3 Days Straight Of The Matt Furey Exercise Bible

On Monday, I had an urge to do Matt Furey's Exercise Bible which is a deck of cards consisting of Hindu Push-ups, Hindu Squats, V-Ups & Tablemakers. It's been a long time since I completely went through the deck and the last few attempts recently I stopped because it got boring. Apparently I had a bug up my ass and felt the need to actually finish it this time. I changed the repetitions around so I'll be able to do it without feeling boredom.

2-10 Were Face Value

Face Cards Were (K=13, Q=12 & J=11)

Aces Were 14

Jokers Are 25-50

The first day, it was rough and had to adjust the V-Ups in certain variations just so I don't hurt myself. I made it through but because I haven't done these exercises together in quite some time, I felt out of shape. If I needed rest, I would do slight stretching or use my Ropeless Jump Rope to keep myself going cause if I rested like most people would, I wouldn't have the strength to continue. The second day felt slightly easier and hardly did other variations of the V-Ups and rested slightly less as went through the deck. Today however was the toughest because I do feel quite sore and I wasn't sure of myself if I was going to pull through. I wanted to die around the middle of the deck but something told me to keep going and that I got this. To say it was a rude awakening would be an understatement but felt so rewarding when it was over.

I have beaten the deck on a number of occasions with various exercises such as 500 Hindu Squats with one deck, 200 Ab Wheel Rollouts & 500 Step Ups with another, over 1000 reps striking the tire with my sledgehammer and of course just Hindu Push-ups & Hindu Squats. Doing 4 exercises with a deck can be a completely different animal and because the exercises come up at random, you never know what will show up. I had reduced some numbers for the exercises because its been some time since I pushed that hard with those exercises in particular together. It was an experience that's for sure and I will one day get back to where I was doing numbers that Furey provided for the cards consistently. 

As you may or may not know, deck of card workouts are no joke and it has been said that if you're supreme condition, you would speed up through a deck in a certain amount of time. My times on the cards throughout the years varied from 18 minutes to just over 45 min. and I've done different workouts where I varied in speed and tempo. My objective regardless of the workout is not to always rely on speed because if all you do is trying to go fast, fast, fast, you could end up losing form and your breathing might get out of whack. I want to be able to journey through the workout, be aware of my breathing and be in control throughout the workout. I also want to let my body naturally speed up as I get stronger and better but I'm not looking to set world records.

One way to do this workout isn't to do reps at all but do Isometric Postures either for seconds or for breaths. I have done both and neither one will be a cake walk, matter of fact, you might love doing reps more than holding positions. Just an Isometric workout with these exercises will test your strength in ways you never knew existed. I was so damn high after one workout it felt like time stood still and my body was in the most beautiful blissful state. It is one of the best experiences of all time when it came to training. It brought a whole new meaning to the term Isometric Conditioning.

If you can't get a hold of this particular deck, you can create it with your own deck and here's how you determine the exercises.......

Diamonds= Hindu Push-ups

Hearts= Hindu Squats

Spades= V-Ups

Clubs= Tablemakers

How long will I continue to do this routine, no freaking clue. If I'm determined, I'll keep up with it, if I've had enough, take a little time off but it is a hell of a workout and it's awesome to do practically anywhere and anytime. Conditioning for the whole body and can be done in a variety of ways using different variations of the exercises. Have fun with it and if you are, try doing it twice in a row. 

Why I Never Sit Down In Training

When you do a workout, at times after finishing a set, you'll want to sit and chill for a bit or play around with your phone and twiddle your thumbs and text somebody or something; this is a bad idea. Training is a sacred time and it's better IMO to keep moving and not stopping because you're focusing most of your energy into the exercises you do and what is called active recovery keeps your body from going into complete rest mode.

Now unless you're an athlete (Pro or Ameteur), it's a different ball game because you're training for a specific sport and the set up is quite different than someone who is just working out. Competing or training for competition takes a different mindset and rules of engagement in how your workouts are set up. Personal Trainers have a different set of rules in how they apply the set up for the person their training; each person is different and they'll either work them to death or aren't always clear how that person handles their way of doing things.

My way of training even by a year has been very different. I haven't done 500 Hindu Squat Workouts this consistently since 2017 and even then the workouts were night and day. These days, I don't do 500 straight through, I use the deck of cards which I have written about and if I need a break, it is because at times I carry a lot of tension in my lower back and need to let it wind down, this brings me to the point where the title of this post becomes relevant. If I end up sitting down in the middle of a workout or even an exercise, I might as well end it there because I could get too comfortable and not want to continue, so i'll either walk around so I can keep moving or I would grab the Ropeless Jump Rope. This keeps me from being too comfortable in the middle of my training.

