Six years ago, I began planting bamboo around the house. I planted in the back and front yard, as well as along the sides. 

Most of my neighbors loved the idea, but some balked, as all they’ve ever heard about bamboo is that it’s invasive and unmanageable.

I told these people that there are more than 1,400 species of bamboo in the world, and almost all of them grow in clumps or clusters. And almost all bamboo is relatively easy to manage and control.

But some people prefer to believe the stories playing inside their minds; stories that are based on zero experience. 

Several months ago, a tai chi friend acquired a plot of land that had bamboo growing. What’d he do with it? He removed it. 

I wrote him the following: “One of the universal symbols of tai chi is the bamboo tree, and you’re removing it?” 

I told him he ought to pull up a chair and watch the bamboo as it moves to and fro with the wind. Study how it moves with the wind, bending in any direction, but never breaking. 

One of the practices of many internal martial arts students is called “Stand Like a Tree.”

Students are taught to stand as still as they can for long periods of time, working on relaxing their bodies, freeing it of tension as they sink their energy. 

This is a practice I engaged in long ago. Every evening I would stand still for an hour or more. 

Then one day one of my teachers told me not to stand this way for so long. Instead, he encouraged me to stand for a much shorter period of time.. and to move the way a tree branch and its leaves move. He demonstrated what he meant by this and I took notes. 

At first I didn’t want to believe this instructor as I had invested a lot of time and energy in this method of standing still. But as I practiced the movements he taught I noted that I became more flexible, more mobile, more energetic and more powerful. I developed an uncanny snappiness and springiness that I never had before. 

I was moving like bamboo.

Then one day, as I was taking a look at the bamboo trees in my yard, I noted that they were doing what my instructor told me to do. The bamboo would be still for short periods of time, then it would move with the gentlest breeze. 

The branches and leaves of the bamboo tree moved – and so did the culm.

The bamboo tree, which is really a type of grass, moves its entire body as one unit, something that high-level athletes and martial artists are continually working on. Many still can’t do it as they’ve become de-naturalized with the way they are taught to train. 

I mentioned earlier that bamboo comes from the grass family. This is good news for you because it means that bamboo renews itself. You can chop it down if you wish, but so long as the roots (rhizomes) are still there, it will grow back. 

Renewing yourself is what you are doing when you practice the Power Postures – Tiger Tendons exercises I teach. 

But you’re doing more than that. What you are doing is recharging your brain and nervous system and bringing healing energy to the joints and muscles. 

In short, you are giving your body precisely what it needs to recover from the pangs of heavy exercise or stressful life conditions. 

You don’t need to give up other forms of exercise to enjoy the benefits of this type of training. And you will most definitely enhance whatever practice you engage in.

For those who are “banged up,” this type of training can serve as ALL you need.

Stand and move the way bamboo moves, and you’ll be amazed at the difference it makes in your life.

Be the Bamboo.

Here endeth the lesson.

Matt Furey

If you go to bed tired, you wake up tired.

But if you take a few minutes to reboot your system before bed, or as soon as you wake up, you can count on sliding through your day with FAR more energy.

Instead of trudging along during the day, hoping that the tired feelings will end, you take charge and reboot your body-mind by plugging yourself in and turning yourself on.

As a result, you bring a much higher level of energy into everything you do.

When you get up in the morning, you reboot your computer and digital devices, but what about your body-mind? Don’t they need a reboot as well?

They most certainly do – and that’s why I begin every day with Power Postures.

When I practice standing still in these superhuman postures, I reconnect my internal circuitry at a deep level. Unnecessary tension and stress melt away as the “Spiderman suit” within recharges itself by weaving an invigorating web of electrical energy.

​​​​​​​Then I begin to practice subtle energetic movements that amplify this feeling, and within minutes, today is a new day. It’s not a repeat of yesterday. It’s not Groundhog Day.

Discover more about the fastest way to recharge by going to PowerPostures.com.

​​​​​​​Slap fatigue in the face. Reboot your body-mind and take charge of your day.

Here endeth the lesson.

Matt Furey

One of the most common approaches to physical exercise is what I refer to as the “force it” method.

