Combat Training: The Road to China by Matt Furey

Combat Training:
The Road to China by Matt Furey

Combat Training: The Road to China by Matt Furey
Number of moves: 45
Number of Tapes: 1
Length: 1 1/2 Hours
Level: Beginner
Rating: 2 1/2 Stars

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Here it is, for those huge Matt Furey fans out there! 1 and 1/2 hours of Matt training and preparing to go to China to bring back the gold in an international kung fu tournament. This tape is pretty much what you would expect. Matt performs all aspects of his training routine. Not much else to be said here. If you were to follow Matt around with a camcorder taping him working out you would have this tape. There is very little in the way of production value here.

Despite the promotional descriptions of this tape I have read, this is not an instructional tape. Matt does not go through how to perform any of the training drills. Nor does he give you any tips on how to coordinate or structure your training. This is really a high testosterone glimpse into Matt's training routine. Matt never shows the practical applications of most of the exercises. You really need several of Matt's other tapes to really understand the what's and why's of the drills on this tape.

To his credit, Matt does not try to make this tape a "Rocky 4" workout tape. Matt works his butt off and doesn't make any attempt to make it look glamorous. Matt lifts beer kegs, runs uphill wind sprints, lifts weights, shadow grapples, spars, etc.

To show his softer side, Matt does standing breathing Chi Kung exercises to develop internal energy. Unfortunately, Matt again does not explain how to do these exercises. This tape really can't stand on its own.

The best part of the tape is Matt's excellent motivational discussions in-between workout sequences. The main discussion centers around staying focused on your goals. In sum, believe in yourself and don't care what others think.

Lest you think this tape is all business and no fun, Matt's sense of humor does show through. Assuming that most people would watch this tape and start rewinding when they hit the advertisements for his books and videos, Matt placed a bonus section on the end of the tape. This is best part of the tape. As a teaser for Matt's other tapes he shows a few Shuai-chiao and freestyle wrestling throws. The few moves demonstrated looked very good.

However, the on the floor camera angle was shall I say "sub-optimal" for demonstrating moves. It was kind of like lying on the floor looking up at the instructor. It reminded me of an old computer boxing game called "4D-Boxing." It was a very early first person perspective game. When you would get knocked down or out, you would be looking up at your opponent standing over you taunting you. This section of the tape had a very similar perspective. But I digress. I would have also like to have seen the moves demonstrated from several different angles too.

Bottom line:

This tape is really for big fans of Matt Furey. The price of the tape at $74 is way out of line. Hell you can get 3 hours of camcorder footage of Rickson training at home for free. If this wasn't bad enough, according to Matt's www page the price of this tape will be going up to "$99 or more" in the near future!! Actually I think this price increase was suppose to happen January of this year (1998). A price reduction would be a wiser business move. I think $20 would be an appropriate price for this tape. At $20 this tape would move to 3 stars. At $104 ($99 +$5 shipping and handling) "or more" this tape plummets to a ½ star.

Ordering information:

This tape can be ordered from The New Full Contact www site. I do highly recommend this www site as the hands down best source of NHB news on the www. As, always I don't work for Matt Furey, The new Full Contact www site, or 4D-Boxing. Althoooough . . . come to think of it, if I combined the three I could create a really cool sounding new martial art called "Furey's Full Contact 4D-Boxing." This is still not as cool as "Drop Zone Jujitsu" which is really really useful if attacked while sky diving.