,” I mentioned. “Can you feel your big toe enough to wiggle it without touching it?”

Neither of them could do it. At the time I wondered how they got so “out of touch.” Nowadays, not having conscious control of your big toe is the norm – and don’t get me started on the other toes.

Your hands and your feet are four of the biggest keys to waking up the brain. Then its your eyes and ears. And your neck.

What are you doing with your eyes and ears while you’re moving your hands and feet?

Everyday I enjoy walking outdoors, backwards. It’s a practice I learned nearly 20 years ago, called Dao Zou.

Dao Zou is one of the greatest brain builders of all times. Unlike so many forms of seated meditation, it doesn’t cause brain fog or brain rot. It lights up your brain and nervous system almost beyond belief. As a result your memory improves.

Additionally, Dao Zou improves the health of your ankles, knees, hips and lower back. It also makes your feet come ALIVE. As your feet come alive – so does your noggin, and with that, your ability to remember better. This means you’ll never catch yourself saying that you’re “losing your words,” and that this is somehow a good thing.  

In my Dao Zou program you will uncover many different walking patterns that change the way you feel, almost instantly.

It’s amazing how some people can go outside, walk three miles forward and still have brain fog, or still fell down in the dumps.

But after following just one of the many patterns I teach in Dao Zou, people rave about how they feel. They are recharged and vibrating at a much higher level, oftentimes within one hundred meters.

Brain fog begone. NOW.

Take your first step in this direction today by reading about Dao Zou.

Kick ass – take names!

Matt Furey

The first time I saw an older man walking backwards in a park in China, I scoffed.

Shortly after scoffing, though, I got curious. So curious that I went outdoors to see first-hand what the man was doing.

He wasn’t just walking backwards. He was practicing various movement patterns that are purported to increase brain function, improve overall health and balance out your emotional state.

I asked the man many questions as he trained, and began to follow the instructions he gave me.

Whenever you see someone working out in a different sort of way, one of our first tendencies is to scoff. It’s a natural reflex to protect us from learning something new, something that might truly be good for us.

So long as scoffing is closely followed by curiosity, you’ll continue to make progress. But if all you ever do is scoff, at some point you’re probably going to wish you were a bit more open-minded.

At first glance, moving backwards appears to be wrong. Yet, it is one of the best exercises you can do to improve your health, your well-being, your speed and quickness, as well as your balance.

[Oh, and lest I forget to mention, it also helps eliminate knee, hip, lower back and foot pain.] 

But the key is recognizing that there is far more to the practice of backwards walking than meets the eyes. That’s why its called Dao Zou.

It’s DEEP, DEEP STUFF.

Once you learn the various patterns I teach, you come to this realization yourself. Before learning the patterns, though, you have no clue what you and your brain-body are missing.

Virtually anyone can get up and walk in reverse – but damn few will ever turn their backwards motions into a work of art.

Over the past 20 years I have turned backwards walking into an art form, a health and strength training regimen, and if you so desire, a psychological and spiritual retreat from the strains and stresses of the day.

The Dao Zou program will elevate whatever game you’re playing by putting you in touch with nerves and neurons that are calling for you to show them some respect. Show your respect for these currently untapped neurons and they will repay you many times over.

Sure, uou can look at going in reverse as a “stupid” idea.

Or you can unleash the genius within you by tapping into an entirely different universe, wavelength and vibration, one that is only available to those who choose to move the Dao Zou way.

Amazing idea, isn’t it? You become smarter than ever by moving in a “stupid” way.

What a whirld we live in.

Grab Dao Zou NOW and elevate your game beyond belief.

Matt Furey

Just finished my morning workout. ’twas mostly a series of stretching and loosening exercises, followed by a lot of squatting.

When the workout ended, I went back in the house, sat on a chair and feel asleep.

Needing a nap after a workout is a good sign; your body is releasing growth hormone and adapting to stress.

Most of the time you won’t need a nap after a workout, but when you feel the need arise, go with it. Napping is natural. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about – unless your entire day is nothing but naps.

When it comes to evening workouts, I find that Combat Stretching and Dao Zou are two great ways to unwind your mind.

