You either surf the economic tsunami and prosper – or it sweeps you away and you drown!

The 1^st Commandment of Fitness

Champion surfers do not head for the hills when a hurricane hits their island beach. They view natural catastrophe as an once-in-a-lifetime surfing opportunity and grab their boards and run to the shoreline to attack 20 foot killer waves with gusto and glee. They fearlessly surf the most dangerous and exhilarating waves of their entire life and turn disaster into triumph. To further stretch the analogy: the dumb ones stand on the beach and stare as the giant waves approach and scratch their heads in disbelief and try and act as if everything is the same and nothing has changed and today is no different than yesterday. Then the waves hit the beach and they are proven dead wrong.

A shakeout of monumental proportion is underway in the wide world of all things fitness-related and a lot of fitness professionals, fitness facilities, nutritional supplement and equipment makers are drowning in the ongoing economic tsunami. The reason for their predicament is predictable: trainers and products that do not garner gains for clients become incidental, superfluous and therefore unaffordable. The core commandment of all-things fitness is, was, and always shall be…

“Thou shalt provide measurable physical gains for clients and students on an ongoing and consistent basis.”

In these tight times those that fail to adhere to the 1^st Commandment of Fitness are swept away. One seasoned professional saw it coming for a long time and was unsympathetic when asked about the ongoing fitness shakeout. “Most (personal trainers) either didn’t know enough or didn’t care enough – or both.”

The “Fitness Revolution” began in the mid-eighties and ended with the collapse of Wall Street. September of 2007 marked the end of the Fitness Revolution. It’s a new day and a new time and the fitness paradigm has shifted. The fitness game has been shaken to its core. Most fitness professionals and most fitness organizations, most corporations and most equipment makers are having tough times – yet this is not the case for all fitness professionals. The savvy and alert professional, the nimble corporation possessing the ability to pivot and reposition quickly, the innovative fitness tool maker, are all able to prosper despite the ongoing tsunami. For a savvy few this calamity presents (to use another hackneyed expression) a golden opportunity to make fitness lemonade out of bitter financial lemons.

How do real fitness pros and real fitness products prosper in tight times? They obey the 1^st Commandment of Fitness and obtain spectacular physical results for their clientele on a regularly reoccurring basis. In all things fitness related, the overarching goal is to aide and amplify the efforts of sincere clients – clients that make a real effort to follow your advice and use your strategies and incorporate your recommendations. They are paying you to transform them, from what they are into what they want to be.  Orchestrate dramatic physical transformations on a regular and consistent basis for normal people leading regular lives and the fitness world will beat a path to your door.

Personal trainers and fitness tools that consistently obtain dramatic results for regular people leading normal lives living on tight budgets in tight times can and will prosper. Those unable to induce progress in paying clients soon run out of clients.

Greetings from the cusp of the abyss

In times of plenty most any fitness professional located in a well-populated urban or suburban area possessing a smooth rap, good looks and a lean body was able to successfully ply their trade as a Boss Personal Trainer. These ineffectual personal trainers depended on charm and ‘the churn,’ a steady influx of new clients. Perfectly coiffed, tanned with perfect teeth and college degrees, these Boss PTs would use canned speeches and rote methods to “train” and “tone” clients using glitzy exercise machines in pristine fitness facilities. These rico suave types promised incoming clients (with lots of disposable income) astounding physical results attained with little or no physical effort in a lightning fast timeframe. Fast, easy, effective – but not cheap!

The gullible client was initially transfixed and signed up with sky high expectations for big dollars. After months of sub-maximal effort the client inevitably quit on account of no tangible results. They became just another in a long and unbroken string of unending fitness failures for the superficial Boss PT. The blame was predictably passed onto the client: “They must not have wanted it bad enough!” Or “They were undisciplined!” Or “People are so stupid!” It was never the fault of the Boss PT or the fitness methods and tools used. The blame was always attributed to some physical or psychological defect on the part of the client. The effectiveness of grandiose strategies was never questioned. In high times these types had waiting lists for their services. But the high times are over. Now things are different. Now the stupid, undisciplined client that doesn’t want it bad enough actually expect results for their hard earned dollars.

