The cold snap is over in Florida, for the fourth time this year. I put my heavy cotton and wool sweats away and they are staying put until next winter.

Now is the time to get rid of the winter rolls, if you have any.

Here are some suggestions for you that will make fat burning a piece of cheesecake.

1. Stop eating and start fasting. Begin with intermittent rounds of 16 hours or more. The longer you can go, within reason, the greater the amount of flab that your body will burn. More than 20 years ago, when I wrote about the benefits of fasting, some readers thought I was nuts (some still do). But real science is on my side and it’s not censored.
2. Jump. Many moons ago I read that when you stop jumping your body gets old faster. True? Indeed. When you jump you move more than blood and oxygen. You also stimulate the lymphatic system, and that my friend, is the real secret. Jumping rope is fabulous for your body. 10 minutes of rope skipping is better than 30 minutes of running. But if you want to start off easier on your joints, get a rebounder. I have two and they kick your azz while ramping up your metabolism.
3. Practice body weight calisthenics, such as those championed in my international best-seller, Combat Conditioning, available at mattfurey.com. This ground-breaker has been shipped to well over 140 countries and blazed the trail for the unstoppable move we are seeing today. Yet, once again, when I launched this book in the year 2000, people laughed and jeered. I held strong to what I knew to be the truth. Three years later, people jumped on the wagon with me, and we’ve been enjoying the sunset ever since.To recap, stop eating so much and so often. Start fasting and ditch all those so-called healthy carbohydrates. Jump everyday, with a rope or on a rebounder. And get the last laugh at those who jeer you.Turn jeers into cheers.

   Yes, that’s the ticket and I’ve lived it.

   Matt Furey

P.S. Follow me on my substack mattfurey.substack.com

So, I wrote about Midorifuji two days ago on my page at mattfurey.substack.com (please subscribe).

I wrote about how he was 10-0 in the current Sumo basho, a 15-day tournament held every two months in Japan.

And now, two days later, because of what I wrote, he’s 10-2.

Yep, it’s ALL my fault.

Did what I wrote really jinx him? I doubt it. But this is the way many of us are wired. We think that one little thing we do can make or break a winning or losing streak, even when we are not associated with the other person at all.

You’ll witness this superstition taking place in sports such as baseball, where vendors are hip to capitalizing on the ridiculous notions people have about cause and effect.

In Seattle, when the Mariners are losing in the latter innings, “Rally fries” are sold. Fans rush to buy French fries with the idea that when they do so, the team rallies to drive in the winning runs.

But these psychological antics don’t stop or start with fries. I’ve heard radio announcers say that whenever the team is down, if he/she gets a hotdog, it will change the outcome of the game.

Then there are the fans who turn their caps inside out, which signals to the cosmos, that their team is going to turn it around.

Several years ago, when I was a home plate club season ticket holder for the Tampa Bay Rays, a friend and fellow Yankees fan, texted. “Stay in your seat. Every time you get up to walk through the tunnel, the Rays hit a home run.”

This man wasn’t alone. Another Yankees fan wrote to tell me the same thing. Both were watching the game on the booby tube and saw me move around.

“Damnit Furey, stay in your seat,” the other fan wrote.

Man, I didn’t know I had that much power over the outcome of a game.

Superstition is a serious mind wharp. Yet, could this observation be connected to reality in ways we cannot fathom or explain?

Although I logically think not, sometimes I’m perplexed and go along with it.

Rally fries?

Do they really work? Or do they appear to work because enough people believe they do.

Another great one is to falsely proclaim the opposite of what you want to see happen in a game, as in, “We’re going to get crushed tonight.”

This negative proclamation upsets others who think your negative thoughts will effect the outcome of the game. But when the opposite happens, you gleefully sit back with a smile on your face.

“You’re using reverse psychology,” one fan told me.

“On who?” I question. “I’m not out there playing, or coaching.”

And yet, they still believe.

Rally fries, anyone?

Matt Furey

By the way, to learn the true secrets of rallying yourself to one victory after another, get yourself a copy of the Zero Resistance Living program – a true non-jinxer that will change your life for the better. 

And if you want to learn more about how you can become much more powerful by standing almost perfectly still, check out my jazz-kicking program, Power Postures, which is becoming a huge go-to course for some major movers and shakers.

