Back on April 21, I sent out an email entitled, “Can You Pass the Squat Test?”

[If you didn’t see that email, you can read it on my uncensored blog]

Anyway, Joe, a long-time member of the Furey Faithful and a forgivable Red Sox fan… after reading this particular piece, wrote to tell me that he got a B+.

I tongue-in-cheeked: “I’m the one who issues the grades.”

As intended, Joe was unable to decode whether I was joking or being serious.

“So you want video proof is what you’re saying? Just want to be clear,” questioned Joe.

“That’s a fact,” I typed.

Before the end of the day, Joe sent me a short video of himself in the squat, wishing me a happy birthday. It was only 25 seconds long.

No proof, no grade.

But hold on…

Nearly a year ago, Joe went from not being able to sit in a squat for more than a few seconds to holding for five grueling minutes. He sent me video proof of his effort, and I was proud of him for his accomplishment, even though I took delight in watching him struggle.

Yet here we are, a year later, and Joe says he’s a B+.

As I’m waiting for proof of Joe’s B+ effort, he sent me an email on how much his life has changed for the better since he watched my video on the how and why of sitting in a squat each day.

Joe recapped the benefits I championed, which were:

* Increased testosterone
* Improved performance in the bedroom
* Adding three years to your life (based upon a recent study)

Then he added a benefit that I never considered before. It may be “anecdotal” or it may be the future for many people with this challenge.

Here ’tis: Joe says that since he started to sit in a squat each day, he no longer gets up in the middle of the night to PEE.

In the past, Joe says he would get up more than once. But now? Unn unnh.

How about that?

It makes sense to me.

You sit in a squat for minutes each day and not only do your legs get stronger, so do your internal organs, due to the increased blood flow.

Your legs are your second heart. When you squat you pump more blood throughout your entire body. The key to making this work at an even greater level is realizing HOW to squat in a way that takes advantage of your biggest muscles, your glutes, rather than your quadriceps.

This is why I insist on being the one who issues the grades for someone’s squat. Most people, unfortunately, think squatting is all about the legs.

They watch me doing a set of Hindu squats and remark, “Great quad pump.” That’s bodybuilder thinking. It’s not functional fitness thinking.

Yes, Hindu squats work your quads, but if what you’re feeling, primarily, is a quad pump, your technique is freakin’ flawed.

More on this can be found on the Furey Faithful membership site, which I encourage you to take part in.

Kick ass – take names,

Matt Furey

Hey, you want to be able to craft an email like the one you just read? You want to stay at home and write emails as a business – or as an extension of what you’re already doing? Then go to
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Remember the scene in Caddyshack, where a Baby Ruth candy bar gets tossed into the swimming pool while everyone is playing in the sun.

Judge Smails (Ted Knight) assumes the worst and orders everyone out of the pool. He demands the entire pool be drained, sanitized and disinfected.

Carl Spackler (Bill Murray) follows orders. Dressed in white protective gear, he drains the pool, but before disinfecting, he approaches the so-called “feces log.” Recognizing that it might be a BabyRuth candy bar, he draws closer to it, picks it up, sniffs it and takes a bite.

“Hey, it’s not big deal,” he quips.

Judge Smails’ wife faints on the spot.

This is the power of hypnosis in the media.

In Psycho-Cybernetics, Dr. Maxwell Maltz gave a hypothetical example of someone going into the forest dressed as a bear.

If you encountered this person dressed as a bear while out trekking, you would probably react in a predictable manner. You would believe the costumed person to be a bear, and you would begin to feel fear. Your heart beat would speed up, your breathing would be altered, and then you’d either run (dumb move against a real bear), or you would fall to the ground and assume the fetal position.

I realize it’s a simple thing to do, but giving yourself a few more feet of separation from what you’re seeing or hearing (or getting ultra-close to it), is a powerful antidote for analyzing whether something is real or not. A few more feet of space changes your perception of reality.

So does being willing to question the unquestionable; being willing to ask, “What if none of this were true?” Or, “What if this story is only partially true?”

And so it goes with health and fitness advice.

Modern day narratives go this way:

Wear a mask in public so you don’t get sick. 

Don’t touch your face. 

Don’t take Vitamin C, D or Zinc, they won’t help you.

Don’t go out in the sun.

Don’t go to the beach. 

Don’t meditate in the park. 