Personally, I don't like sitting down, especially if i'm breathing really hard because certain things in the body can be rushed too fast and one of two things can happen when you get up....One, you're either struggling just to stand and your body might end up aching like crazy or two, you stand up too fast and you get dizzy AF and you'll have to rest even more just regain your damn composure. That's an extreme way of putting it. I've pushed myself so hard that one time in the gym, I nearly blacked out and felt like I was having a heart attack, this was at 19 years old BTW.

The best way that keeps me going these days where I don't have to sit down and continue working out is using Active Recovery. Using the Ropeless Jump Rope as a way of "rest" keeps my mind sharp and helps with my breathing so when I'm ready for another set or number of reps with the cards or during my animal workout game, I'll have the strength and endurance to go at it again. This keeps up my endurance and works my conditioning as well. When I do Circuit Workouts like from Darebee, my objective is to not rest whatsoever unless I mark off the set and then move on to the next without hesitation, this is a real test of your conditioning.

If I'm going to be sitting, it's either writing, watching a movie or tv show, talking to people or messing around on my phone promoting stuff or hell when my wife works out and needs my help pointing things out to her, never when I actually train. The sign that tells me that you absolutely have to sit down in a workout is you pushed a little too hard. I look at it like it's a wrestling match at times, there's no rest in wrestling so when you workout, you keep moving, you can slow down a time or two but never stop. You tweak a few things or you listen to your body but the less time you completely rest, the more in shape you'll be.

You could say that completely resting is a weakness, it is to an extent so I'm not completely throwing it out. If you're a beginner and learning how things go than sure, take a seat if you need to or you're at an advanced age but if you're in good shape or even pretty damn awesome shape, sitting shouldn't even be an option unless it's a wall sit. Keep moving and if you need to slow down, do so but DO NOT STOP until your workout is done. This is a test of mental toughness.

Bodyweight Exercises For Real Life

From a general POV, Bodyweight Exercises have a lot to offer in terms of a solid construct of fitness. The problem with today's aspects of Bodyweight Training is that it's not treated as a sacred area of developing practical and proper applications for real world situations and is treated mainly as a source believed only used for endurance and doesn't generate a lot of strength. You can develop insane skills and build a crazy physique like those Barstarzz guys or do things that create great skill for certain competition but where does it go in the real world?

In things like Crossfit, they push to their absolute limit without regard for safety and practical applications. Most of the time, the pull up in that system isn't a true pull up and they're setting themselves up for injuries beyond their understanding. A real pull up develops strength for real life and has a greater rate of building an injury proof back, shoulders, arms and core. If you want to test your endurance and your lung power, go for a good hike, one of the best exercises for developing stamina for hiking is the Step-Up.

The basic principles of Bodyweight Training is to develop what Johnny Grube refers to "Conditioned Strength", you know I've written about him in the past and even though I don't agree with him on certain things, I have high respect for his conditioning. If you can't carry firewood without getting winded or be able to walk up stairs easily, there's something you need to do in order to counter those things. You're not going to be able to chop firewood from benching or able to swim by doing machine curls but if you apply exercises such as animal movements, squats, core work and sprints, you'll be in shape for days.

I have said that most Bodyweight Exercises are boring to me because once you get into the high reps within the triple digits, where do you really go after that? That doesn't mean they don't work like a charm, they most certainly do and I can attest to it by being able to do things that don't get winded in real life, I've hiked for long periods of time, chopped wood without losing strength and can swim pretty well. A key aspect to have a hold on is how you breathe, the better your breathing, the more endurance you have period. This is a critical element in a combat situation and I learned the hard way that if you can't control your breathing, you might as well be dead. In No-Gi Grappling, at first I was putting too much emphasis on my strength and not seeing how my breath work went and I was gassing out quicker than you can say "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious." Little by little, I relaxed a bit more and focused on my breathing while rolling and was lasting longer in rounds.

You don't need to do hundreds of crunches and you certainly don't need to do muscle up upon muscle up to use your training in the real world. Use the basics down to a T and that's really all you need. You can gain more advanced skills but the basics will save your ass more than those advanced moves ever will. Also, if you're getting injured in training more than in the real world, there's something wrong there. In training, it's more controlled and applying things that are useful and learning what works, but in real life, not everything is in our control and sometimes injuries at times are inevitable but we do the best we can to not let that happen.

Get in condition not just to look like a million bucks but to use it when the time comes to either go on hikes, help a friend move, do some labor as a job or to help people in need or to even save a life. 

Animal Movement: The Fun Way To Get In Awesome Shape

A lot of us have suffered through tough workouts and two ways have gone about it; we either strive and push through or we suffer more by pushing through. Through blood, sweat, tears and screaming a time or two, going through certain workouts in my experience never seemed to satisfy a craving for finding the most enjoyable, until I became a fanatic on Animal Movement Conditioning.

