Dan Gable, Dedication & The Habit of Winning

Very interesting video below, and although it speaks of wrestling, you and I BOTH KNOW that what Dan Gable speaks of is applicable to anything in your life.

Watch this Video…

It’s quite amazing, that Dan Gable was about to finish his collegiate career undefeated and lost in his final match to Larry Owings, who was only a sophomore at the time and Gable was a Senior.

Owings was determined to beat Gable, it was imprinted in his mind and he dropped 2 weight classes to meet Gable!

Ironically, Owings never won another National Title, taking 2nd place his final 2 years in college.

It seems that beating Gable was MORE important then the national title, hence his runner up placing the next 2 years.

That loss is what MADE Gable into who and what he became from there after.

Not one point was scored on Gable during the Olympic games, he refused to give up 1 point!

Do you see the power of the mind, focusing like a demon and dedicating yourself to winning?

The same can be applied to your life and any goals you may have. Yet all too often I hear excuse after excuse as to why things can NOT be achieved.

The mind must be trained, just as you train the body.

The Russians called Dan Gable “The Machine”.

Are you a Machine?

How can you become a machine.

What will it take to achieve your goals, both physically and your life goals?

Drop a comment and share your thoughts, questions, success stories and stumbling blocks.

Let’s ALL come together and share how to kick ass!

–Z–

Recommended Resources:

Va. Beach, Va. Underground Strength Coach Mentorship – Click HERE

NJ Underground Strength Coach Mentorship – Click HERE

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Episode # 130: Training with Sandbags, Powerlifting and Bodyweight

Everything is just a tool. The barbell will always be the King of the weight room, but man do I LOVE heavy dumbbell work.

Heavy sandbag training is awesome as well.

Explosive bodyweight drills can’t be denied either.

Check out one of our athletes, CJ Hart, 16 years young, a Football Player and Wrestler.

Box Squat 385 x 2 (barefoot)

130 lb Sandbag Clean & Press x 6 easy reps

Pull Ups on Steel Beam for the added grip strength challenge

 

I have mentioned many times before about those early garage gym workouts where all I owned was a gun rack, 300 lb olympic set and a set of 50 and 100 lb dumbbells.

I packed on muscle and strength like never before.

You will too. Soon I’ll show you how :)

Tell me about your workouts using different tools.

What’s your favorite training tool and why?

Kill it!

–Coach Z–

PS: I have 2 spots left for my April 25 & 26 USC Cert – Sign Up HERE before it’s too late

PPS: Lost Secrets of Strength Seminar w/Joe DeFranco and myself is more than 1/2 way full. 7 spots left. Sign up for Lost Secrets of Strength Seminar HERE

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Blast from the Past: Coach Ethan Reeve Interrogation

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!

1) Coach Reeve, thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to talk to us. You have been a highly successful wrestler, wrestling coach and a ground breaking strength coach. With what you see regarding the physical strengths / weaknesses of your incoming college freshman, how would you train a high school athlete (focusing more on wrestlers & football players) to better prepare them for D 1 sports?

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.

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Strength Training for Athletes without a Gym: NO Problem!

Today I will be training a baseball team off site.

 Tomorrow, a wrestling team, off site.

 There is NO equipment where I’m going.

 No worries, been there plenty times before :)

 I’ll be rocking out countless bodyweight drills, solo and with a partner.

 I’ll also be using various jumping drills, and band resisted running drills, animal walks and with the wrestler, I’ll use what we call “brawling drills”

 If I was to train these teams on a regular basis, I’d bring my tire sleds, store some tractor tires on site and have  afew sandbags ready to go.

 The strength built with these implements is freakish, it comes that fast.

 Maybe even throw in a few kettlebells, or, go with the good ol’ basic dumbbell.

 If you’re a parent or coach, this can be done.

 When I first created a DVD called ‘Ancient Training Methods’, a Coach in Ct. set up tires and tire sleds plus sandbags and logs and man did he transform his Football team.

 He said they never wanted to hit the weight room again and his numbers practically doubled in no time because of the fun they had and the results they got.

 To this day I get e mails from one of the football players from back then and the kid is a beast, currently in the Marines.

 I have said it so often, to get the unfair advantage, the edge, the brute strength that allows you to dominate, you gotta be different than everyone else and do something different.

 You need a secretw weapon.

 If you’re a parent, coach or athlete, I reccomend my home study course at http://undergroundstrengthmanual.com  or if you prefer dvd’s and a manual plus audio cd’s, then check out Ancient Training Methods:

 ==> http://combatgrappler.com/ancient.html

 Now it;s time for you to kill it!

