Morphing Resolution

One of my New Year's Resolutions, you might remember, was to train for a 5k race. So, how is the training going?

Well, I'll tell you - after about a week of pounding my poor vertebrae to marmalade I decided that taking up running at 44 is a really stupid thing to do. Not only that, but a nurse who works with the elderly told me that the bottoms of our feet get thinner with age. Some old folk walk around on bones and skin and that's it. Imagine how much that must hurt. Yeow - I like having flesh on the bottoms of my feet, thanks awfully! So I quit running. Always did hate running anyway. Don't know why I ever thought I'd like it.

That put me back to my usual workout. Since the 1980's I've been doing The Firm videos. I love the Firm, but after twenty years I felt like I needed something to change it up.

About that time this pal of mine, the expert in Yemeni tribal politics, stopped by to yak about Ashtanga yoga. He was all about the Ashtanga, to the point of getting down on my office floor in his jeans to show me his flexibility. Good Lord! How inappropriate and yet strangely inspiring.

I got an Ashtanga DVD and went through it a few times. It felt like something that would be a lot of fun in a big group. It felt like it needed a live teacher right there with me to explain tiny adjustments that make or break yoga positions. It also felt . . . boring. I just couldn't get excited about holding my body in such a way that my lungs felt like crumpled tin foil and my arms threatened to crack in two. I did like the challenge of the Plank postion, but decided to save Ashtanga for another time.

Then my gnat-like attention wandered to Matt Furey. I got Matt's book called Combat Conditioning and, I've gotta tell ya peeps, Matt is the bomb. His routine specializes in simple moves that force you to support your own body weight - no step-ups or free weights are required or needed. After just a couple of weeks of doing Matt's calisthenics I can feel "deep muscle stimulation." That's a fifty-dollar way of saying "my ass is moving on up." He also incorporates some of the difficult work of Ashtanga into a moving sequence. That is, you get a Plank position in Combat Conditioning, with a whole lot more. It's almost like an Ashtanga that I enjoy doing.

Matt is a former college wrestling coach turned entrepreneur. I'm obviously not making anything by promoting him - I just think he's great at what he does . . . inspite of his butt-ugly website.

If you like complicated dance moves in your work out, you might not like Matt Furey. If you don't like to sweat you'll hate him. But if you like feeling muscles at the bone squealing out with joy (some call this being sore) the day after a good workout you'll love his products. I swear, the day after my first 15 minute workout I felt like an elephant had stepped on me between the shoulder blades. But as soon as the sore faded I was back for more. Go, Matt, go!