I took part in a series of questions regarding the development of strength and size.

 This is a 3 part series and you’ll also get some powerful info from my good friend Dave Tate. You’ll get my usual no-nonsense approach for training, check it out Here

In Strength,

Zach Even – Esh

Tweet This Post

Wow, the Underground Strength Coach Certification is already almost full.

The people attending are so amped up I could literally
feel their energy jumping through the phone.

I have had a lot of e mails coming through regarding the certification
course and I’ll answer them here to clear up as many answers
as possible.

We already have 6 people who have either payed in full
or placed their first payment down, which leaves 4 lucky slots open.

On the flip side, I have given the “green light” to 8 people, so
by tomorrow, 2 more spots will likely be taken once down payment has been
made.

Let’s take a look at some of the questions
I have received via e mail regarding the first ever,
Underground Strength Coach Certification Course:

1) What exactly will be covered at the certification?

Answer: I have a outline of the weekend curriculum
at http://combatgrappler.com/coach.html

I will be going through my exact blue print for training clients, athletes
and non athletes alike.

This will begin with how we assess clients, the exact baseline program
they follow before getting a tailor made program.

Our exact warm up and bodyweight series will be taught and experienced,
and being in groups, you will be given the opportunity to coach
feloow attendees while receiving feedback from myself and others
in attendance.

From there we will get into our Kettlebell essentials, we
will not get into the fancy,  all show exercises, only the
most effective movements.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tweet This Post

I gave the members at The Underground a special
head start to get in on the BIG announcement I have
mentioned before.

Well, it’s finally here, and it’s going to be one power packed
weekend of awe inspiring strength and conditioning methods, right
here in Edison, NJ.

I’ll be revealing my exact blue print for training clients and how we get
results so quickly, without fail, 100 % of the time.

It’s the Underground Strength Coach Instructor Certification

http://combatgrappler.com/coach.html

Read the rest of this entry »

Tweet This Post

Sometimes you need to go overboard and take things to a “crazy” level with your training.

Shocking your body every once in a while is good for the sould. You will feel great overstepping the typical boundaries and rules of “weight lifting” and you’ll get stronger because of it.

Back in the day, there was a HUGE bodybuilder named Vic Richards. He never competed, but he was a freaky gym monster. He never followed the typical rules, instead, he would spend time on an exercise. Maybe 1 hour of squats, or 1 hour of benching or 1 hour of leg presses.

I was so motivated that I would copy his craziness. Not the smartest thing to do at age 16, but I was so passionate for the iron that I couldn’t resist. I squatted for nearly 2 hours and had to ride my bike home from the gym! I couldn’t ride my bike, nor could I walk my bike.

Here and there you need to go beyond your limits. This is also why Vic started his training with two guys called the “Barbarian Brothers” who were known for moving massive weights and breaking all the rules of working out, which is also why they were the strongest guys in Gold’s Venice.

I’m not telling you to train till you can’t walk….but, by now, you know that breaking the rules is gonna have to happen sooner or later. Stop following the rules and start making progress!

This is exactly why I created http://UndergroundStrengthCoach.com – too many complicated, overly fancied up workouts that weren’t giving people results.

It’s time to break the rules.

What’s your next step?

In Strength,

Zach Even – Esh

Tweet This Post

“Get Under the Bar” – Dave Tate has a powerful book titled “Under the Bar”.

I don’t care what you get under, but get under something heavy. Get your hands dirty, lift it, push it, pull it, drag it, carry it, press it, throw it…..I’ve seen people develop strength by moving many different kinds of “weights”, but, those who made the most porgress lifted HEAVY.

There are no two ways around it, you gotta lift heavy weights to develop incredible strength. Strength that you can use in the real world is critical. I’ve seen some jacked up bodybuilder type fashionistas struggle to move furniture. If you’re used to deadlifting, squatting, power cleaning and flipping tires – carrying furniture won’t be a problem.

But I saw this during a trip to the beach last summer. These two guys were shirtless and JACKED! But they were wrestling like no tomorrow with the sofa, putting it down every couple of feet….I could tell right away they were not used to ground based movements like I espouse frequently in my Underground Strength Manual – http://UndergroundStrengthManual.com.

There some awesome machines out there, but, nothing beats deadlifts, squats, stone training, strongman work and the like. Still, all of your training must suit your goals and needs, but the one thing about the basics is that they will always work. Stick someone in a small room with nothing but a 500 lb barbell and I guarantee they can make unheard of gains in strength, power and muscle development.

I did it in my Dad’s garage using a 300 lb barbell set and you can do it to.

