You’ve heard me talk about how The USC Cert has changed lives.

It’s true. I’ve been to events, met people, experienced events, etc that have changed my life forever. It’s in my blood to help this happen to others as well.

I can’t allow my cert to simply about training, exercise, working out, etc. I bring my passion, share it, open my mind up to you…. I am an OPEN book for you and I see NO other way to run this cert, EPIC is the least I will allow it to be!

Check out Underground Strength Coach, Matt Ellis, from Rhode Island, speaking from the heart, REALLY getting me choked up!!

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This is The 2nd Time The USC Cert is Coming to The #ATX.

The Location? Red Black Gym in Austin, TX

The Red-Black Gym was modeled and built after a crew of 10 + Coaches from CrossFit Central rolled up to The Underground HQ in Edison, NJ, for a specialized certification JUST for the coaches of CC, all of them traveling from Austin, TX to learn in the trenches and bring back our training methods to their hungry community of athletes & fitness fanatics.

NEVER have I seen such a LARGE crew of passionate Coaches coming from under the same roof, must be something in the waters of Austin, heck, Lance Armstrong lives there!

If you want IN, get after it and see the details below…. we’ve got a growing army of Underground Strength Coaches who are LIVING their passion.

AFTER the cert, you will LOVE the LIFETIME of support you get, as we have a private Mastermind area where you are able to connect day in and day out with what other USC Coaches are doing AROUND the world. It is a VERY powerful support system that will catapult your success and knowledge 10 X faster at a minimum.

Check out some post USC Cert success stories from two guys that escaped from Omaha while working at a commercial gym, we’ve got MORE to come…..

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I am psyched to hit The #ATX again, the energy and atmosphere have REALLY blown my mind. The majority of certs I hold tend to be ALL men, but when I hit The ATX we have a large number of serious Coaches rolling through who are women, and these Girls Kick ASS!

All details for our ATX Certification are HERE

If you have questions feel free to connect with me on my Fan Page – HERE

You’re NEVER too old to learn new things. NEVER too old to become better. It’s OK to change.

Many people take pride in the fact that they will never change. Change means you’re evolving. If you evolve, you are growing from within and that is of utmost importance.

Without growth, You die.

I’m going to challenge you to do some things that you may not be doing….. perhaps you’ve NEVER done these “things”…. perhaps it’s been a long time ago…. I’ll ALWAYS be here to challenge you. I do the same to my athletes and I do the same to anyone I connect with on a coaching level, and by reading this blog, I see myself as your Coach.

Many think I’m too hard on them or too hard on others. Too harsh, tough and not forgiving enough. I simply see it as tough love and if I don’t tell you the truth I am cheating YOU and lying to myself. I lay the law down with my athletes and I truly see no other way.

These athletes MUST realize the opportunity they have and how the world CAN be their if they WANT it.

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I tell the parents outright how pissed I am at them when they allow their child to quit a sports team because practice was too hard. I tell them how pissed I am when they allow their child to blame the coach for not starting. Whatever happened to responsibility? Why do we enable how soft people are getting…. America is SOFT. That is #TRUTH and it pisses me off.

Excuses SUCK and so do the people who use them…. got excuses?

YOU suck. Period.

Why are so many athletes quitting in sports…. quitting in life…. and why is it ALL allowed & accepted!?!?

A BIG reason I left teaching was because parents would blame teachers and attack teachers when their child wasn’t getting straight A’s.

I HATED how this “system” was contributing to The Pussification of America.

I refused to partake in the lies, excuses and bull shit so I left it ALL….. built my own world…. Underground Strength Nation.

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Do I have excuses for things? Absolutely. I am NOT perfect but I RAGE against it when I allow Mr. Resistance to get the best of me and I fight back, tooth and nail, blood, sweat and tears.

When I catch those excuses I slap myself in the face and kick my own ass and do a complete 180. NO quitting, just brutal honesty with myself, you need to do the same for yourself if you want success.

When I saw 4 comments on THIS Kick Ass Blog I told Underground Strength Nation to check their pulse because that video was so f**ing inspiring that it fired me up how no one had words to evoke after such a video!

How are you NOT fired the HELL UP by intense videos!?!? Come on, Undergrounders…. Lead WITH me or get the Hell outta the way!!!

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Some NEW things I am learning:

- Saying “sorry” more often and accepting my mistakes….

- Saying “I love you” more often to those who put up with my craziness and love me unconditionally. I am NOT an easy person to deal with and I imagine it’s tough being on the other side of the relationship with me….