Don’t take anything unless it’s prescribed by a doctor. Instead listen to our people, who may or may not be doctors, but have more money than Rockefeller. 

Oh, and this one: If there was ever a time to stop smoking, now would be it. 

This last one might have you wondering, but lo and behold, those who smoke seem to be warding off the virus better than those who don’t.

No friggin shi-it.

Makes me want to start my day with a cigar. Hell, why not?

And a slice of cheese cake – without the nasty crust.

All joking aside, one of my recent discoveries is having cheese cake for breakfast. Why wait until after dinner or lunch, or supper – or whatever you want to call it.

For less than the cost of a dozen eggs, I can open the fridge and slice off a section of New York Cheesecake. And guess what I’m getting? I’m getting eggs, milk, butter – all of which I believe are good for me. And by abstaining from the crust, I avoided the part that’s bad for me (the heavy starchy carbs).

Cheesecake for breakfast is a time saver and a money saver.

It adds pep to my workouts and helps with digestion.

Not only that, but being it’s my favorite food, eating it makes me happy.

And happiness cannot be overrated, eh?

Perhaps I need to put out a new book with a cheesy title. Something along the lines of Cheesecake Conditioning.

It may be a while though as I need to sample more product.

In the interim, I’ll stick with my international best-seller, Combat Conditioning.

Now the only question that remains is this: To eat the Cheesecake before or after the workout?

If you’ve been reading my dispatches, you’ve probably already ascertained the answer to that question.

Kick ass – take names,

Matt Furey

Hey, you want to write emails such as this for a living? Then head on over to knockoutmarketing.com and unlock your hidden genius. 

Contrary to what many people choose to believe, there can be more than one set of facts. Not always, but more often than you may realize.

There are the facts that are shown to you – and there are the facts that are withheld.

There are the number of people who died from a virus – and there are the 99+ percent who survived and got no mention whatsoever.

There are all the countries who locked down, and those such as Taiwan and Sweden, who didn’t.

There are those who believe that masks protect you and others, and there are those who say that masks increase the risk of disease.

There are the OCD “wash your hands” and use hand-sanitizer 100 times a day people, who are paranoid about touching their own face, and there are those who believe you should never use hand sanitizer because part of a healthy immune system is dealing with bacteria on your hands.

There are those who think this panic-demic is the worst thing since moldy bread, and those who yawn and say it’s nothing more than the flu.

There are M.D.s who roll their eyes about taking Vitamin C, Vitamin D and Zinc, and there are M.D.s who write books supporting their value.

There are those who write me and applaud when I write messages such as this one….

And then there are those who go into a rage and drop off my list.

HURRAH!

That’s how I FEEL when I receive kind words, as well as when someone flushes himself off my list.

I applaud the people living in the Gulag Californigh-oh, who march to the beaches and to the capital to protest the lockdown. I also applaud those who choose to stay at home.

Don’t make me no never mind. 

I have a unique Zen-like perspective on “the facts,” as well as the theories, as well as the unknown facts, as well as the not to be revealed facts.

I am this way when it comes to fitness, to self-development and to communication skills, such as writing and speaking.

I’m no fan of the “put on a persona” marketers you see on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. I look for and follow those who are genuine, down-to-earth, authentic and sincere.

If someone reading my messages gets upset and chooses to move on, I consider that a blessing.

If someone thinks I’m a fraud, a phony, insincere or inauthentic, so what? It’s none of my business and it’s not my job to change their mind.

Think what you want to think.

Meanwhile, I shall write what I want to write…

including the four words I learned from my fellow friends on the University of Iowa wrestling team, so many moons ago.

Those four words are…

Kick ass – take names!

Matt Furey

And now for some shameless product plugs:

1. Combat Conditioning – the international best-seller that proves you don’t need weights or cardio to get extremely fit

2. Theatre of the Mind and Zero Resistance Living – two best-sellers on the power of self-image psychology and the getting of goals

3. How to write riveting, lively, humorous kick-butt emails for yourself or others using The Furey Method

If you’re in one of those locked-down places, I feel for you. This so-called cure is getting old fast.

At this point, you gotta be asking yourself, “Is the cure worse than the illness?”

I doubt it because the recovery rate for CV is still incredibly high. And countries that did not lock down the way we did got almost the same results.

The good news is that many states are finally opening up again.

I told you several weeks ago that sunlight was huge, and it only took almost as many weeks for the “experts” to confirm this. So basic and simple, but common-sense science is often “anecdotal” while vaccine science is supposedly the real deal.