Dao Zou, or reverse training, relaxes the brain and nervous system, allowing you to let go of the stresses of the day. As you move in reverse, you unplug from the noise, the news and the nincompoops.

Moving in reverse improves balance, mobility and awareness while also eliminating pain in your hips, knees, ankles and lower back.

It also helps take away the unpleasant feelings of being in a funk. As you unplug from the normal way of moving, your brain releases feel good endorphins, and for no particular reason, you let go of unpleasant ideas and fill your mind with good things to think about.

I first began practicing Dao Zou nearly 20 years ago, and as I look back, I can see that moving in reverse was a pivotal and monumental step in the ideal direction – especially when it comes to health and emotional well-being.

If you practice Dao Zou in the morning, you’ll be ready to take on your day with gusto.

If you practice at night, you may be enjoying the best sleep you’ve had in a long while, with incredible dreams as an added bonus.

It won’t be a nap, that’s for sure.

Give Dao Zou a whirl and let me hear how it works for you.

Matt Furey

Back in 1989, I was sitting in a breakfast restaurant in Dallas, Texas.

’twas about 5 PM. 

“What you want to eat?” the waitress asked.

“I’ll have a Spanish omelette.” 

“What do you want for meat?” she questioned. 

“Nothing. I don’t eat meat,” I said. 

“Huh? You don’t eat no meat? You need meat to grease up them joints.”

I laughed, thinking she was totally off the mark.

Years later, I came around to her way of thinking. 

The truth is that MOST people today have pain in one or more of their joints, and the incidence of joint replacement surgery is off the charts. I know at least a dozen people who’ve had both their hips replaced. And their knees are lurking in the shadows, calling for the surgeon’s attention next. 

You may not believe you can grease up your joints by eating animal fats, or taking supplements. That’s fine.

But I can tell you there is a way that the longest-lived martial arts masters moved their limbs that helped them increase the flow of blood and synovial fluid to their tissues while simultaneously moving stagnant energy out of their joints.

Moving stagnant energy out of your joints, in and of itself, can make you feel a sense of instant relief. And perhaps this is one of the key reasons these masters are not getting their joints replaced. Even in their 70’s, 80’s, and beyond, their joints are still going strong. 

Moving your joints, in and of itself, is a way to alter your mind and your mood; it makes you feel good.

If you ever wake up in the morning with foul feelings, take a few minutes to follow the joint loosening exercises I lay out for you in Combat Stretching.

Without even thinking about it, you will probably start feeling better. Your disposition and attitude will probably improve as well.

Chances are also excellent, that you’ll feel good for no particular reason whatsoever, other than the fact that you recognized and practiced the physical methods of keeping your joints mobile, limber and strong.  

As far as I’m concerned, after a few minutes of joint loosening, the sky is no longer the limit.

Latch onto Combat Stretching NOW and begin to accomplish that which you never thought possible. 

Matt Furey

There’s a way to scare people off.

It’s called giving them BIG GOALS.

Hold on.

I realize this is the opposite of what you’ve probably heard, but just because you’ve heard something doesn’t make it true.

I’ve tested what I’m telling you, not only on myself, but with many, many others whom I’ve coached over the years. And straight down the line, the people who are frustrated, the people who aren’t getting the job done, either have no goals whatsoever, or they have gargantuan goals that, statistically speaking, they have almost no chance of achieving.

But when you give someone small, incremental daily goals – you increase the likelihood of success to the point where victory is practically guaranteed.

Let’s take pushups as an example.

When I was a freshman in high school, I had a conversation with Ken Nurse (older brother of Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse) about doing pushups everyday. Ken told me to start with 25 pushups in a set and to do them during commercials of whatever ball game I was watching on television.

“Just keep doing sets of 25 until they get super easy,” Ken said. “Then go to 50 reps in a set.”

I followed Ken’s instructions and within a few weeks, hammering out sets of 25 got easy, so I doubled the number of reps to 50.

Using this method, I realized I was doing at least 100 pushups a night. So I thought about doing 200 a night, and shortly thereafter, it became so.

When 200 pushups per night was easy, I thought about doing 400 a day. Within a day of thinking about 400 pushups per day, I was doing that many.

Then I watched a special about a professional heavyweight boxer who was doing 1,500 pushups a day.