- Nutrition consulting with my friend, Jason Ferruggia. My health has taken a priority like never before since late last winter after experiencing so much pain in my body due to abuse in training and average nutrition. I am pushing more and more for better nutrition and health from the inside out.

- Reaching out to people I’ve lost touch with through the years….

- Refocusing my business to the select few things that I can deliver best in. These areas of my business allow me to bring my best foot forward, giving you the best I’ve got makes YOU better. What makes YOU stronger makes US stronger. That is what Underground Strength Nation is ALL about.

Make NO mistake about it….. These changes have NOTHING to do with a new year or a resolution. They are driven by passion and what is important to my family and Underground Strength Nation. Period.

When I want something I F**King DO it, I don’t wait for dumb ass new year resolutions or any other shit like that. NOW is when I do everything I want. NOW…. not tomorrow or later, NOW.

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I suggest you do the same. If you have demons, face them now. If you’ve been putting shit off, do it NOW. You MUST be honest with yourself, dig deep, look yourself in the mirror and look those you love in the eyes and tell them the TRUTH.

The world has enough liars, con-artists, bull shit artists, blame artists, excuse makers and enablers of the weak and lazy.

NOT in THIS House. Undergrounders are a RARE Breed. I know it and so do YOU.

Drop a comment and tell us how you’re going to change for the better. We’re an Army of Bad Mother F**kers, Be PROUD and stand TALL.

Underground 4 Life

-Z-

PS: If you think my Blog is loaded with passion, wait till we connect at the next USC Cert. Austin, Texas it IS.

I LOVE The #ATX, don’t hesitate and say “I’ll go to the next one….”. WHAT “next one”. To Kick Ass & Take Names the time is NOW.

Sign Up HERE, it’s time to change your life.

If you wanna make it to the TOP of ANYTHING you do it starts with the MIND. You can train as hard as you want but if the mind is not straight expect little to NO success.

Same goes for Business. If you don’t believe you will not climb to the top of the mountain. Success comes to those who work for it, believe in it and EARN it!

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I’ve got some new business courses about to be released, a mix of mindset and skill set combined with a heavy dose of #HUSTLE. I’ll announce through The Underground Biz Journal, HERE.

QOD (Question Of The Day): If you could give someone ONE piece of advice to achieve success in LIFE and Lifting… What would that ONE thing be? Drop your comments below.

Live The Code

–Z–

PS: Texas, I’m a comin’…. step up and let’s kick some ass, join the growing army of Underground Strength Coaches who are kickin’ ass & takin’ names. Click HERE for details

Mindset is THE KEY to kickin’ ass & takin’ names…. I can talk, talk, talk ALL about this, BUT, let me show you a few videos that will tell you EXACTLY what it takes to kick ass in LIFE…..

Special thanks to Chael Sonnen for speaking from the heart…

2012 is gonna reveal some SIC shit to Underground Strength Nation. Enjoy these videos and by ALL means, DO something with the info in these videos, it would be a crime NOT to….

Dan Gable speaks on training like Rocky, training old school and NOT allowing yourself to get comfortable….

Check the highlight below with some footage from Underground Trained, Anthony Ashnault…. Inspiring whether you wrestle or NOT!

Drop a comment with your thoughts on these “videos of the mind”…. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Live The Code, Underground 4 Life

Peace

–Z–

Many wonder what we do behind the walls of The Underground Strength Gym.

To explain inside a blog post is damn near impossible…. It’s the experience that goes on, not so much what we do, the exercises we use…. I’ll include a few of our recent videos along with some older videos to try and give you a taste of what goes on.

I’ll tell you this much, though…. My views haven’t changed much with regards to the TYPE of person we train: hard working, committed, honest, mentally tough and well mannered athletes. I’ve come across some lazy ass kids, dishonest kids and same goes for parents… just when you think you’ve seen it all, ha ha, you haven’t.

For those who have dreams of being a Strength Coach, I will tell you, it is TOUGH finding kids who fit this criteria, America has gotten soft without a doubt…. and along with that, we want hard working athletes to have supportive parents as opposed to having parents who enable and allow excuses and the type of behavior that contributes to The Pussification of America…. This is also pretty damn rare.

But, once you get a small handful of the “right kids” the flow begins. The right athletes find their way to you as do the right people in general. I consider ALL who walk through these doors to be athletes and we will train them as such. Athleticism is the blend of strength, conditioning, speed / power and flexibility / mobility.

