I woke up earlier than normal today.

It was VERY tempting to stay in bed, shut off my alarm and just wait until my kids jumped on my bed to wake me up.

But, I got out of bed instead. The mind often tells you one thing and the body another.

If I slept in, it would have eaten at me all day and I would have questioned my edge, and if I’m losing “it”.

I understand the need to be comfortable being UNcomfortable.

It’s the Key to much of my success.

It’s also the key to many other people’s success.

Successful people are doing what they love because at some point in time they had to deal with a lot of doing what others would NOT dare do.

Sure, I hate flying and motion sickness, so rather than be controlled by it, I press onward and drive and find ways to get where I need to be, no obstacles in my way.

I don’t follow someone else’s rules or their creed, I follow my own way, and create my own path.

Trust me, many people thought it would be impossible for me to be as strong as I am or as successful as I am in business, especially back when I first began.

I was accused of being on steroids once I began to surpass others.

** NOTE ** Prepare for the haters to come out of the wood works when you begin to achieve success.

Others laughed at me when I was talking of opening a unique gym where members could only be invited and many would be turned away.

When it comes to the training and the business and my entire life and getting things done, I forge ahead and get up every time I fall down. Gone are the days of being stopped by others or by hills, mountains and brick walls – I’ll crush em’ every single time.

I have no special skills, other than the fact that I know how to work like a Demon and believe in myself like no one else could even imagine.

I am highly motivated to WIN at everything I do. Others are a laundromat full of excuses.

It means eating differently when I go out and everyone else eats whatever they want.

It means doing what others will NOT do in business, the gym and life.

It’s a BIG key to my success.

It is THE Key to my success.

It can be the Key to YOUR Success.

I don’t fear the painful workouts, or getting under heavy loads, or wondering if I’ll throw up during a workout or not.

I don’t give 2 sh*ts when some internet guru talks smack about me or how I train, because I know in the REAL World he could never hang with me during a workout.

I believe in what I do. I believe in where I’m going. I know mountains and road blocks will come but I’ll crush them. Do you believe in yourself this intensely?

This is why I believe in training the mind and the muscle together, through HARD workouts.

Because you are reading this, I am committed to YOUR success.

I don’t want you to experience my painful past.

If you wanna dominate, then you’re in the right place.

Thought I would just remind you

Lead from the Front.

–Z–

PS: I wanna give props to the FIRST ever sponsor of the Underground Strength Show. Built by Navy SEALs, check em’ out by clicking HERE.

PPS: For those who wanna change their life and learn my keys to success, get your ass to an Underground Strength Coach Mentorship. This is NOT just for those who are in the Strength Industry, it is for those who want a life changing event based around becoming strong in mind and body, allowing you to create Massive Success in your life.

1 Day Underground Mentorship, March 20th, Click HERE for Details

2 Day Underground Mentorship, April 9-10, Click HERE for Details

Tweet This Post

Check the video below. Athletes are throwing weights overhead. I don’t think we need a crying argument here whether this is a push press, military press or whatever you want to call it.

The arguing is for the internet gurus who sit on their fat ass and don’t lift jack shit anyway.

Weakness is NOT good. If you have a weak point, attack it with ferocity. Throwing weight over your head makes you strong from head to toe.

I just interviewed Jim Wendler, who favors the strict press, and we spoke about weak areas and attacking the hell out of them.

Lots of people argue that overhead pressing is bad for you.

It’s bad to be weak, period.

It’s bad if you never cycle your lifts or movements which leads to overuse injuries.

Check out Matty Wichlinski, throwing heavy weights overhead.

We believe in STRENGTH here, what do YOU believe in?

Lead from the Front.

–Z–

PS: Matty & I will be unleashing a kick ass Underground Mentorship come March 20th, check out the details HERE.

PPS: 2 Day Underground Mentorship is Open HERE. Serious Applicants Only.

Tweet This Post

Is there truly an ART or a Science to getting strong as hell? Hmmmmm…… Ask Louie Simmons and he will say yes, Jim Wendler will also drop his genius with his 5/3/1 program, allowing him to keep getting stronger….and STRONGER.

But, when in doubt, just lift heavy shit with PROPER technique.

You can do high sets and low reps such as 12 x 2 reps OR…. try Hellish set – rep paramaters like 5 x 10 on movements such as the Barbell Clean & Jerk, Deadlifts, Kettlebell Snatch, etc.

Coach Reeve was always training against the clock when he was a competitive wrestler and a college wrestling coach, and, he still does it today with the Football players of Wake Forest.

Not only does this style of training build serious strength and dense muscle, but also develop immense conditioning and mental toughness, something too many people lack nowadays!

Try This: 2 reps on the minute, every minute for 10 minutes of (Choose Any One Exercise) the log clean & press, tire flip, sandbag shoulder, stone shouldering, deadlift, barbell clean & press….