Last but not by any means the least – make sure you follow me at mattfurey.substack.com

Back in the day when I was a freshman on the Iowa wrestling team, Coach Lanny told me to “bring two knives to the sauna” for our evening sweat.

“What?” I questioned. “Two knives?”

“Two BUTTER knives,” he explained. “Get two of them from the cafeteria and bring them with you.”

“Two stainless steel butter knives? What the fork for?”

“I’ll show you when we’re in the hot box,” Lanny said.

At 8 PM that night I met Lanny and gave him the two knives.

“Great,” he smiled. “Now let me show you what they are for.”

We stripped down and entered the wooden box. Once we began to break into a full body sweat, Lanny used the dull edge of the knife and began scraping the perspiration off his arms, then his legs, then his chest, back and neck.

“Why are you doing that?” I asked.

“Because, Fure-cat, sweat cools your body off. The sooner you remove it the quicker your body will produce more. This is one of the tricks to making weight faster. This is how you become king of the weight-cutters. “

Lanny handed me a butter knife. I followed his instructions and sweated harder than ever before.

A few years later, when the wrestling team was on the road and I had several pounds to drop before weighing in, I forgot to bring a knife to the sauna.

Oh no, what to do?

I had to come up with an alternative. I searched my travel bag over and over, thinking it was in there somewhere. I was out of luck. Or was I?

A brilliant idea came to mind as I stood up.

How about I use the student I.D. that was in my wallet? Would that work?

I brought my hard plastic I.D. into the sauna and gave it a whirl. And it worked. Yippee! Now I no longer needed to remember to pack a butter knife in my travel bag.

Today, although I still prefer the butter knife over the plastic I.D., I don’t bring either into a public sauna. In this day and age, someone might consider the knife a weapon and complain to management. As for the card, well, I don’t need to use one anymore, as I’m not in a rush to make a certain weight. Not only that, but I don’t want to be asked any questions about why I’m scraping off my sweat.

While at home though, if I’m using my far-infrared three-seater, I have plenty of knives to choose from.

The best news is that if I forget to bring one, I’m only a stone’s toss away from fetching it. And nobody will complain or ask questions.

Matt Furey

Make sure you are following me on substack – mattfurey.substack.com – where you’ll be seeing even more from me

[Note: I started using substack recently and as I get more familiar with using it, I will be doing some other things that you’ll want to tune into. This is why I advise you to join me there by going to mattfurey.substack.com and subscribing.]

Boxers in the Hot Box

A few nights ago a 20-something boxer was in the sauna. He was wearing a pair of cotton sweat pants and white high-top shoes.

If this wasn’t a live giveaway, his shirt was off to reveal supple musculature rather than bulky, stuff sinews.

And if that wasn’t enough information for the comatose, the fact that we was standing instead of sitting, and was throwing shadow jabs, uppercuts and hooks, ought to be enough.

Ah, the memories this boxer brought to the forefront.

I recall the days when I shadow wrestled in the hot box. I recall pedaling a stationary cycle with cotton and plastic sweats on, as well as a stocking cap to lock in the heat.

I recall the agony of pedaling for 15 minutes to break a sweat in order to make weight and how it taught me to avoid pizza, pasta, bread and grains, which hold onto water weight and don’t allow the sweat to flow.

I also recall being punished with a “game” of push-up poker after skipping an evening study hall while at University of Iowa.

After nearly running me and another wrestler to near extinction, I thought I was getting a breather when Coach Lanny took us into the sauna with two decks of playing cards.

Lanny would flip a card and vocalize how many push-ups we would have to do. Number cards were easy. Face cards counted for 15.

And I will always remember Lanny exclaiming, “Uh-oh. Jokers are WILD! 25 push-ups.”

Those were definitely not the good ole “daze.”

It’s so much easier to sit quietly while observing others, but it’s still not easy.

Yet, the benefits of the sauna kick so much ass they are worthy of my time.

Weight loss, reduced blood pressure, better skin, increased growth hormone and elevated mood are some of the many benefits.

I’ve used the sauna since I was in high school. I’ve used it in ways that are almost unimaginable and not recommended.

If you want to shadow box or shadow wrestle in the sauna, no problem. If you want to exercise a bit, that’s fine, too.

