The Final Nail In The Coffin After 15 Years

A while back in October, I did an exercise that I demonstrated on Social Media called the Hindu Burpee; combining the Hindu Push-up & Hindu Squat. I've written a couple articles on it which you can find somewhere on this blog. It was a great exercise and I learned that particular variation from Matt Furey on his Membership Site. This exercise did have a negative effect or a positive one depending on the circumstance surrounding it that ended 15 years of my association with him.

The way it ended was I showed my demonstration on his Private Group on Facebook and wanted to give people an idea of what it meant for me. I never intended to steal it or make a big deal out of it, just showing an exercise all the while crediting Matt and what the exercise is about; it backfired and I not only was removed from the group, he unfriended me and terminated my status as a member to his Inner Circle site. I made the effort to reach out to him and to ask why and if he had such a problem with it, why didn't he ask me to just remove it which I gladly would've done if he directly told me to. All he said was (paraphrasing) "Let me think on it" and nothing else after that.

It devastated me because for over a decade and a half, I bought course after course, sunk energy into learning from him and hell even had a one time interview (which to this day I still think was horrible on my end). It hit me hard because his book Combat Conditioning literally got me on my feet again and changed everything for me when it came to training. Around my second to third Surgery, I got the book and started reading through it, the moment I was able to walk again I focused that first month to nothing but the Royal Court and put everything I had into self-rehabbing and getting in shape. Within less than a few months, I had strength and conditioning I never experienced before and it put me on the path to Physical Culture.

Throughout the years, I made those exercises and other things he put out a priority and made 90+% of my training to bodyweight exercises. He got me into the cables, the qi gong stuff, the pathway to the old time strongmen, him and a couple friends led me to Bud Jeffries, the same man who became one of my dearest friends and officiated my wedding. Furey made that explosion for me to carve out my passion for fitness. I was literally loyal to the cause he created. 

For it to end the way it did without any explanation, no response back at me and just making me feel like I was kicked to the curb, for what? Did he think I was trying to steal his thunder, make a ton of money off of him, upstage him? I couldn't do any of those things if I tried and never spoke to me again and treated it like I meant nothing to him but a follower who was a student to his method. It pissed me off for quite some time, I only told a few people what happened including Bud. I got a reality check about Furey that I won't go into and as I started to understand it better, it made sense on why he did what he did. 

Whenever I try to do Combat Conditioning or some other training methods I learned from him, I couldn't bring myself to really finish anything because it just puts a dark cloud over me and I would at times get angry or don't have the will or desire to get a workout done. I'm not saying his stuff doesn't work, they do and one of many people in the world that is living proof of what they can do. He has done a lot to bring Bodyweight Exercises to the general public but let's face it, his methods for all intents and purposes are refurbished exercises that were taught by Karl Gotch and others throughout centuries of training incredible athletes. Most would say they're knock offs or rip offs of other people's methods but I think the word Refurbished is more appropriate.

I never wanted to be an enemy and it was never an intention to make exercises he put out a thing where I called them my own, things happen for a reason and although it put a hole on 15 years of dedication, like a rock being thrown into a lake, the ripples are there and go away but the lake is forever changed. I was reluctant to write this because I don't know what effect it'll have and I wish things went differently but life goes on and Combat Conditioning served its purpose for me. 

Matt, for what it's worth, I hope you continue to live the life you made for yourself and continue coming up with training ideas that will give people results. You started my path and because of you, I will continue to learn from others and make the most of it.