Lifting odd objects has been around for ages. I have books from the mid 1800′s that show men lifting sandbags, stones, bars with cemented stones on the ends, ice blocks with handles and other muscle and strength building movements that would shock onlookers of today.
The great thing is, this style of training requires no gym membership, and trust me, I have heard some of the music being played in these gyms! I bought a protein shake from a gym and heard a song “pumping”….”Don’t be cruel, to a heart that’s true….”
Try getting pumped for your 400 lb squats with that depressing song jammin’ through the speakers!
This is why I love having my own gym, still, with my busy schedule, lots of backyard and playground workouts are happening, and they are freakin’ powerful! I’m using lots of bodyweight training, kettlebells, stones and heavy dumbbells.
Check out what a backyard workout clip can look like with Steve Maxwell, who I’ll be presenting with at our Gladiator Seminar, come July 12 in Edison, NJ
Pretty cool stuff eh’?
That stuff will make you stronger than a freight train, works better than the crap at those fancy fitness clubs, that’s for sure 
In Strength,
Zach Even – Esh
PS - Space is quickly running out from The Gladiator Seminar. This is one not to be missed. More info HERE.
Filed under Announcements, Articles, Videos, Zach's Workouts by on Jun 1st, 2008. Comment. 
With the busy times hitting me hard, there is no fear. Most people would give up and skip workouts entirely.
I’m simply gonna grab a little piece of my 2 car garage back. It used to be filled entirely with gym equipment, all my Underground tools. Now that I own a gym, my wife took it over
I have a few Kettlebells in there now, and will bring an old curling bar to the garage and 2 olympic dumbbells so I can load them up with 25 lb plates for some heavy duty Underground Bodybuilding.
Now, you might be wondering why the heck I’ll be using a curl bar?
Read more on Underground Bodybuilding in a garage…
Filed under Articles, Success, Zach's Workouts by on Jun 3rd, 2008. 2 Comments.
Who is that crazy kid who started training athletes in his Dad’s garage?
It started 4 or 5 years ago. There were a few dumbbells, a crappy barbell set from Costco, a lot of rusty Ivanko olympic plates, stones in a backyard, a hill for sprinting near by and a busted up playground 1/2 a mile away where training could be created and had with amazing intensity and creativity.
It was just a small mission, to ensure that other wrestlers never experienced what I experienced. So the research began on how to “correctly” train athletes.
Sport specific training kept on popping up everywhere and it didn’t seem right to me. I couldn’t find information on old school training, so I thought using balls and balance boards would be the way to go.
But the results said otherwise.
Read more on The kid who started in his Dad’s garage…
Filed under Announcements, Articles, Calendar, Success, Zach's Workouts by on Jun 3rd, 2008. Comment.
I had heard about him using sandbags during his BJJ classes, homemade Russian Kettlebells, revolving pull up bars, a climbing rope in his house for his son and other wildly innovative methods that were a far cry from the popular stability ball and balance board afficionados.
His methods were in line with my way of thinking and he was certainly someone who was walking the walk being the first American Gracie BJJ Black Belt.
Read more on I heard stories about this guy……
Filed under Announcements, Articles, Success, Zach's Workouts by on Jun 4th, 2008. Comment.
At one point in time, my “gym equipment” was very little, and it all fit into the back of my SUV….with plenty of room to boot
I used three training tools and if I was limited to these 3 things I would still be able to develop bad ass athletes and awesome strength, power and conditioning for myself.
Read more on In the back of a truck……
Filed under Articles, Success, Zach's Workouts by on Jun 5th, 2008. Comment.
My wife was watching FOX news a few hours ago and I caught a few minutes with her. I’m not a big news watcher, too much negativity for me.
The interesting thing that caught my attention was the guest they had on the show who was the founder for the NAAO, National Action Against Obesity.
The newscaster was trying to make her feel bad about the entire airplane seating debate for being obese and how some people are big bones, etc, etc.
ALL the excuses were raining down and MeMe Roth stayed tough and pretty much said, “Hell yea, people should be stigmatized if they are fat and overweight.”
The newscaster closed out with a weak comment, saying, “Well, you’re lucky you’re skinny.”
Read more on Lucky? I don’t think so!…
Filed under Announcements, Articles, Calendar, Zach's Workouts by on Jun 6th, 2008. 1 Comment.