Just don’t attempt to go 15 rounds. Practice in slow motion and keep the intensity light. Let the heat do most of the work.

Matt Furey

By the way, another system of exercises I recommend in the sauna are the tendon postures found in my new course, available at PowerPostures.com

Once again, keep it light. One or two minutes in a posture is enough when you begin. Make haste slowly.

It was 52° when I went to the sauna last night. Not your typical Florida day as we move into a new ice age.

I brought a hoodie, sweat pants and towel with me, for the abrupt change in temperatures, when my session was over.

Normally I hang for 30 minutes in the sauna, but last night I didn’t feel up to it, so I set a preliminary target of 20.

When I peeked through the glass door, I saw five people inside, but still plenty of room on the upper deck. So I went inside, closing the door as quickly and quietly as I could so the least amount of cold air enters the box. Some people don’t yet understand this concept – but I’ll save that transgression for another time.

Once my buttocks rested on wood, I noted the man turned sideways in the corner, holding his idiot-phone to watch the Warriors and Clippers game.

But he wasn’t only watching this game, he was blasting it loud enough for the others, most of whom were wearing headphones, to hear. As for me, I don’t wear headphones as my mangled cauliflower ears won’t give space for the inserts.

Anyway, I thought to myself in Zen fashion, I wonder how long it’ll take for someone to object. Although I found the guy to be I’ll-mannered, I enjoy seeing how things unfold without my participation as it gives me a window into reality I can write about later. This is my “in the whirld but not of it” mentality, some of the time.

Reminds me of the Wayne Dyer line, wherein he follows his children around the house, saying, “Come on, say something stupid. I need material for tonight’s speech.”

At the one-minute mark I’m already sweating; and before four minutes have elapsed, I’m dripping.

Five minutes in, a big guy on the upper bench on the other side of the hotbox stood up.

“Bro, I’m sitting here trying to listen to music and I can hear the game you have on through my headphones. It’s disturbing. Don’t you think it’s too loud. Look, I’m not telling you what to do, but this is bugging the hell outta me.”

The offender immediately stopped watching the ridiculously overpaid performers.

“Bro, sorry bro,” he says.

“Look bro, I’m sorry. Please forgive me,” the man who stood up added. “I almost died when I got into an accident with a semi-truck. I had surgery on my head and was hospitalized for a long time. So sometimes I get whacky, but I don’t know if anybody else here was bothered. Anyway, God bless you and God bless the rest of you. So sorry.”

Sensing an opportunity to participate in reality, I chimed in, “It was more than a little loud, but it’s all good now.”

“I’m just happy to be alive,” the man said.

“Where you from?” said the NBA fan.

“I’m from Brazil. Gold bless you. I’m sorry. Please forgive me. I didn’t mean to go off on you. I sit in here an hour a day. If you want to lose weight fast, this place is the key. It cleared up my skin. I was really fat after the accident. I sit in here an hour a day. I used to take steroids and had zits and pimples all over my face. They’re gone now, along with the extra weight.”

Now my 20-minute sauna objective seemed so weak.

“You sit in here for an hour at one time?” I questioned.

“I sit for 40 minutes, then I take a break and come back in for another 20,” he answered.

I instantly upgraded my goal to my typical 30 minutes, but then I got to thinking I should go for 40, in honor of the man who survived the accident.

The Brazilian man exited the sauna at 40 minutes, but not before telling everyone “God bless you,” at least a dozen times.

I continued by putting myself into my best Zen state by slowly rocking back and forth, activating my spine.

At 35 minutes the Brazilian returned and offered to buy me a protein drink.

“Thank you very much,” I said. “But I don’t need one. I appreciate it though.”

When my timer hit 40 minutes, I stopped rocking, stood up and thanked the survivor for his story.

“That’s 40 minutes for me, my friend. Thank you for the motivation. Thank God you’re still alive.”

“Thank you, bro. God bless you and I’m sorry for the eruption.”

“No, thank YOU,” I replied. “Glad you spoke up.”

I then sat on a bench in the locker room, put on my sweats, my shoes and my hoodie, and ventured back into the now colder 49° Florida evening.