Have you noticed that in these fancy, high tech gyms there are very few strong and big guys? Go to a low tech gym, a hard core gym, and you will certainly find an abundance of big, strong guys.

I’ve seen both.

I’ve been able to transform skinny, weak athletes into incredibly strong, rugged, mentally tough, and thickly muscles athletes….all in a garage!

With sandbags, barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, kegs and stones, we got the job done and shocked tons of people in the process who told us that we needed a gym to make the powerful gains. That just isn’t the facts. The facts lie in the results, and we have more than enough to prove em’ wrong.

So remember, if you want to make big gains, if you want to get strong, you better get under something, and it better be heavy and challenging.

Let your fear go and make it happen. From this point on, it’s all mental!

In Strength,

Zach Even – Esh

P.S. – I’ll give you the behind the scenes of everything I do right here: http://UndergroundStrengthManual.com

Tweet This Post

I saw a ton of posts at Dave Draper’s awesome site dedicated to Dr.Ken and many spoke about his son, Kevin. They posted this pic and it motivated the heck out of me to get me an anvil. I am loving the anvil, I’ll be posting pics, articles and videos of anvil training at http://UndergroundStrengthCoach.com

You tell me, does Kevin look like a BEAST or what?!?!

If the pic above doesn’t motivate you, check your pulse.

In Strength,

Zach Even – Esh

P.S. – The snow is coming down HARD here in NJ. This means I gotta get my daughter bundled up and get her on her sled. It’s time for some sled sprinting! You know I love sleds if you’re a member of The Underground! 

Tweet This Post

Above, the Back of BIG Kevin Tolbert 

Zach,
It’s a bit confusing to me as I’ve been reading a lot of books about building up muscle & strength.
Many of them said reps should be around 8-12 anything more is a waste of time.
Here you’re saying that we go for high reps to obtain muscle.
Please tell me the difference between doing high & low reps?
What impact does it have?

You see I’ve only started training recently & want to build up my muscle.
I’ve been subscribing to many magazines & I still don’t see much improvement.
 
Regards,
Jerry

Jerry,

Great question my friend. There is so much information out there nowadays, that confusion for the beginner is bound to happen. Regarding the magazines nowadays, most of them are completely fabricated stories of how the top guns work out and have little or nothing to do with what happens in the REAL world. In addition, we are not talking about natural lifters when we talk about most of these magazines.

 Sorry, no sugar coatin’ here.

The greatest magazines were out in the early 70’s and before. I have a stack of 50 Health & Strength Magazines from the 50’s and they are GOLDEN – filled to the brim with awesome muscle building info.

Gaining muscle comes down to eating, training, recovery and mind set. They ALL require consistency for years on end. If one of the above is not followed with commitment, then we have removed 25% of your muscle building forumla already, and the results will falter.

With regards to high reps and low reps, especially in regards to the question about Dr. Ken Leistner’s son, Kevin Tolbert, look at the weights he used for his lifts:

Bench Press: Over 400 lbs on the bench press for over 10 reps

Squats: 500 – 600 lbs for 20 – 30 reps

Look at those numbers again. Those are HUGE weights AND for high reps. To get big you need to get strong first. When you get strong you can eventually move BIG weights and HIGH reps.

In my buddy’s latest release, Muscle Gaining Secrets, Jay Ferruggia gets into detail with what REALLY works. This is not the politically correct e book and the same rehashing of information. Instead, Jay gives his NO B.S. truth behind decades of experience.

Stick to the basics in food, rest, training and never miss a beat. One step after another, slowly, slowly, the gains will come. But it’s through the endless months and years that we see the progress, not after only a few weeks.

Last but not least, do not copy other people’s programs without assessing if this program truly fits your needs. I used to copy the programs written in the bodybuilding magazines when I was young and that was a HUGE mistake. As I mentioned before, these were all fabricated workouts and articles and had nothing to do with a beginner who was drug free.

The bodybuilding magazines of today are jam packed with advertisements for magic supplements and magic this and that which in the end will NEVER replace the hard work, dedication, sweat and effort that goes into putting on solid muscle.

Getting strong in the basic lifts comes first. The basics, over and over will do the job. Don’t let anyone tell you differently. The movements such as squats, bench press, military press and the like are Kings in the weight room. But, learning to organize and plan a workout program is also critical.

I’m not into the hype, I’m into what works.

In Strength,

Zach Even – Esh

P.S. – Check out Muscle Building Secrets today where you can get my special report on deveolping “Freak Strength”. If you’re not ready to work your ass off then this will not be for you. That’s the truth.