Regardless of whether you are engaged in weight training, bodyweight calisthenics, cardio endurance training, speed work, yoga, tai chi or discuss throwing, the idea is as follows: push yourself out of your comfort zone. Force yourself to do more, even if, and perhaps especially if, it hurts.

Many years ago I advised a client on how to improve his fitness with uphill sprinting. He hadn’t run sprints since he was in high school, but man was he fired up about the possibilities.

I told him to begin with some light bursts at about 50% of his maximum, and after doing three or four of these, to continue with two to three more bursts at 70-80% max.

“Then what?” he asked.

“Then you’re done for the day. This isn’t a one-day program. You’ll see incredible results over a few months time.”

A few months? This wasn’t good enough for him.

There’s no way that will be enough, he thought to himself. I’m not going to be able to change my body with this simple approach. I need to push myself hard. 

So he went out that same evening and began sprinting up a hill. He ignored my advice and whatdyaknow, he pulled a hamstring and threw his back out.

When he told me about his injuries during our next call, I asked him what he did for his workout. “I did seven sprints total,” he replied.

“At what percentage of your perceived max?” I asked.

“I sprinted as hard as I could on each one,” he replied.

“That’s not what I told you to do.”

“I know, but your approach is too rinky-dink for me.”

“And now you are injured and can’t run at all.”

It’s not just block-headed men who do this sort of thing to themselves. Women do so as well. 

Last week I spoke to a woman who returned to the gym a few weeks ago and began doing a lot of abdominal exercises. She pushed herself too fast too soon, and started to feel pain in her midsection. But instead of backing off, she added gasoline to the equation. Now she’s needs surgery to repair the damage. 

All over this nutty-plain, you’ll find the “force it” method transforming bodies into a surgeon’s dream. 

I used the “force it” method for years, too. Now I don’t because I get better results, without injuries, with a different approach.

Now let me tell you something that you’ll want to put into writing and hang somewhere prominent: “YOUR BODY REMEMBERS.”

Yes, your body remembers what YOU did to it and what others did to it.

Your body remembers every injury, every surgery, every ache and every pain.

And if you think the injuries you had long ago are forgotten by your body because you never consciously think about them, think again. The body remembers, takes notes, and eventually sends a message that something else is wrong.

The good news is that you can make greater strides than ever before with an approach that doesn’t force improvements.

This can be verified in any sport, and in any exercise.

One of my friends is a catcher on a local baseball team. One day when we were talking about this idea of coaxing results v. forcing them, he remarked that he’s seen many pitchers throw the ball harder, and with more movement, when they’re relaxed and not trying so hard. But the second the pitchers “muscle up” and apply extra unnecessary force, their velocity dips.

Whether it’s sprinting, or flexibility training or hitting a golf ball, the pros understand that the ability to relax on command is key – and the harder you try to force something, the worse your results.

This is why I believe in improving upon your previous results with a “coax it” rather than a “force it” approach.

Apply too much force too often, and there’s going to be a breakdown. And it’s not going to be pretty.

But when you coax yourself, you will be continually amazed at how much you continue to improve.

That’s a smidgeon of what you’ll learn in my new course, Power Postures – Tiger Tendons.

I suggest you begin learning this approach NOW as it may very well save your body from unnecessary trauma, helping you recover from the aches and pains that are begging to be energetically cleared.

Matt Furey

P.S. For those of you who are aspiring copywriters, info-publishers and so on, you might wonder if this “coax it” approach applies to what you are doing. It most certainly does. If you are forcing yourself to write, you’re not only using the will power approach, which leads to burn out and a “frying” of the nervous system, but your verbiage will never have a sense of flow to it. See how el Furecat does it by clicking here. 

I get this sort of question all the time. A reader will ask me if there’s any difference between two of my programs or courses.

I understand the concern. You don’t want to get a course that is essentially the same as another one you already have.

The truth is that, with the exception of various versions of Combat Conditioning, none of the programs I have created are essentially the same.

Combat Conditioning is not the same as Combat Abs or Combat Stretching.

Farmer Burns 1914 by-mail course, Lesson in Wrestling and Physical Culture  is not the same as Gama Fitness or Primate Power.

And Dao Zou is not the same as my newest course, Power Postures-Tiger Tendons.

