NAked Warrior - ZANDERBILT

11
T H E P U R P O S E F U L P R I M I T I V E
Good old barbells and dumbbells blow machines that mimic them into the weeds, every
single time. It boils down to biomechanics and hard science. A machine locks the user into
a super-specific, motor-pathway, a preordained groove that confines, constricts and eliminates
any sway in the stroke path. A machine groove has two dimensions: up and down.
Free weight training adds the critical third dimension: side-to-side control. In addition to
up and down, the free-weight user fights to avoid wayward lateral movement. When a free
weight is pushed, tugged or hoisted, it follows a path of its own making and the user has to
prevent the weight from straying from the proscribed technical boundary.
From a muscle-building standpoint adding the third dimension is a marvelous thing and
as a result free weight exercise always trumps the mimicking machine. The third dimension
of tension activates muscle stabilizers that keep the poundage proceeding along the proscribed
path. Triggering stabilizers results in additional muscle fiber stimulation which converts
into additional muscular growth.
Can unglamorous Old School tools and tactics compete with splendiferous exercise
machines that allow you to engage in fitness-lite always while sitting or lying? Are free
weights a hopeless anachronism and are practitioners the modern incarnation of John
Henry versus the steam engine drill? Not if results still count.
Does any of this inspire or kindle within you an urge to bail out of the subtle seduction of
all-machine/all-the-time training to which so many are addicted? If you had a thousand
dollars to construct a serious free-weight home gym, here is how I’d advise you spend that
hard-earned disposable income. Here’s a further tip: you could likely cut the $1,000
amount in half by purchasing equipment described used. Try used sporting goods stores
that have sprung up everywhere. Look in the newspaper want ads under “exercise equipment.”
People are always looking to unload fitness equipment they no longer use.
Equipment Cost
1. Olympic barbell: 310-pound set $99
2. Fixed Dumbbells: 10 to 40 pounds @ $.40 cents per pound $140
3. Bench: adjustable w/curl and leg curl/leg extension/curl attachments $199
4. Power rack: w/overhead and floor pulley attachment $499
5. Jump rope: leather professional $14
6. Abdominal wheel: wheel with handle for core torso exercise $11
Total $962
For complete information on Marty Gallagher’s The Purposeful Primitive, or to
purchase the physical book, visit http://www.dragondoor.com/b37.html now