How to Get Built Like a Brick Shit House
January 28th, 2010
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by admin · Filed Under: Announcements · Articles · Calendar · Strength Building · Success · Zach's Workouts · muscle building
Once in a blue moon you come across an athlete or a gym rat who, as some of us may have said, is “Built like a Brick Shit House”.
In my 21 years of getting under the bar, traveling the world and being in countless gyms I have seen my fair share of Dudes who are built like BEASTS.
You know the look I’m talking about, right? It’s that Powerful look, thick, densely built muscles that you AUTOMATICALLY know represent the look of Strength, Power and Might.
There aren’t too many guys like this in globo gyms nowadays because they have all defected to training in basements, garages, warehouses and hidden dungeons that only the world of hardcore lifters know of.
Most of today’s problems regarding the pussification of the human race would be solved if gyms stopped sounding off sirens anytime someone dared lift heavy or grunt.
Hard Training has now been outlawed by pansy ass gyms such as Planet Fitness – I am still confused why they don’t understand that it’s OK to train hard and heavy and perform exercises with dumbbells heavier than 50 lbs.
What if a gym was created where there was nothing LIGHTER than 50 lbs and sirens went off and your membership was revoked every time some half assed lifter checked his cell phone or wasn’t training with gut busting intensity?
Now THAT would be a GREAT GYM!
If you want that thick, power look then you need to push the limits and get strong as hell using the following lifts with barbells or dumbbells:
- Squats of all variations: back squat, box squat, front squat, zercher squat
- Power Clean, Hang Clean & High Pulls
- Clean & Press or Push Press
- Barbell / Dumbbell / T Bar Rows
- Bench Press, Floor Press, Incline Press
- Farmer Walks
- Deadlift Variations: Romanian Deadlifts, Trap Bar Deads, Rack Pulls and traditional Deadlifting
You should also make some of your own training tools such as heavy handles for swings which can be loaded up with a bunch of 25 lb plates. Swinging heavy weights is excellent for developing your hips, hamstrings, glutes, low back and upper back.
Let us not forget your ability to dominate movements such as chins, dips and rope climbs. Don’t gain fat and excess body weight if you can’t pull yourself up for double digit reps or perform dips and push up variations for high reps.
Can you run? Fast? Sprints of all types are excellent for leg power and even adding muscle to the legs. I suggest Hill Sprints.
Come to think of it, on weekends, go to an empty parking lot and push your car or truck around with the engine off and geared in neutral.
You need to be with me on this mission to end the pussification of the human race.
Drop a comment below.
Peace!
–Z–
PS: If you want workouts to help you build that thick, dense, rugged, powerbuilding look, then you better be training like THIS – The BEAST Workout.
PPS: Want your own hardcore training business? maybe you just wanna get neck deep into the world of hardcore, no nonsense training?
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March 20th, Click HERE
36 Responses to “How to Get Built Like a Brick Shit House”
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Great post Zach!
I’ve recently been doing quite a bit of reading up on strongman workouts as I’ve always had an interest in the events and training since I believe it builds solid strength, size and power…truly functional training…
Anyway, today I decided to make my workout a strongman-type event. And, being that I dont’ have any equipment yet, I had to go to my “pussified” gym but I was determined to do this workout or get kicked out and lose my membership trying.
So, I did 4 “events”:
-Barbell Power Clean & Presses for max reps in 75 seconds
–this one had me gasping for air and my heart rate going crazy
-Farmers Walk (w/DB’s) for 100 feet in fastest time
–fried my forearms, glutes, hamstrings, quads, abs and calves…whew! so intense!
-Seated Rows (done with a rope to mimic pulling a semi-truck) max reps in 30 seconds for each side
–since I can’t pull a truck inside the gym this worked as a good substitute
-Straight Leg Deadlifts for max reps
–grip was fried at this point and legs like jello…used it to mimic sled dragging
All I can say is that I did complete it with some odd looks from some of the other members but man I’m whooped!
I feel every muscle in my body quivering and I can’t remember ever feeling this kind of effect from a workout.
I’m definitely hooked on strongman training.
Thanks to posts by you and Elliot Hulse I’m fired up to keep on killin it!
Thanks Zach,
Kevin Yates
Amen Zach!
