Monday, October 3, 2011

Lunch With Marty Gallagher

I had lunch with Marty Gallagher yesterday.If you dont know Marty, he was Kirk Karwoski's coach for years and a helluva writer and a champ in his own right.. His "Purposeful Primitive" is a great book. We met to talk about a fiction book that I am writing. That was cool, but the best part of hanging out with Marty are the stories from yesteryear. The man has been around for a long time. I am sure that I am screwing the exact numbers up-but at one point at Chaillet's Gym in Prince Georges County, Maryland in the early 80's there was like 8 guys training at the same time who deadlifted over 700 pounds, and at least 2 guys over 800 pounds. The intensity in that room must have been amazing. I could sit there and listen to the stories for hours. We were in the middle of all of this and Marty gets up and goes to his car and gets his laptop. He had the rough draft of "Purposeful Primitive II" for me to peruse. The pictures alone- of Coan, Yates, Kirk, Chaillet are so inspitrational that you feel like squatting as soon as you are done looking at them. And the content is outstanding. I left him yesterday with tons of new motivation to train. Sometimes you need that: little kicks in the butt that keep you moving along. Thanks Marty.

All About Being a Lifer

What's a Lifer? Someone who isn't in to something for just a day, a month, a year...it's for life. Whether its training or your family or your job...it doesn't matter. You work at it, you build on it, you see the big picture . You don't miss workouts because it means something to you. You are like a Shakespearean actor- no matter what is going on in your life, you block it out when it's time to train. You walk into the weight room and all else disappears. Worry about it later.