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The Purposeful Primitive: Using the Primordial Laws of Fitness to Trigger Inevitable, Lasting and Dramatic Physical Change
 
 
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The Purposeful Primitive: Using the Primordial Laws of Fitness to Trigger Inevitable, Lasting and Dramatic Physical Change [Paperback]

Marty Gallagher (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews) |
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Book Description

Publication Date: June 21, 2008
Foreword by Pavel Thinking Simply and Seeing Clearly
I Prometheus The Purposeful Primitives There Is No School Like Old School Standing On the Shoulders of Giants
Iron Masters
Paul Anderson Primitive Patriarch
Bill Pearl Anti-Aging Role Model
Bob Bednarski Iron Icarus
Hugh Cassidy Iron Master Renaissance Man
Eat Your Way Through Sticking Points! Lift Big, Eat Big, Rest Big, Grow Big!
Mark Chaillet Powerlifting Ultra Minimalist How Little can you do and still get Super Strong?
Doug Furnas The Athlete's Athlete Near Death Experience Leads to Iron Introduction
Dennis Wright: "Simplistic Genius"
Coaching Coan, Furnas and Chaillet Simultaneously
Ed Coan The Greatest Powerlifter Of All Time... How the Greatest Powerlifter in History Trained
Ken Fantano Power Theoretician Powerlifting Architecture
Dorian Yates The Iron Monk Bodybuilding, Blood & Guts Style
Kirk Karwoski Prototypical Purposeful Primitive
Iron Methods
The Purposefully Primitive Resistance Training Amalgamation
What the Iron Masters Have in Common
How to Build Muscle
Primary Exercises Secondary Exercises Tertiary Exercises Auxiliary Exercises
Two Day A Week Training
Three Day A Week Training
Four Day A Week Training
Five Day A Week Training
Six Day A Week Training
The Purposefully Primitive Training Week
Periodization and Preplanning 4 Week Peaking Cycle Periodization and Creeping Incrementalism 8 Week Beginner Periodization Cycle Logging Entries
Iron Essays
Primitive Roots
Build a Retro Home Gym
Stone-Age Tools for Accessing the Third Dimension of Tension
Progress Multiplier: The Training Partner How Simple can the Physical Renovation Process be made Without Losing Effectiveness? Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis Embrace Change, Legislate Contrast
No One System, Mode or Method Trumps All Others
Legislating Contrast Contrast Is King
Direct Muscle Soreness and Deep Muscle Fatigue
The Seductive Siren Song of Machine Exercise
What Not To Do How Not To Train
Mind Masters
Mental Mentors The Functions of the Human Brain
Jiddu Krishnamurti Intuitive Primitive
Aladar Kogler Iron Curtain Brain Train Grand Maestro
Mind Methods
The Tao of Fitness
Shikantaza Checklist Auto-Visualization Ideo-Motor Checklist A 10 Step Program Based on the Kogler Brain Train Approach
Mind Essays
Purposefully Primitive Psychology Reprogram the Central Processing Unit of the Soft Machine Making the Mind/Muscle Connection Physical and Psychological Weak Points Brain Train The Psychology of a Champion Athlete Purposeful Layoffs Brain Train Feats and Tactics Want to Change Your Physique? Start by Changing the Way You Think
Cardio Masters
Purposefully Primitive Cardiovascular Exercise Many Roads Lead to Cardio Rome Getting Our Cardio Facts Straight
Leonard Schwartz, M.D. Aerobic Avatar
Birth And Death Of An Exercise Craze
Cardio Methods
The Three Types of Cardio Muscle Fiber Nuts and Bolts Muscle Fiber Reference Guide
Every Self-Respecting Purposeful Primitive Needs this High-Tech Gadget
The Three Benchmarks of Aerobic Activity
Cardio Essays
Aerobic Exercise Is Irreplaceable Step Outside the Cardio Box Walking for Exercise is Different Than Normal Walking Zen and the Art of Walking The 1,000 Calorie Cardio Burn
Martial Artists and 3rd Way Hybrid Cardio In Praise of Steve Justa Sustained-Strength Grand Maestro
Nutrition Masters

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Editorial Reviews

Review

I would venture to say that I have read every book pertaining to weightlifting over the last three decades, and I have probably read the majority of the articles in this area. There are two things I can say unequivocally about what I have read. One, Marty Gallagher is the best writer in the world of physical fitness and strength, bar none, and two, Gallagher s newest book The Purposeful Primitive is the best manuscript ever produced in this field.