Don’t be a fitness professional standing on the beach staring at the waves as they grow ever nearer. You must get real results for real clients. Here is another fitness fact: any untrained body suddenly subjected to a comprehensive fitness regimen no matter how lame (assuming it contains a resistance element, a cardio component and some dietary restraint) will create dramatic and measurable progress – for a little while. Any PT using any lame method will be able to obtain good initial results working with totally untrained individuals. But what happens when progress peters out? Is the personal trainer capable of producing results after that initial burst of predictable progress subsides? Time for some introspection and self examination: as a Fitness Professional do you adhere to the 1^st Commandment of Fitness? Are you obtaining tangible physical results for clients on an ongoing and consistent basis? Yes or no. Black or white. No shades of grey. You can and do – or you can’t and depend on the rapidly evaporating “churn.”

Marty Gallagher “phone trains” a limited number of clients: if you would be interested in working with him, you can contact him at mgso@embarqmail.com

Grill and Gallagher, Summer 2009

Bits and pieces from the Marty Gallagher

Tim Ferriss of “Four Hour Workweek” fame contacted me to work up a hypothetical “How to add 100 pounds to your bench press” article for use in his next book. Tim is a great guy who is showing folks how to live outside the box of societal convention. I told him I had been living the 4-hour workweek since 1968 and we both have a Tom Sawyer complex; a psychological condition a psychiatrist friend of mine labeled my state of mind. Some folks cannot exist within societal norms and I am one. We’ve posted the final finished bench press article elsewhere in the blog – check it out – the not easily impressed Ferriss liked what I worked up and responded in a subsequent e-mail, “Marty, this is outstanding!”

Mark “The Hammer” Coleman lost a tough fight to another UFC Hall of Famer, Randy Couture, this past Saturday. Mark and I go back a decade. He is a longtime Parrillo Performance Product user and I have done a dozen interviews with The Hammer over the years. He is an innovative fighter who made “ground and pound” part of the modern fight lexicon and an equally innovative trainer. Mark trail-blazed the “sustained strength” cardio approach all fighters use in this day and age. Mark virtually lives on Parrillo Products when prepping for a fight. Once Parrillo shipped Hammer a product order that weighed in excess of 220 pounds! Now that’s one hell of a lot of protein powder and sports nutrition bars! Mark had a three contract fight with the UFC and this was the third. At age 45 I would not be surprised if Mark hangs up his gloves and turns to coaching.

Pavel Tsatsouline and I talked at length about the new website and my old friend is enthused about becoming a part of our communal effort. Any Iron Man that hasn’t obtained a copy of Pavel’s latest book, Power to the People: Professional is missing the proverbial boat. This book is crammed full of tips, tidbits and tactics that you can immediately apply to your own training…my highest recommendation. We look forward to having Pavel offer up some of his unique strategies on kettlebells and Old School weight training. Miles Davis once said of Duke Ellington, “Every jazz musician should pick one day a year and get down on their knees and thank Duke.” Every kettlebell user, teacher, trainer and student should do likewise for Pavel.

GRILLMAN is back in the saddle as a regular web columnist. This took a bit of convincing as the Man Mountain has full dance card. Grill had been one of my contributing mainstays back when I was working a real job at the WashingtonPost.com. Big Grill is most insightful in both lifting and nutrition. He is knowledgeable and chock full of real world empirical experience. Read him carefully as this man has thirty years hardcore experience under his lifting belt – and he is still cracking it hard. Grill’s writing style is iconoclastic. His plain-speak puts me in mind of another Iron Icon, Steve Justa.

Dr. Chris Hardy and I continue our ongoing conversation about nutrition; he and I see eye to eye on nearly everything nutrition related. Both of us feel that modern diet and nutrition is all about strategy and not enough about nutrient purity. Our collective motto is: seek out the finest locally grown and seasonally appropriate proteins, fruits and vegetables – then do with them as you like. Elite chefs are positively fanatical about obtaining the finest, freshest foods possible; strictly for taste. Chris is currently at Johns Hopkins and is one of the very few physicians that not only talks the talk but walks the walk. He trains under kettlebell whiz (and webmaster) Sandy Sommer’s tutelage. Speaking of SS, check out his “turning lemons into lemonade” piece on snow shoveling.

