The
Martial Art of Wrestling
The
Martial Art of Wrestling : 12 Timeless Secrets Every Wrestler Should Know by Matt
Furey
From Mattfurey.com
Reviewed
by Dom 2000
"Remember:
Wrestling is a martial art." This appears in bold so often throughout this
book that I gained the general impression that it was written on every page. This
is not actually the case. What we have here is a book about wrestling training,
rather than actual technique, applying principles Furey picked up in his study
of Chinese martial arts and career as a competitive wrestler in high school and
college. That’s sixth form and university in my neck of the woods.
The
book is divided into 12 chapters each teaching a different aspect and given an
outrageous title such as " How to Make Every Wrestling Move 300% More Effective!
" or my personal favourite " How to Develop a Force Field of Energy
That Makes Your Opponent Feel Helpless When He Attacks You! ". All the titles
end with an exclamation mark.
First
we’ll discuss content and then literary style and presentation.
Right
from the off it should be clear that this book does not contain teachings on how
to perform wrestling moves as such. There is no chapter on "How to Do a Double
Leg Takedown! " for instance. This is a book devoted to what JKD people refer
to as attributes. Speed, endurance, explosiveness, mental focus etc. Taken from
this point of view there is definitely some useful stuff in here. For example
I’d never really thought about shadow wrestling even though I spend time
each day shadow boxing. Generally the content is worthwhile (I know that force
field has sure come in handy of late...) addressing how you train and how you
think about training. It is not necessarily restricted to wrestling either, many
of the principles involved applying to other areas of martial study such as tailoring
your supplementary training (weights, running) to suit your art.
This
brings me on to the style and presentation.
The
pictures (where required, such as in the set ups section) are adequate, and worth
seeing if only for the sight of a beardless, not quite as bald as he is these
days Furey.
The
text....hmm. It is written in that classic snake oil salesman style we have come
to expect from Mr. Furey and I actually find it incredibly irritating. I quote:
" Don’t ask me why I’d tell anyone, including beginners, the very
secrets it took me more than two decades to learn. I feel crazy helping you this
much, but I can’t help myself. "
The
names of the chapters I quoted above are the norm for this book rather than the
exception. Lot’s of stuff is printed in bold in twice the original font size
to draw your attention to how important it is. These things are often repeated
in a given chapter no doubt in order to make them stick out in your mind but I
found this approach patronising. Also in this vein was the constant references
to Bruce Lee, who was obviously , in Mr. Furey’s opinion, the greatest martial
artist who ever lived. Bruce Lee said it so it must be true.
There’s
lot’s of bad stuff in this book but it’s mostly good and while it would
be fashionable for me to slate Furey here I have no intention of doing so. This
is my honest opinion of this book. Nothing more or less. My overall impression
is if you can stand the rhetoric then this is possibly quite a worthwhile (if
a little overpriced) addition to your library. If you can stand the rhetoric.
