Next week I’ll be releasing a SIC Bodyweight Training regime, battle tested & proven from The Underground.
Make sure you’re signed up for e mail updates on this one, you do NOT wanna miss this 
To get you “warmed up”, below is a small part from one of the bonuses, an interview with Bar-Barian, Lee Wade Turner… Check it, Enjoy it AND Take ACTION with it!
1) Lee, tell everyone the basics my man: Who are you, what do you do and how did you get involved as a Bar-Barian?
Read more on Becoming a Bodyweight BEAST, aka, Bar-Barian…
Filed under Announcements, Articles, Strength Building, Videos, man up monday, muscle building, old school strength by on Sep 12th, 2011. 10 Comments. 
I am inspired to write this Blog greatly because of two men, both of whom I speak of often:
Jonny Hinds, Owner of The Monkey Bar Gym, who will also be presenting at The Underground Strength Gym in Edison in October (stay tuned for this announcement).
Rick Gonzales, my infamous college Gymnastics Coach.
These men have the seamless strength of Gorillas. They move their bodies through space and perform bodyweight strength exercises that are extremely challenging, yet they show such tight technique and high levels of skill, making it seem as if they are not even trying.
Kinda reminds me of the awe shocking strength of Gorillas, pulling themselves up and over obstacles such as 8′ walls using one arm with ease and speed.
I still remember Rick demonstrating ring muscle ups, one after another, with ease, talking to the class as if it was as easy as brushing your teeth. He explained to us how it was a pure strength drill, as were the majority of gymnastics basics.
1) Focus on Strength as a Skill: And because the majority of gymnastics drills were based on strength, he had us train for strength using the various apparatuses in the gym: the high bars, rings, parallel bars, pommel horse, crash mats and of course, the wrestling mat. The volume was high and we often had to complete total reps rather than prescribed sets and reps.
Examples were 50 pull ups, 50 dips on parallel bars combined with walking back and forth on the parallel bars, 50 leg raises, 50 jumps on the crush mats, 50 shoot thrus on the pommel horse. It was BRUTAL but I got strong as hell AND explosive from all of this animal training.
2) Walk on Your Hands: I’ve seen Jonny Hinds walk around on his hands with ease, walking DOWN stairs on his hands as well. BOTH men always focused on developing strength, speed, power and athleticism through the various forms of bodyweight training. Jonny also recommended hand walking on monkey bars and rings for greater upper body strength.
3) Jump Training & Plyos for BOTH Upper AND Lower Body: Rick had us perform full body traveling plyo push ups down and across the wrestling mats. Jonny performs resisted jumps for lower body often. Both Coaches used jumps to teach the body speed and power from the legs and upper body. BUT…. this requires a great deal of strength before implementation. Go back to square one if need be and focus on strength as a skill.
Check out my warm up, guided by instinct, followed by a portion of my workout, influenced by men stronger than I am.
And Now, for Part I of the “Gorilla Strength” workout…. I’ve got LOTS of work to do before I can give myself props…
I LOVE training with bodyweight, trying to mimic the movements of animals. I also LOVE ripping into heavy iron using Old School Basic barbell lifts.
Here’s my Question for You:
What type of training do you implement when “training like an animal?”
Drop a comment below, psyched to see you responses!
Peace!
–Z–
Recommended Resources:
Underground Strength Coach Certification
The Convict Conditioning Workout
Filed under Articles, Strength Building, Success, Underground Strength Show, Videos, Zach's Workouts, muscle building by on Oct 2nd, 2010. 12 Comments.
I’m a HUGE fan of Bodyweight training and full blown Bodyweight workouts.
This morning I had some work to do at the new house and my nearby neighbor, Uncle Mike Stehle, owns a gym 10 minutes away, you can check it out HERE, it’s a Kick Ass Place!
I was planning on doing heavy Deadlifts and Kettlebell work but Uncle Mike asked me to jump in on the group workout he was about to Coach, and his partner, one of the most bad ass dudes on the east coast, ‘The Milk Man’ was gonna take the class.
Our workout was pretty damn nasty, training for 30 minutes with 30 seconds work / 30 seconds rest.
We cranked weighted jump ropes, Animal crawls, pull ups, squats and more. My upper body was especially hammered from supporting myself on my hands during the workout.
Last time I trained with The Milk Man I got crushed, so I had to try to stay neck to neck with him, it was close, but Milk Man still outconditions me easily!!! I WILL redeem myself!
