Whenever you see someone who is NOT moving forward in life, someone who is not trying to improve his circumstances – it is almost always fear that is holding him back.

Fear of what?

Fear of failure – yes. Fear of success – sure. Fear of injury – uh huh. Yes, these fears are common to many.

But fear of criticism is one of the biggest – yet it is also the least acknowledged.

Many people fear the looks and reactions they will receive from others when they begin to make changes in how they do things. It’s far easier to sit on the couch or before a computer getting fatter and fatter than it is to go for a walk or begin doing pushups and squats.

People generally don’t make fun of how fat you are when you’re plopped on a sofa or before a monitor. They might laugh behind your back, but rarely to your face. But once you walk outdoors with sweats on, you THINK everyone is looking at you – and you’re afraid they’re going to laugh out loud.

But the truth is this: Most people are so busy doing what they’re doing that they don’t even see you. And the others, if they’re laughing, they’re doing so silently.

Regardless of how others react to YOU – here’s the most important concept you must understand: What other people think about you is NONE of your business. If someone thinks you’re fat, it’s not your business. If someone thinks the way you’re training is strange – none of your business.

If you don’t care what others think – what the others think is of no concern to you. So it won’t matter whether you have fear of criticism or not. You simply acknowledge when you catch yourself being concerned about someone else’s opinion of you. And when you note how you’re breathing shallow and adding stress to your upper neck and shoulders with the thought of pleasing others – you drop the notion and say to yourself, ‘To hell with them. This is MY life. I’m going to get fit. I’m going to get healthy – and if someone else has a problem with that, THEY have the problem, not ME.’

What I have just covered isn’t some lofty platitude I am proposing but don’t use myself. Each and every day I receive criticism from someone. Some don’t like the fact that I advocate eating healthy meat. Some don’t like the way I look. Others don’t like the way I write. Others don’t want me to write about anything other than health and fitness – and so on.

‘Good idea – for someone else,’ I think. ‘But not for me.’

I don’t limit myself because of someone else’s opinion. Neither should YOU.

If you want to attain better health, if you want an improved physique or figure, if you want to go for a walk, start running hills or doing the Royal Court – this is YOUR goal. Don’t ever let anyone distract you from your vision. You are the one who decides. No one else.

Remain strong. Stay the course. Stay determined.

Make your burning desire for self-improvement stronger than the fault-finding of others. When your desire burns brighter than the sting of criticism, nothing can or will stop you.

Best,

Matt Furey

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Matt,

I have a question about bridging, when I bridge my head and neck get a little sore, is that normal or am I doing something wrong? I have both Combat Conditioning and Combat Abs and I feel really good after a quick but satisfying workout, I just feel that the bridge could be better, but I am just not sure what it is I am doing wrong. I try to follow the book as best I can, but if you could give me some tips about correct bridging I would be extremely appreciative.

Sincerely,

Adina

MJF: Adina, I’m not quite sure what you’re doing wrong either, without seeing you do it right before my eyes. So my next best alternative is a psychic reading. Hmmm.

Okay, I think I may have it, so here are some tips for you to follow:

1. Use a bridging mat that is at least 1/2 inch think – if not an inch thick. Believe it or don’t, some people get my illustrious book and commence to bridging on their kitchen tile, a hardwood floor – even cement. Uggh. Unless you’re Rufus R. Jones*, I think bridging on anything but a mat – or a mattress, is a mistake.

2. Rock back and forth slowly. Do not force anything. Relax and breathe.

3. If you’re able to touch your nose and hold for time, the back of your neck may get a bit irritated at first due to the skin from your upper and lower neck pressing together. This irritation is normal and will generally pass in a couple weeks.

4. If the top of your head hurts, then learn to get off the top of your head and on your forehead. If you’re not flexible enough to do this yet, then after rocking back and forth 20x, lie over a Swiss ball and relax your spine from the sacrum through the cervical vertebrae. Tell your spine and the muscles

alongside it to relax. Give the command and these areas of the body will follow.