We attack ALL areas, but most of all, we attack your weak areas.

It ain’t easy running a gym, as there is TONS more going on than just the training of athletes…. but damn, I can’t see myself doing anything else, working with any other type of person. I LOVE athletes who have the eye of the tiger! I am grateful for the athletes we train and when I see them tasting success it fires me up and makes me proud.

I KNOW that what they are learning at The Underground Strength Gym has more to do with learning how to kick ass in life than anything else. They will NEVER forget these moments, these challenges…. these tough times will shape them for their future, so when they are done competing on the athletic field, they will move onward and upward when competing in the game of life, kicking ass and taking names as they go.

Just recently, we began opening up a few time slots for adults. NEVER did I think I would do this but the e mails were coming in day after day…. the regular voice mails rang a different tune and told me it was HIGH time.

My mission of building an Underground Strength Nation REALLY hit home. I told myself to STOP excluding adults just because they weren’t competing in sport. If someone wanted to build strength and health, inside AND out, my doors would be open for them.

Adults wanted IN, so we started training adults and didn’t bend one bit with our expectations…

We expected hard working, gut busting efforts on the regular.

NO excuses…. Yes, I know, life is busy as an adult, balancing family, work and everything else in between ain’t easy, but we’re NOT about going EASY at The Underground, we’re about kicking ass & taking names. Our training mirrors life… win at The Underground and you WILL WIN in life.

You will be accustomed to living our motto….. “Get Comfortable Being UN-comfortable.

Tired, Hungry, Stressed from Work, Over-Worked…. Didn’t Eat Right Today…. The list goes on. Regardless, I tell them ALL, “Life happens….”, we STILL gotta get after it. Remember, as you get older, Mr. Resistance will be knocking on your door more and more, it is up to YOU to smash him and rise above.

Because I understood the need and importance of training the mind, I NEVER allowed the imperfections we faced stand in our way….

We’ve trained in the dead of winter in my backyard and countless playgrounds….. We’ve trained during heat waves in the thick of summer when normal people feared stepping outside of their homes…. I can’t imagine our short 45-60 minute workouts are anything but a walk in the park and a warm up for Navy SEALs.

Here’s a mixed playlist of videos below, both past and present….

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Our training is NOT simply a design of brutal workouts…. nope, sorry, hate to burst your bubble, we blend science and good ol’ fashioned common sense, aka, auto-regulation.

You feel like shit? Let’s back off and deload.

You’re feel energetic and “kill mode”, then let’s get after it and break some damn records.

Accountability & Responsibility is critical, especially when training athletes. They need to count their own reps, now how much weight they used last time in an effort to break a record this time around.

As the years go by, faster and faster, I see myself reverting a bit in mindset. With a likelihood of opening another Underground Strength Gym closer to where I live, I will STILL start small, I will be selective, very likely, MORE selective than ever before.

You can change MANY things about yourself, but no matter how hard I dare try, I could NEVER let go of the fact that I ONLY want to be around hard working athletes who are willing to bust their ass each and every time they walk through the doors of The Underground.

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It’s something I learned from wrestling…. My Coaches instilled this work ethic into me… watching countless Dan Gable videos also drilled this intensity into my mind. And the ONE thing I learned from wrestling was just how PAINFUL it is to lose.

When I hear about my wrestlers losing matches or being in a mental rut, their parents call me, and ask me to call them, ask me to give him “THE talk”…. that “talk” goes on inside The Underground…. during workouts, after workouts…..

Like I said, we’re NOT just training to win in sport, we’re training to win in LIFE.

Period.

Thank YOU for Making Underground Strength Nation what it is.

Join Us in building a Nation of One Million Strong & Healthy… as it should be.

Underground 4 Life

–Z–

Whether you are a business owner or not is NOT relevant to this post.

Watch this video and let me know your thoughts, and, as a preface, if you’re pissed off at this video, it’s VERY likely I am talking about YOU.

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This is about work ethic, a requisite if you want to be successful in your life, your health and anything that you partake in.

I’ve held down jobs since as long as I can remember….

As far back as 2nd grade, I recall when Winter came and it snowed, my older bro woke me up at the butt crack of dawn to shovel driveways with him to earn money.

When I was in elementary school I held TWO paper routes at one time, one in the morning before school and another after school. I remember having $26 in my pocket EVERY WEEK after “collecting”.

America has problems…. I have TOO MANY people crying for a refund of $12.95 or $19.95, telling me they don’t have the money or they need to wait until summer until they get a job. WTF!!??

