Marty Gallagher has been in the iron game for over 55 years as an athlete, coach and writer. As a young lifter he met and watched some of the greatest lifters in the world. He learned strength strategies from these men that would serve him for the next 50 years. This strength and power tradecraft came from master lifters whose only allegiance was to progress. These ultra-basic strength strategies serve as the foundation for the strength strategies he champions and represents to this day.
Marty immersed himself into two parallel athletic universes mentoring under both Hugh Cassidy and Robert Smith. This immersion led to profound athletic and writing lessons. Gallagher sought to "square the circle" and meld aspects of "soft" internal martial arts with "hard" strength straining. He discovered numerous commonalities between powerlifting and internal martial arts. Both disciplines were obsessed with technique and paid close attention to posture, balance and stance. There were also highly developed attitudes regarding the role of a centered and psyched mind that emphasized mental recalibration tactics.
Gallagher won his first National title in 1967 at age 17 as an Olympic lifter. He won six National Masters Championships in three different weight classes and was the IPF World Masters Champion in 1992 in the 220 pound class. At age 46 he squatted 722lbs to set a National record and in 2013 at age 63 he squatted 450lbs raw to set a National record. As a coach Gallagher guided Black's Gym to five National Team titles. In 1991 he coached Team USA to a World Team title. He guided several lifting greats to many USPF National and IPF World titles. Mark Chaillet and Kirk Karwoski both National and World record holders achieved Hall of Fame Status.
Marty is a senior subject matter expert for Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU). He currently works with American Tier 1 Spec Ops, British Special Boat Service and the United States Secret Service. His minimalistic time-compressed strength training approach has proven invaluable for military elite.