Drugs that can cure you for pennies on the dollar with a HUGE success rate are positioned as “anecdotal” and “dangerous” and the person who told you about them, why he’s none other than “Orange man, bad.”

And because Orange man is bad, now, you too, can pay a thousand bucks a pill if you get the virus. See how that works? Nice, eh?

But wait… as the informercials always say… there’s MORE.

A vaccine is coming.

Yippee. A vaccine. And one that’s never been tested on other vertebrates before.

Oh goodie goodie.

Screech.

Hold on here: Did I sign up for a swine flu shot? Or a SARS shot? Or a MRSA shot? Or an Ebola shot?

Sure didn’t.

What happened to those viruses?

“They” GONE.

And no, they didn’t return in time for the fall election, or linger for two years afterward.

Oh my, the gawds of science are so smart. Thank God for the gawds.

Now they can afflict us with their vaccines, as well as their ever-evolving expert theories on how to keep us safe.

Safe from whom?

Meanwhile, brick n mortar businesses are gone and hospitals are laying off doctors and nurses because there are not enough patients.

Ponder this: People who previously bought my fitness, self-development and email/info-publishing courses are now dusting them off and using them, recreating themselves and their careers while wishing they’d “a done so sooner.”

Then there are those who’ve been following The Furey Method for ages, and they are still doing what they were doing before the whirld went into panic-demic mode.

They’re doing the bodyweight exercises I teach in Combat Conditioning – as well as other exercise methods I recommend.

They’re practicing Theatre of the Mind.

And they are writing and sending out daily emails about their info and health products, as well as their services.

These men and women, some of whom are M.D.’s, are still going strong. They are still kicking ass. They are not in panic-demic mode.

And that, my friend, is wonderful news.

How about you join them?

It’s never been easier. And there’s never been a better time in history for you to finally “seize the day.”

Matt Furey

Last night I got two workouts in. On second thought, I guess it was three. And I look at all three of them as worthy alternatives to listening to the fear-mongering about Covid-19.

If you’ll recall what I told you a few weeks ago, when the medical hypnotists were saying a million or two Americans were going to die… ain’t gonna happen. Not even close.

Anyway, a bit about the workouts.

The first two were relatively short.

Workout numero uno lasted about 15 minutes and consisted of the following:

1. Joint Loosening Exercises from Combat Stretching – especially for my ankles, knees, hips, shoulders and neck – these help rid mind and body of angst really fast
2. Hindu squats
3. Persian pushups
4. Upside down hanging for time
5. Bar hang for time
6. Bridging

An hour later, I breezed through my second workout. ’twas a 2,000 step backwards routine from Dao Zou that lasted 30 minutes.

Let me tell you, during these times, when stress levels elevate and you feel powerless against what is being done to us in the name of “science,” Dao Zou can change your emotional state rapidly. It also gives you the courage to move forward in life with a new perspective. When you finish your routine, you can literally feel the vibrations in your body pulsating at a whole new level.

As for yourself, one good workout per day is probably all you need at this time, especially if you’ve been sedentary for awhile. And the workout needn’t be an hour long. 5 minutes or less can do you a ton of good.

In fact, if you can only do a few pushups and squats before you’re pooped, that’s freakin’ great. Those few repetitions will cause you to come back stronger, fitter and healthier the very next day.

The key is getting started. If you’re resistant to the idea of getting started, I’m with you. That’s when you use your eyes to lead you.

By this I mean you take in the information. You see yourself doing what you’re resisting. You sit and read as well as watch. You mentally picture and visualize. And then you get up and DO once the desire arises from within you, to give the exercises a whirl.

I use this principle myself on a regular basis (notice I didn’t call it a “hack?”).

Same as most everyone else, I have days when I resist the idea of training. I don’t want to do it. On those days I sit and observe myself (or others) doing what I’m resisting, and within a few minutes the impulse to do more has taken charge of my noggin. That’s when I get after it.

Oftentimes, the hardest part of the workout isn’t the workout – it’s showing up. It’s getting started.

“Beginning is half-done,” is a saying I learned early on, and what a profundity it is.

Take in what you want to do with your eyes, then assume the position of workout success. Prepare to surprise yourself.

Kick ass – take names,

Matt Furey

P.S. My third workout was an hour-long tai chi practice. Probably nothing you’d be interested in, eh?