How is $19.95 a challenge for someone? I am safely assuming that these people have NO jobs. I bet this is pissing off many, or, perhaps you question why I am ranting here?

GREAT question you have. I am fired up because I HATE seeing people down in the dumps, BUT, I hate it more when these people aren’t doing jack shit to get OUT of the dumps. I can’t help you if you don’t wanna help yourself. I’ve been in the dumps and it sucks…. BAD.

I remember crying myself to sleep as quietly as possible so my wife wouldn’t hear me, with my back turned to my wife, as I wondered how the hell I would find a way to pay the mortgage.I had nightmares of our house getting taken away from us and I feared the embarrassment of failure beyond what my words can describe.

But, I did it. I found a way to succeed. I went after it, chargin’ hard to make it happen. I did what others would NOT do. I did what others feared. I woke up early, stayed up late, worked through my lunches and prep time while teaching and used my sick days to attend business seminars.

I don’t respect the cry babies…. I DO Respect the people who dig deep and GO for it, Brass Balls ALL the way. I’ve had MANY aspiring Strength Coaches fly to NJ (often times from overseas) and scrape together money to make it happen, so they could learn the skills via my Underground Strength Coach Cert.

These dudes had the eye of the tiger, they didn’t say things like…. “I don’t have the money…..” Instead, they found a way to MAKE IT HAPPEN.

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Think about that…. what type of person are you?

- The guy who Makes it happen….

Or…..

- The guy who says I don’t have _______ (fill in the blank with ANY word)?

You can choose to be a victim of circumstance OR you can volunteer to CONTROL your circumstances. The choice is yours.

Get off your ass….

Let me know your thoughts, drop a comment.

Peace

–Z–

Let me leave you with these 2 videos today…. especially with the new year upon us and all those Bull Shit “resolutions”.

Here’s THE TRUTH: You want something?

Why wait for January 1st?!?! F**K that, DO it NOW.

Check these videos…..

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Please take a few seconds and share this out via twitter and facebook.

And, if we’re not connected yet, let’s fix that!

Connect with me on FaceBook HERE

Connect with me on Twitter HERE

Looking forward to seeing your comments

Peace

Live the Code

–Z–

Underground Strength Nation – FINAL chance before price triples, Ass Kicker Go HERE

USC Cert has a few spots left, Action Takers Go HERE

Hey guys…. here’s an update for the TWO Winners of The December, 2011 Underground Strength Nation Inspiration Contest. The Two Winners get a lifetime membership to The Underground Inner Circle.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Sam Portland REALLY hit home with me and those who helped check the videos. He “gets it”. Listen to what he says about #LivingTheCode. He has NO excuses, he charges through discomfort and is making shit happen! I SEE the fire in his eyes and feel his passion from “Across The Pond”!

He drove his tractor tire down a highway to make shit happen! Isn’t that illegal??!! ha ha

Notice how he REinvests his income into making his business better and improving his knowledge.

As Sam says, “There’s NO limits.”

Thank YOU, Sam!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Check out Sal, working in his garage and yard to take care of his kids and show them how to have passion for health and strength!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Sal’s kids are tearing it up….. bodyweight….. the power wheel… a sandbag… and the technique is TIGHT!

I see his kids having fun training, no one yelling at them, just allowing them to enjoy the experience and fall in love with fitness. I can see Sal’s passion for strength with his books scattered on the floor, all types of equipment squeezed into that garage. I KNOW the feeling, you fall in love with training and you want to keep getting different strength toys to take things to the next level.

This was a VERY tough choice, there were MANY participants from overseas in various countries and English was not their first language. Many training compounds in garages, back yards, basements and MANY in freezing cold temps!

I am embedding ALL the participants below, this was amazing, had me choked up, on verge of tears and struck a VERY deep chord with me.

I am beyond shocked at how many videos were submitted and I will ALWAYS REMEMBER WHERE I STARTED…. My friend calls this “Boots on the ground”…. remember where you came from and always be humble

Please check these videos, they will inspire you on your toughest days, because I know all too well, we ALL have them, NO matter how strong we are…..

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As you can see, these videos are ALL very unique in their own way, everyone inspires me. I suggest you watch them all, clear your head, and listen to the stories of these men who rise above and have gotten comfortable being UNcomfortable.

Thank you, My Bruthas!

Peace! Underground for LIFE!