Matt Furey

Note: Be sure to check out my kick-azz, tendon-power product at PowerPostures.com

Also, if you want to learn how to write emails such as this one, go to knockoutmarketing.com

There’s a man whom I presume is in his 70’s who enters the sauna most nights when he finishes swimming. He’s physically fit and doesn’t mind showing it.

All of IT.

Whilst some of us are clad in shorts and others fully clothed, this man enters the hot box with his trunks dripping and a beach towel. He doesn’t grab some wood, i.e. take a seat.

Instead, he faces us, removes his trunks and shows his wares. It’s s bit strange as this public sauna is not a naked one.

But that’s not all.

As soon as he takes his suit off, he feels compelled to wring it out on the floor. Then he wraps his beach towel around his waist for about five seconds. Then he unwraps it to display his tallywhacker again. He repeats this process once more before exiting to the shower.

The flasher is in the sauna for no more than 60 seconds, yet he leaves a reminder of his presence as a present for all of us. If he were a male canine, I would comprehend what he’s doing. He would be marking his turf. But for a human doing, this is odd behavior.

I usually sauna for 30 minutes, almost daily, and I’ve never thought of removing my briefs to wring them out before I leave. But this guy wastes nearly no time before baring his essentials.

Oddly enough, no one says a word. No one even flinches.

Ater a few days of observing this man’s automatic tendency, I asked the other by-sitters, if I’m the only one who’s noticed this peculiar-air-ity.

Everyone laughed.

Showing deep compassion, I thought to myself, “Perhaps he’s totally unaware of what he’s doing. It’s probably a schlong-standing habit.”

Ah, the weird things we humans do, without thinking.

Yet I’m left to wonder, if this man lifted one leg to douse the “fire hydrant,” would anyone speak up?

I’m betting that if he did, there’d be quite a stir.

Matt Furey

Note: Be sure to check out my latest product at PowerPostures.com – it’s a game changer that’ll add a lot of gravity to your levity.

‘Deep breathing alone has made many a weak man strong and many a sick man well.’

These words come from the immortal teachings of Martin ‘Farmer’ Burns in his 1914 by-mail course, ‘Lessons in Wrestling and Physical Culture’ –
available at mattfurey.com/farmer-burns-book/ – but they could have just as easily come from the ancient Samurai of Japan – or the old-time Jiu-Jitsu masters.

For example, in a 1911 book on Japanese exercise methods that I read many years ago, I recorded the following:

‘The ancient samurai was accustomed to going out into the open air as soon as he rose in the morning. There he devoted at least 10 or 15 minutes to continued deep breathing, standing with his hands on his hips in order that he might feel the play of his muscles.’

Breathing in the open air was also recommended by Farmer Burns as well early American fitness pioneers such as Charles Atlas, Bernarr

MacFadden and Paul Bragg. These men truly knew what they were talking about.

Today, in most fitness programs taught around the world, deep breathing is practically ignored. This is a major mistake as, to quote one of my mentors, ‘Your breath is your power.’

You can tell a lot about a person simply by observing how he or she breathes.

In fact, I believe you can map out the structure of how the person lives life.

Shallow breathers tend to be shallow people.

Deep breathers tend to be interested in far more than the superficial.

The sound a person makes when breathing, especially while exercising, is also revealing. Does he or she have a problem with being seen or heard?

You’ll know by whether or not you can hear the person breathing.

Does this person breathe in a way that says, ‘life is a struggle’ – or in a way that shows how they simply ‘flow?’

Maybe you’ve never paid much attention to the subject of deep breathing before. For the first 25 years of my life I didn’t either. Yet, I assure you,

life is much better when you’re in tune with how you breathe.

Pay attention to your breathing. Make sure it is deep and full.

Spend 10-15 minutes per day working on it and you’ll readily understand why your breath is your power.

Matt Furey

Note: You can be reading the 1914 Farmer Burns course instantly or get it sent to you by mail by going to mattfurey.com/farmer-burns-book/

Over the past month I’ve been enjoying an extended martial arts journey in Thailand, training in an obscure martial art that was never taught outside the Lanna kingdom until about 10 years ago. 

Some might think I am on vacation, but that is definitely not the case. Per usual, I am in learning mode. 