I got excited watching this show and decided to upgrade my daily goal even more.

About a month later I was doing 1,000 pushups per day. I didn’t wait until evening to get started either. I began shortly after arising in the morning, and did sets of 50 pushups all throughout the day.

As a result my pecs and shoulders grew. My muscles were in a constant state of “pump.”

The regular pushups lead to me doing handstand pushups. I began doing them after another guy at the gym, Dave, told me that your overhead pressing strength will explode when you do handstand pushups on a regular basis.

After getting good at handstand pushups I wondered about walking on my hands. Although I never saw anyone in my hometown walk on their hands, I read about Walter Payton doing so, and so I began working on it.

The initial goal was to walk one step forward on my hands. When I could take one step, the goal became two steps. And so on.

Again, small incremental improvements. Not gigantic leaps.

Today, I encourage people to focus on “here and now” goals – and as momentum builds, to upgrade.

Setting big goals when there’s no momentum usually leads to negative results.

Tis why I say, “Start small and you can have it all. Start too big and you stumble on every twig.”

If 25 pushups per set is not possible for you at this time, then begin with 10, or 5, or as few as one.

If you cannot even do one pushup, then begin by holding the position for 30 seconds, or 15, or 5.

The point is, make it easy for yourself to succeed. Give yourself a daily victory by achieving a seemingly small goal, one you can accomplish without any unnecessary effort. When you nail this easy goal, you will want to naturally upgrade. And this will end up doing you far more good in a relatively short period of time, than you ever thought possible.

Here endeth the lesson.

Matt Furey

P.S. A good place to start on the road to daily victories is with my international best-seller, Combat Conditioning. If you already have it, then increase your flexibility dramatically by getting involved with Combat Stretching. If you already have both of these products, I encourage you to read Expect to Win – Hate to Lose. It kicks azz.

Previously, I wrote about ole Farmer Burns and the secrets of physical culture he revealed in his 1914 by-mail course.

Burns came before Charles Atlas in the physical culture industry. At the time, people understood that you cannot become a great wrestler or boxer or fighter of any sort, without great conditioning methods.

Burns wasn’t a bodybuilder – but he knew how to get the job done in a functional way, and that’s what matters.

I learned a ton about strength, health and fitness from Farmer Burns course. I studied it in earnest.

How on earth did Burns, for example, hang himself and not get injured, much less put himself six feet under?

Well, the Farmer doesn’t reveal the secret to his hanging stunt in the course, but when it comes to flattening your stomach and giving yourself washboard abs, he most definitely does.

After I began practicing the exercises the ole Farmer taught for flattening your midsection and increasing speed and power in your hands, it was only a matter of days before people noticed that I looked and moved differently.

And that’s when I began to realize I must do my part to make this course available to people throughout the world. Why? Because the exercises are simple yet profound. And because you don’t need much room to move, they can be taken with you anywhere.

The exercises don’t require a gym or an investment in fitness machines, gizmos or gadgets. In fact, once you have the exercises in mind, they are with you for life. No one can ever take them away from you.

And the most important exercise in the course can be done in the shower, while sitting in a chair or while waiting at a traffic light. You can do it while lying in bed or as you stand in line in a store. You can do it while cooking or talking on the phone.

It’s truly amazing when you think of the versatility of an exercise that focuses on how you breathe and tighten specific muscle groups.

It feels almost miraculous when you consider the positive effects, not only on your waistline, but on your digestion. Years ago I referred to these breathing exercises as a type of “cosmic fiber” and I still use that term today.

You can begin doing these exercises immediately when you leaf through Farmer Burns classic Lessons in Wrestling and Physical Culture.

With your order we will also send you an autographed copy of “yours truly” on the cover of an MMA magazine.

Let’s Go…

Matt Furey

P.S. For those of you interested in grappling or olde-time catch wrestling, consider getting the full blown Farmer Burns video course

I was the total skeptic.

I honestly believed the secret to becoming a great athlete and martial artist was weight training.

I also thought weights were the key to getting physically fit.

Although I sprinkled some pushups and pull-ups into my typical routine, never in a million years did I ever entertain the idea that bodyweight calisthenics alone could and would take me to the next level.