The Gang of Five are zeroing in on the April 10^th Tactical Strength Challenge to be held in Rockville, Maryland: in addition to Chris Hardy and Sandy Sommer, the Philly contingent of Mike Barbato and Italian Phil will be competing. My Fred-Neck buddy and Wing Chung instructor Don Berry is also gearing up. Don trains with me on Tuesdays and this past week he deadlifted a perfect 295 x 4 – not bad for a 49 year old dude who has only been deadlifting for six weeks. His Sumo pulls were pure technical perfection. Each Gang of Five member is using our experimental, kettlebell-adjunct, minimalistic, one-cumulative-hour-per-week-free-weight system to enhance their current capacities. Check out their training diaries to see their sensational progress to date…eight weeks and counting!

Santana Hana is being by me kicking and screaming to our website: the elusive one from parts unknown offers up his ode to manhood and shares with readers his unique approach towards “kick ass” fitness. Hana lives by a Jerry Lee Lewis credo, “Be hot or be cold, for if you are lukewarm the Lord will spew you forth from his mouth.” Which puts me in mind of a Hana quip made some years ago; I was visiting him in New Orleans and we had drank several Cajun cocktails waiting for seats a K-Paul’s when Hana said of the moonshine and hot pepper concoction, “This goes down smoother then Baby Jesus in silk pants!” Like Grill, there is only one Hana.

Mark Chaillet former world powerlifting champion and one of the greatest deadlifters in history (880 weighing 269) called from his personal training studio in nearby York, Pa. last week. Chaillet, in his mid-fifties, is as rugged as they come and we are going to be working together on a power photo book about his famous and now defunct Chaillet’s Gym. He has a million priceless photos and we’re going to go through his photo collection with an eye towards creating a photographic power retrospective. That’s one book that should write itself.

Anyone interested in becoming a phone training client of Marty Gallagher can contact him at mgso@embarqmail.com

Tactical Periodization allows us to eat the Elephant one bite at a time

Is it possible for a regular fellow with a 200 pound bench press to add 100 pounds to his bench press in six months? The answer is that while improbable it is not impossible.

• The individual needs a Periodized Tactical game plan
• The individual needs to be determined, disciplined and focused
• The individual needs to add a significant amount of muscular bodyweight

Periodization is another word for progressive resistance preplanning. Elite powerlifters, Olympic weightlifters and professional athletes use periodization to stair-step their way upward to ever greater strength levels over a specified time period, usually 12 to 16 weeks. By expropriating a periodization strategy and applying it to the bench press, the impossible becomes plausible.

The second point is self explanatory: no missed workouts.

The third point requires explanation. In order to lift significantly more weight, the athlete needs to add significantly more muscular bodyweight. While a new and different training regimen might result in a 10-30 poundage increase in a particular lift, to grow significantly stronger requires we grow significantly more muscle.

Let us assume our hypothetical athlete is a fairly serious fitness buff who has several years of progressive resistance under their belt and can already bench press 200 pounds using proper technique. Regardless if they are 6’1” and weigh 200 with a 14% body fat percentile, or if they are 5’6” and weigh 200 with a 30% body fat percentile, in order to jump their bench press from 200 pounds to 300 pounds it is necessary, nay critical to increase existing muscle mass.  Our man will need more muscular firepower.

Any “fitness expert” that tells the uniformed that can add 50% to their bench press in short order and with no weight gain simply by using (or more likely purchasing) some utopian bench press routine is either delusional, an idiot or a shyster. There is no magical, mythical exercise routine that will miraculously add 50% to any lift without a concurrent gain in muscle. Period! It takes, in my estimate, a minimum 10% increase in lean muscle mass to net a 50% increase in strength. And that’s pretty optimistic and assumes our man is a psychological tiger that burns for transformation.

Our hypothetical athlete starts off weighing 200 pounds and will need to push his lean muscle mass up 15-20 pounds over a 26 week period.