Anyway, sometimes, it’s easy to get caught up in your “own” style of training, whatever that style may be. It’s a great idea to get outside your normal environment and normal training circumstances and do something different.
You can’t just be strong with one tool such as a barbell or kettlebell, you must possess the ability to demonstrate athleticism, body control and overall conditioning. Strength without endurance is NOT a good thing in the real world.
Even powerlifters, bodybuilders and olympic lifters need conditioning, it improves recovery ability and the ability to tolerate intense workouts.
I’m a HUGE believer in Bodyweight training integrated into your existing workouts as well full blown, bodyweight workouts.
At my gym, we climb ropes, jump on and over objects, walk on our hands from various positions, perform handstand push ups and countless pull up variations with countless handles to grip onto allowing us to improve our grip strength as well.
Sprinting up hills are older than dirt yet they are brutally effective for conditioning and improving your speed.
You can also perform jumps up hills or stairs.
I want to see more athletes with the ability to perform the following:
50 push ups
10 pull ups
5 handstand push ups
climb a 15′ rope
squat 50 reps
I see too many athletes who can bench BIG but yet can’t do 50 push ups, let alone TEN PUSH UPS!
I’m excited to be living near the beach, this means more sprints in the sand and more bodyweight workouts, most certainly with Uncle Mike and The Milk Man.
Time for you to train like an animal!
Lead from the Front.
–Z–
PS: Here are two of my favorite Bodyweight Training Resources.
Bodyweight University – This is my ultimate bodyweight training resource with workouts for upper body, lower body, full body, jump training, plyometrics, partner exercises and animal movements.
Convict Conditioning – I have TWO copies of this awesome book, 1 for me and 1 for my Coaches at the gym. YES, that is my affiliate link and I only encourage products I personally invest in, personally use and personally believe kick ass BIG time. This is definitely one of those resources! This program is strength focused through the use of Bodyweight training and man will it push you past any limits you once had in bodyweight training.
Filed under Articles, Strength Building, Success, Underground Strength Show, Videos, Zach's Workouts, muscle building by on Feb 16th, 2010. 2 Comments.
No photos or art work today, just a straight up rant…..
Something has been irking me lately and it’s exactly what I coin “The Pussification of America.”
On the flip side, I’m sure this article will get me in a lot of heat, mainly by those who are contributing to the weakness.
There is a rare breed of people out there who are also ranting about this and will understand where I am coming from, regardless of being male or female. I have a funny feeling it’s on the minds of many and I do not stand alone.
Not sure what’s going on in other countries, but in the states we’ve got one too many strained hamstrings, too much “I’m tired”, too much “I just gotta get my mind into it” B.S. floating around.
Weak Bodies have become common place and the age range is REALLY starting to stretch. Did you ever think there would come a day when a 6 year old would say he / she doesn’t want to play? Did you ever think that running 2 minutes would exhaust someone? I NEVER imagined such days would come, but they have come and they are HERE.
Physical Education is getting crushed in the states, especially in the middle and high school level where one too many PE Teachers (I should not even call them Physical Education teachers) are allowing students the option to walk on the track and consider this exercise.
If the teacher is allowed to describe such slow movement as “walking”, which is actually slower than a 8 month old baby crawling, then guess who allowed this lackluster effort to be accepted as “Physical Education”? Look at the top. The Administration gave the OK to allow the teachers to give options for those who are motivated to move and for those who are unmotivated to move.
Guess what happens to the Teacher or Athletic Coach for creating a challenging Physical Education environment? He / She will be reprimanded by the Administration.
Challenge the students enough (i.e. make them work outside their comfort zone) and the student tells Mommy & Daddy he doesn’t like you. Next in line? Mommy and Daddy call the school and complain about the teacher and get little Johnny transferred into a different class.
Lesson learned? Push beyond mediocrity and you get reprimanded or perhaps fired. My High School Wrestling Coach took a position at a different high school this past season and in the first week nearly 10 kids quit.
Maybe they said he was too mean, but the translation, which is clear as day, is that it was too hard. These kids will fit perfectly fine into the gyms that have dumbbells no heavier than 50 lbs and 95% of the exercises allow them to sit down, lie down or push and pull on a time wasting machine.
Then again, these kids will NOT be entering any gym as they have proven they are against hard work, or any work at all for that matter.
Teachers and Coaches are becoming the enemy to those who are expected to work hard or earn their way on to the starting line up. Many Administrators allow the parents to complain or cry about the required work of their child and then the Coach is reprimanded and asked to lessen the expectations.
