I was ordering a meal in a Dallas cafe back in 1989, in between rounds of a Zig Ziglar seminar.

I ordered a Spanish omelette.

The waitress says, “What kind of meat you want with that?”

“No meat,” I replied.

“Huh? NO MEAT?” she questioned. “Then what you gonna do to grease up them joints?”

I dug my heels in deeper, telling the woman I didn’t eat meat. She shook her head and walked off.

Years later, when I started eating meat again, I found the memory of this conversation to be enlightening. The waitress had a point. Based on my own anecdotal experience and what I’ve researched, the fats and oils contained in fatty meats may actually “grease up them joints.”

But there is something else that helps lubricate your joints.

When people watch me move today, they wonder how I’m still so loose, so mobile, so flexible. I begin by telling them that my nimbleness and agility haven’t decreased over they years. Instead they have continually improved.

How so? you might wonder.

Well, part of it is my martial arts training. But there’s more to the story because deep within my daily practice is a series of joint loosening exercises. I began learning them in 1991. In 1994, I began teaching them to my students as I realized joint mobility was holding many of them back more than anything. And as I taught these exercises I recognized that joint loosening exercises are the non-dietary way of “greasing up them joints.”

When your joints are mobile, your muscles gain additional slack and flexibility. One of my original martial arts teachers stressed that moving the joints was more important than stretching the muscles. At first, I doubted this, but found it to be accurate.

Loosening up your joints is also beneficial because it may help eliminate aches and pains in the body. I cannot count how many times I’ve rotated my way out of back, knee, shoulder or elbow pain. Most of the time I don’t have any pain, but if something begins to flare up, it’s amazing how quickly a few joint loosening movements can be all that’s needed.

I cover joint loosening in great detail in my Combat Stretching DVDs.

When you start your day off with joint loosening, you start your day off with a bang.

It’s all about lubrication (blood flow, synovial fluid) for your joints. It’s all about greasing up them joints.

Yeah baby.

Get on it NOW.

Matt Furey