Here endeth today’s reading. Keep me posted on your progress.

Faithfully,

Matt Furey

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I was a senior in high school and having a bad year. Just after Christmas break I lost a wrestling match – leaving me with a record of 7-4. Yet, I still had these goals of winning a state title and wrestling for

Dan Gable at the University of Iowa.

In a crushed mental state I opened a book I had read numerous times already. But this time I read six words I’d never seen on previous readings.

The book: The Legend of Dan Gable – The Wrestler.

The words: “Three workouts a day – year round.”

After reading these words I decided to get on the mat three times a day. Not just once a day like I had done since I began training in the sport.

What was the result.

I went from 7-4 and feeling low to winning 15-straight matches, most of them by lopsided margins.

I qualified for the state tournament. In the first round I beat another district champion.

In the quarterfinals I defeated the defending state champion, who was also a state champion in the 100-meter dash and 1st team all-state in football.

In the semi-finals I beat the number three ranked man in the state.

And then, in the finals, a letdown. I dropped the bout 7-5. Close but no crescendo.

Surprisingly, my victories caught the attention of Gable, who wondered where this kid came from. My high school had no record of producing great wrestlers.

Six words changed my life.

Now think of how this applies to ANYTHING in your life.

I used this same idea to win several national titles in kung fu – as well as a world championship.

I won the gold in Beijing – beating the Chinese in their own art.

I’ve used it in business.

I’ve used it as a writer.

You can too – regardless of what the endeavor is – and you MUST succeed if you follow it.

Back to fitness: If you workout three times a day – year round – will you be in great shape all year.

Of course.

And the workouts do NOT need to be high intensity, puke bucket ordeals.

Just do something three times a day. Make one of the workouts vigorous – let the other two simply be metabolism boosters.

One can be Combat Abs‘ Magnificent Seven.

Another can be the Royal Court from Combat Conditioning.

The third can be Dao Zou.

The fourth can be the Chinese Long-Life System.

Or a walk or swim.

Three workouts a day – year round.

50 pushups before breakfast – followed by deep breathing.

A 3-minute bridge before lunch.

100 Hindu squats before dinner.

Something – three times a day.

Think about it. Then DO about it.

Best,

Matt Furey

The other day I received an email from a 48-year old man who complained of not being able to move his bowels on a regular basis.

“The machine isn’t working the way it used to. Maybe I need some lubrication,” he wrote. “Any exercises you recommend for this situation. Or is this just something I have to live with.”

The answer: No, this is not something you have to live with. Here is what you do:

1. Make a decision that you will regain healthy bowel function.

You may think this an unnecessary step – yet I assure you that trying to solve a problem without making a decision to replace it with something better, leaves the door wide open for a repeat performance of bad times.

2. Pay attention to the foods that are clogging your pipes. Pizza, pasta, white flour, pastries, breads, beans and other starches are often times interfering with regularity.

3. Consume more fruits, vegetables and other high-fiber foods.

4. Drink plenty of water.

5. Practice deep breathing exercises – especially those in which you combine abdominal flexing with the breathing. To learn how to do this be sure to pick up a copy of Combat Abs wherein I teach the Farmer Burns Stomach Flattener and another exercise that blowtorch excise flab from your waistline while also greatly improving your digestion.

People who thought I was joking about “the toilet” before doing these exercises were totally surprised after they tried them. Sounds a bit “out there” – but it’s true. Doing the deep breathing exercises in Combat Abs act as a sort of “Cosmic Fiber” that helps sweep waste out of the colon.

You cannot exercise your abs the way I teach without simultaneously giving your innards a deep and thorough massage.

There are many other benefits to doing the Farmer Burns Stomach Flattener – which you can also read about in the 1914 by-mail course put out by the Farmer himself, by going here.

Even if you don’t think you have an issue with moving your bowels – you may be gravely mistaken. Ask yourself, how long after each meal do you typically move your bowels.

If you’re not “getting up to go” 30 minutes after your meal, then you better get your hands on Combat Abs.