–Z–

PS: Seriously, this was VERY tough to choose. You guys are ALL f**ing awesome!!

NOT Work / Family Safe

I am shocked…. sometimes disgusted…. sometimes sick to my stomach….. when I see people who have NO passion for anything in life. I get sick to my stomach when I see athletes who don’t care if they win or lose in the sports they play. These people are going through the motions, merely existing, nothing more….

They forget to realize that opportunity comes as fast as it goes. Carpe Diem….

Click here to view the embedded video.

Maybe that’s THE problem…. “play” the sport…. VS “LIVE” the sport. If you’re gonna GO for something, GO FULL FORCE.

A business man I know said something while being interviewed, regarding all the cry baby whiners who aren’t succeeding in this world…. “America has gotten soft….”

He was referring to people who don’t want to hustle or work their tails off to get where they want and what they want, especially the younger generation. SOFT.

I came across one of the videos below from one of Joe DeFranco’s clients, who is training for The WWE. I dug up a few more videos to piece them together, from a wrestler who was around when I was a kid, and as you can see, he STILL lives and breathes what he does, compared to those who SAY they want something, The Ultimate Warrior DOES what he says he Wants……

Wanting and Doing are two VERY different things.

Before you watch these videos, be careful of making the excuse and saying that all this is for entertainment.

Is it REALLY just entertainment? This man has been around since I was in elementary school, about 30 years….. 30 years later, looks like he has a NASTY basement set up for his training and hasn’t lost his edge one bit.

Entertainment?

Or….

Living the Code?

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Go ahead and drop your comments below. Comments on your passion, your commitment and why you do what you do.

Live the Code.

–Z–

PS: The Underground Strength Coach Cert currently has a 3 Pay EZ Payment Plan.

This EZ Payment plan ends December 1st. Click HERE to take action Now to save BIG and take advantage of our EZ Payment Plan.

Shit!

In a few short weeks I’ll be 36.

Time goes fast. TOO Fast. Here’s some stories and lessons I’ve learned along the way & hopefully you’re not too cool to learn from some of these.

Anyway, for no reason whatsoever I thought it would be legit to have a pic of Dr. Ken training with an empty bomb to remind you to push the limits

1) I remember when I was 7 years old and racing big wheels with my friends down the hill and smashing into garbage cans. That was FUN. As we get older in age and acquire more responsibilities we forget to have FUN. Like I said time goes fast and sometimes I forget this also. Be smarter than me and DON’T forget.

2) I remember arm wrestling all the kids in the neighborhood one night in 6th grade. Everyone beat me. It sucked. It was summer vacation. I went home that night and started doing push ups. I think I did 3 or 4 push ups. The next day I did 5, then 6, 7 and up to 20 something reps. I started doing GTG (Grease the Groove) ala Pavel without knowing it. Do your push ups, kids.

3) When I was in elementary school and my older bro was in middle school he started getting into working out. There was a sporting good’s store in the mall near our home called “Herman’s”. My bro made me go to the mall with him on our bikes, with empty backpacks. He bought 40 lbs, all in 10 lb plates. We each had 20 lbs in our backpack and the ride home had a steady incline. I wanted to quit but he yelled at me and made me push through the hill.

When we got home and I took off my back pack I remember feeling light as a feather walking up our stairs.

4) When I was in 2nd grade our Doberman had puppies, born in our home. My old brother woke me up at 3 or 4 AM when they were born and I couldn’t wake up. I woke up that morning to see 8 puppies. One puppy didn’t make it and we kept one and my Dad sold the others.

The one we kept grew up with me from age 7 till I was 21. When he died I was depressed for 4 days and experienced my first lesson in losing my best friend.

5) I used to play Soccer. My Dad being of Romanian descent didn’t know much about American sports like Football & Baseball. I remember standing in the field and not paying attention until a ball went flying at full speed and nailed me in the gut, knocking the wind out of me.

I was about to fall to the ground in pain and my Coach shouted out to me, “Good block, Zach!”. He totally knew I just got my ass kicked by a flying soccer ball.

6) In 4th grade my BMX bike was stolen by 2 kids. They were big, bad teenagers and my friends and I were playing Football. The apartment complex was known for getting bikes stolen, and these kids stoke my bike in broad day light, in front of all of us. We ALL just froze, it was a surreal experience and time seemed to freeze while the only thing I saw a kid racing away on a bike I saved all my paper route money for and dumped every penny of my allowance into.

To this day I still remember that feeling of seeing my bike ride off to Perth Amboy, NJ.

