NAked Warrior - ZANDERBILT

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T H E P U R P O S E F U L P R I M I T I V E
Novice resistance trainees, stuffed full of platitudes and preconceptions, try and apply
chronological boundaries to an organic undertaking. “I weight train for two hours per session
six times a week.” The novice might boast. The experienced man hearing this goes,
“Well if that’s the case, you can’t be handling jack shit in terms of poundage.”
A powerlifter, Olympic lifter or strongman competitor does not think in terms of time.
His body will tell him when it’s had enough. The tip off is performance: when strength
nosedives and poundage plummets, when reps regress and performance cannot come
within a country mile of capacity when fresh, it is then time for the weight trainer to cease
weight training. If a man is capable of 350x10 in a particular lift when fresh and rested and
when he gets around to that exercise, deep into the session, he can only push or tug 310x10
or 340x6, that man is crispy fried and should pack it in.
There is no hypertrophy to be triggered or strength to be gained wrestling with poundage
or reps 30% less than what the individual is capable of when muscles are fresh. If a fatigued
trainee insists on handling big poundage in a weakened state, there is a real risk of catastrophic
injury. I’ve seen a man’s trembling arms collapse while holding 550 at arms length
and the leftovers of that wipeout ain’t a pretty sight. It’s “Someone call 911!” time. Being a
tough guy and insisting on manning-up when no one is asking you to man-up is asking for
trouble. I’ve seen biceps ripped on a bounced deadlifts (a ripped biceps rolls up like a
Venetian blind) and I’ve seen legs collapse with 800 on a man’s back. Each accident was
attributable to pushing too long and too hard.
Experience teaches us if you are in reasonably good shape and really blast away in the
gym, going hard and heavy the way you’re supposed to with enough training intensity to
grow muscle and amass strength gains, after 40-60 minutes strength starts to flee fast. Fit
guys can go a little longer; overweight, out-of-shape or anemic types won’t make it much
more than 20 minutes before hitting the wall.
Generally there are two types of trainees: those who generate the requisite intensity and
reap results and those who train in a not-so-intense fashion and reap nothing of any real
significance. 90% of all weight trainers fail to train intensely enough to trip the hypertrophy
switch that triggers muscle growth. Most trainees are genuinely unaware of the sheer
physical effort required to trigger tangible results. No one has ever taken them aside and
said, “Look—unless you really extend yourself—I mean REALLY extend yourself—unless
you press the effort accelerator to the floorboard, unless you take it to the limit and
beyond, consistently and repeatedly—nothing of any real physical significance is going to
occur.
For complete information on Marty Gallagher’s The Purposeful Primitive, or to
purchase the physical book, visit http://www.dragondoor.com/b37.html now