Speaking of the last two programs I mentioned, let me elaborate.

Dao Zou is a shamanic reverse-training program that dramatically improves your sense of balance and gives you an overall feeling of well-being. It eliminates the stresses of the day and helps improve the health of your knees, hips and lower back. It also helps you unplug from the onslaught of negative emotions, gives you an enhanced ability to focus while improving your memory.

Power Postures-Tiger Tendons is an entirely different animal. It loosens all the major joints of the body through a series of postures and exercises that are partly isometric. Then there are the spiraling  exercises that activate the tendons and put a powerful springiness into your every movement.

This program also greatly improves athleticism and martial arts skills. It ramps up your energy as you learn to physically and mentally relax.

It also teaches you how to become more explosive, putting pep into every step or move you make.

And it strengthens the tendons of the body, which are the weak link of most people. Most injuries that people sustain, including the injuries that happen to the big, strong and freakish athletes you see on tee-vee, are tendon injuries.

Strengthen your tendons and add spiraling energy to your movements and you give yourself a new body that some would refer to as “bulletproof.”

Is it really bulletproof? It is not, but it will definitely feel invincible compared to what you have now.

Here endeth the lesson.

Matt Furey

Q: Matt, what is the difference between internal and external exercise? And what are the benefits of the internal approach in terms of healing the body and increasing strength and energy?

A: Great question. Back in 2007, when I began training with an internal martial arts master in China, I discovered that he had far more internal energy and power than any of the other masters I had previously trained with.

His muscles were super strong, yet he did no exercises whatsoever with weights of any kind. In fact, when he knocked me back 20 feet with an undetectable push, a push that felt as though a cannon ball went through me, he got my attention.

Keep in mind that what this master did to me was not the famous Bruce Lee one-inch punch. It was a no-inch push. Yet, I flew back 20 feet. 

I recall asking the master how much power he used to accomplish this feat. He replied by separating his thumb and forefinger about a millimeter, then said with a smile, “Yi dian dian.”

Translation: “Very, very little.”

External exercises are those in which the primary movers of the body are the muscles. Internal exercises are those where the primary movers are the tendons, ligaments and fascia.

Additionally, with internal exercise there is much more focus on the breathing mechanism. 

With external exercise you inhale and exhale, and there’s not a whole lot to it. With internal exercise, you take control of the diaphragm and the fascia surrounding the internal organs. And you use the breath in a seamless manner, taking advantage of the adage: “Your breath is your power.” 

This internal approach causes a surge in energy levels as your muscles are minimized and set free.

As the muscles are minimized, this allows the tendons, ligaments and fascia to engage and be maximized.

As these intrinsic areas of the body are used, they get stronger and more pliable. The whole body benefits. You begin to discover a child-like mobility returning. And along with this, you may find your aches and pains, especially those in the joints, saying good-bye. 

Internal exercise is also much more natural. Instead of isolating a specific muscle group you engage the whole body at once, from the inside out.

Picture a deer eating grass in front of a six-foot fence. As the deer eats it is relaxed and at ease, but in less time than it takes to say, “jump,” the deer can easily leap the fence and run away. The deer does not have huge muscles, yet it can easily leap a fence. Why? Because it moves the whole body as one, utilizing the tendons as the primary movers.

Don’t know about you, but I want more deer-like explosiveness. And that is what you’ll find springing to life in my new course, Power Postures-Tiger Tendons.

Come and get it.

Here endeth the lesson.

Matt Furey

I’ve lived in Florida for 23 years now, and although Hurricane season ends on November 30, I’ve never known one to hit from mid-October onward.

Today, Hurricane Nicole touched down on the eastern coast as a Category 1; much better than a Cat 5. Thankfully, the hurricane morphed into a tropical storm, so we’re doing just fine. It’s almost as though we’re sitting in the eye of the hurricane, where it’s nice and calm. 

When you exercise, being in the eye of the hurricane is a good place to be.

You find your center and move with a feeling of calmness.

Even when moving quickly, you do so with a sense of relaxation mixed with appropriate levels of tension. Never seeking too much or too little of either. 
You are neither 100 percent relaxed nor overly tense. There’s a happy medium between the two. 

