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
All of my beginners were clinically obese, i.e. carrying a 30% or greater body fat percentile.
Some of my new clients had 50% body fat percentiles. My goal was to see if it was
possible to spark a substantive physical makeover in obese individuals using minimalist
methods. The process would take ninety days and I would stay true to my Purposeful
Primitive philosophy. That these methods worked for elite athletes was beyond dispute;
grounded in biology, the methodological effectiveness is rooted in scientific “cause and
effect,” do this and that must happen. I believe in biological imperatives. Lift weights in
the proscribed fashion and muscles are required to grow. Perform cardiovascular exercise
as instructed and organ function and caloric oxidation must improve. Eat with precision
and discipline and stored body fat must be preferentially oxidized. Put all three modes
together and the human body must reconfigure itself. Subjected to proper procedures executed
in the prescribed sequence the human body has no physiological choice other than to
build muscle and oxidize excess body fat.
With four decades of empirical experience under my belt, I know what works. I also
know what procedures are a waste of time. My self-imposed challenge was, could an
already sparse methodology be pruned and pared, trimmed and reduced, without losing the
essential essence? This was a challenge that excited me in a way that I hadn’t been excited
in a long time. It has proven to be a literal lifesaver for people whose bodyweight was jeopardizing
their health and threatening to prematurely kill them.
Was there a way to reduce Purposefully Primitive methods to an irreducible core essence
that could be used by obese individuals to solve their bodyweight dilemma? Could I create
a user-friendly, time-efficient training and nutritional method for use by untrained obese
folks that would provide maximum bang for minimum time investment?
The Self-Imposed Rules
I wanted to make my test as tough as possible. Again, how little could we do and still elicit
results? I wanted to train them as little as possible using only a barbell and the fewest number
of exercises possible. I wanted cardio exercise to be limited in duration and confined to
walking. I wanted to use only foods available at the grocery store. No pills, potions or supplements.
No more than five cumulative hours per week would be dedicated to training. I
broke this out into three weekly weight training sessions of 30 minutes each. Weight training
would consist of three exercises done three times a week. Three sets of 10 reps in the squat,
bench press and deadlift. Seven weekly cardiovascular sessions of 30 minute duration would
be the sole aerobic activity. Cardio exercise was outdoor walking. Insofar as diet, they would
eat only food purchased from the grocery store. No nutritional supplements. I showed them
how to cook delicious lean protein dishes and fiber carb dishes. None of the participants had
ever lifted weights or participated in a serious fitness program.
For complete information on Marty Gallagher’s The Purposeful Primitive, or to
purchase the physical book, visit http://www.dragondoor.com/b37.html now