There are TOO many excuse makers out there.
Age tends to get the blame most often, or is it time that gets the blame?
Check this video below of Laird Hamilton and then read on with me….
Laird Hamilton has not allowed age to limit him, and since following him as a kid, I have noticed that he has only become stronger and better at everything he does. NO Excuses.
35 is around the corner for me, and I have changed things up to keep me “under the bar” where as most men I run into make excuses to keep their ass on the couch. The male species is becoming weaker and weaker and I see way too many following suit.
Heck, even kids nowadays are following suit. They sit on their ass all day and show less and less willingness to become a Warrior. With weak parents how can we expect the kids to have the desire for strength in mind and body?
This is why it’s always refreshing to me to work with wrestlers, they chase the pain and desire to be a Warrior. Certainly not the norm nowadays!
I’m sure you’ve run into those “men” who are glued to the couch – I can’t believe we just gave them the honor of being considered “men”.
Being a warrior you tend to wanna listen to your mind rather than your body, so even when you need to back off you still go balls to the wall with your workouts. Backing off takes mental discipline, so I have made many changes to my way of life, my training and my nutrition since I have gotten older, but none of them hold me back from being STRONGER as a Man!
As Bruce Lee said, “Absorb what is useful, discard what is not.”
My Changes:
1) 2 or 3 Intense workouts each week + 2 or 3 bodyweight workouts each week.
2) More variety in my training implements and NO machines: more kettlebells, more bodyweight, more dumbbells, more sandbags
3) Less loading of the spine via back squats and deadlifts
4) More soft tissue / recovery work
5) Less red meat, more fish, veggies & fruits
6) More movement / athletic training: sprinting, swimming, surfing, skateboarding, trail runs, mountain biking
7) More intuitive training: Remember, I’m a “Soul Lifter” – I simply love to lift and move so the rules of program design are completely modified for my own instincts
If you look at the above, in essence, I am becoming a kid again.
Less structure, more “playing” and movement and more overall athleticism. Being big without the ability to move or play with my kids is of NO use to me.
A smart man will adapt and adjust to his own needs and will not copy me.
A Man of NO Excuses will continue to train and go through the battle and still find a way for intensity. If you’re getting injured or feeling mental burn out this is your body’s way of sending you messages to back off, change it up but DON’T Stop altogether.
Always find a way to blaze a trial.
NEVER allow yourself to become the guy who tells a younger man, “I used to be just like you…..”
NO Excuses.
Shut the F**K Up and Make it Happen. Period.
Lead from the FRONT.
–Z–
PS: Here’s where I give the blue print on how I “Make it Happen”. NO Excuses, this is the REAL Deal inside my life of lifting AND living:
==> Underground Strength Coach Trial
PPS: New Web Site, please check it out & share with as many kick ass peeps you know!!!
===> http://GetWrestlingStrength.com
Filed under Articles, Q & A, Strength Building, Success, muscle building by on May 17th, 2010. 14 Comments. 
Check out this highlight of what happens when I am short on time and a bunch of Strong BEASTS roll up to The Underground Strength Gym…
Note the use of the HEAVY dumbbells, 130 – 150 lbs, ripping them off the ground for full body strength and power.
Lots and lots of weighted pull ups with mixed grips to hit the upper body from ALL angles!
People think short workouts don’t do much, I always change their mind once they train WITH me.
I say the same to the Coaches who go through my USC Certification…..
I tell them to always Live the Code, represent what we do and NEVER fall out of shape…. it can be done with fast workouts if that’s all you got. And trust me, we ALL get one of those times in life when we are crammed for time, NOT to worry.
If someone tries my short workouts and say they didn’t feel it, I know they trained like a pussy. #TRUTH
If you are busy as all hell and wanna stay strong, lean and mean, then step right up for the challenge
Train Hard or Not At All
Drop your comments below….
–Z–
PS: Those were competitive strongmen going through the workout and they got blasted from it! We ALL got blasted because we went after it, full throttle.
PPS: This entire Underground Workout is available at The Underground Inner Circle - 30 day trial
Filed under Articles, Strength Building, Underground Strength Show, Videos, Zach's Workouts, muscle building by on May 28th, 2009. 15 Comments.
At the end of a LONG day at The Underground Strength Gym, Canada’s Pro Strongman, Paul Vaillancourt, stopped by the gym today with his entourage.
With plans of stopping by for 5 PM they got lost in the Dirty Jerzee and enjoyed some scenery in what some call the ghetto, others call the projects – not a fun place to be driving through with a mini van, a fauly GPS and not a clue as to where the heck you’re going!
We talked biz and training for 10 minutes and I was itching to train.
Before my clients rolled up I cranked out 5 heavy sets of 5 reps in the T Bar Row with 5 plates.
I call this “chunking”, something I detail fully in my REAL Man Muscle Building System.
I was planning on cranking a workout for a solid 15 minutes when I shut down, but I didn’t want to be rude to Paul and his entourage of strongman beasts, so I told them, I have a missed call from my wife AND a voice mail – we have 15 minutes, let’s train.
They ALL jumped in.
UP went the stereo and I cranked some serious tunes and the race was on!
The energy was SICK!
Music cranking all the way, chalk and HEAVY dumbbells were starting to get thrown around.