Each day I receive messages from men and women whose lives were positively changed following the exercises I teach in Combat Conditioning, and my other books and courses. I think you’ll find their words a source of inspiration.

Matt:

… Unfortunately, I also had to battle two life threatening bouts with leukemia. When I left the hospital both times, I had NOTHING left. I was down to 130 something lbs. (I am only 5’5″ )and so weak I could barely make it up the stairs at my home after my release from the hospital.

Upon getting home, I rested a few days, then I started out by simply walking, increasing my distance each day, and eating a clean diet as always. After about five days, I started back on my Combat Conditioning and body weight training regimen. Now, 12 weeks out, I’m knocking out 20+ dead hang pullups at a clip, hundreds of Hindu Squats, and pushups, plus all of the other exercises. I skip a lot of rope, (do) 100 yd. sprints, hill sprints… It was amazing how much I was able to advance day by day. Especially at this age. I’m back to my normal 150 lbs.

Thanks first and foremost to God, then my great medical team at VCU in VA, and to Combat Conditioning and body weight training. Keep preaching it Matt. It works. Even for old guys who get sick. 😉

Arnie L.
Fredericksburg, VA

M.F.: Tremendous account, Arnie. I am proud of you. It’s an honor to hear from people who never stop fighting. I believe your words will be helpful to many people in today’s world. Keep me posted on your progress and God Bless You. 

Matt,

I want to tell you that I am indebted to you for all of the research and sacrifice you made to learn all of this stuff and help out the rest of us who desperately needed to get (back) in shape but did not know how.

Between the busyness of my schedule and my life with raising a family I had no time for any kind of gym membership. I came across your stuff accidentally one day on line and decided to give it a shot. It was one of the best decisions I ever made.  It gave me a way at home in those small 15-minute sessions to begin a workout program that gave amazing results.

I used to be on the track team and the swim team in a past life and I had a decent physique but your program has built up my upper body (chest and forearms) more than my previous sports and limited weight training ever did.

I want to thank you for opening up a new world of health and strength that most men like myself could never have achieved otherwise. And to see you continue on in helping us with new developments and the like even though you could probably just retire if you wanted to is truly amazing.  I think that you should be on the Presidential Council for health and fitness and create your own fitness curriculum for young people.

Sincerely,

Bob O’Neill

M.F.: Thank you, Bob. Happy to hear you found Combat Conditioning and that it benefitted you so much. Keep training and drop me a line from time to time so I can keep up with what you’re doing. Although I don’t always reply personally,  rest assured that I benefit from your positivity. 

Well, Mike, that’s all for now.

Keep kicking butt – and taking names.

Matt Furey

A couple days ago, I posted the original front and back cover of Combat Conditioning (February, 2000) on my Instagram page – @mattfureysays – with the question, “Can you believe how fast 20 years go by?”

’Twas amazing to see how many people replied, telling me how they bought my book when it first came out.

@greywolfarnis7 mentioned: “Still have my book. Changed my way of training.”

And then @jim_dobrow exclaimed: “Hard to believe that when Combat Conditioning came out, Matt was getting hated on for advocating bodyweight exercises. He was ahead of his time. Now that’s all you see on social media. :-)”

Yes, I started the fight back in 2000. I made my share of enemies – but a much bigger share of friends and fans.

I didn’t care if I was “hated on.” The message was the most important part of the show.

And it still is.

Want to dramatically increase your strength, endurance and flexibility?

Then forget the weights and forget the cardio.

Practice Combat Conditioning on a daily basis.

I was willing to fight for this way of training when it was an unpopular.

I still am.

Now the question is: Are you willing to fight for yourself? If so, let’s get it on.

Matt Furey

Back in the early 1990’s, I read many Paul Bragg books on health, fasting and physical fitness.

Most of what he wrote was ahead of its time, at least in terms of how much of the western world thinks.

Yet, at the same time, what he wrote was basic and natural knowledge to people who’d never been civilized.

Get out in the sun, breathe fresh air, walk, run, sit in a squat, lessen thy meals, fast one day per week, and so on.

In his books, Bragg addressed the aging process, and how we grow old faster than we should.

From reading his books and from personal experience, I can name dozens of reasons why we get old way too fast.