Tweet This Post

At The Underground Strength Gymnasium we hold regular competitions amongst the members. These are unannounced battles and they really hype up the crew at hand to step it up. Noone likes to lose and sometimes a loss exposes their weak area(s) and makes them work smarter AND harder towards filling those gaps.

 Our last contest was a pull up contest. The winners received a Captains of Crush Hand Gripper.

Pull ups are like squats for the upper body. They’re amazing at developing strength and adding muscle to your back, shoulders, biceps, forearms and they strengthen the hands as well. We never use straps to aid the grip.

I can not announce my next contest because my clients visit my Blog regularly. I can assure you it will be VERY challenging and much more brutal than the simple pull up contest. The winner will have to earn his prize this time through a brutal gut busting effort.

I’ll keep you posted on this next competition, it should be in a few weeks

The prize for our first contest was the Captains of Crush Gripper, and rightfully so. I know that when the hands become stronger the rest of the body becomes stronger.

Stronger hands will improve their pull up strength, increase deadlift strength and yes, it will even improve pressing strength in movements such as the military press and bench press. When the hands can wrap tightly around a barbell, or any object, and crush it tightly, the entire body tenses and strength now becomes a full body effort, not just an isolated effort from one or a few muscle groups.

I suggest you start working your hands twice a week. Work them hard and heavy and watch the rest of your strength increase. Two of my favorite exercises are Hex Dumbbell Holds and hand over hand sled pulls with a thick rope.

If you want to learn more exercises, methods and workouts to use for explosing your grip and hand strength then check out what 11 hard core strength coaches put together in this Beast of an e book: http://GripExperts.com

Stay strong!

 –Zach–

Tweet This Post

Strength and Performance Enhancement Skills that Work in the REAL World…. 

On April 5th, I’ll be presenting along side Pamela MacElree and Jason C. Brown, the co owners of Cross Fit Philly.

This will be a seminar based on what works in the REAL world, with real application, not book smart jargon to try and sound impressive. You will be gaining knowledge from 3 people who train hard on their own in addition to training countless clients on a daily basis.

I’ll be presenting strongman training methods, powerful bodyweight movements, and most importantly, I’ll be dishing out the answer to the biggest dilemma of them all: How to Get STRONG!

There are entirely too many weak and injured people – athletes and non-athletes. The big factor behind these injuries is that these people are WEAK! If you think you’re strong now, I’ll show you ways to get stronger.

Here is the registration link: http://www.crossfitphilly.com/Events.html

Looking forward to seeing you in Joisey!

All information is provided at this link: http://www.crossfitphilly.com/Events.html

The last time we held this seminar we sold out fast, I expect this one to sell out even faster for 2 reasons:

1) It is going to a much bigger e mail list than last year

2) On Friday, February 29th, I will be presenting at The NJ Strength Coaches Clinic, and registration forms will be distributed and collected that very same day.

Looking forward to meeting you at the seminar!

In Strength,

Zach Even – Esh

P.S. - If you would also like to attend the NJ Strength Coaches Clinic on Friday, Feb. 29th, simply click on the “Events” link at the top of my page.

Tweet This Post

I was 13 years old, my Dad was getting the big set of stairs in front of our house rebuilt.

I used to run up and down those 32 stairs back in high school after they were built, after I ran my 4 or 5 mile wrestling run.

The guy who built the stairs was named Americo. He was a shorter guy, maybe 5′6″, but I still remember the day he was
showing my Dad the different bricks and stones which could be used for the stairs.

Americo’s hands looked like big meat hooks, his forearms were massive and muscular with veins running up and down them, and his biceps were rock solid.

I had been working out for only 2 or 3 months at this time, and seeing Americo’s arms, hands and forearms really sent a message home. It was that day I knew how impressive and intimidating it was to sport a pair of rugged, muscular hands, forearms and biceps.

That was 19 years ago, and I still remember it like yesterday.

Those hands, forearms and biceps didn’t get big doing a whole lot pencil pushing and in today’s speak, this means that sitting behind the key board and lifting small weights won’t cut it either.

There are many paths one can take when developing the hands and forearms, and the best thing is that when you strengthen your hands and grip you strengthen the rest of your body. I’ve seen this happen every single time, without fail.

You will NEVER find a man with a powerful grip to have a weak body.

You can also see the story of how I met a guy with freakishly strong hands and forearms who put my buddy and I to shame over at http://GripExperts.com

This guys name is Tony, and he doesn’t work out at a gym, ever, instead, he works at a tire yard.

Tires, barbells, kettlebells – they’re all weights. But when you put together the correct recipe,
it spells serious success for you in the strength game.

Check the story out plus a  photo of “Tony” over at http://GripExperts.com

In Strength,

Zach

Tweet This Post