Teeming with esoteric information on training, biomechanics, nutrition, and sport psychology, The Purposeful Primitive is a wealth of information that every serious lifter needs to read. You are going to like this book. NO! You are going to LOVE it. I promise you that. It s Gallagher s best work, and that means it is strictly world class.

Dr. Judd Biasiotto, author of 46 fitness and health-related books, world powerlifting champion --Dr. Judd Biasiotto

As a student, athlete, teacher, researcher, professional coach, and businessman I have spent over 60 years in health, fitness and sport, devoted to how to become the best you can be . The Purposeful Primitive has been a very interesting journey for me... back-to-the-future...

Marty does a wonderful job bringing out the art and science of training, extracting many of the critical universal and specific principles (guiding rules to action social, emotional, mental, physical and spiritual) that are applicable to living a productive life in general, and in training for health, fitness and sport, specifically. In addition, I like the way Marty personalizes the lives of outstanding athletes and shows how they applied these fundamental, can't-miss principles in their training to help them become the best they could be in their sport.

My recommendation: if you want to achieve something great in your life , add The Purposeful Primitive to your training library... yesterday.

Dr. Bob Ward, Sports Science Network, former head strength and conditioning coach, Dallas Cowboys --Dr. Bob Ward, Sports Science Network

What can one say with certainty about the author of this book Marty Gallagher? Nothing other than the facts that he has been there and done that as an 800-plus pound squatter! That he has written over a thousand articles about fitness and nutrition in the published print media (not to include his amazing blog). That he is not just a genius, but the best interviewer and storyteller going. And that he has not only truly trained the world's strongest athletes, but that he has distilled the most useful information from 15 of the foremost weight lifters, bodybuilders, psychologists and bodymaster nutritionists of the last half century into a form that can be used by anyone from overweight, exercise-adverse beginner to world champions in their sports.

From Olympic lifting to power lifting and bodybuilding, whether muscle gain or fat loss, from cooking to supplements, from changing exercise and eating habits to molding the psychology of a champion (whether one is even remotely interested in competition or not), Marty has covered it all. I only wish I had had a book like this when I was growing up and trying my best to get bigger and stronger. Marty has demonstrated, without question, that he is the current and undeniably best trainer of champions and ultimate guide to physical and mental transformation. This book not only provides the simplest instructions and cheapest financial and lifestyle requirements, it is absolutely the single best book ever written on being the best you can be physically and otherwise.

James E. Wright, Ph.D, former Director of Sports Science, U.S. Army Physical Fitness School; former Health and Science Editor, Flex Magazine --James E. Wright, Ph.D

About the Author

Three-time World Master Powerlifting Champion, Teenage National Olympic Lift Champion, Marty Gallagher coached Black s Gym to four National team titles and in 1991 coached the United States squad to victory at the World Powerlifting Championships.

Marty's highly-acclaimed 230+ weekly Live Online columns for Washington Post.com created a legion of followers for his Purposefully Primitive Fitness philosophy. Over the last thirty years he has had over 1,000 articles appear in two dozen fitness publications.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 496 pages
  • Publisher: Dragon Door Publications (June 21, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0938045717
  • ISBN-13: 978-0938045717
  • Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 8.2 x 1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #54,282 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
40 of 41 people found the following review helpful
By R. Dorf
A book on the crossroads of bodybuilding, power-lifting, and fat loss, by an accomplished lifter, coach and writer with over forty years of experience in the game.

Mixed feelings about this book. Short form: I highly recommend it to a range of audiences, despite my reservations. I enjoyed reading it, and will re-read it several times, looking for the bits I can make use of.

Marty coached or met everyone who was anyone in the world of Power lifting in the 80s and 90s, and he fills the book with anecdotes that give a real feel for the characters that made a half-underground sport what it was. He also uses these anecdotes to great effect when discussing training styles and nutritional strategies, building his recommendations for various phases of body recomposition around the greats he trained with or coached. His writing is engaging, and his genuine love of the sport shines through. The tales of strength he shares are inspiring, and he has a knack for presenting even the roughest of his subjects with their humanity intact.