I’ve done this with athletes using heavy weights if they need to gain weight and fighters, wrestlers and combat athlete who need strength endurance / power endurance.

And by the way, if you’re resting 3 – 5 minutes between sets because your last scientific handbook told you to do so you’re missing the boat.

In the REAL world, when the hell do you get to do 2 reps and rest? Learn to push heavy weights with minimal rest and as I mentioned before, using proper technique.

I’ve seen some dangerous form being used in local gyms and even by popular web sites on the internet. It sends the wrong message, and you can’t create a powerful message unless You Lead From the Front.

Time for me to get some rest, the alarm is set for 6:30 AM tomorrow morning. It’s training time. That means heavy weights followed by prowler conditioning.

Check out some footage below.

You may also have noticed less video footage from me. I will get back to the videos, so don;t you worry, BUT, I am zoning out when I train and hate to mess around with a video camera when I am focused on getting STRONGER, FASTER, LEANER & MEANER!

That’s me hitting some thick bar deadlifting and the Prowler Pushing with 9 plates is one of our Freshman Football Beasts, we call him “The Hit Man”.

Peace!

Lead from the Front.

–Z–

PS: For all you Strength & Muscle Building Fanatics, check the 30 Day Underground Trial HERE.

PPS: For those of you who wanna start doing what you love, check out our upcoming Underground Mentorship Courses:

1 Day Mentorship

2 Day Mentorship

Tweet This Post

On most Sunday Mornings I wake up before the entire house starts moving.

I get dressed, brush teeth and head to The Underground.

Sunday morning workouts keep me ahead of the pack, keep my edge and allow me to train and do something extra while the rest of the world is still sleeping.

The Military Press is a GREAT way to start your day, especially on a Sunday morning.

Locking heavy weights overhead forces your entire body to work overtime.

Want REAL “core strength”? Lock heavy weights overhead and you’ll feel your entire body working like a madman (or madwoman to stabilize.

This is why you see so many olympic lifters with ripped, thickly developed abs and powerful looking erectors that are as thick as tree trunks.

You’ve seen me take weights from the ground to overhead before Here & Here, but sometimes you can just get under the bar, dumbbell or kettlebells – or any training tool, and just keep locking that bad boy overhead.

The next time you think of sleeping in I suggest you push your mind a lil further, wake up early and throw some heavy shit overhead!

Peace.

And remember….. Lead from the Front!

–Z–

PS: The Man of Steel Challenge is coming soon! A program you can use anywhere, even at your globo gym! Prepare for the most ass kicking workout system of 2010!

Tweet This Post

Enjoy the audio interrogation with Coach Ripp.

Yes, a little static in the first 2 minutes but then it goes away. Have mercy on me as my office is out of a military back pack since moving and I don’t have a land line

The information is Golden. What else would you expect from Coach Ripp?

It is men Like Ripp, Dave Tate, Louie Simmons and Coach Reeve who have helped me mold my own methods into what they have become today.

Click HERE to Listen

Drop a comment or question below.

For more on Coach Rippetoe, visit http://StartingStrength.com

Happy New Year!

–Z–

Tweet This Post

Yes, I admit it, people complaining about my workouts or calling them crazy only stokes my fire and makes me crazier.

Check out the inside look of my latest ‘NO Rules Workout’

More NO Rules Workouts to come.

If you want the Blue Print on Underground Strength Training and workouts to follow, and you do NOT fear crazy workouts, click HERE.

Expect to become stronger, faster, leaner and meaner than ever before with my Underground Strength and Muscle Building System.

Peace!

–Z–

Tweet This Post

WOW!

Lots of emotion heated up from yesterday’s video with Ricky Bruch.

But, even though some disagreed with what may have been Ricky Burch’s past (who can say for fact what he did or did not do and deep down who gives a shit), let’s look at what we can learn from his videos. 

That’s how I like to view things: How can I LEARN from X, Y, Z, rather than finding the negative.

There is enough negativity on the internet, I ask you to please not bring it here.

This light of trying to learn and find the positive rather than the negative has been a LARGE factor in my success, which is largely in part due to my mind set.

Check this next video out, a favorite lift of mine is hit HARD in this video with Ricky Bruch:

That movement? we can call it the power curl.

It’s a hybrid hang clean and cheat curl, and it places your wrists in a more comfortable position than a typical olympic style hang clean.

Is one better than the other, it all depends on your goals.

If you’re an O lifter, than obviously the olympic style clean is best.

I have cranked these power curls sometimes FIRST in a workout, hitting 205 on a straight bar and curl bar.

I was FIRST exposed to these while training with a super heavyweight bodybuilder at my old stomping grounds, Diamond Gym.