Today I’m going in another direction. I’m going to cover…

3 Ways to Getting Younger, Faster

Here they are:

1. Start exercising your toes and feet – Your feet are the interstate freeway to your brain, nervous system and internal organs. They are also the key to unleashing animalistic abilities in terms of movement. On a daily basis, it’s a wise idea to practice curling your toes, spreading them apart, contracting your arch, knuckling down and many other exercises I teach. When you do these exercises on a daily basis, it helps prepare you for the next two items on my list.

2. Start squatting – Since the invention of the toilet, people rarely squat at all. Yet, squatting is primal. Squatting is natural. Squatting energizes and strengthens the entire body. The squats I teach in Combat Conditioning will get you going and keep you going. If you cannot do them due to knee or hip replacement surgeries (or other conditions), check with your physician and see if a wall chair squat is appropriate for your situation.

3. Start jumping – Paul Bragg said that when a person stops jumping, he or she gets old much faster. I have found this to be true. Skipping rope, for example, changes your body quickly. Same goes for other types of jumping, including the use of a rebounder. Jumping stimulates the K1 acupuncture point on the ball of the foot. It also helps increase blood flow and move the lymph. More importantly, jumping works the fascia throughout the body, which in my opinion, is most important.

Note: If you cannot jump rope or do other forms of jumping due to preexisting trauma to the joints, etcetera, this is where a rebounder may be good for you (check with your physician). With your feet on the rebounder you “bounce without jumping.”

Last night, my daughter and I did all the exercises mentioned above. She’s 15. I’m 56.

She’s getting to see, first-hand (and foot), that Combat Conditioning lives on.

Most people who are half my age, chronologically speaking, cannot even begin to think about hanging with me.

Just as cats extend and retract their claws (think toes), sit in a squat and jump, so does el Furecat. And that’s why he’s still kicking ass.

Follow el Furecat’s feline ways and you’ll be younger, stronger and healthier, too.

Here endeth the lesson.

Matt Furey

P.S. Foot and toe exercises are detailed in the membership site at MattFureyInnerCircle.com

When I was at University of Iowa, one of the habits I observed about Dan Gable, our lean and mean Olympic champion wrestling coach, was this:

He earned his meals.

How did he earn his meals? By working out.

This explains, in part, why so many Gable-trained athletes have a three-times-per-day workout mentality.

The more often you train, the better you get.

Meanwhile, your average human doing doesn’t train at all.

It’s….

Get up – eat.

Go to work for a few hours. Eat.

Go to work for a few more hours. Eat yet again.

Holy blubber. What a failing formula.

Three high-starch meals a day is what most people are consuming, and serves as part of the reason why the wandering masses are left wondering where their svelte physique or figure went.

Don’t know about you, but the way I see it, all those people on social media who cannot wait to tell you how “blessed” they are – they’re telling the truth. They are blessed with a big belly and rigor mortis in the limbs.

Meanwhile the true blessings in life go to those who move their body away from the food, until after they’ve worked out.

You might think that getting three workouts in per day is excessive or overly time consuming. It’s not.

Your workouts needn’t be long. Short, quick workouts are often best for your body.

With Combat Conditioning, you can get a vigorous fat-burning, muscle-molding workout done in five minutes or less.

You get up in the morning and skip rope for a few minutes, then you knock out a set of Fure-cat pushups and squats, and you’re wide awake, clear-headed and relaxed, feeling good in every way.

Later in the day, you can go for a quick 2-mile walk or run. Better yet, you do a series of sprints. Either way your training is over within 20-30 minutes.

And before bedtime, you can do the joint loosening exercises from Combat Stretching to calm and relax your mind-body.

Here in Florida, the best time of day for a vigorous workout is late in the evening, when most people are already sleeping. I have found that after the sun settles and you feel a gentle breeze, it’s easy to crank out a good workout.

Oftentimes, I spend 30 minutes on the exercises in Combat Conditioning.  Then I practice martial arts.

Evening workouts are also great because, even though you earned a meal, you typically don’t eat afterward. This means you get the double-benefit of growth hormone release from the workout as well as from your sleep.

Three quick workouts a day are also formulaic for staying in a feel-good emotional state, all day long. If you begin to feel down about all the crap going on in the whirld at this time, you can take charge of your emotional state by focusing on movement.

Move more – feel bad less – and if you want to drop some pounds, weigh less.

Gable nailed it. And so can you.

Follow the formula that creates champions.

Here endeth the lesson.

Matt Furey