NAked Warrior - ZANDERBILT

3
T H E P U R P O S E F U L P R I M I T I V E
As a preteen I read Greek, Roman and Norse mythology and became a sport idolater. I
wanted to become larger than life and instinctively sought out the tool that would enable
me to achieve my imaginary physical goal: a barbell. My extremely supportive father
enabled me to remake myself by purchasing the weights. He was a widower who worked
long and hard and because of his work schedule I grew up with a lack of parental supervision.
Being a baby boomer, I had lots and lots of neighborhood mates and cohorts. Preteen
males, we formed a roving tribe of “lost boys” and we actively and enthusiastically
engaged in all types of organized athletic games. In those days parents sent children out to
play; mothers particularly wanted the boys outside to preserve their sanity. Every single day
we had enough male participants to form full football or baseball teams. The younger boys
stood on the sidelines, anxiously awaiting their turn to be rotated into these massive sandlot
games.
Once I obtained the tool of my transformation, my weight set, I set up a training area in
my unfinished basement. Immediately my comrades and I began working out and my basement
became training central, a subterranean wolf’s lair for all our tribal activities. My Dad
was a lonely, stoic type who had seen combat in WWII and won a silver star. Whereas the
homemaker mothers of the nuclear families in my neighborhood wanted peace and serenity
my dad welcomed and enjoyed the beehive buzz of young boys in the basement lifting
weights and socializing. We even had guys come by who didn’t train; they would arrive,
meet and greet, then sit on one of the picnic benches that lined the concrete walls and watch
the always intense, apparently entertaining, lifting action. We competed every single day
amongst ourselves and always strove to improve. We pushed each other mercilessly to see
who could lift the most.
We sought increases in strength, increases in muscle size and improved athletic performance.
Progress became the benchmark, the report card as to whether or not our methods
were working. I would walk to the newsstand once a month to buy Strength & Health
muscle magazine for training information. We were in the informational Stone Age as far
as bodybuilding and strength building techniques were concerned. In retrospect this was a
blessing in disguise. Nowadays there is a very real problem with informational overload;
there is literally too much information and it makes it difficult for the serious individual to
sort through the possibilities and find truly effective methods. Back in those days there was
very little confusion. The lack of sophistication and lack of choices (regarding exercise theory,
modes, equipment and tactics) turned out to be an absolute advantage.
What information we had tended to be sound. The lack of choice kept us focused on the
things that mattered: we lifted hard; we lifted heavy and we lifted often. We used basic
barebones barbell exercises because we had no other equipment. We ate like young colts
For complete information on Marty Gallagher’s The Purposeful Primitive, or to
purchase the physical book, visit http://www.dragondoor.com/b37.html now