The guy who cranked these would hit several sets of 6 – 10 reps during a workout with 275 lbs! The guy was a PURE beast and strong as hell, he LOVED to train heavy and would routinely do 4 – 5 EASY sets of deep squats for 10 reps with 495 lbs, NO joke.

The power curl will pack muscle on your back, shoulders, traps, biceps and forearms.

I suggest you give it a go, with a straight bar, thick bar or an ez curl bar.

The Power Curl will NOT be performed with 95 lbs.

I don’t suggest cranking these until you can perform them properly with at least 135 lbs.

Let me hear your thoughts on other unorthodox lifts and this last video of Ricky.

I do like the low budget gym he is training in, it’s amazing the type of results one can get from inside these “hole in the wall” warehouse gyms.

Peace!

–Z–

PS: Love the unorthodox lifts? Get busy with my 30 Day Trial to The Underground HERE.

PPS: Reminder! November 14th, USC Mentorship and Certification is gonna help you blow up your business….in a GOOD way! Check it HERE as 4 people already signed up!

Tweet This Post

Life & Lifting, they go hand in hand.

It’s amazing what you learn from life as you put yourself through hellish workouts and commit to becoming the strongest and biggest you possibly can be – “NO limits”, you say to yourself!

Here’s quite an interesting story…..

Mid July, 1 of my athletes competed in ’The World’s Strongest Athlete’ Contest, hosted by Joe DeFranco. College athletes flew in from around the country to go head to head and toe to toe in this brutal contest.

The Underground Strength Gym sent over 12 athletes to compete, more than any visiting gym that would compete that day.

ALL eyes were on 1 of our athletes….his name?

“Curls”

The summer before, Curls had won The DeFranco Strongman Challenge as an 18 year old college student, shocking others and impressing the hell out of everyone, including the NFL athletes who were competing against each other that day.

The “FUNNY” thing about this story is that not many people know the history of Curls.

The fact that he was a chubby, slow, weak, unathletic kid.

Most say Curls is some sort of Genetic Freak.

He’s the opposite, actually. But, what he lacked in genetic supremacy, he overcame via work ethic, commitment, consistency, not just in training, but nutrition as well.

Back when he was a kid, he was a rolly polly type kid, slow, not very athletic, tagged first in every tag game and usually dead last every time he ran a lap around the field with his classmates.

But, during 8th grade and upon entering high school he began doing what the majority of aspiring athletes & lifters do NOT do, regardless of age, and that was the use of Bodyweight Training.

Most people skip this foundation and then struggle with no progress as they try to master basic free weight exercises without any muscle to support their efforts.

So what DID Curls do?

Lots of push ups, lots of jumping activities via jump rope and Basketball, sit ups, hill sprints and pull ups at the local playground or hanging off the edge of soccer goal posts.

Smart Kid!

Through high school he hit the weight room hard using the basics: trap bar deadlift, bench press, squat and hang clean and of course….Curls - the typical high school football stuff, right?

Great stuff, when performed properly.

Curls finished his Football season Junior year and was encouraged to join The Underground, back when operations were being run in my garage, backyard and the local playground.

With his ability to be able to perform push ups, sit ups, pull ups, sprints and jumping rope it was time to add a NEW element of training to his program! 

Once we began adding more to his program, such as Kettlebell training, strongman training, sleds, sledge hammer work and olympic lifts with dumbbells and sandbags, his progress skyrocketed.

But, regardless of his training tools, he was committed.

Commitment IS THE Difference Maker, especially when the action taken is performed with the optimal methods.

You gotta be committed to EVERYTHING you do or your results will simply be half ass.

Commitment means you eat, live and breathe your goals.

Curls ate the way I told him to and trained the way he was supposed while at The Underground.

His commitment and desire to succeed created a powerful BELIEF in everything he did. He KNEW he would become a BEAST!

So understand this: Your level of commitment and your belief in your ability to succeed is the critical driving force to keep you going.

You must be absolutely certain that you’re going to become a Bad Ass MoFo from your training – this will keep you commited to your workout.

Without certainty in what you are doing, you will likely quit and give up.

Too many e mails have been drowning my in box starting with something like this:

“No matter what I do, no matter how I train and no matter how I eat, I just can’t get stronger or bigger”

That’s the wrong attitude to have if you want success in training or business and in a nutshell, in life.

BELIEVE!

Belief + Commitment = AMAZING RESULTS

So through the years, Curls showed up to my garage, never skipping workouts and always doing what everyone else was NOT willing to do.