This happy medium is found when you practice stillness exercises combined with deep breathing and coiling movements. Doing these movements allows you to find a sense of balance, serenity and calmness, not to mention internal strength, speed and POWER. 

When you exercise to feel good, as well as to change your body and your results, magic happens. When you exercise only to change your body, you’ll often be disappointed. Instead of being in the eye of the storm, you’re on the outskirts, where bad things (injuries) are more likely to happen. 

This doesn’t mean that you never go beyond certain physical boundaries. You do. But you will find yourself doing so faster when you embody a sense of calmness as you move. 

My Power Postures-Tiger Tendons course gives you this sense of calmness that you so desire. It helps you heal your body. It helps eliminate aches, pains and unnecessary stress and tension. It gets rid of what was standing in your way. 

You’ll soon see what I’m rapping about as you study this incredible course. 

Here endeth the lesson.

Matt Furey

Q: Matt, what is the secret of your longevity? 

A: Hold on there, young man. Hold on another 40 years or so. Then I will tell you. 

In the interim, I can tell you the secrets of longevity that other martial arts masters have taught me or that I have observed, and these people lived long, productive lives. They were strong and flexible until the end of their lives. 

One of their secrets was daily exercise, but NOT hardcore exercise that wiped them out. They didn’t engage in what many people, absent-mindedly, refer to as “a killer workout.”

Instead, they did internal exercises that strengthened the organs, tendons, ligaments and fascia. They did exercises that opened the joints, stimulating blood flow and lymph, while eliminating pain. In short, they did exercises that made them feel good.

Now, you might think the above prescription cannot possibly work to make you look good on the outside, but you’d be incorrect. In fact, in many of the early 1900’s strength books, you will repeatedly see authors advising their readers to NOT train to exhaustion (failure).

Yet another secret was some form of daily meditation or prayer. 

There are many forms of meditation that are beneficial to your health, and all of them involve some sort of movement. 

There’s the walking meditation I teach in my Dao Zou program; a method that will shift your emotional state into a positive frequency far, far faster than can be done going for a long hike or run. 

Then there are standing and seated forms of stretching and strengthening that bring vital energy (that you can feel) to your hands and feet within sixty seconds. If you need to sit or stand for 15 minutes or more to feel this vital energy, then the automatic relaxation response mechanism contained within your brain and nervous system is moving at a snail’s pace.

In my experience, and the experiences of those whom I have taught, the positive vibrations from the exercises I teach are felt almost instantly. They are unmistakeable. And once again, they are automatic. But instead of the response taking 15 minutes, it takes place quickly. Think of a cheetah in a race with a snail. Who’s going to win?

The response I am referring to is somato-psychic, meaning that you are changing the way you feel by how you move and position your body.

When you move your body in a certain way, your brain and nervous system get the message. And the reward is HUGE. You feel the positive vibrations almost immediately.

As the theory I was taught goes, when you do exercises that make you feel good, you lengthen your life.

That’s an idea worth exploring, eh?

And that’s why I am teaching it to you in my new course, Power Postures-Tiger Tendons.

Exercise, first and foremost, to feel good, to live a long, healthy life. And avoid the “killer workout.”

Here endeth the lesson.

Matt Furey

Ask the Furecat

Q: How many workouts per week do you suggest?

A: Let me begin by answering your question with one of my own: Does an animal in the wild have a Monday, Wednesday, Friday or 3x per week workout routine?

No, it doesn’t.

Animals move on a daily basis. Therefore, in accordance with nature, I believe it’s a good idea to do some form of exercise every single day.

This, however, does NOT mean that I advocate a hard-core workout everyday. You can break up your training into bite-size components, doing a set of pushups or squats every hour on the hour. Or you can do sets of various exercises throughout the day – the same way animals do. You can also train hard one day followed by a light session.

Keep the following in mind: Monkeys don’t swing from branch to branch for an hour, then say, “That was a killer workout.” They swing a little here and a little there. They also spend time hanging from branches. And they take a lot of breaks.

Animals don’t “train” to failure or exhaustion. As a result, they are strong, quick and flexible and able to get up and do the same movements every single day.

And get this important point, animals also sit and stand in various seemingly meditative postures. These postures make them stronger while also helping them recover from their previous activities.