Some people will say if you enjoy your workouts, you're not doing it right. I do believe in discipline and striving to improve everyday plus working hard for what I want to achieve. Suffering in training at times is only temporary but over time, it can make you worse than when you started. That's not to say you shouldn't work hard, bust your ass but with intention and not suffer serious injury.

When it comes to Animal Movements, they make me bust my ass and push through the mental barriers more than any other system and for good reason. I don't feel bored and you can be creative in more ways than with typical calisthenics. The fun part about it is it drives you to work hard without realizing you're working hard. Hard work takes discipline, there's no way around that and many successful people busted their ass to get where they wanted to be but there's an opposite side of the coin too; many people who worked hard, showed up and be more than the other person has not only suffered physically and mentally but have gotten the short end of the stick and were never truly recognized for their efforts.

Life is too damn short to live in a suffering state so why not make the most of it even the darkest hours. Life already has you by the balls or if you're a woman, make you feel less of yourself and push your state of mind into a frenzy that can be difficult to get out of. The point I'm making in the case of working out with animal movements is that you don't have to suffer and when you move and feel free, you can take that mindset and work hard outside of that with a better vibe of positive outlooks.

I never felt right when I just dread through a workout and go through the motions and just act like life is just as worse. The power of moving like an animal creates the mindset of having a great adventure and that's what it teaches about life, to quote Peter Pan from the film Hook he says at the very end "to live, would be an awfully big adventure." I've said many times that the Animal Dice Game teaches you to expect the unexpected, to not be afraid of what comes next and see it as a way to play and view things from another perspective, to transform and use your imagination and that is one of the greatest things to strive for in life as well.

Move like an animal and you'll never look at exercise the same way again. It makes you work hard while having a great time and challenging yourself outside normal fitness methods and developing your body that gives you long-term strength, insane cardio, both aerobic and anaerobic conditioning, balance (especially if you're over 40), coordination and functional muscles. You can make it high impact or low impact, short or long and it brings out the kid within all of us. It makes you calmer if you're hyperactive, burns calories like crazy and can turn you into a fitness machine in record time. Work hard and play hard at the same time. 

Ropeless Jump Roping

Almost sounds like an oxymoron doesn't it? Although it isn't very appealing, I don't go for things that look like a million bucks but I do go for things that could work for me. For as long as I can remember, I was never really coordinated whether I was in sports or whatever. I did get good at some things but I never had an equal level of either side of my body. Hence why I was always hesitant with Jump Roping.

As a kid I did the different Jump Rope games we do and played around with a rope in various PE classes over the years but no matter how hard I worked at it, I just never clicked with it, getting hit all the time, never could count my jumps well and couldn't last a minute without to save my life without getting smacked somewhere. Only less than a few years ago, I decided to try the Ropeless Jump Rope. I figured, what the hell I'll give it a chance. Again, I wasn't very coordinated but something felt right with this thing. My practice had better results and yeah it's not the same as a regular jump rope but I can learn all the same exercises without getting smacked around.

Some may ask "What the hell is that? Why not just use a real rope or not have anything and just jump?" They're not wrong, I could just use a real rope, I have a few that even my wife uses from time to time but I like the feeling of having something in my hands and work my body as if it was a regular rope. I can skip, I can sprint in place, jump side to side, do lunges, walk, march, crisscross and other things plus I can use it as a workout on it's own or use it a active recovery tool during regular workouts.

I have done a full 10 minute workout with it non stop and it has been said that 10 minutes of rope skipping is the equivalent to 30 minutes of running. My calves were sore as hell but it was a great workout that had great benefits including cardiovascular conditioning. My main purpose of it is to either wake myself up or as warm up/cool down and between rolls of my animal dice game. The jumping in between rolls of my animal game varies in speed, sometimes I'll run in place or jog in place and when my breath is back at a level where I'm comfortable, I'll go back to the game and continue without feeling tired or fatigued. This helps with keeping up my endurance and not sit around or walk around breathing like a maniac.

Whether you're a beginner or a professional athlete, the ropeless jump rope can be a great tool for anyone and like me, it saves the frustration and feeling discouraged because we don't have the coordination so you can get the job done when you need to. Jump Roping has been a tool for many people that need some solid conditioning, cardiovascular/muscular endurance, stamina and speed. From MMA Fighters to Hockey Players, Baseball stars, Olympic Wrestlers, Average Joes and High School/College Jocks, it's helped many become successful in their endeavor and it's great for people who just want to get in shape.

Reap the benefits of regular jump roping by grabbing the Ropeless Jump Rope and have fun with workouts that will take you to the next level.