This sends the WRONG message and a poor lesson is learned. Complain enough and you get your way is what they learn.
What happens when they grow up and become part of a large company / business, or even a small company / business?
Does the conversation now look like this:
Employee: “Hey Boss, I don’t really like to work, can I take it nice and easy today, tomorrow and the rest of the year?”
Boss: “Oh sure, as long as you’re doing just enough to get by we should be good.”
For the parents and administrators who are supporting the requirement of hard work, dedication commitment and consistency I salute you and thank you.
For the parents who are interfering because they have become experts at the sport by watching the sport and never having participated in the actual sport, you are screwing up the future of this country.
This shit is spiraling out of control and if you try to become part of the solution your co workers and the Administration will hate you for trying to rock the boat. For those supporting the new path of mediocrity, you are screwing things up across the country now AND for the future.
By the way, “rocking the boat” means you are trying to be progressive and stretch beyond the poor standards that have been set so low and are being accepted. Don’t rock the boat, because then you’ll be forcing other people to do that strange thing called WORK!
Take a look at what society has done to the large number of gyms popping up around the states. Dumbbells are not allowed heavier than 50 lbs and how dare you grunt or use chalk or break a sweat because some ridiculous alarm will go off and you will be removed from the gym. This sounds like insanity to me.
The person who created such a philosophy can not truly go to sleep at night knowing he has done wrong for so many and is now creating a society of straight up weaklings.
Punishment for hard work, that’s the lesson here.
Little do “They” know, that being removed from such a lame ass gym, and I dare stretch my vocabulary and call such a place a “gym”, this is the BEST gift one can get from these places. Removal from a place that supports mediocrity and lackluster effort. In a nut shell, they want you to be weak.
Now this individual will have to hide in his basement, garage or backyard with a 300 lb weight set pieced together from E Bay or Craigs List. He has no bench, no leg extension, no squat rack….. just a raw barbell.
Boo Hoo.
Thank You, Sir, May I have another!?!?
Do we need to have required military service from age 18-21 as they do in Israel and other countries? This could be the trick we need and the younger generation can no longer tell you, “I’m not going to school yet until I figure out what I wanna do.”
Response: No problem, Dude, you’re going to the Army so you have the next 3 years to learn discipline, responsibility, accountability AND your future aspirations.
My Grandfather was in the Russian Army, then the Polish Army and then the Israeli Army. No wonder why he was so damn tough. He never owned a car, instead, he rode his bike, walked and chased buses to make his travels.
I remember my Grandfather jogging with my brother and I or riding our bikes over 1 mile to the pool to get us swim lessons where my older brother usually attempted to drown me on a daily basis. After swim lessons we would jog or ride our bikes back home.
He didn’t tell us to take it easy, have a nap, stay inside, it’s too hot outside to play. And mid summer at 1 or 2 PM the heat climbs near 100 degrees.
We played soccer on a cement playground with other kids and falling on the cement was NOT fun. But we got up every time we fell. I still remember the best goalie was playing in his flip flops! I know of elementary schools that have disallowed running during recess due to some kids falling.
The next step is to tell them to crawl….. where do we go after that? Lay down and wait to die? Perhaps Lunch Aides will have taser guns and start zapping kids who dare to run.
This teaches the young kids to NOT get up after they fall down. This lesson carries over in life. Forever. The kids grow up and become adults, who fear trying new things or taking adventures and they live a boring, safe life. They view running as evil and they view action as evil.
What happens to these kids as they near the end of high school? Are they motivated to study harder to get into that school they always dreamed of? Or, do they lack the mental toughness to wake up early or stay up late so they can do the necessary studying and make better grades?
5 years later you run into Johnny or Susie and they’re still trying to figure out what to do, and they have a kid, but they’re a single parent because being a parent and married at age 19 isn’t what they wanted to do.
They were never encouraged or taught to handle adversity, accountability, responsibility or decision making skills.
Ask most high school kids why they don’t eat breakfast. They’re answer will more often than not be, “I woke up late.”
Translation: I’m too lazy….. I lack the mental toughness, discipline and dedication to wake up 20 minutes early and make my own breakfast.
Boo Hoo
Let us raise the bar for life. Expectations have dropped so low and excuses are common place for why we can not achieve excellence. We have young kids with high blood pressure and signs of early heart disease. We have varsity athletes who don’t know how to perform push ups and adults who prefer pills over exercise.
Will Physical Education transition into something that challenges all and moves away from accepting mediocrity? Exercise is what my Dad was doing when he was a young kid in Romania, which was the REAL PE back in the early 60′s.