And then one day I was introduced to a strange routine of pushups, squats and bridging that opened my eyes to a whole new world.

Three exercises turned my thinking upside-down and outside-in.

Within 10 minutes of my first workout using these exercises, I was gasping for air and soaked in sweat.

Although I could easily knock out 50 regular pushups, I could not do 25-straight Hindu Pushups. Although I could run upstairs with someone on my back, my legs were so pumped after only 40 Hindu squats that I couldn’t do the required 100. And although I thought I learned the proper way to bridge as a young wrestler, I found out that I wasn’t too good there, either.

But here’s the amazing truth:

Even though I failed this initial fitness test, I found out that within a few months time, it got me into peak condition.

Three exercises – all of which work the entire body as ONE unit.

Instead of feeling beat up, tired or drained after training, I was ENERGIZED.

This was better than runner’s high or “the pump.”

Overtime this incredible system of exercises I was doing became an international best-seller.

It’s called Combat Conditioning.

If you don’t have the program yet – NOW is the time to dive in, discover more… and change your life for the better.

Matt Furey

The idea comes and goes with the wind.

Don’t stretch. It’s not necessary.

I’ve heard this sort of grumbling for years.

But we only need look at the animal kingdom for some answers.

Do animals stretch? Yes.

Do animals run, walk, climb, jump, roll around and hold various poses for long periods of time? Yes.

Even domesticated dogs and cats stretch several times per day.

Is it any wonder then that animals always move the way their species is supposed to move? A grizzly bear will always move the way a grizzly is supposed to move. Same goes for the tiger, the chimpanzee and the cheetah.

Animals also spend hours per day sitting and lying around. This doesn’t appear to hurt them or make them unhealthy because when they finally decide to move, they begin with some sort of dynamic stretch.

As infants, we started out moving correctly, then we unconsciously copied the walk, the postures and the strained mannerisms of the people in our environment, who just so happened to be disconnected from their bodies. And that’s when the problems begin.

There are many ways that humans disconnect from their bodies. Refusing to stretch and/or loosen up your body is one of them.

Yes, you can feel that you’re getting looser by walking, running or lifting weights, but if you’re carrying residual tension in your body, if you’re moving improperly, it will eventually manifest as pain somewhere.

This is why it’s a good idea to begin your day, or your workout, with dynamic stretches and/or joint loosening mobility exercises.

And that’s why I champion them in my Combat Stretching DVDs.

Within seconds you can reconnect with your body and begin to own it. Within seconds you can make yourself feel better, faster and stronger. Within seconds you can take a deep breath and feel the weight of the world being lifted off your shoulders.

Here endeth the lesson.

Matt Furey

I’ve seen some athletes over the years who have gotten swayed into a lovey-dovey way of thinking when it comes to sports (and everything else). And they’ve taken this philosophy to ridiculous unproductive extremes. 

They love the game they play. That’s good. Can’t imagine playing a game you hate. 

They love their teammates. That’s fine. 

They love their coach. I guess that might be fine – but it’s definitely not necessary. 

But this idea that love is the answer to all your problems, well, I don’t think so.

The greatest coaches are not having lovey-dovey talks with their athletes prior to competition, and if they are, I can assure you that their athletes are not champions and never will be.

The reason is profoundly simple: The great ones hate losing more than they love winning.

Yes, they love the game and they love winning, but they hate losing so much they will work harder, longer and with far more zeal than anyone else, in order to prevent it from happening.

The same holds true when it comes to fitness.

When you have a goal to accomplish something meaningful, how much you want it is one part of the equation; the other part is how much you hate the idea of not succeeding. 

The expectation of and love for winning, can help you in sports, or anything else. But you’ll go much further when you add your hatred for losing to the equation.

Here endeth the lesson. 

Except to say, if you “loved” this email, then you’ll want to read all the other gems and jewels I put into my best-seller, Expect to Win-Hate to Lose.

Order today and I’ll be adding something else to the package that you’re going to treasure.

Or as a friend would say, “Don’t hate yourself for missing out” on what I have for you. 

Matt Furey

P.S. If you dig my emails and want to follow my lead, working from home, at your leisure, then go here.