Best,

Matt Furey

Last night, before hitting the rack, I went through a simple bridging routine. I alternated the back bridge and the front bridge – with several details that I’ve never taught before.

I do this routine before bed for a couple reasons that I have never written about before. And that includes what I wrote in Combat Conditioning as well as Combat Abs.

Anyway, the reasons why I bridge this way are as follows:

1. It puts me into a euphoric state – nice to feel that before bed, don’t you think?

2. It energizes me – just not the type of energy that interferes with sleep – more like the kind of energy where you KNOW your brain is rejuvenated.

3. It increases electrical charge and vibration throughout my entire spine.

4. It makes me aware of energy at a more subtle level – this comes in handy whether you’re a competitive athlete or someone who deals with people for a living.

5. It increases seksual energy. Now, no one is interested in THAT topic, right.

6. It helps burn off belly fat as well as the turkey fat on your neck. If you don’t want a bunch of loose skin hanging from your neck as you age, then be sure to bridge.

7. It increases feeling of groundedness.

Now, the above represent only seven reasons why the bridge is so great.

I’ve written about many others previously, such as elimination of back pain, and so on. Yet, the key is in the doing of the bridge. Anyone can read about it.

Reminds me of a saying I learned long ago, before people started calling me the Zen Master.

It goes like this: “The study of Zen is not Zen.”

So many people today are simply ‘readers.’ They read but don’t do. Or they go on discussion boards and rave about their knowledge. That’s fine – but make sure you DO first.

Afterall, “the study of exercise is not exercise.”

Make sure you take time to bridge today.

And if you can’t do the bridges in my book just yet, if they’re too advanced for you, then start with a light bridge over a Swiss ball. That’ll get you headed in the right direction.

Best,

Matt Furey

P.S. Anytime you want to know “what’s new” in terms of products – go to here.

Why is it that people who are overweight take so long to enjoy results when on an exercise program. And why is it that they think they need to do long-distance cardio and spend hours per day training.

You don’t need to do things that way.

There’s a way to accelerate your metabolism and I’ll lay it out for you in a minute, but first, understand the following:

A. If you are investing a LOT of time each day to kick-start your metabolism – you’re doing something wrong.

B. Long-slow cardio may make you feel good – but if you want to “STEP UP” your metabolism, you’re far better off doing a very hard, very vigorous workout that calls upon all your physical and mental reserves. You’re better off with a short workout that will never get easy – no matter how often you do it.

Consider the sprinter. He does not do long distance cardio. Yet his body is lean AND muscular.

It is rare to find a long distance cardio person who is well built. He may be lean, but there’s no muscle

and usually very little power. Not only that, but after a period of time – the long cardio workout person may end up suffering from hip, knee, ankle and lower back pain.

Why.

All the pounding on the joints. It takes a tremendous toll on the body.

Instead of the long, slow, dull approach to fitness, Consider the following seven ways to a Metabolism Makeover.

1. Change the mental picture you have of yourself. All lasting change in appearance begins in your mind. If you want to look better, start seeing yourself the way you’d like to look.

2. Place the majority of your mental focus on “the journey” – the process you are following to get fit. This means you are NOT continually thinking about reaching the mountain top. Instead you’re focused on each step along the way.

3. Begin doing vigorous full body body weight exercises that force you to lose control of your breathing. If you aren’t getting out of breath when you train, your system is NOT being forced to adapt and change very much. The harder you are breathing, the more shock to the system. The more “shock” there is – the greater the shake-up in your metabolism. The exercises in Combat Conditioning cause this to happen.

4. Instead of running or bicycling several miles per day to get your cardio – do like the cheetah. Run as hard as you can, at full blast, for as long as you can. Run with all your might. When finished you want to be gasping for oxygen. You want to feel like you have nothing left. In Combat Conditioning there are a few sprint workouts you can follow to get you going with this routine.

5. Practice deep breathing. The deeper you breathe the more oxygen in your system. The more oxygen in your system, the faster your metabolism.