The training and diet information are comprehensive. Marty is a big believer in old school training splits and volume, and he has plenty of experience to back up his position. It's an approach to training that will feel pretty revolutionary to a machine trainer or someone caught up in the absurd, unproductive isolation training so many unqualified trainers end up foisting on their clients.

On the downside, this is mostly a book for beginners and intermediate trainees. I didn't see his weight training recommendations as all that relevant to my own current needs; my program is already spartan by Marty's standards, and I expect a fair number of more experienced lifters will feel the same way. His cardio and diet recommendations were similarly solid, but not likely to change the way I train or eat (not because they're bad; just because it's another case of "I already do that"). Marty also doesn't make much of a training distinction between Body Building, Power Lifting, Strong Man Competition, Olympic Lifting, Martial Arts, or other strength sports. To a more advanced lifter who knows where he wants to fit in the strength game, that cuts into the book's utility.

The place where the book falls down most is in its silence on the subject of steroids. It's a tough subject to honestly discuss. Talking about it opens you up to attack from the For The Children crowd and scares the heck out of a certain percentage of law abiding citizens (i.e. the vast majority of the market). Athletes don't want their reputations tarnished by the public admission that they were using, and supplement manufacturers (a prime job for ex-champions) hate admitting that their spokes-user did not gain twenty inch biceps at three percent body-fat solely through the use of their products.

So, Marty doesn't talk about steroids and training at all. This isn't just a problem because we miss out on part of the story of power lifting and bodybuilding in the day. Ultimately, the training you believe in and recommend is built around what you've seen work. The training that works for a twenty year old serious steroid user is not necessarily relevant to any natural trainee, let alone the thirty-and-over crowd Marty seems to be speaking to. I can see how much experience he's bringing to the recommendations in this book, and I absolutely respect his impeccable strength-cred. But I'm left wondering: Are these volume recommendations really the best choices for a non-user?

In the end, I'd say that this book is still of great value and well worth purchasing, despite its flaws. If you're interested in a slice of Iron History, or a beginner looking for a guide to body transformation, go get it.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
In a review for a previous product, I stated there are 3 books I considered indespensible in my workout library. Now there are four. This book is worth the purchase for the section on the Iron Masters alone. When you add in the different approaches to lifting for strength and power, the psycology of working out, the cardio and diet sections, and all the little essays that give us a look into the "Purposeful Primitive", you have a book that is, in my opinion, one of the best books for approaching getting the best out of your body. I read this book cover to cover very quickly, and will probably read it several more times, just to pick up little kernals of information I missed the first time. The book almost reads like an Anthony Robbins book on NLP - here are the masters, here is how they worked out, here was their psycology, here is how you can apply it to yourself.

On another note, I must disagree with the first reviewer on the steroid situation. Steroids are mentioned, but not gone into great detail. This is not a book on how to cycle your anabolic drugs, but rather how to workout, no matter your experience level or goals for yourself. Steroids have been around in power sports since the late '50's and in most sports for 30 years now. Only now are they coming into the news because of teen athletes trying them, which is never a good thing. However, you can still get the benefits from these workouts and the ancillary information without the benefits of performance enhancing drugs. Will you be able to bench press 600 or deadlift 800 without the drugs? Probably not. Will you be able to squeeze every bit of the talent God gave you and be the best physical specimen you can be by following this book? Definitely so!
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40 of 52 people found the following review helpful
This books is a fun read at times with the exception of a few of the chapters which relate stories about steroid-bloated bullies intimidating those who they perceive to be inferior.

I found very little useful training info here that I haven't read about before, but some of the author's anecdotes are amusing if not downright creepy at times. Basically unless you weigh 300# plus and use 'roids you are not worthy to enter a gym or use the same equipment as the "elite" lifters. In fact, if you dare to attempt to join the gym you might get run out the door by some bloated bully on a 'roid rage.

