The Greatest Wealth is Health
I really like this saying in Matt Furey’s Combat Conditioning. It’s very true, especially since if you’re not healthy you can’t really live to succeed elsewhere to become wealthy. I really enjoyed reading CC. It’s fairly simplistic, but also gets straight to the point, not a lot of fluff.
I’ve read other people’s critiques as saying that it’s hard to learn the exercises. I had no problem, especially when I compared my form to a few other people’s online.
Right away Furey makes comments against weightlifting, I can understand this from a few viewpoints. Not only is it contrary to what he teaches or believes, but it also makes his material look better.
His philosophy of training the whole body and not in groups really speaks to me, it saves time and prevents muscular imbalances and injuries that can be caused by weight training.
I like the focus on functional fitness worrying more about performance than looks. Which is ideal for me because I want to get better physically, looking good is just a nice side effect. He also makes a very good counter point at the end of his book regarding this.
All in all the book is fairly straightforward. It looks cheaply done, and has a few typos, but what would you expect from a self published guy on the internet?
I love the fact that many of the exercises overlap into different exercise groups. This saves time; one exercise for cardio AND strength, one for stamina AND flexibility etc. Also the exercises overlap muscle groups, leaning more toward the dynamic of working the whole body. Plus they can be done with NO EQUIPMENT ergo anywhere and anywhen.
There’s some humour in there too, I don’t really agree with most of it, but there are a couple good one liners that made me chuckle. I really enjoy the diversity of the exercises as well as the sample workouts, specifically the Gotch Bible.
He has some dietary recommendations right at the beginning. Nothing processed or instant from a package, no white foods, and no starch. All good advice many dietary experts/Doctors swear by.
Also at the very beginning is this paraphrased list of the promises of Combat Conditioning:
Promises of Combat Conditioning
-Lower and Upper Back much stronger, neck will be a bundle of pain free muscle.
-Bulging waistline and excess flab will disappear.
-Massive increases in functional strength, flexibility, and endurance, they couldn’t put a number on it but 500% for starters.
-Less stress, better digestion, and improved circulation.
-Better sleep.
-Nerves of steel and laser like focus.
-Have an exercise program you can do at home or on the road.
These promises are the results of just about any exercise program undergone safely, so it’s no surprise that Furey’s program can deliver.