6. Eat plenty of fiber rich, water-content foods while avoiding starchy foods most of time.

7. Get plenty of sleep.

Keep these ideas in mind as you go through your day.

Best,

Matt Furey

It seems illogical at first. We think that hours and hours per day are needed to get fit. Yet this is only true if you want it to be true.

Personally, I enjoy going for long walks and hikes. I like to train in kung fu and grappling for an hour or more. But this fact does nothing but scare your average coach potato deeper into his seat.

He’s got hours per day before the idiot box – and he’ll swear he’s too busy to do this that and the other. Yet how’d he find so much time to keep up on worldly events but still “no time” to keep up with his own body.

Strange, but true.

This is why it’s important to lure the average person out of his chair with one minute of exercise – even better is five minutes.

The skeptical may think this is not enough time to change the course of your life – yet it most certainly is.

Give me someone glued to the couch or the computer for five minutes and I’ll change the person’s life. I’ll have him huffing and puffing. I’ll have sweat pouring down his face. And when the first session is done and over the person will SMILE, laugh and thank me for the torture.

I’ll be giving him what he wants deep inside. A thorough and complete arse kicking.

How can this be done in five minutes. Simple.

First, we start with Hindu Pushups. If you’re a slug, seal or whale I bet you can’t do 10 – much less five. And I don’t care how tough you were in high school. That doesn’t count NOW. So your first exercise will be over in about 30 seconds – one minute at most.

Second, I’ll have you do Hindu squats. If you’re a stud and able to push 400 pounds or more with barbell squats, I’ll watch you quit around 40-50 reps. This will take less than a minute. If you’re a banana slug, well, you’ll drop out at 10-20 reps. About 30 seconds.

At this point I’m being generous with the five minutes. Your hide is nearly tanned and we still have to do the bridge. Even if you’re an expert in mind power, I’ll bet on you only making it for a minute on this one. And at the end of this minute you’ll lie on your back staring at the ceiling without a thought or care in the world.

For some strange reason you’ll feel more relaxed than ever before. And you’ll feel this even though you’ve just put yourself through 2-3 minutes of vigorous exercises.

You’ll lie there on your back breathing deeply, feeling a sense of calmness and serenity. This will last three minutes or more.

The next day when you arise you’ll look in the mirror and wonder if it’s your imagination or not. Are you truly seeing changes and FEELING changes this quickly – or are you simply imagining them.

After three weeks you’ll definitely know you’re not imagining anything – except how much better you’re

going to continue feeling if you stick with this Combat Conditioning program.

Combat Conditioning will put your body on the road to greatness. All you need is the desire, the guts and the vision to get started and the rest will take care of itself.

For those of you who already have Combat ConditioningGama Fitness.

And if you have some extra waste around your waist – then be sure to invest in Combat Abs.

Most importantly, make a decision to do and BE something MORE. Do it today. Right NOW.

Yes,

Matt Furey

Today is a FIRST for me.

M.J.F.

I was on-call this past weekend on the child psychiatry ward.

I usually enjoy seeing my patients but this weekend was different.

The children as usual were full of energy, playful and enjoying their youthful vigor.

But this weekend, I happened to be there while their parents were visiting.

Their parents were stiff, tired and practically lifeless.

How could this be when most of them were in their 20’s and 30’s!

I saw one parent after another shuffling down the hallway looking 20-30 years older than their years.

This reminded me of a study that tested a person’s ability to guess another person’s age by the way they moved and walked.

When the scientists examined what physical attributes were used to determine not only age but sexual attractiveness, the number one attribute was Flexibility.

So, the lack of flexibility not only causes a person to feel and look older, but also look less sexually attractive.

A lack of flexibility restricts breathing, zaps a person’s energy, restricts blood flow to important parts of the body and causes poor posture, which takes its toll on the joints and eventually causes arthritis and related problems.

Good flexibility results in dramatically improved muscular strength, power and quickness, improved lung and heart function, more endurance and stamina, and causes a person to look and feel youthful.

And as that study showed, flexible movement makes a person look young, vital and sexually attractive.