 Any questions, shoot me an e mail :)

 –Coach Z–

 http://combatgrappler.com/ancient.html

 http://undergroundStrengthManual.com

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Vintage Strength Training E Bay Freak-isode

The latest e bay freak-isode, some wild stuff happening in this bad boy.

The auction is on for 3 days, see the auction HERE.

 

Good luck and have fun with it!

Kill it!

–Coach Z–

PS: Members of http://undergroundstrengthcoach.com are getting a FREE teleseminar tonight, it’s the ‘Kill it’ Teleseminar. I am adding a VERY unique twist, don’t miss it, and become a member asap. I will be answering business AND training questions, NO holds barred style :)

PPS: I am announcing a NJ gathering as well, this Thursday, but, the located is disclosed only to those who are members of The Underground.

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Episode # 21: Old School Battle

You saw how pumped I was to train… Driving 100 MPH (I know, I know, NOT smart) – but hey, I am uncontrollable when it comes to my love for the iron! Check out this workout…head to head with a D 1 wrestler… Questions about the workout, comments….right on! Feel free to post below! Kill it! –Coach Z– PS – I was hanging ten today baby!

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An OLD wrestling workout

zachstairsprint.JPG

Last night I went to the neighboring downtown with my family as everyone got some ice cream. In case you’re wondering, I skipped the ice cream part :)

Don’t worry, I’m still human, I eat ice cream, but I’m on a mission, and that will require doing what others don’t do.

On the way home, about half way there, my wife dropped me off on the side of the road so I could run the rest of the way. This wasn’t your typical jog all the way and do nothing else.

No my friend, this was a brutal workout mixed with many different methods and movements.

First of all, I had to run the first few minutes up a steady incline. I ran instead of jogged, but didn’t sprint all out. I then walked the distance of 2 or 3 houses, dropped and cranked out 10 push ups. The running began again, this time, through the woods behind my old elementary school, jumping over bushes, downed trees, on the side of a hill and finally sprinting through the parking lot.

I jumped up and grabbed the basketball rim and cranked out 5 perfect pull ups.

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The power of hand walking

parallel-bars.jpgI have been a big believer in hand walking ever since my undergrad class in Gymnastics.

My instructor was Mr. Gozales, he was an All American Wrestler and the owner of a Gymnastics school. He was ripped and rugged, built like a rock solid statue.

One of the students in my class was wrestling for the University as a freshman when Mr. Gonzales was a Senior. He told me how Mr. Gonzales would do back flips to escape from take downs and was faster than a bolt of lightning.

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How I trained an 88 lb. weakling

charleslog.JPGSlightly over 2 years ago a young wrestler began training with us….

He weighed 88 lbs at the time and was 1 month out from wrestling season in which he would be wrestling at 103 lbs.

We had little time to prep before the season and in the first 3 weeks of the season he broke his collar bone during a wrestling match.

When you’re weak and have little strength and muscle, you can bet that your ligaments and bones are also weak.

Through the years we trained him with our Underground methods and every year he kept packing on the muscle and adding lots and lots of strength.

Believe it or not, we did not use a whole lot of barbell work….no back squats and no bench presses.

We didn’t have the need for them for the most part. Everyone needs something different, we can’t prescribe the same thing for everyone all the time, and this was certainly one of those times.

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Intensity that was unseen and unheard of…

mostmuscular.jpgWow, I was just remembering a guy who was a grade under me in high school. He was 103 lb wrestler as a freshman and his intensity was amazing. I watched him warming up 2 hours BEFORE his county final match in the corner of the gym with his walkman on, pacing and skipping near the bleachers.

As the years passed he packed on the muscle. Junior year he hit 135 lbs and senior year he was a rock solid 152 lb wrestler. That’s a 50 lb jump in only 3 years time.

When I graduated high school I would train at a great, hard core gym. The owner welded EVERYTHING together on his own. Power racks lined the walls and HUGE dumbbells traveled all the way up to 200 lbs each!

Pull up bars were welded and installed into the cement walls and there was even a main powerlifting rack / platform in the center of the gym. It was awesome, with tires piled underneath a wooden platform to absorb the shock of the weights being dropped! I NEVER saw anything like this.

The gym had great intensity, and this kid, was training there before his senior year in wrestling. He was damn strong for only weighing 150 lbs, that’s right, he was NOT cutting weight, he was rock solid.

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