Phase I 12-week Bench Press Cycle

Power Grip                Wide Grip                  Narrow Grip

Week  (28 inches)                  (32 inches)                  (22 inches)                  Bodyweight

1       140×10 2 sets              120×10 2 sets              110×10 2 sets              200

2       150×10 2 sets              130×10 2 sets              120×10 2 sets              201

3       160×10 2 sets              140×10 2 sets              130×10 2 sets              202

4       170×10 2 sets              150×10 2 sets              140×10 2 sets              203

5       185×5 2 sets                165×5 2 sets                145×5 2 sets                204

6       195×5 2 sets                175×5 2 sets                155×5 2 sets                205

7       205×5 2 sets                185×5 2 sets                165×5 2 sets                206

8       215×5 2 sets                195×5 2 sets                175×5 2 sets                207

9       225×3 3 sets                205×3 2 sets                185×3 2 sets                208

10      235×3 2 sets                215×3 2 sets                195×3 2 sets                209

11      245×2 1 set                  225×2 1 set                  205×2 1 set                  210

12      260×1                          —-                               —                                211

In this initial Periodized Phase, the athlete jumps his lean muscle mass upward by 11% resulting in a 60% increase in the bench press. Calories are methodically increased each week, keeping the individual anabolic. Protein is kept high, 200 + grams per day.

Now What? Alike yet Different

Empirical experience has shown time and again that after an athlete has   completed a successful 12 week cycle, gains need to be solidified. Engaging in yet another power cycle immediately after a successful initial cycle is doomed to failure. The human body desperately seeks to reestablish homeostasis while the natural inclination is to be greedy and continue down the same path – that, however, is biological suicide. Science and empirical experience has shown that the body needs six weeks to reset and regain its bearings. Thee hypothalamus gland controls body weight, body temperature, hunger, thirst, fatigue, and circadian cycles.  The interim phase allows the hypothalamus gland to recalibrate and readjust. It is equally important to “get away” from the three bench press versions used in Phase I. The ideal Interim Phase retains bench power by substituting heavy dumbbell pressing for barbell bench pressing. By allowing the body to “forget” the three exercises, (competitive grip: the most powerful grip; wide-grip: builds start power; narrow grip: builds finish power) when they are reinstituted in Phase III, these movements feel fresh and new and the training effect is profound. The paused flat dumbbell bench press and the paused incline dumbbell bench press are the Interim Phase workhorses.

Phase II: Reestablish Homeostasis

Dumbbell Bench        Dumbbell Incline Bench

Week              Paused                        Paused                                    Bodyweight

1                   60s – 3 sets x 10          50s – 3 sets x 10                      210

2                   65s – 3 sets x 10          55s – 3 sets x 10                      210

3                   80s – 2 sets x 6            70s – 2 sets x 6                        210

4                   85s – 2 sets x 6            75s – 2 sets x 6                        210

5                   95s – 2 sets x 4            80s – 2 sets x 4                        210

6                   100s – 1 set x 4           85s – 1 sets x 4                        210

Phase III: Assault on 300

After the six week interim phase, all initial gains have been solidified: the athlete’s bodyweight regulation thermostat has been reset while pushing strength has been retained. The body has “forgotten” flat barbell benching and when we reinstitute our classical regular/wide/narrow flat bench strategy, the “training effect” is achieved. Chest, arms and shoulders are (once again) shocked into growth. More muscle means a bigger bench.

Power Grip                Wide Grip                  Narrow Grip

Week  (28 inches)                  (32 inches)                  (22 inches)                  Bodyweight

1       215×5 4 sets                185×5 2 sets                175×5 2 sets                211

2       225×5 3 sets                195×5 2 sets                185×5 2 sets                212

3       235×5 2 sets                205×5 2 sets                195×5 2 sets                213

4       245×5 1 sets                215×5 2 sets                205×5 2 sets                214

5       255×3 4 sets                225×3 2 sets                215×3 2 sets                215

6       265×3 3 sets                235×3 2 sets                225×3 2 sets                216

7       275×2 2 sets                245×2 2 sets                235×2 2 sets                217

8       285×2 1 sets                255×2 2 sets                245×2 2 sets                218

9       300×1                          —–                              —–                              220

Marty Gallagher coached the United States powerlifting squad to the IPF world team title in 1991.  A three-time world master, six-time national master powerlifting champion, Gallagher has penned 230 + columns for the WashingtonPost.com and has had over 1000 fitness articles published since 1978. His most recent book, The Purposeful Primitive has been hailed by critics worldwide and is available through dragondoor.com

Purposefully Primitive Seasonal Fitness

Looking to Primordial Man for Our Transformational Template

As a species, mankind has been in existence for roughly 850,000 years. Modern man has been around for 40,000 years and up until 5,000 years ago (a chronologic eye-blink) men worldwide ate the same foods: wild game, seafood, and whatever seasonally appropriate vegetables and fruits they might stumble across. Nutrient sources would vary radically depending on geography. Regardless of where a person lived on the planet during primal times, the proteins were always wild and the fruits and vegetables always organic. Foods that spiked insulin were extremely rare. Manmade foods did not yet exist, no refined foods, no fast food and no factory-made foods. None.