Most of the lifters protrayed in the book are (I should say "were" as most of them are long gone) PEDs users so there is very little, if any, useful information for the average, natural lifter - you know, the type of "scrawny pencil neck geeks" that the author and his fat-*ss lifting buddies would enjoy intimidating and throwing out of the gym in the snow - as if the reader should somehow respect and admire these idiotic actions.

I got a real chuckle seeing the photo of Jim Williams and Hugh Cassidy with their huge guts hanging over their lifting belts - how many of these guys are around today and living a quality life? I hardly find them heroic or to be admired just because they had the gift to get fat.

Other than that there is some very basic information about nutrition and the author's grandmothers home cooking (who cares?), and some outlines of workout routines by Paul Anderson, Bednarski, Coan and others, using the basic compound exercises and the author's ego-filled rant about how he coached powerlifters like Ed Coan. Yeah, right, like this guy "coached" Ed Coan - give me a break. "Okay Ed, go out and lift the weight off the rack and then squat down and back up!" Hilarious! Oh, and also the author likes to brag about his "superior" lifestyle and how he prefers to walk outdoors rather than in a stuffy gym - oh really? Very enlightening....(not!). He also gives really "valuable" tips about how to walk!

The author mixes in just about every pop culture topic possible: pop psychology, martial arts, stupid "hip" proverbs and quotes and all kinds of new-age crap with lots of pretentious name-dropping.

The sub-title reads "From Fat and Flaccid to Lean and Powerful" but there are very few examples of lifters in this book that are NOT fat and flaccid. However the author assures the reader that by "Using the primoridal laws of fitness..." we will "trigger inevitable lasting and dramatic physical change." "Primordial?" - give us a break! Looking at the photos of the author belies this statement. Is that what one should expect by following his advice? Disappointing, at best.

At any rate - the author sheds no new or break-through information on losing fat and one must wade thru lots of ego-filled verbiage and sophmoric anecdotes to glean the little useful information contained in the book.

Gosh - I guess 2 stars is rather generous now that I recall so many unpleasant qualities of this book. Nevertheless it is amusing and one could use it as a learning experience as in "Yuck - who cares if they squat 800# - almost any fat guy on PEDS can do it nowadays."

Those who enjoy this type of book would do far better with Pavel Tsatsouline's "Beyond Bodybuilding" which contains real world, useful training routines and information for all types of trainees.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Take the useful info for what it is... useful info.
Some of the other reviews were too preoccupied with the authors ego to see the literal mountain of useful training data. The author was humble in my opinion. Read more
Published 6 months ago by joe skar
Overrated
This book contains quite a bit of good information. However, the product does not deserve the effusive praise it has received on this site and from the esteemed commentators in the... Read more
Published 7 months ago by old lifter
bam
This is one of the best books out there about bodybuilding. It really does have everything you need if you were only to read one book and expect results. Read this!
Published 7 months ago by james
Great history and inspiration!
The Purposeful Primitive was a very interesting read. As a former collegiate athlete who used weight training to make major gains in his on-court performance, I've been compelled... Read more
Published 11 months ago by SLIM260
Gallagher Fraud
I followed the purposeful primative when the G-man was creating it on his blog.

he said these elderly students were losing thirty pounds of fat in 60 days and adding... Read more
Published 14 months ago by DM Andersen
Great Book
This was a great book, alot of information. From the time I got this book my strength gains increased so much. All in all very good book. Read more
Published 24 months ago by Kirsten Emerson
Interesting but with a fatal flaw
Sometimes otherwise successful endeavours are torpedoed by one fatal flaw.

Take this book. Read more
Published on April 16, 2010 by T. Bachman
After a year of following Marty's program, my body has been...
For years, many of us have struggled in the gym following the conventional or faddish advice about weight training -- without demonstrable results. Read more
Published on March 13, 2010 by Erik Eisel
The choosen ONE book on lifting/training
If i can only choose one and only book for training and lifting, this would be it. It is a complete package, it teaches you on training, mind training, cardio and diet. Read more
Published on December 30, 2009 by S. SOH
An amazing book
this is an amazing book and extremely helpful for the someone who wants to lay down slabs of extremely functional strength. Read more
Published on December 23, 2009 by Roberto Espinell
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