I teach a lifting class each wed. and one of the rules I have is that no one is allowed to lift a weight lighter than 10 pounds. With this weight all of our lifts are pretty easy for just about anyone to start off with.
The other day I had someone who insisted on having 8s and 5s for “options”.
Any wonder why this person also can’t seem to make any progress and is constantly complaining about being in a plateau?
I’m the type that trains in my own garage, but i go to the local Fitness First gym once a week cos my school pays for us to go there for PE sessions (i’m 18)
. There are 2 guys that are there during this session that are buit like absolute tanks, they get so many looks! I’m talking arms the size of my head here, and they don’t look bloateed or anythin, just absolutely thick with muscle, massive backs and traps. All i see them doing are deadlifts and Military presses, with immense weight. Motivates me to train old school to no end. These are the only 2 big guys out of the hundreds of members i have seen there. Shame really.
My last time in a gym was when I walked in and started setting up the bench to do some training. After five minutes of bringing over plates and pulling the boards out of my gym bag. (Not allowed to use chalk, but I could bring boards?! Ya I know!)
A gray hair B!?tch puts down his coffee and paper strolls over and rambles, “I wasn’t done with the bench.” “You are now!” “I am a donor and I can have you removed.” “You can kiss my ass, and I will pull my pants down for you!”
To bad for him I knew people upper administration. It didn’t matter I was done with gyms and will never look back.
No tire, No chains, No chalk, No screaming, No slamming plates, No Metal Music, No Stones! NO Thank You!!
Hardcore never goes away! We just wait for our time!
Well Zach, you know the world is screwed up what used to be right is now wrong. What was wrong is now so-called right, that’s what being politically correct has done to us. Pretty soon the weights will be made of pink foam and the saying will be Train Light Or Go Home. We need to continue to train hard because that’s the only way to build strong, real muscles that actually work.
Funny you brought up that pussy gym!! My buddy was going to join that p.o.s. gym until I got to him and put him on a steady diet of pull ups, tire flips, prowler, and heavy presses!! Alarms were goin off in his head alright, but at least it wasn’t frm planet fitness!! The basics are all you need to get strong!!! Thank you for leading this movement! I’ma do MY best to (as you say) “lead from the front!!”
Zach, when I go the gym (Bally’s) I see a lot of machines
being used and the beach body workouts going on(curls and bench everyday). The squat rack and deadlift area is almost always vacant. Most of my workouts are in my garage using alot of your advice. Keep it real…..
Gosh I wish I would’ve know this stuff when I first started lifting. I have a flag lot now, and I use it for car pushes, farmers walks, sprints, and tire flips. It’s funny, I train more intenesely than I ever have before but I’m having more fun too. Anyone that says they don’t have equipment are really shortchaing themselves. Cuz undergrounders know that’s the beauty of it. I have odd looking objects all over my house. I have a large, heavy paint can instead of a kettlebell. I have my car. I have a tire. I have a sledgehammer. A homemade sandbag. And a barbell that I load up. I don’t even have a bench. I do all lifts standing. And after years of frustration with bodybuilding routines, I’ve noticed muscles stretching through my shirts. And I’ve got the strength to back it up. Thanks Zach. Sorry for the long post. Your website and emails just get me so fired up!
“What if a gym was created where there was nothing LIGHTER than 50 lbs and sirens went off and your membership was revoked every time some half assed lifter checked his cell phone or wasn’t training with gut busting intensity?”
pls, sign me up..
{ya forgot 2mention sirens goin off 4grown men grinding to Michael Jackson tunes}
z,
that is great stuff !! i always look forward to a “pick me up ” email from you. at the end of the day there is 10 things that you didn’t do and 10 new things to do in the morning, you can get a little down , but your emails give me that shot of energy !!
thanks z !!
That is my goal here to get my training to the point I can open a public strongman gym. A place to get fukin jacked!! Strong man implaments, barbells, heavy db’s and kb’s, ropes and sleds
Ryan
Great post! I still go to the gym with my buddies since it’s a bit cold now for us to be training outdoors like we would the rest of the year. We’ve gotten in the habit of bringing our own gear (bands, ropes, rings, vests, etc) to keep the workouts challenging. People either think we’re nuts or that we’re hardcore athletes, when we’re really just a bunch of guys have a blast getting strong and fit. If I didn’t have my buddies to keep motivated with real effort in the workouts, I’d get depressed being surrounded by people lifting dinky weights and walking on the treadmills.