Ya gotta love these…they’re FREE and they get you freaking strong!
My motivation all began when I visited the tire yard in town, and I spent about 30 seconds wrestling a tire to flip it over, which damn near killed me. Then, the “Tire Yard Freak” walked up, took a few puffs of his cigarette, threw it down, and flipped the tire 3 times in a row….no knee lift, ALL power. Just a pure FREAK!
His strength shook me up and woke me up. Why? Because he wasn’t a guy “lifting weights” in the gym, he was throwing tires, flipping tires, carrying tires.
Does this mean free weights are obsolete? Heck NO, come on, by now, you know that I am not someone who believes something is the end all, be all secret weapon, but, these damn tires will be a great addition to an already ass kicking program.
Go get some!
In Strength,
Zach Even – Esh
PS - I’ll be taking you through my Underground training programs along with Steve Maxwell during our Gladiator Seminar. It’s going to rock the house, period. Get in before the doors are shut for good! Click HERE and be a person of action.
Filed under Articles, Videos, Zach's Workouts by on Jun 8th, 2008. Comment.
Wow, what an awesome weekend this was.
The first ever, USC certification, and it rocked the house big time.
With military and fire personnel, budding Strength Coaches, Fitness Pros running boot camps and High School Strength Coaches in attendance, it was an amazing time.
The ins and outs of my gym and business, A – Z, were delivered. Nothing buts the nuts and bolts, no fancy, complicated stuff.
This was all about kicking ass with nuts and berries, no need for fancy equipment.
The feedback was great and you’ll see some pics and videos on the blog soon enough.
I’m a little hectic now as last night, around 3 AM, we headed to the hospital as my wife was having contractions for a good few hours and the Doc told her to come in asap.
Read more on Un-Freakin’-Real!…
Filed under Announcements, Articles, Calendar, Success by on Jun 9th, 2008. Comment.
I got myself 2 bad ass Kettlebells because the training will likely be at home now that we have our baby boy about to move in
Yes, I own a gym, but, I still love those backyard / outdoor workouts with all the freedom to sprint, jump, throw Kettlebells around, carry stones and who knows what else I’ll be doing with my Kettlebells and mother nature.
Without a doubt, one of the toughest complexes I have ever done is The Combat Complex using a 70 lb Kettlebell.
Check the video below and you’ll see what I mean!
Give that complex a shot with a moderate sized kettlebell. If you can hang, hit it for 2 sets! Let me know how it goes
In Strength,
–Z–
PS – Where did I snag my last 2 Kettlebells from? Right HERE. And I kid you not, these are the most bad ass Kettlebells I have ever wrapped my hands around. I freakin’ love these beasts!
Filed under Articles, Videos, Zach's Workouts by on Jun 9th, 2008. 3 Comments.
Training is easy when you wake up after 8 hours sleep, someone does your laundry, cooks for you, and there is all the time in the world to do what you want. Those days ended long ago for me, but, that doesn’t mean those days will never come back.
Having a Chef and a cleaning team is certainly something I plan on having, but, in the mean time, I am usually getting 5 – 6 hours of sleep per day, working from 7 am – midnight.
Training is never perfect with such a schedule, and getting strong, lean, ripped and in great condition is much more challenging, still, I have no excuses, and get it done. Lead from the front, represent, make it happen, no matter what.
Tonight, I trained for about 20 minutes with only a few hours of sleep in me. If I waited for the day that I had 8 hours sleep, all my meals in place and perfect weather then I would never “get it done”.
I took home two olympic dumbbell handles as well, adding to my collection of Kettlebells.
The basics will be covered with just these two simple tools. No worries, I’ll easily add some stones, playground workouts, calisthenics and plenty of sprints to this simple yet brutally effective mix.
What will you be doing when the often “not the right time” comes around?
In Strength,
–Z–
PS – If all you had was One Kettlebell, you could still get in ass kicking workouts by adding calistehnics and anything else mother nature could offer you and you could find. Our results prove this, because it’s what we have done for years on end!
PPS – I’ll uncover every angle of my simple, no frills training methods at The Gladiator Seminar. Are you in? Space is filling up and time is running out.
Filed under Announcements, Articles, Zach's Workouts by on Jun 9th, 2008. 2 Comments.
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