Matt Furey's Products?

I am curious, what are all these books and couses sold by Matt Furey about? Gama fitness, Farmer Burns - it sounds interesting and I would never buy it and also maybe I am asking in the wrong place. Anyone?

he’s into body weight exercise, wrestling, and fighting technique along with 'chineese remedies’for carpal tunnel (a site said it is mostly low level grip work).

What walk on said. You can find most, if not all, of his exercises free online. Just go to Google and start typing.

You can also look under “bodyweight exercises” and “Combat Training” or “Combat Conditioning” on T-Mag. Just type in the words that I have in quotes (without the quotation marks) and reset the search area to T-Mag.

I like Matt and have spoken to him a few times about his methodologies.

He is an incredible grappler, Chin-Na champion of China. Division 2 champion. He is also an avid fitness enthusiast, selling various courses of his own invention, and those of old timers.

he makes a strong case for body weight only training to improve grappling. At the very least he has convinced me that body weight only can work during periods where you cannot get to the weights, or you are simply burned out and tired of the same old, same old.

I have virtually maintained my strength level in certain Barbell, Dumbbell lifts while doing specific body weight only exercises.

At the very least his site is interesting. Check it out!

Nothing special from what I see. However, I hate his idea of the “royal court” for conditioning, as well performing 500 Hindu Squats might not always translate into conditioning for another activity (swimming). Plus endless repetitions get BORING. Not to mention his prices are a little high for a guy like me($14 US shipping for a $30 video…).

If you have any interest in body weight exercises (seeing as you asked about Furey), check out Ross Enamait’s “The Underground Guide to Warrior Fitness.” It may be a cheesy name and the writing is definitely “intense” (“warrior” is capitalized a lot!), but it’s an awesome reference for bodyweight workouts. Especially if you travel like me, it will help out a lot. Not to mention his cheap alternatives (using a 2x4 instead of an expensive balance board if you want to do balance work).

Do a search on him if interested.

I agree with most of what is aid here, although the sleights have been somewhat generic…

Like: 500 Hindu squats not carrying over to swimming performance… no offense, but no shit. I bet the inverse is rather accurate also, that swimming won’t carry over to performance in Hindu squats. Especially since swimming is a hip driven movement with little break in the knees, and hindu squats are a cardiovascular/ quad exercise… hmm.

Furey products are expensive, and I have a few of them… so I am not postulating here. He actually shows a number of different body weight exercises at the end of his videos, so boredom is for those with little imagination.

The reason Furey advocates the King’s court are fairly obvious:

Hindu squats are not a great exercise for sprint based (or swimming either!!!) sports, as it is primarily a quad exercise. It will teach you something about fortitude… much like what Davies talks of so often. My kness were sore as hell at first when doing them, but soon the slight bit of swelling went down, and they were far stronger than before. It took me 3.5 weeks to get to 500 Hindu squats in a row (I am a good athlete, but very rear-chain dominant). This takes about 15 minutes to do, and your quads will be swollen like ballons. If 15 minutes of an activity is boring, I guess that any elite conditioning program will not suffice, because in college, our sprint workouts lasted for over an hour, and all we did was run in a straight line…wow, it was really terrible…not. Also, if you were to follow most strength programs advocating 5 sets of 5 with 4 minutes rest between each set, that would bring you up to 24 minutes I believe…a lifetime of boredom in this McDonald’s generated society.

I really almost cannot believe how fuckin’ soft some people are… I mean Davies alludes to it, and he is so right…we are a society of pussies. Hell, do them while you are sitting on your soft ass watching West Wing.

On to Hindu-push-ups. These were very difficult for me at first, as I dislocated my shoulders a number of times, and my throwing/ serving background really trashed my rotator cuff in my right shoulder. The Hindu push-up is great for strengthening the entire shoulder region, and it also stretches you out like nobody’s business if you do them right. It is basically a downward dog into a cobra…swooping through the bottom region. They are pretty nice.

Back bridges are pretty controversial, but all I know was that since incorporating bridges, bridge-push-ups, back bends, and walk-overs back into my workouts, my lower and midback problems have disappeared. Maybe I am the exception, but I doubt it. These really teach you static strength, and stretch out your back much like a pilates 1/2 barrel does. If your neck can take doing them, than good for you… I was a wide receiver built like Merton Hanks, and mine was ok with them, so I bet your would be too.

He also sells a video which shows a ton of old time workout moves on ropes, rings, and a trpeze type unit. This video was sweet to say the least, if only i had the equipment. When I finally open my own gym, I will definitely try to get these items installed along with Elite racks, reverse hyper, GHR’s, etc.