Great post Zach. Every time I read your blog it gets me pumped. I love training heavy and intense. I don’t understand why people fear strength. People should see the strong as motivation not intimidation. It gives people something to work towards. I love when there are people lifting heavy and intense. I look at them and say I want to be stronger, faster, more explosive, than that guy. Nowadays people are soft. They are afraid of competition, they are weak, both mentally and physically. I wish they would close down those wussy gyms. They do not even deserved to be called gyms.
Keep up the great work.
Kevin, good work bro!
Try dedicating 5 minutes to each exercise
Hit 2 – 5 reps every minute, rest the remainder of the minute
the DB farmer walks are awesome and will DEFINITELY get U kicked out of ur pansy ass gym soon
Proud of you, ha ha!
–z–
Andy, I hope you learn your lesson from them
start deadlifting and military pressing bruddah!
Gary – hells yea, you did your friend a great service
you’re an angel, ha ha
Carey – you can get freaking huge and strong as hell w/what you have, NO bench needed. Those workouts rule!
Sol – Michael Jackson is the KING, come on bruddah, ha ha!
Michael, it is MY pleasure!!!!
Ryan, that would be cool
tons of power racks, free weights, and a back area for sled / prowler work, strongman training, etc.
Better have GREAT LAWYERS, ha ha
Gonna have to teach the public how REAL lifting goes!
Zach I always look forward to your posts. I laughed out loud about the thought of a bell going off if you are NOT training hard enough – man that would be meeeean!!! Bring it on I say. I get tired of the pussy’s in my gym taking up space chatting about crap or texting, when clients and I want to get in there and haul ass…
Very motivating words you use, keep it up
Thanks for the fire in my belly to train even harder today!
Kat
Well guys, let me tell you that the gyms you are describing AT LEAST HAVE FREE WEIGHTS!!
Yep, I was walking around in Barcelona and I saw this huge gym, and decided to get in and get some information. A good looking receptionist told me that I was free to get in and check the instalations. Then a teacher appeared and said “I will show him around” and he did…stationary bikes, eliptic bikes…”Where is the weights room?” “There!”….Isolation machines, sparking chromed. “No, I mean free weights, barbells, dumbells, a pull up bar…” “Oh, there!”…..AMAZING, all there was was a racket of dumbells and the heavier was 20 kg (45 pounds).
“Ok, I´ll leave my phone number at the reception desk, please call me if you get the male model please!”
Sadly I think he didn’t even understand what I was talking about.
I get fired up by all the emails I get from you Coach… I’m planning on hitting one of your certs in the future. I’m going to the Crossfit Football cert in May, and after that your cert will be next! My wife Carey Kepler is speaking at the affilitate gathering in Miami where you are presenting as well, I had her watch a video of you, told her she needed to meet you! Keep being real.
In reply to Sol, MJ (to me) maybe the King of Pop (R.I.P.), but Zach is one of the many modern-day Kings of Strongman Training!!!!
(And, no, I do NOT listen to MJ tunes while working out! I’m eclectic in my musical tastes…always the hard-hitting S^&* when I work out!)
I didn’t see a woman’s P.O.V. as far as working out at home, so I’d thought I’d pitch in.
When I had a membership at the Y (before my budget had to be altered due to the car breaking down), I didn’t really experience the whole “No-grunting-because-there-are-donors-here” thing. But I did have to shake my head and sigh at the people who would be holding conversations during their workout sets. And those damned machines!!! Ugh! I was probably the only female member NOT using those things.
I purchased a pair of Powerblock dumbbells shortly before my car broke down, and after it broke down and work hours were reduced prior to be posted at my current site, I decided that enough was enough. Here it was, my Dad had converted the garage into a small gym. I had only gotten the Y membership because I was learning how to swim. I didn’t need it anymore because I knew there was a community pool up the street that charged only 18 a month compared to…well, never mind.
I’m actually a lot better off since I left. I don’t have to look disgusted at the women that yak away while on the machines, not giving the exercise their full attention…and sharing recipes for dip. Oh, the excitement.
