This is my take away from finding and using it at a young age (19). First, I'm a skinny guy. Always was growing up. I walk around at 148, fight at 135 or 25, depending.
I found Matt Furey's books when I first started training Jits. I always had a respect for weightlifting, but a tad of trepidation. I tweaked my back a few times, but honestly, my crooked spine may have caused that. So, hitting iron to get strong didn't happen in my youth, in spite of playing most every sport growing up, then switching to CC, Track, and Wrestling in h.s.
I picked up Furey's books to get stronger for Jits. Everything he put in Combat Conditioning, he ripped off Gotch. But he pays respect in the book to Gotch, who I hadn't heard of, so whatevs. The moves like Hindu push-ups and squats, bridges, reverse push-ups will make you stronger as you start to add more reps. It's a slower progression, but it's so much more of a sure thing you'll be injury free.
Use the handstand push-ups religiously. Try to do as many as you can every day. It builds so much upper body strength. And he mentions them very briefly, since it's supposed to be equipment free, but do pull-ups and dips a lot. Yes, you can do it 5 days a week. When I get closer to a fight, I drop the weights but for maybe 1 day a week.
That's the catch to this. Furey also talks about it. If you're using weights too, the body weight stuff can help. It did for me. I am admittedly skinny as hell, but I'm stronger than I look. It's all in what you're going for. If you're looking to boost cardio, you go the Gotch/Furey route. Less worried about cardio, want size and strength faster, please iron.
Sorry so long a post. Have a ton of time with this and wanted to give a fair assessment, regardless.