I would gladly like to meet both of those kids today and would have NO problems spending a little jail time to let them know that I’m not 9 years old anymore and stealing bikes isn’t nice.

To this day, my bikes hold special meanings to me and I’m always waiting for someone to think they can ride away with my bike. It wouldn’t be pretty, that’s for sure.

7) My older bro bought one of those crushers you’ve seen in Pumping Iron. I tried to crush it and I was so weak it slipped out of my hands and nailed me in the chin, damn near knocked me out and I think I cried. I probably did cry. I was a BIG pussy back in the day! ha ha

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My older bro bought the soloflex the fall of my freshman year in high school, I was still 13 years old. I think he saved his money as a bus boy to pay for most of it. I thought if I used it I too would look like Mr. Soloflex. I’m still wondering what happened?

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9) The first time I ever cut school was freshman year in high school so I could tape American Muscle Magazine. The show would always air at strange times like 3 AM on a weeknight or 12 noon on a weekday. I fell in love with bodybuilding and decided I would use my “sick days” strategically, once a month, to record the monthly American Muscle show. I would then ride my bike to The Metuchen YMCA so I could get in a double workout that day. I was always scared they would call the cops and ask me why I wasn’t in school.

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10) The first hardcore gym I ever trained at was called Dynamic Fitness. The owner welded ALL the equipment himself, all the plates were wide flange Ivanko plates. Squat racks lined the wall along with plenty of benches and dumbbells up to 180. It was common place to see bodybuilders benching 315 and squatting over 405. The place was a 7,000 sq ft warehouse and no air conditioning. There were large industrial fans everywhere and I LOVED it.

There was ALWAYS someone bigger and stronger than you in that gym. It was heaven while it lasted.

11) While in middle school and in Israel, my older bro and I went to the local book store and I found Arnold’s Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding. I sat on the floor and couldn’t stop reading the book till I was kicked out at 1 PM when ALL the stores shut down for mid day naps.

The book was twice as expensive in Israel compared to the states. My Grandfather bought it for us anyway. He never said “No” to us.

I STILL have that book today, in my office.

12) I rented the movie Pumping Iron while in high school and watched it over and over ALL day on that first day. It blew me away and all I could think about was bodybuilding and living in California. I was connected to the Golden Era bodybuilders 100 x more than what I saw happening in the 90s.

I began reading books from Arnold and Mike Mentzer. I preferred the black and white pics over the color pics. I preferred the REAL pics of the guys lifting heavy compared to the fake images in the magazines.

13) When I trained at The Metuchen YMCA the membership was $5 a month! They had a York Isometric rack, York Dumbbells, plates and all York gym equipment.

Mid way through high school they got rid of all their York equipment and the dingy basement gym and brought in all fancy nautilus & bodymasters equipment, put it upstairs and added carpeting. I NEVER trained there again. The day that old school gym was removed broke my heart.

14) I remember trying to ride my bike home from the YMCA after a leg workout. I could barely pedal my bike so I started walking it, leaning on it, trying to push it. My legs were cramping up BIG time after following a leg workout from Arnold’s Encyclopedia at the young age of 13.

I was hurting and saw a landscaper along the way watering a garden. I asked him if I could drink water from the hose and I think he saw the desperate look in my eyes and let me drink. I began to cherish the feeling of soreness and the inability to walk after a leg workout was THE main factor that determined if my leg workout was intense enough or not.

15) The first time someone coached me to deadlift was at Apollon Gym. His name was Herman and he still trains there today and I always remember that day. I was deadlifting with 115 lbs.

16) The first year I began wrestling was freshman year. The team was packed and I had to wrestle off for the freshman spot. I got pinned EVERY wrestle off and it fueled my fire to train harder than everyone else. Those consecutive losses also proved to be a burden on my mind and I was never able to recover from so many losses. No matter how hard I trained my mind held me back.

Those depressing times taught me largely how I need to think to become a champion in everything I do. My pain in wrestling and a select few other areas in my life have fueled my first to do what I do today, to help others avoid my painful past.

Wrestling taught me to become immune to physical pain and discomfort.

Wrestling taught me the pain of losing.

Wrestling taught me the power of the mind.

Wrestling taught me emotional pain and it is the ONE thing I never want to face again.

I’ll crank a part 2 soon enough.

Any thoughts, questions or comments feel free to drop em’ below. If you enjoyed this blog, please share with friends via facebook and twitter

BIG thanks,

Peace

–Z–