Here’s a taste of the required “Physical Education” my Dad & each kid had to perform before being allowed to organize a game. And YES, they organized games on their OWN!
- Sprints on the track
- Hurdle Jumps on Track
- Throwing of small shot puts
- Gymnastics Movements: tumbling, jumping on, over and off of
objects such as benches, boxes and gymnastics equipment
- Crawling on hands
- Climbing Rope
After the required 30 minutes of challenging activity, a large field was available with various sport activities for the kids to organize on their own. This taught them responsibility AND accountability. Problems with the score? Figure it out on your own and learn to settle differences without calling for a mediator.
Some of the games played were:
- Hand Ball
- Soccer
- Basketball
- Track & Field Races
Some kids continued to practice gymnastics, others ran the hurdles and others rotated to and from the various sports games on their own.
Why has Physical Education become less physical, less challenging and basically less of EVERYTHING compared to 50 years ago? Doesn’t this strike anyone as being strange?
Donald Trump said that all the “feel good” lessons kids have learned through school has produced less business men / women who can succeed in tough times, or succeed at all.
Why do we have Varsity high school athletes unable to perform 10 pull ups, 25 push ups or even
ONE freaking full range of motion bodyweight squat.
I left my teaching job behind, and now, with my own business and my own gym, I can create a TRUE Physical Education program through my gym, also known as Physical Culture.
Our athletes run, jump, climb, use Kettlebells, perform Gymanstics drills, etc.
There comes a time in life where you must stop allowing society to do a shitty job and cheat the health and future life success of our kids. This means you will have to go against the norm and rage against the accepted mediocrity.
I hope it’s not this embarrassing outside the states.
Lead from the Front!
–Z–
Filed under Announcements, Articles by on Feb 4th, 2010. 11 Comments.
I took a 1 hr drive up north yesterday to train The Blair Academy Wrestling Team, NEVER in my life have I seen an entire room of athletes who:
- Focused 110%
- Listened AND made eye contact
- NEVER slacked
Notice I did not say 99% of the athletes, I said ALL of them.
This was quite the treat and of course, teams like this are not magically created, they are built, and Coach Buxton, The Head Wrestling Coach of Blair Academy, has built all these kids into highly motivated, highly dedicated, highly focused and VERY intense athletes.
Sure, a Prep school with a long standing tradition will get motivated kids knocking on their doors, BUT, this article is NOT about excuses, it’s about telling you that we need to raise the bar for athletes (and for yourself) AND set the standards WAY higher.
The bar has been set high for The Blair Wrestling Team.
Work ethic, commitment, intensity, good manners, being humble, sportsmanship….it’s ALL part of what is taught and expected at Blair Academy.
No more excuses for why someone is better or has the advantage. It should be expected for a competitive athlete to have the eye of the tiger.
The training I put these Blair wrestlers through was intense, with lots of Gymnastics drills and jumps for the warm up to help develop kinesthetic awareness and full body power. After all the Gymnastics movements and jumping, the workout began.
The workout included rope climbing and handstand push ups, battling ropes, kettlebells and sandbags.
I was beyond impressed with the intensity and tenacity I was witnessing. I’m used to being more motivated than those I coach, which, should NEVER be the case, but in the new era of athletes being more focused on video games, texting and facebook, some simply don’t have the discipline to be different than those who surround them.
Ironically, many people say the success of Blair Wrestling has to do with recruiting. I state otherwise: It has to do with the Coaching. The expectations are very high, in addition, outside the wrestling room, the faculty also has high expectations for these kids academically.
I do the same at The Underground Strength Gym. Excellence is expected, mediocrity of any sort is looked down upon.
As a former Physical Education teacher in a school setting, I remember seeing a bunch of lazy asses in the high school setting. Why were the kids lazy? Because they were allowed to be lazy.
Don’t wanna challenge yourself and run? No problem, you can walk.
Have we gotten so scared to push people that walking is considered challenging for a high school student?
I suggest reverting back to the days of Physical Culture where gymnastics apparatuses and rope climbing were common place.
When my Dad grew up in Romania he had Physical Education 3 x week minimum, each class was 2 hours long! AWESOME!
He was not even a teenager and they had him training in Gymnastics, wrestling, throwing small shot puts and light javelins. He also played hand ball, performed sprints and ran the hurdles.
All around fitness was encouraged and trained for. Older students performed Olympic Weightlifting and more aggressively competed in each of the sports.
