Matt Furey
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He's definitely one of the most controversial "fitness gurus" out
there right now. He's made a lot of money, and a lot of
detractors as well. I have his original "Combat Conditioning"
book and there's some decent stuff in there. But I have some
criticisms:
I'm a big fan of bodyweight exercises, but doing hundreds of
reps of a given exercise seems excessive to me.   I would
prefer to just "upgrade" to a more difficult exercise and do
fewer reps. He's against squats using heavy weights because
he says they're bad for the knees, but couldn't doing 500 Hindu
squats on a regular basis also pose some problems? I'm not
an expert, but it seems possible. Many have criticized the
bridge because they say it compresses the spine. In his
Combat Conditioning book, there's one exercise, I forget the
name, but it's basically a headstand, except you're balancing
on the side of the head rather than top of the head. Scary.
Also, he's overweight. I'm not going to criticize him for being
overweight, but he shouldn't rant on and on and on about how
great his products are at helping people burn fat until he drops
about 20-30 pounds of it himself. Recently in some of his
newsletters he was ranting about a "Farmer Burns breathing
exercise" that takes six or seven inches of fat off one's waist-
and then gave an unbelievably flimsy argument for why "spot
reduction" is possible. And he also has a very dubious Chinese
Sex Secrets course, and of course, like the Great Gama
course, it costs a few hundred dollars. Yeesh. Even good
information can be terribly overpriced, especially on the
Internet. With so many books, e-books, videos, etc., out there
that cost 20-50 dollars, why would I want to drop hundreds of
dollars on one info product?
His marketing is too over the top for me. But it seems to be
working for him. It's been said that he's grossed several million
dollars. Edited by: JD074
there right now. He's made a lot of money, and a lot of
detractors as well. I have his original "Combat Conditioning"
book and there's some decent stuff in there. But I have some
criticisms:
I'm a big fan of bodyweight exercises, but doing hundreds of
reps of a given exercise seems excessive to me.   I would
prefer to just "upgrade" to a more difficult exercise and do
fewer reps. He's against squats using heavy weights because
he says they're bad for the knees, but couldn't doing 500 Hindu
squats on a regular basis also pose some problems? I'm not
an expert, but it seems possible. Many have criticized the
bridge because they say it compresses the spine. In his
Combat Conditioning book, there's one exercise, I forget the
name, but it's basically a headstand, except you're balancing
on the side of the head rather than top of the head. Scary.
Also, he's overweight. I'm not going to criticize him for being
overweight, but he shouldn't rant on and on and on about how
great his products are at helping people burn fat until he drops
about 20-30 pounds of it himself. Recently in some of his
newsletters he was ranting about a "Farmer Burns breathing
exercise" that takes six or seven inches of fat off one's waist-
and then gave an unbelievably flimsy argument for why "spot
reduction" is possible. And he also has a very dubious Chinese
Sex Secrets course, and of course, like the Great Gama
course, it costs a few hundred dollars. Yeesh. Even good
information can be terribly overpriced, especially on the
Internet. With so many books, e-books, videos, etc., out there
that cost 20-50 dollars, why would I want to drop hundreds of
dollars on one info product?
His marketing is too over the top for me. But it seems to be
working for him. It's been said that he's grossed several million
dollars. Edited by: JD074
Nice Post. I used the wrong word when I said
"amazing". I meant unique, as his program is so
unconventional. Also, I think doing 500 Hindu Squats is probably
excessive. The reason it is so difficult to do 500 Hindu Squats
is because it is hard to count all those reps. I also think
he fabricated his encounters with Karl Gotch.
I think the core principles are good.
Exercises that build all around conditioning and flexibility making
progress faster. He is certainly not the first person to make the
Dand and Hindu Squat famous, as Bruce Lee used them in his
movies. Personnally, I am a big fan of the bridge. The only
danger in the bridge is pushing yourself too far. The bridge
should not be performed when one feels a lot of pain doing it. In
wrestling, the neck bridge is done all of the time.
"amazing". I meant unique, as his program is so
unconventional. Also, I think doing 500 Hindu Squats is probably
excessive. The reason it is so difficult to do 500 Hindu Squats
is because it is hard to count all those reps. I also think
he fabricated his encounters with Karl Gotch.
I think the core principles are good.
Exercises that build all around conditioning and flexibility making
progress faster. He is certainly not the first person to make the
Dand and Hindu Squat famous, as Bruce Lee used them in his
movies. Personnally, I am a big fan of the bridge. The only
danger in the bridge is pushing yourself too far. The bridge
should not be performed when one feels a lot of pain doing it. In
wrestling, the neck bridge is done all of the time.
I looked over the CC book today and there are a lot of good
exercises in there. I particularly like all the pushup variations:
Hindu, one leg in air (assisted one arm), one arm, extended
arms, etc. The extended arms pushup is particularly
challenging- and of course the one arm pushup, but that goes
without saying. It'll take me awhile to master those two.
There's so much variety to bodyweight exercises, I feel like I
could experiment with exercises and variations of exercises for
years. I'm not against lifting weights, I may do some lifting in
the future, but the bodyweight stuff is more fun for me
personally. I'm really interested in the exercises that gymnasts
do. I'd love to be able to do the front lever, planche, muscle
up, etc. Really challenging exercises, no doubt about it.
Ross Enamait also has a good bodyweight only book
(warriorforce.com) I really like him because he's sensible and
emphasizes cheap equipment (he has another book that
incorporates sand bags, bodyweight, weighted backpack,
sledgehammer, wheelbarrow, etc.) There's so much
over-hyped and overpriced stuff out there that it's really
refreshing to see someone in the "fitness world" who's so down
to earth.
By the way, that one exercise is called "Headstand with neck
stretch." Yikes! It looks downright painful
exercises in there. I particularly like all the pushup variations:
Hindu, one leg in air (assisted one arm), one arm, extended
arms, etc. The extended arms pushup is particularly
challenging- and of course the one arm pushup, but that goes
without saying. It'll take me awhile to master those two.
There's so much variety to bodyweight exercises, I feel like I
could experiment with exercises and variations of exercises for
years. I'm not against lifting weights, I may do some lifting in
the future, but the bodyweight stuff is more fun for me
personally. I'm really interested in the exercises that gymnasts
do. I'd love to be able to do the front lever, planche, muscle
up, etc. Really challenging exercises, no doubt about it.
Ross Enamait also has a good bodyweight only book
(warriorforce.com) I really like him because he's sensible and
emphasizes cheap equipment (he has another book that
incorporates sand bags, bodyweight, weighted backpack,
sledgehammer, wheelbarrow, etc.) There's so much
over-hyped and overpriced stuff out there that it's really
refreshing to see someone in the "fitness world" who's so down
to earth.
By the way, that one exercise is called "Headstand with neck
stretch." Yikes! It looks downright painful