Last night I watched a documentary on the life of Vasily Alekseyev, the Soviet weightlifter, who set 80 world records and won gold medals in both the 1972 and 1976 Olympics. I remember watching him destroy his competitors when he hoisted 255 kilograms (562 pounds) overhead in the clean-and-jerk.
It’s hard to believe that a man with so much might and power, in his latter years (he died at age 69), needed assistance getting to his feet. In one scene, after getting a massage as he laid on the ground, it took three grown men to help him up. Reminds me of the saying, “A strength overextended becomes a weakness.”
Alekseyev was one of my heroes growing up, even though he was on the wrong team. He was all I had to model when I began training with weights at age 13. At the time, there were no books or videos on how to do the Olympic lifts. Nor any coaches. The imagery I had in my memory banks was all I had to go by when I hoisted a barbell from the ground and pressed it overhead.
It’s been decades since I lifted weights – and this alone has saved me a lot of misery. But there have definitely been some aches and pains over the years, mostly from wrestling injuries I sustained, that I have had to battle from time to time.
As I told you last week, I’m getting ready to make a recommendation for a product that may prove to be immensely helpful to many, many people, especially those who have joint, muscle and/or tendon pain.
Perhaps the biggest reason this product is so important is the simple fact that MOST people who are training regularly, are constantly working around a number of injuries. Sometimes it is one big injury; but oftentimes there are numerous aches and pains that affect what you’re able to do.
Take the average runners you see beating the streets. Every step they take showcases the difficulties they are silently suffering with.
Same goes for people out for a leisurely stroll.
And then there are those who are in the gym, religiously pumping iron or dancing around in aerobics classes. You might not realize it, but the fact is that most of these people have aches and pains that they are attempting to PUSH through.
Ultimately, the injuries magnify and there comes a day when the pain is so great that working out is no longer an option. It’s sad.
One of the keys to being pain free is the bodyweight calisthenics I showcase in my best-selling Combat Conditioning book and DVDs. The other is what I am going to reveal within the next day or two.
It’s a form of isometrics that my friend, Eric Guttmann, a Naval officer, figured out while reading my Gama Fitness course, in search of what to do to finally heal himself of the aches and pains that often accompany “the game.” In Eric’s case, he sustained numerous injuries, first as a collegiate track and field athlete, then as a martial artist as well as on various operations and missions with the Navy.
When Eric sent me the program that he figured out and field-tested, I was stunned. I encouraged him to put together a course that would help people of all ages and backgrounds, from the Olympic weightlifter to the average couch cushion, recover from the pain they’ve been dealing with. He set out to do as I recommended, and let me tell you, his course is a GOLD MEDAL WINNER.
I will have more information for you very soon.
In the interim, for those of you who want to own one of the last printed copies of Combat Conditioning (two boxes left), make sure you do so NOW. Once all remaining print copies are gone, it will only be available digitally.
As a bonus for ordering NOW, I am also enclosing, at no additional charge, a copy of Kick Ass Take Names as well as one of those martial arts magazines in which I graced the cover. The magazine will be autographed with a blue Sharpie, my favorite color.
Anyway, time for me to run.
I’ll rap with you later.
Matt Furey