When people ask me what style of training I use, in a nutshell, it is a mixture of Physical Culture and Powerlifting / Strongman. It’s not enough to be strong, overall athleticism must be developed.
This is why you see our athletes running, jumping, climbing, lifting big weights, and of course, using a variety of implements to accomplish our specific goal.
It’s time Raise the Bar.
Don’t you agree?
Drop a comment below, let us know your thoughts!
Peace!
–Z–
PS: Some reccomended resources for you:
Create Your Own Physical Culture Business HERE
Bodyweight University, NO Equipment Needed HERE
Underground Kettlebells HERE
Filed under Announcements, Articles, Calendar, Strength Building, Success, Zach's Workouts, muscle building by on Sep 24th, 2009. 32 Comments.
This takes me back to my roots because I have been using this with my athletes since day 1.
I used it in the Wrestling clubs, on the Football fields and with my clients in unknown parts of the Dirty Jerzee at thugged out playgrounds.
Check this Video for developing awesome upper body strength, healthy shoulders and solid abs:
Let me know your thoughts on that video, and even better, get a partner and crank them out yourself and then let me know your thoughts!
Stay tuned, I have more bodyweight videos coming your way and next week I’ll unleash The Bodyweight University training program.
Peace!
–Z–
PS: Leave a comment below
Filed under Articles, Strength Building, Underground Strength Show, Videos, Zach's Workouts, muscle building by on Jun 12th, 2009. 27 Comments.
Episode # 120 Baby…
If you ever read the old Strength & Health magazines or Arnold’s ORIGINAL Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding you would have seen HEAVY lifting going on, calisthenics / gymnastics movements, lots of jumping, rope climbs and speed in all movements.
Hence, you’re about to witness a lil’ taste of what goes down in my gym and DeFranco’s.
Check it and post your comments…
Wanna see footage of what we would do after a workout like this?
Let’s get 20 + comments and I’ll be back with more baby!
Kill it!
–Coach Z–
Resources Mentioned in This Show:
The Underground Strength Coach Certification / April 25 & 26
Filed under Articles, Strength Building, Underground Strength Show, Videos, muscle building by on Mar 15th, 2009. 10 Comments.
Mike Bruce is called “The Machine”….
But, take a look at his latest book and it’s really like stepping into a “Time Machine”…
If you’re tired and confused to no end with the latest crazes in fitness, strength then step into the “Time Machine” of true physical culture and learn from Mike HERE.
Kill it!
–Coach Z–
Filed under Announcements, Strength Building, Success, Underground Strength Show, Videos, muscle building by on Feb 20th, 2009. Comment.
Typical gyms and health clubs suck pretty badly nowadays.
It’s almost impossible to find a hard core facility where they allow “No Rules” Training.
Watch the video closely as I talk to you about power racks, thick bars, grip training, sandbag training and everything else you need…
Check out this vid on how to build your own Underground Strength Gym….
Video to be continued……
Now, if you build it, will they come?
What do you think? Post your comments below
Kill it!
–Coach Z–
PS: Tonight, I am co hosting a Kill It Marketing Telseminar, tons of FREE content, loaded with methods to boost your strength biz using no frills, cheap (and often FREE) methods to start killing it with your biz.
Time: 9:45 PM
Call in #: 218 486 1300
access code: 135270
PPS: The ultimate in No Rules training awaits you HERE. Check it out.
PPPS: Wait till you see the next part of this video. I have a special invite for you….
Filed under Announcements, Articles, Strength Building, Success, Underground Strength Show, Videos, marketing, muscle building by on Dec 3rd, 2008. 6 Comments.
This is just the beginning….
The Golden Era returns…via Edison, NJ and The Underground Strength Gym!
The gun show is on….
Dave Draper knew what it was all about….
He left when it got out of hand & the comraderie disappeared….
Will I ever leave?
Who knows….
Check the gun show….this is just the beginning, there is MUCH MORE crazy training to come…
Time for you to kill it!
Thanksgiving is coming…
The Underground Pull Up Contest ends tomorrow….I’ve got a video for you
Do you have a video for me?
Post your pull up numbers on you tube and title it “Underground Pull Up Contest with _______ (your name)”
Kill it!
–Coach Z–
PS: The Golden Era & Physical Culture, both created Gladiators. See what Gladiator Training is all about Right HERE.
Filed under Articles, Strength Building, Underground Strength Show, Videos, Zach's Workouts, muscle building by on Nov 25th, 2008. 1 Comment.
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