The training was brutal. A typical garage workout looked something like this:

1A) Trap Bar Deadlift: Build up to 2 heavy sets of 3 – 5 reps

1B) Kettlebell Swings x 6 reps every set

Max Rounds in 10 Minutes of Circuit # 2

2A) Rope Climb x 12′

2B) 1 Arm Kettlebell Snatch x 5 ea. hand

2C)) Sledge Hammer Work x 10 ea. hand

Max Rounds in 10 Minutes of Circuit # 3

3A) Sled Drags on Grass x 200′

3B) Hill Sprint x 5 – 7 seconds

These workouts were downright brutal AND effective. But, not everyone was willing to go through such hellish workouts. Those who did, prospered

After graduating high school, The Underground Strength Gym moved out of the 2 car garage and into the first ever warehouse location. Our athletes were invited to compete as guests, a first ever, at the world renowned DeFranco’s Strongman Challenge.

We had never flipped tires before nor had we done much squatting due to the lack of equipment in the 2 car garage. 1 week before the Strongman Challenge we acquired a 600 lb tire to prepare our athletes for the contest.

Curls showed up as a dark horse along with the rest of The Underground Crew.

His background in sandbag lifting, olympic lifts with dumbbells, truck pushing and kettlebell training made the transition into strongman work very easy.

Curls narrowly lost the entire contest by 1/2 a second in overtime!

The following year, with plenty of Underground preparation, Curls took 1st, dominating the college category at only 18 years of age, shocking and impressing even the NFL competitors, especially when they found out Curls was only 18 years young!

And of course, last July, Curls entered the World’s Strongest Athlete Competition again, taking 1st place, even with no practice in the challenging Strongman Yoke Walk.

Oddly enough, as I stated before, I know Curls – others tout him as the genetic freak, the beast.

True, he IS a BEAST, but, his humble beginnings, to say the least, are what are not known, and, it is very likely he started off a lesser physical specimen than you have.

The Difference Maker, as I mentioned before, is the commitment + the belief.

Now, ask yourself, do you have commitment AND belief EVERY SINGLE DAY, year after year?

Drop a comment, let’s get this discussion rolling!

Peace!

–Z–

PS: Reccomended Resources from this story are:

http://UndergroundKettlebells.com

http://UndergroundSandbag.com

http://UndergroundStrengthCoach.com

http://zacheven-esh.com/LostSecrets.php

Tweet This Post

Wanna know how I think about training my clients?

How do I organize their workouts for maximum results in muscle building, strength building, power development and conditioning?

Watch this video and drop a comment as I reveal some seriously kick ass info!

Any thoughts, comment or questions on the video?

Drop a comment and I’ll answer.

If you want to see exactly how I trian my clients and myself, ALL workouts are documented daily at http://UndergroundStrengthCoach.com

Peace!

–Coach Z–

PS: I am getting a lot of e mails regarding the business side of what I do and how I turned my $5 an hour training of clients into a full fledged business that allowed me to leave my job that payed me $93 grand a year….and, the gym is run part time.

If you want me to create a business program for what I do, hit me up with an e mail and let me know exactly what you need ==> UndergroundStrengthCoach@gmail.com

Tweet This Post

Wow, look what I dug up! Years ago, I had the opportunity to e mail Coach Ethan Reeve, one of my mentors, and he dished out some insanely powerful training information. Here it is, once again, for your reading pleasure.

Grab some hot cocoa, relax and enjoy!

Coach Reeve: Yes, I wrestled at the University of Tennessee from 1973-77. Although I was not an NCAA Champion I was a 4-time Southeastern Conference Champion and a 2-time NCAA All-American. Fortunately, I was privileged to have been an assistant wrestling coach under some great coaches at the University of Tennessee (Gray Simons), Oklahoma State University (Tommy Chesbro), Ohio University (Harry Houska) and Clemson University (Eddie Griffin). Eventually I landed the Head Wrestling coach position at the University of Tennessee @ Chattanooga where I coached from 1984-1990. We had five Southern Conference Championship teams in six years. I loved coaching wrestling and still miss it. However, I really enjoy training all sorts of sport athletes. The main thing I enjoyed about coaching wrestling was the training in the wrestling room. That is why it was such an easy transition to strength coaching because I just love training athletes and helping them become champions. Hard, smart work is the answer to success!

Basically, we are at the mercy of the athletes that are given to us by our sport coaches in recruiting. Our job, as strength coaches, is to “maximize” the athletic potential of each and every athlete we work with. We trust our sport coaches to identify the athletes they feel can help our university have success in that particular sport. Sport coaches, like NFL scouts, will look at film and visit the players and see how they perform at practice and in competition. An athlete can have great results in the “combine” but not perform well in competition. If the athletes do not succeed in their sport under competitive situations then they will be overlooked in the recruiting process no matter how well they test in the strength room or combine. What coaches need are athletes that perform well in competition. We do not emphasize numbers in testing in the strength room or speed and agility tests. We look for adequate strength, power, speed and athleticism. If the athletes given to us do not meet our standards then it is our job to get them to those minimum standards. It is the athlete’s choice to go beyond those standards and succeed at a higher level on the field of competition.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tweet This Post