Try and imagine a time before the invention of agriculture or domesticated livestock. For countless centuries leading up to the dawning of the agricultural age, every single bite of food eaten anywhere was derived from wild and organic foodstuffs. As a species, humans worldwide ate variations on the same basic nutritional themes. We did so for countless eons.  It was an age of worldwide nutritional uniformity.  Regardless if were you were a Kalahari Bushman, a North American Plains Indian, an Australian  aborigine, a Germanic tribesman or an Indonesian shore dweller, people everywhere ate the same things: wild game, seafood and wild fruits and vegetables. They might spice up their diets with insects, pilfered bird eggs or wild honey, but nothing was purposefully grown, nothing was cultivated, nothing was raised, nothing was planted and nothing was domesticated. Wild game, fish, shellfish (for fortunate lake, river or coastal dwellers) accounted for all of primordial man’s protein sources.

Primal man instinctively favored “nutrient-dense” food, to expropriate a Weston A. Price favored phrase. Carbohydrates consumption was overwhelmingly fibrous. Eatable plants and vegetables are predominately fibrous. Starch carbs were rare in some areas, plentiful in others. As a species we achieved utter and complete evolution – done, finished, completed – before the invention of agriculture and livestock. With 800,000 years of history on the species odometer, humans have long since ceased evolving and are completely formed. Problems occur when we try and fight our deeply encoded primal nature.  Problems occur when we attempt to run the soft machine on inferior food/fuel it was never designed to run on. We operate best on food locally grown and seasonally appropriate. Primal man fully evolved eating an extremely narrow menu of natural, pure, organic foods eaten exclusively.

• We acquired species maturity existing on a limited menu of organic foods
• We ate foods that were seasonally appropriate
• We were consistent in our consumption of organic foods
• We became, as a species, extremely adapt at utilizing organic nutrients
• We derive maximum nourishment from organic foods
• We consumed these foods exclusively during our evolutionary journey
• Organic foods were – and are – our optimal food-fuel

Reconnecting with Our Inner Caveman

Life and Death Undertakings Kept Primal Man Fit

Primordial Man was active and physical. He ate healthy. His life depended on his survival skills and his fitness. Existence was centered on the daily acquisition of food. If primal man lived in winter climes he had to construct a warm, dry and safe nighttime haven for himself and his dependants. In his tent or cave, other tribal members would cluster around a fire. The primal occupation for man was killing animals; their job was to kill something and then eat it. Meat, fat, bone, skin, organs, every part provided nourishment. Bones were used to make weaponry; skin and fur provided rugs, blankets and clothing. The animals hunted and killed ensured the continued existence of the tribe.

Tribes followed the migratory patterns of large animals, parasitical vampires attached to the periphery of some massive herd of buffalo, gazelle, elk or reindeer. As the tribe followed the animals, they would scour the countryside for wild fruits and vegetables. The survival of the tribe was dependant on being able to successfully forage and to kill animals and catch fish. The narrowness of their foods, this dietary sameness, this consistent consumption of the same foods, organic foods – combined with intense physical activity – created a race of people that were universally lean and fit. The unfit died. The old and infirmed died. There was a significant caloric cost associated with killing animals or catching fish. The combination of organic eating and intense physical activity proved maximally beneficial for the human species.

• Can modern man replicate primal man’s degree of fitness? Can the combination of primal eating and primal activity recapture our primal nature and capacities?
• Can we codify, systematize and recreate a primal approach? Can we blend seasonally appropriate eating with seasonally appropriate training and reignite our long dormant, inherent, ancient, primal nature?
• Can we rediscover modes and methods that will enable us to transform?

Modern man is a poisoned species. We force our bodies to derive nourishment from food/fuel we were never designed to run on. As a fully evolved species, we do not know how to use toxins and chemicals as fuel.  The goal of the Purposeful Primitive is to understand our primal nature and devise eating and exercise templates that allow us to reconnect with our inner caveman. 

Primal Man was no sissy. He was physically active and hunted or fished every day. He had to run after game, catch it and kill it. Primordial man followed migratory game patterns; when the animal would migrate man would migrate with them. Man depended on that meat for existence and relentlessly moved south then north. Tribal man had to drag or carry all their possessions everywhere they went. Life in those times was savage: the old, the sickly, those unable to make the migratory treks, all were left for dead. Physical fitness of that era was not our modern vanity fitness: the ancients’ very survival was dependant on their degree of fitness.

Nature forced primal man to adapt to his surroundings. No horses, no vehicles, no invention of the wheel, the feet were used for walking or running. Ancient man engaged in continual cardio exercise as they walked, trotted, ran, jumped, carried, tugged or sprinted when the occasion required. Primal man engaged in lots of resistance training: hauling, lugging, pulling, lifting, cutting and carrying. Fights with animals or each other usually resulted in maiming and eventual death. Once the animal was killed the hunters had butcher and haul it back to camp. Tents needed to be constructed, firewood gathered daily and when mass migrations occurred, belongings were carried, dragged or pushed.

Primitive Magdalenian hunters stalk their next meal: This depiction shows magnificently fit Magdalenian tribesmen preparing to attack a herd of reindeer. Meanwhile their women would be foraging for wild plants and vegetables within the vicinity of the campsite. For eons, men worldwide subsisted on organic plants and wild animals. There were few insulin-spiking foods. As a species we adapted to a steady diet of organic nutrients obtained from foods killed or foods gathered. The invention of agriculture and livestock created unimaginable health problems. Primal hunter/gatherer tribesmen created diet and exercise templates relevant to this day.

Roughly 5,000 years ago, clever humans figured out that crops could be grown and animals domesticated. Once agriculture and livestock became widespread, men no longer had to follow migrating animal herds. Something was gained but something was lost. Before the advent of agriculture and livestock, high glycemic foods were virtually nonexistent. Smart men figured out how to make bread, baked goods, wine and beer. The pre-agriculture ancients were lean, strong and athletic. Hunter-gatherer societies died out and were replaced by village societies: harsh existence was replaced with sedentary existence.

 Occupations came into existence: nomadic tribesmen had two occupations: hunter or warrior. With the advent of the village, the farmer, storekeeper, village official and sheriff, could all stay in one place, eating bread and pastries, drinking beer for lunch and liqueur with dinner. High glycemic food and toxic drink became the preferred fuels. Obesity became a scourge amongst the societal cultural elites. New and unheard of food maladies appeared; those that continually overindulged contracted gout, a painful, joint-swelling, inflamed condition bought on by excessive consumption of rich foods. Gout became known as “the disease of Kings.”

 Fast forward to the year 2009 and for the first time in the history of civilization, the number one affliction of impoverished peoples is not starvation – the number one health problem among poor people is obesity. No one starves in the streets, they order off the dollar menu.  I recently heard this (unverified) statistic: the number one expenditure related to child rearing is not school supplies, clothes, tuition or gas spent transporting kids around town – the number one expense related to raising children was fast food. Take out food, fast food, purchased by the working parents on their way home from work, is used to feed the kids. These foods are highly estrogenic and estrogen emasculates males and over-feminizes women.

 Want proof? Cruise on over to the local shopping mall and head to the food court: observe the docile breed that is modern humanity. A new species is emerging, softies of indeterminate-sex, gender-neutral, best personified by the character “Pat” in mid-nineties Saturday Night Live episodes. Observe the estrogenically-inflamed physiques of the eatery participants; watch as they waddle from one counter to the next, ordering one chemical concoction after another…their taste buds so battered, so overwhelmed, so shattered that only the most extreme tastes and taste sensations are able to penetrate the thick goo that clogs their taste buds. Only the most outrageous, extreme tastes are recognized or appreciated. Subtle and sensuous foods are wasted on the taste-buds of these deadened, estrogenically poisoned creatures.       

 In 1970 only 11% of the American population was obese. By 1980 that figure had risen to 19%. In 2009 we are at 31% and the pace is accelerating. In 2009 40% of people over the age of 50 are obese. The future projections are sobering. The Purposefully Primitive solution to modern maladies is based on detoxification followed by intense training, periodically rotated, combined with organic, seasonally appropriate eating.