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
Easier is not better in resistance training. Optimally resistance should be rough, tough and
heavy. If all things were equal machines would surely be the way to go: no fuss, no muss,
no mess, no plates to load or unload, no need of spotters, no danger, safe as drinking warm
milk. Expensive machines certainly keep the user safe and fear of injury is a big concern to
timid civilians. If safety is your biggest concern, perhaps bowling or golf might be a more
appropriate use of your time.
Machines are sultry seductresses…you get to sit down or lie down when you use a
machine and people love to sit down, or better yet, lie down when they exercise. If all
things were equal people would pick machines over free weights every single time. Hell I
would too! But all things aren’t equal, not even close! And that is the point. Accept the
irrefutable biological fact that free weights are physiologically superior to machines.
Understand that the vast majority of our training time must be spent doing basic freeweight
exercise. The typical beginner or intermediate trainee often complains, “I’m burnt
out doing the same free-weight exercises over and over; I use machines in order to get some
variety into my training.” Nice try Gilligan.
An entire Cosmos of exercise variety exists within the basic, barbell/dumbbell compound
multi-joint exercise universe. By varying foot stance (we love free-weight exercises done
standing on two feet) or by altering grip width, by making slight technical changes in specific
exercise techniques, by altering velocity, rep speed, range-of-motion and rest time
between sets, we can create enough variation to provide the trainee unlimited variety. There
are enough variations in the free weight squat alone to keep a serious athlete busy for years.
It took me a decade to perfect my conventional deadlift technique.
All this and we haven’t even touched on modulating training volume or session frequency
or exercise placement. Something as simple as consciously altering the speed with which we
push or pull a repetition drastically changes the muscular effect. Muscle fiber is stimulated
in a totally different way when we alter the variables. Combine subtle and overt technical
alterations with rep-speed and volume alterations. There is a universe of free weight possibilities.
Put it all together and you have a mind-blowing menu of variation within the free
weight world. If you are inventive, clever and determined, you can inject an amazing degree
of variety into standard barbell and dumbbell exercises. Variety is limited only by imagination.
Too often trainees fall into a rut and perform the same basic barbell and dumbbell exercises
in the same identical fashion all the time. A serious fitness acolyte should seek to elicit
different physiological effects by modifying base techniques. Don’t be seduced by sultry
exercise machines with their lotus-eater seats and pads, all things are not equal in the wide
wonderful world of resistance training and as the old saying goes, “If something seems too
good to be true, likely it is.” Harsh, hard and difficult are the way to go when it comes to
For complete information on Marty Gallagher’s The Purposeful Primitive, or to
purchase the physical book, visit http://www.dragondoor.com/b37.html now