Birds also assume various postures, as do domesticated dogs and cats. So we can learn a lot by observing animals; how they move as well as how they rest, recover and reset their systems.

This is one of many reasons I came out with my new course, Power Postures-Tiger Tendons. It gives you the flexible, nimble and super-strong qualities that animals embody.

If you begin by practicing a little bit each day, you’ll come to realize why animals do what they do. And you’ll feel so invigorated and refreshed that you’ll eventually feel compelled to sit and stand in various positions for an hour or more per day.

Start slowly and get the ball rolling. This method will help release your inner animal.

Here endeth the lesson.

Matt Furey

Hello Mr. Furey,

I’m curious after reading your copy for your new product, Power Postures, how long your workouts are and whether you can still do all the exercises you promoted in Combat Conditioning. It sounds like you are taking the easy path now and not working out much at all. 

J.R.

Dear J.R. 
Great question and quite the contrary to what you are thinking.

First, YES, I can still do all the exercises in Combat Conditioning, and I still teach them. But I incorporate the Power Postures-Tiger Tendon exercises in a big way and they’ve made the exercises I have promoted for over 20 years much easier.

As for how long my workouts are, that depends. Two nights ago my workout lasted 2 hours 5 minutes. Last night I only tracked the final part of my workout. It lasted 1 hour 35 minutes. I probably did 15 minutes of training prior to that, plus I had a 20-minute workout yesterday morning. 

Now here’s the kicker: I don’t set out to train this long, and I don’t track or time any of my exercises. I get into a flow and just go. Many times I begin by suggesting to myself that I am only going to train for a few minutes, but what inevitably happens with this approach is that I feel so good doing this workout that I keep going. 

This is not a model I suggest you begin following immediately.

I suggest you start small, with simple goals. Make yourself comfortable in your workout and allow this zone of comfort to expand way beyond what you would have believed possible. If you start out big, training becomes a chore, and chores turn into bores you’d rather put off.

With my current approach, I enjoy every second of the training, and as a result of it, I am stronger, more flexible and quicker than I used to be. THAT is saying something, me thinks.

Additionally, I sleep sounder and recover faster.

Here endeth the lesson.

Matt Furey

When I first introduced Hindu squats to the western whirld back in the late 1990’s, prior to Combat Conditioning, the exercise was greeted with both approval and disapproval. 

Those who approved told me that the exercise improved their knee health dramatically. Those who disapproved claimed that “science says” when you squat with your knees over your ankles, it creates a “shearing force” on the joints that ends up harming the knees. 

Now here we are, almost 25 years later, and squatting with your knees over your ankles is all the rage in the fitness world. Some ideas take time to catch on. 

Even so, there’s more that the Furecat has for you when it comes to squats.

Much, much more. 

Many people have marveled at how long I can sit in a deep squat position. Oftentimes I park myself in this position as I teach, and it’s not uncommon for me to lose track of time as I speak. Sometimes I sit in this position for well over ten minutes as I tell stories and provide deep insights on various subject.

Then there are those days when I’m working in my bamboo forest, pulling weeds, then applying compost and mulch. And those are the days where I’ve been in the deep squat position for an hour or more.

Once in a while, someone will see me in this position, and say, “I wish I could get down that way. If I tried to do that my legs would probably fall off.”

The person will then complain to me about his bad knees. When I mention that I can help him fix them, it’s amazing how many turn a deaf ear.

But when I meet those who are willing to give my advice a whirl, I am thrilled.

Why?

Because the squatting exercises I teach in Power Postures-Tiger Tendons, work far better than Hindu squats for strengthening and rehabilitating the knees. I believe they are superior to any and all other bodyweight squats. And you don’t ever need to add any type of weight to the exercise to make it more effective. Your bodyweight is enough.

The squats I teach in Power Postures-Tiger Tendons also give you increased elasticity, jumpability, speed and power. They give you a spring-like energy in every step you take.

If that’s not enough, these particular squats increase blood flow throughout the body and brain.

And according to many of my students, they also positively give that “male organ,” a boost, too. Oooh, ooh, oooh.

Get this course today – and start living the results in a big way.

Matt Furey