A couple days ago I wrote about sitting – and how it’s NOT the boogie man the media makes it out to be, so long as you know how to train your body the proper way.

That said, there are some ways of sitting that enhance energy flow and some that lead to energy stagnation. The point isn’t whether or not you should ever sit – it’s HOW you sit.

For example, a good friend of mine, John, speaks highly of his “old man’s” daily routine.

John’s Dad is 79 years of age and still reads the daily newspaper, does the dishes and works in a factory, which he owns. He prides himself on lifting heavy boxes and hoisting them onto the truck each day. He insists on doing everything “by hand.”

The key element in this story though, is HOW grandpa reads the daily newspaper. He sits toward the front of the chair and places both feet on the ground. He doesn’t sit back or slouch. He doesn’t use a lazygramps.

Sitting on the edge of a chair is ideal and having the soles of your feet on the ground is also advisable. This position, my friends, is where you can do plenty of exercise for your feet – and you can do so as you read a newspaper, a book or while listening to someone prattle on about his/her life.

Keep in mind that your feet are the gateway to your brain and nervous system.

Your feet are the foundation for strong ankles, knees, hips and more. As important as your hands are, your feet are even more important. I believe that pumping your feet up each day increases brain waves, memory, creativity and overall body strength.

Your feet are akin to pumps that suck vital energy or qi into your body.

Sadly, your feet do NOT benefit if you sit for hours each day in the lotus position to meditate. In fact, the lotus position can cause some major problems in your lower body.

Getting into the lotus position as a stretching exercise is fine by me. But sitting in it for hours, in my opinion, is not good.

Yet, hold on.

If you exercise your feet the way I teach, you can still sit in the lotus position to meditate – and you’ll probably be alright.

The same goes for those who are cry-babying about their shoes. I don’t care if you’re compelled to wear high heels or combat boots. I don’t care if you wear shoes with thick pads or rice sandals (aka Sakai Yusai, the marathon monk I met in Japan in 2007 and brought to the U.S. back in 2008). Sakai Yusai ran 1,000 marathons through the mountains of Mt. Hiei in Kyoto. And yes, he ran them in “rice sandals” that often fell apart during the daily trek.

If you want to be declared a Living Buddha, as Sakai Yusai was, you don’t bitch about your archaic footwear. You learn to make your feet strong. Superhuman strong.

Truth: If you exercise your feet each day – you’ll probably find yourself far better off than the person who insists on going barefoot.

And… if you’re exercising your feet all day long, even as you sit, stand and walk around – ah, so much the better.

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t wear the best shoes you can find and afford for your feet. What it does mean is this: live without excuses, stop being a crybaby. The biggest problem isn’t the shoe companies and their demonic designs that aren’t good for your feet. The big, Big, BIG problem is that people aren’t exercising their feet.
Period.

By the way, I just put up five new videos in the Matt Furey Inner Circle, and two of them go into detail on how you can do 5,000 or more reps per day of the most important foot exercise there is – and do so without investing one second of extra time.

If you want the deeper answers to the deeper questions, enroll NOW and start kicking ass and taking names at a whole new level.

Matt Furey

Over the weekend I saw photos of a few people that I know personally.

As soon as I saw the photos, the first and ONLY thought that came to mind was: Man, he/she is SUPER FAT.

No, I didn’t fat shame either of them.

I kept my opinion to myself. But if I were to speak to either of them in person, I can assure you, in my gentle el Furecat style, I’d be fat slamming them in a way that would be motivating.

I’ve done it before… and I do it all the time.

I have a guy who’s dropped nearly 40 pounds since I gently fat slammed him seven weeks ago.

Another who dropped 30.

Another who dropped 70.

The reality is this: fat slamming is one of the best things you can do for a person, provided you know how to do it. Again, it’s got to be so subtle yet so powerful the person thinks it’s his/her idea to lose weight. And it is, hehe.

Fact is, most people lie to themselves so much and so often that even though the mirror is telling them that they’re fat, even though the new clothes they need to buy every month are telling them they’re fat, they still find a way to self-delude.

Person looks in the mirror and says, I don’t look fat, do I?

Nah, you like fine.

Ah, thanks. I’m off the hook for now. How about pizza?

No, you’re phat as fugg. Face the music.

And exercise ain’t gonna do much for you.

I know this for a fact. I know because when I let myself get phat as fugg after a number of surgeries (see I got excuses, too), I worked out more than ever and I got nowhere.

At certain times in your life, exercise alone will do the trick. But when you get phat later on in life, the same (or more) exercise won’t seem to help at all.

This means you need a smarter approach, an approach that goes around the obstacles rather than running headstrong into them.

I’m going to be covering what I’ve been doing over the past 18 months in some earth-shaking videos for members of the MattFureyInnerCircle very soon. They will kick booty, in more ways than one.

In the interim, before these videos go up, perhaps you want me to personally motivate you on the possibilities at play. I won’t slam you too hard, I promise. I will only slam you hard enough to motivate you to take control of your life. If you want to take back your life, if you want coaching, contact me by clicking here.

Matt Furey

Stronger Now Than 20 Years Ago

My friend, Clarence, called a few weeks ago.

He says, “Quick question: I’ve been watching your most recent videos. Would you say you are stronger now than you were 20 years ago?”

“In some ways yes, and in other ways yes,” I replied. 

What did I mean?

Well, for starters, I don’t measure my strength the way “dead-lifters” do.

I measure based upon live-lifting, i.e. can I toss a live person around the room with ease when he is pushing or pulling on me.

Weights sitting on the ground attached to a barbell do NOT resist you.

As Bruce Lee was fond of saying about those who break bricks, “Bricks don’t hit back.”

This doesn’t mean that a deadlift or brick break is easy. It does mean that it is definitely NOT the same as being animalistic in origin, in terms of how you move your body.

When you are animalistic in your movements, a light flick of the wrist can make someone go flying. It’s not about how much weight you can push or pull – it’s about what you can do with your body when somebody else is pushing or pulling on you.

This requires a different type of strength – an elastic strength that feels like steel, and is impossible to acquire with weights. Yes, it’s an inner strength.

No, I did not say “mental strength.”

Mental strength is important, but can also be a disguise for those who don’t know the structure of body alignments and movement.

Without structure you don’t have jack – even if you have “mental strength.”

Recently, another friend, J, starting diving into the exercises in Combat Conditioning. He’s a life-long martial artist who is highly skilled and the program is kicking his ass.

Key thing is the program is making him better without injury.

So many of the bodyweight programs that have come out since I released Combat Conditioning some 20 years ago, are all about being EXTREME.

And they are Extremely UNNECESSARY.

You don’t need to be able to do one-finger pushups and handstands in order to be fit.

Keep in mind, as you get on in years, being free from injury must be a priority because injuries take longer to heal.

Stay injury free by being smart in how you train.

This is one of the reasons why Clarence, my long-time friend, from observation alone, believes I am stronger now than I was 20 years ago.

That’s all I need to hear.

Sign me up.

And don’t forget to…

Kick ass and take names.

Matt Furey

By the way: If you already have the Combat Conditioning book and DVDs and you want to go to the next level, click here.

Can Your Body Handle This?

In today’s everything NOW world, it’s easy to assume that you’re ready to do something you see or read about online.

Look at my Instagram page – @mattfureysays – and you’ll see there are plenty of exercises that you may be able to do – and plenty that you probably cannot do YET.

The same goes for what I write about in my emails.

Hindu Squats, for example, are a knees-over-toes exercise. I have always been able to do them without any pain whatsoever.

But when I saw another knees-over-toes exercise, I instinctively knew that I had to work up to it, that I wasn’t ready for it YET.

I set up a progression of smaller movements that I could do without pain. As I checked the “no pain” box for each level, I worked on the next progression, and so on – until I was doing something  that I couldn’t do before without consequences.

My knees are currently stronger than they’ve ever been, due to the additional exercises I’ve added into the mix. But I didn’t start these exercises at an intermediate or advanced level. I started at the beginner level. In fact, I’m still NOT at the advanced level of these exercises – but I will be over time.

There are a lot of videos on Instagram and Facebook and YouTube showing a ton of insane bodyweight exercises that are SAFE if your body is ready for them and UNSAFE if your body isn’t. The exercise itself is neutral.

One of the keys to making progress is refraining from making assumptions.

Make no assumptions about what you can or cannot do until you prove you can.

Is it safe to assume that just because an exercise is safe for the person doing it, that you are also ready for it?

We can assume that a basic pushup is a safe exercise. And it IS – except for those who are not ready for it.

While one person can do one-arm pushups on his fingertips safely, another person can barely do a basic pushup from his or her knees, while another person is maxed out holding a plank pushup position from his knees for a few seconds.

Keep this in mind when you go through Combat Conditioning or any other fitness books, videos or courses.

Keep this in mind as you look at the progressions I provide in knees-over-toes exercises to members of the Matt Furey Inner Circle. 

Kick ass – take names,

Matt Furey

By the way, if you’ve enjoyed this simple email and want to know how you can start a whole new career doing something similar, click here.