I’m able to push myself a lot better and growl out loud all I want to. Only thing is having wait about 5 hours before the solar heater has heated up the entire garage before heading out there to train. (Shameless plug/reference to our beloved Zach)
Home gyms are better, period. Even my dad agrees, even though he hasn’t been working out due to a very low energy level and a old back injury. (He’s from the old-school days of training, where you could grunt out the last 5 reps of a bench press and the only response you got from the other patrons and the managers was “Keep it up! Push it! Push it! You’re almost there!”
Gentlemen (and ladies), go hard or go home and get fat and lazy on the couch….
I with you dude. I’m tired of seeing skinny, pussy ass dudes everywhere that are not only weak in body, but also weak in mind and in spirit. Somewhere along the line, it became “not ok” for a man to be tough…to be rugged…to be strong.
Bullshit.
I’m a tough dude. Strong. Intelligent. Hard worker. Dedicated. I don’t roll over…for anybody.
And if you don’t like it…well…then get the f@ck outta my way before I steamroll your ass on the way to accomplishing shit you wish you could do.
Can everybody do it? Hell yeah. But whether or not you have the balls to do it is something else…
Good post brotha.
Wiggy
http://www.workingclassfitness.com
http://www.workingclasscardioworkout.com
I said “screw it,” bailed on 24 hour fitness, and have started training at Skiba’s place in Carteret, NJ. It’s worth the half-hour down the turnpike each way just to train with like minded people, never mind the fact that Skibs has every strength tool known to man and then some.
There’s just something inherently wrong about training with Taylor Swift blaring on the gym stereo, rubberized plates with handles, and watching the fat personal trainer hard at work “training” some fat middle aged woman with the infamous pink dumbbells. Oh and forget about training with the denizens of 24 hour fitness or God forbid finding a training partner. Brah, broski, and broseph are all about shrugs, curls and cable cross overs supersetted with exciting tales about last night at “da club.” New Jersey’s commercial gyms give me the creeps.
Leia – the men posting on the Blog have all probably just fallen in love with you,
As they say, “A Hard Woman is Good to Find!”
Thnx for being here, psyched to see more of your comments!
–z–
Kris thnx bruddah man, psyched to meet you, will you be in Miami?
Kat, thank YOU, love seeing the ladies on board here! Kick ass!!!!
Steve, yo bro, tell the Skib’s I said wus up! That gym is serious shit!
–z–
Zach, I’ve been following your blog for about 2 years now, but I just decided to drop my first comment. I’m training the way you describe it in this post, and I gotta say: The situation in German gyms is the same pussy ass way you mention. I go to a regular gym, but I work as hardcore as I can. I’m about the only one doing deadlifts; I won’t even mention squats here… It’s really embarassing sometimes being around those people…
Well, I love your blog, keep killin it!!
Greetings from Germany
the pussification of the human race have to end.
I was training at my local gym for 6 weeks and the heaviest dumbbell was just 50lbs, when i was performing dead lifts, military press, heavy squat, training the heavy with the BB the man of the gym say Hey don`t do that you might get hurt.
I said f..k it
now I’m training in my back yard, using sandbags, body weight, sprint, trowing rocks, underground training
preparing to start competing in power lifting
thanks Zach for all the information and motivation
leading from the front
Zach,
I’ll know by Monday if I’m coming with my wife or not… trying to arrange for the Grandparents to watch our 2 kiddos for us..if not just the wife.
GREAT Post! I can’t tell you how tired I Get of people belonging to gyms that try to put a limit on what you can do, how you can do it and the goals you’re trying to set. Take a glance around the country at our obesity rates and it’s becoming clear that the way we’re doing it isn’t working…time to shift! Thanks for this!
i love deadlifting. but i also enjoy other oldschool exercises too. i do no isolation whatso ever. when i started lifting, i was 170. i had done body weight only and was strong. now i am 185 and am stronger than my dad who works in a steel shop!(weight in pounds)
We need a H/C gym that has a “YOU ARE LIFTING LIKE A VAGINA” alarm to tell people what’s up!!! Yet another reason why I train in my garage/backyard with the help of sites like you’ve got goin on here!!! THANKS ALOT FOR THE GREAT DEPUSSYFIED INFO!!!!