Another thing most people probably don’t realize is that developing flexibility or regaining lost flexibility is incredibly easy!

But you can’t get the kind of flexibility that gives you strength, health, endurance and sexual attractiveness from simple stretching.

You must revitalize the muscles and tendons using ancient energy exercises that are not only easy and fun to do, but take only a few minutes each day.

Combining more than twenty years of experience as a medical doctor and practitioner of authentic Ninjutsu, I created a program called Jungle Cat Flexibility.

The Jungle Cat is a supreme example of power, speed and sensuality in motion resulting from relaxed flexibility.

The key thing you should know is that Jungle Cat Flexibility not only combines modern medical science with ancient secrets from martial arts masters, it also gives you amazing flexibility easily and quickly within a few days by just spending a few minutes each morning and evening.

Whether you’re a martial arts practitioner looking to increase your power and speed, an average person trying to increase health and vigor, or someone who is trying to attract the ultimate mate, check out Jungle Cat Flexibility NOW.

Stay happy, healthy and alert,

The Ninja Doctor

(Daniel Cardona, M.D.)

Ever notice that people who run all the time age FASTER than those who don’t.

If you look at many marathon runners in their mid-30’s, you’ll already see the “prune” look beginning to etch itself onto their faces. Why is this?

There are a couple reasons:

1. Many distance athletes believe, erroneously, that because they workout, they don’t need to take any sort of supplement that safeguards them against free radical damage. Show an endurance athlete a supplement loaded with antioxidants proven to reduce the risk of illness, including cancer and heart disease, and don’t be surprised if you hear, “I don’t need that stuff. I work out.”

Uh – duh. When you workout, your body cranks out MORE free radicals, not less.

Yes, you need to exercise to get the results you want – but to sweat and NOT supplement is a mistake. When you take super potent antioxidants like Pharmaceutical Grade Fish Oil as well as berries like elderberry,chokeberry, black currant and bilberry – you are insuring yourself against disease.

In China, the longest lived people eat abundantly from fruits, vegetables, meats, herbs – and green tea. Green tea is a mega potent antioxidant as well.

2. The other reason for the “prune” look – not to mention the ready-for-the-scrap-heap feeling inside the bodies of many distance runners is because, as the Chinese Taoists have taught, the exerciser is “cooking” his internal organs from over-exertion.

Cooking your organs?

Yes.

It’s a scientific fact that some people are ‘warmer’ than others. Their hands and feet are warmer. They sweat easier. They need fewer clothes, and so on.

The above is not a bad thing.

However, when you over-exercise and have no method of cooling your body off, you do internal damage and it shows on your face.

High stress in the home and workplace also contribute to over-heating, too – so don’t think you’re off the hook if you don’t work out.

Key thing is you need to have a way to cool off internally. Supplementing with antioxidants helps – but the way you exercise helps a lot, too. If you exercise in such a way that your body doesn’t overheat – a way in which you’re opening all the meridians in your body, a way in which you’re increasing the flow of chi within rather than obstructing it – well, then, you will know what it’s like to be 80, 90 and up and still be able to move with ease. You’ll know what it’s like to still be mentally alert, filled with vim, vigor and enthusiasm.

This is what you are taught in the Chinese Long-Life System.

The other day I was at the beach – training a couple friends. After one round of a specific exercise that looked like ‘nothing much’ – the guy turned to me and said, ‘WOW. I can feel the energy moving from my shoulders to my hands. I can feel something clicking internally.’

Indeed. That’s the difference.

For great health you don’t just focus on the muscles. The muscles matter not if even ONE organ in your body runs amuck. See how strong your legs are when a kidney fails. Or how powerful your chest if your heart has an attack. Or how far you can throw a football if your spleen is ruptured.

The Chinese approach to a long-life involves working from the inside out. That’s why it is uniquely powerful. That’s why it works.

Get the program today by going here.

Best,

Matt Furey

Author of Int’l best-seller,Combat Conditioning and a plethora of power-packed products – all of which change lives for the better – including yours. Go here.