Here is a quick list of weighted and non-weighted GPP for you to try:

Weighted

Farmer?s Walk
Lunge Walks
Car Push
Sled Drag
Hands Behind Knees
Ankle Drag (F,B,S)

Wheelbarrow
Backward Barrow
Uphill Barrow
Punching Sled Drag
Uppercut Sled Drag
Rowing Sled Drag

Non-Weighted

Jumping Jacks
Shuffle Jacks
Slalom Jumps
Vertical Jumps
Hindu Jumpers
Split Squats
Star Jumps
Burpees
Mountain Climbers
Bootstrappers
Back Bend on Knees
Hindu Squats
Lunges
High Knees
Skips
Hindu Push-ups
1-Leg Push-ups
Tri-ups
Wide-ups
Arms Over Head-ups
Hand Stand-ups
Sumos
Swoop L/R Ups
Clap-up w/obstacle
Clap-ups
MB-ups (varied)
MB Scoop Tosses
Back Bends
Front Bridge
Back Bridge
Back Bend-ups
Table Tops
Foot Touches
6? Tri-ups
Wheelbarrow
Crab Walks

Any Abdominal
Like:
Linear
Incline Sit-ups
Pull-downs
Hanging Pike (Circle)
Bruce Lee?s
Reverse Sit-ups
Good Morning Mary
Arm Bars
Chinees (Bikes)
Med Ball Handoffs
Sit-ups
Eagle Sit-ups
Seated Pike
Leg Throw
Jacknife
Downward Ball Smash
Swiss Ball (Reverse)
Jandas

Rotation
Med Ball Twists
Russian Twists
Bicycles
Sit,Cross,Cross
Rainbows

Low Back
Bridges
Back Bends
Table Tops
Superman
Spiders
Cobras

Lateral Flexion
Cable Side Bends
DB Side Bedns
Side Deadlift

Stabalization
Side Deadlifts
Figure 8’s

Compression
Vacuums

The list isn’t complete, but they encompass the GPP I prescribe on a regular basis with my clients. They do pretty well in both physique transformation and performance, scratch that, they do amazingly well.

Obviously it is vital you incorporate these items into a sound program, but this will help get you started.

So, are the videos worth it? I am not sure… I think there might be other videos better than his depending on your goals. If you want a great set of videos containing some exercises that can and will change your physique, then these might be the ones. I will say that I loaned out these videos to a friend who ‘lost them’, and I might re-buy them… but, I make a living doing this work. For you, it might be different.

Just don’t get them if you are a swimmer… how funny.

Lil Coach H
CSCS

Heh, sorry for the comparison, I just realize it was lame.

No problem Fat Panda… I am on my period… moved to Indy a year ago, following my wife’s career, and my life sucks here… just a touch impatient.

You just happen to be the guy who was my target…I have read your threads before and they are good… keep up the good work.

I really need to get back into martial arts… and leave Panda alone. Not enough of my silverback ass getting beat makes for a fiesty gorilla.

Sorry to snap.

Geez Louise Silverback, thats a lot of choices. Not familiar with all of them. I also have a dislocated shoulder that just isn’t returning to normal like I want so maybe I will try the Hindu pushups as well.

No problem at all Coach H. My post should have explained that I am too much of an addict for variety (I have too many “toys,” hills, cliffs, and lakes in my area) in the same workout to show that I was unfairly biased against Furey’s products.

I’ll think before I post next time :wink:

BEFORE YOU BUY ANYTHING- you can get the Farmer Burns book FOR FREE from “www.sandowplus.co.uk”. An AWESOME website with dozens of books from old school, early 20th century bbers and strongmen.
Yes, Furey and his ideas are controversial. Why? Basically he’s a very self-confident dude who has learned outrageous marketing techniques that are almost ‘revolting’ (to me) they’re so over the top and carnival barker-esque. And, a lot of his programs have nothing new in them. Many products are simply compilations of known exercises, eg his BS Carpal tunnel tape.
He’s also the real deal as Zeb pointed out. He’s also studying catch wrestling and old methods of conditioning under a famous old-time wrestler and shooter, Karl Gotch, who trained a lot of shooters in Japan and also trained New Japan pro wrestlers for a few years. FYI, Jap pro wrestlers are taught many shoot-fighting techniques and holds-they wrestle a lot more ‘realistically’ than most US pro wrestlers. This is why a lot of Japanese pros fight in Pride and other MMA competitions. ANyway…
I have a couple of his products and went to a seminar of his. Many of his products ARE over-priced. For BW exercises, definitely go with Ross’ book since he has tons more exercises and has routines to follow, which Furey doesn’t include. Same goes for Fish’s bw tape-it has a lot more 'meat’to it.
BTW, Furey told us in the seminar that a lot of his stuff comes from spur-of-the-moment inspiration and that he writes and puts it on the market ASAP from the time its done. So many of his products are not labors of love. So they are not loaded with info, they are not meaty, they are cut and dry and to the point.
BUt, his stuff works.
I recommend to avoid buying the CC tapes new, which I own. THey are not worth 100 bucks. Plus you can buy copies on ebay on the cheap, then they’d be worth the (lower) price.
I have his European strand pulling challenge video, its OK but everything is available for free on various strandpulling and cable pulling websites. Plus, you can figure out 15 of the 30 or so exercises he shows within the first 10 minutes of playing with cables.
His catch wrestling products I’m not familiar with, but I just bought a copy on ebay of his Neck Cranks and I should be getting it anyday now. I’m sure his wrestling stuff is great, because of what he has accomplished and who he is learning from.
Combat COnditioning, the book, shows 50 exercises but Silverback already gave you a ton of them. Again, other than the exrcises, there’s not much to the book. You could probably read it in 45 to an hour since its moslty pics.

Feel free to ask me any more questions

Just curious, has anyone seen or heard of Furey or anyone trained by him competing in MMA or sub grappling?

Many of “his” exercises are very good and most have been used in judo/jiu-jitsu/wrestling for decades.

Try doing alternating sets of cobra pushups/hindu squats/burpees. That’ll kick your ass :slight_smile: