I stand corrected! My first impression upon opening the front cover of Marty Gallagher’s The Purposeful Primitive and reading six pages of glowing accolades was that the book was overhyped. Having worked in publishing for many years, I know how publishers like to praise a book before it hits the shelves. Usually the text does not equal the praise. It was with that mind-set that I started to browse through the chapters. I was wrong.
The more I read, the more impressed I was with the author’s experience, knowledge and writing ability. Gallagher explains the training programs of various strength and bodybuilding athletes in an easy-to-understand and entertaining way, and he avoids the complexities found in texts that spew forth scientific theory with no practical application to justify it.
The book is thorough and gives exact formulas and routines needed to progress in training. Gallagher knows what each program is geared to produce and how to apply it. The author takes the scientific theories and applies them to the everyday trainee. From his years as a strength athlete and coach, he can explain why one theory worked for a particular trainee and not another.
The Purposeful Primitive will stand the test of time and still be relevant years from now. It should be required reading for every college kinesiology and sports-training course. It is worth every page of praise it receives. Even former Mr. Olympia Dorian Yates calls it “an absolute classic—I couldn’t put it down.” High praise indeed. IM
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