We flew to this Land of 1,000 smiles in mid-December and have been on the go, since then. Each day I meet with Kru Nik, a master who also recognizes me as one, for a few hours of private instruction.

The material is challenging in many ways, and the benefits are incredible as well as palpable. 

The first day I began training here, Kru Nik, told me how he got his start in martial arts, but after realizing how destructive the art he began with was to his body, he switched gears to an internal art that was far more rewarding. 

This same sentiment about the destructiveness of many forms of exercise and martial arts, is echoed by Pendekar William Sanders, whom I’ve been training with for over three years. Pendekar is 70+ years of age, and when it comes to movement, I’ve never seen anyone better. In fact, it’s not even close. 

But sadly, most people don’t get the memo about the harm they are doing to their bodies until it’s too late. This is why so many martial artists, athletes and fitness freaks turn into dream patients for orthopedic surgeons. 

I got the memo long ago, and I changed the way I trained from primarily external to mostly internal. 

Last Friday, during a lengthy conversation with some other masters, they told me how so many once great fighters in Thailand can no longer kick with any power. Their bodies are banged up beyond belief. In fact, many cannot lift their leg and maintain balance. 

But this is not the case with those who practice the internal arts and engage in the exercise practices I teach in my Power Postures course. 

When you practice internally, the way I lay it out for you, instead of traumatizing your body, you repair and regenerate. You recharge and renew. 

As a 20 or 30-year old, you might think there’s no trauma to your body when you train. But when you turn 40, 50 and then some, you find out that your body remembers everything you did to it that wasn’t so good for the long haul ahead.

The good news is that, you can start today, as in NOW, to turn the tables in your favor.

Learn how to move in ways that eliminate pain and weakness without beating into submission.

As I have said many, many times: Focus on being loose, long, limber and strong, and you’ll go far. 

Even better, enroll in my Power Postures course NOW, while the amount is still quite low.

I’ve had to raise the fee a few times already, and will probably be doing so again quite soon, as the benefits are off the chain. So jump on this pronto, my friend. Your body will thank you for doing so.

Matt Furey

Below is an email exchange that began a couple weeks ago:

Hi Matt,

I am 55 and have been training for many years, my body is beat up and in pain just about every day, and I have muscle cramps a lot through out the day the pain is debilitating and obviously any workouts that I do are sub optimal, is power postures a stand alone system.

Regards,
Glen

Hi Glen,
Yes it is. Begin slowly. Take your time and allow yourself to heal and recover. 

Matt

Ok, thank you, Matt, I appreciate your quick response will order now.

Best Regards,
Glen

Glen placed his order on November 21. Yesterday he wrote to give me the following update:

Hi Matt,
I did go ahead and order as I said below and have been doing the warmups everyday, I started with the Wu Ji, then after a couple of days I added farmers squat and have recently added pyramid pose, I will add the remaining 2 exercises over the next couple of weeks.

I have also been doing another isometrics programme every second day. (I did the best workout I have EVER done with this programme a few days ago)

The purpose of this email is to tell you I am absolutely blown away by my results all ready, and I would like to thank you for providing this programme, this really is a game changer for older or probably any age for that matter beat up bodies.

Thanks again mate, I am in deep gratitude and appreciation for your knowledge.

Best Regards,
Glenn

Glenn,
Absolute awesomeness. I’m so happy for you. 

Matt

Glenn isn’t the only one blown away with this program. Last week I worked with a small group of men for three days. Two of them were stellar athletes in their younger years, and now they are regaining their youthful mobility.

The way these men used to train made them stronger, but it simultaneously traumatized their bodies. Now the pain from the way they used to train is going away. What’s more, the overall feeling of well being and calmness these men felt almost immediately was palpable. They felt the stream of electrical and magnetic energy in their hands and feet.

After the first 30 seconds of standing in the first posture, I asked, “Do you feel anything different?”

“I feel plugged in,” said one of them.

“That’s perfect,” I answered. “That’s the feeling you want. When you stand the way I’m teaching, you’re plugging yourself into an invisible socket, and you feel it FAST. And this energy goes into everything you do, making what you do better and better.”

YES, you can FEEL similar results NOW.

For the next 24 hours the Power Postures course will be available at the current fee, then it’s going UP.

Order NOW and change your life for the better.

YES!

Matt Furey