Paul rocked out some 150 lb snatches and clean and presses with the globe dumbbell, which is WAY tougher than a traditional dumbbell because the handle is bent and it doesn’t revolve in your hand, making the grip factor 20 X tougher.
We all hit 2 or 3 all out sets of the dumbbell snatch / clean & press combo and then we moved onto endless variations of pull ups, every set was with a 20 lb chain around the neck!
In 15 minutes we were done!
Paul and his crew were lovin’ it.
I told them that I don’t BS about these 15 minute workouts.
They responded how much they loved it and how they couldn’t see one area of the body NOT getting worked!
Some video footage soon to come, BUT, the ENTIRE workout will be reserved for my inner circle crew over HERE.
Stay tuned for the video footage!
When someone tells me they need more than 15 minutes to get the job done, I invite them to train with me and I’ll show them how to get BUSY in 15 minutes.
Having a full time job, a gym, an internet biz and MOST importantly, being a Father & a Husband – time is limited, and I tear shit up when 15 minutes if available.
Crush it!
–Coach Z–
Filed under Articles, Strength Building, Success, Zach's Workouts, muscle building by on May 15th, 2009. 1 Comment.
Man, if there is 1 thing engrained into my DNA, it must be that I LOVE to train hard & heavy.
But, lately, I’ve been straying away from the heavy barbell, rocking the dumbbells, kettlebells and bodyweight a lot more.
I’m feeling healthier, and still strong as a mofo.
It doesn’t make me feel good when my back is so f**ked up that it hurts to change diapers.
As I grow, I evolve.
Does this mean I will never touch a barbell again? Hells NO!
I still use them, but I am finding “other” ways.
Check out the video below…
The complex above is one I sometimes hit, and often times heavier, like 225 – 275.
Lately, the dumbbells and kettlebells have been getting abused by me 
Till the next time, Kill it!
–Z–
PS: Until Friday, Midnight, I am offering some hard core, bad ass videos as a bonus to http://REALManMuscle.com – a strength training system I evolved into as life became busier and busier as a father, husband and biz owner. You will Love these Bonus Videos and all the hard hitting content inside the training manuals.
Check it out & get your Bonus Videos.
Kill it!
Filed under Announcements, Articles, Strength Building, Success, Videos, Zach's Workouts, muscle building by on Mar 11th, 2009. 16 Comments.
Oh man, this was a funny, funny time.
Vince Delmonte, the master of getting ripped cruised down the the dirty Jerzee and arrived around 11 PM. I took him to good ol’ Clydz for some coffee and then we hit The Underground for an hour of training and filming using my time crunched REAL Man Muscle Building methods.
Check this video….
The clean & press is one of my favorite lifts. I use it for muscle building, strength building, power development and I did these bad boys today as a matter of fact!
I’ve got more videos on this coming soon so stay tuned.
Check out this interview I did for Vince and his readers:
Vince: Tell us how you got into training?
Zach: I used to read bodybuilding magazines before I began lifting. My older brother was a real jock and was always buying the magazines, the weights, the dumbbells, the weider arm blaster…. I was impressed with being HUGE. I used to watch the original Incredible Hulk w/Lou Ferrigno.
I thought I was the Hulk, so I always wore green! I would wear swimmies in the pool because I really thought they were MY muscles! Ha Ha, I guess you can say I was addicted to the iron before I even touched it!
Vince: What were you workouts like in the teen age days and how did you get into competitive bodybuilding?
Zach: These workouts were totally off the wall as I would often train 30 days straight without rest days! I often did 1 body part a day so I could do tons of volume. I would 25 – 30 sets per muscle, NO kidding. It wasn’t odd for me to do squats for max sets for 1 hour, then leg press for max sets for an hour. Or for chest I would do the flat bench, incline bench, incline flys, pec deck flys, cable cross over and then dips, 5 sets of each. These were insane, but I had so much passion for lifting that I believed in “the more the better”.
Competitive Bodybuilding happened after high school and I finished wrestling. I competed my sophomore year in college in a natural show to stop the accusations of me doing steroids. I trained so hard and so often that people accused me of being on drugs. To me, this was passion. I loved the movie ‘Pumping Iron’ and when I saw them training for competition and battling on stage I envisioned this as me!
Vince: How did you transition into the strength and conditioning world as a coach?
Zach: In my mid 20’s I began to get the itch to compete in the combat arena again. So, I began training in jiu jitsu and shoot fighting. I was training like a bodybuilder and still getting beaten by those who skinnier and looked much weaker then me. I wound up tearing my ACL and this fired me up BIG time. I had torn my shoulder 2 years earlier while wrestling, and in high school injured my knee. It made me a bit bitter with the relation between bodybuilding and wrestling / combat sports. So I sought out the best of the best to help me teach others in wrestling and combat sports how to avoid the injuries that I experienced.
Vince: What is your training philosophy for building muscle?
Zach: Train heavy, train hard, use the basic lifts and constantly seek to break records and improve these lifts. Eat tons of clean, high quality food and get tons of rest. Back to basics!
Vince: What are the most important rules you must follow to build steel-solid muscle?
Zach: Never to stray from the basic lifts such as the squat, deadlift, bench press, military press, bent over rows, lunges, dips and pull ups. Get plenty of rest and lots of high quality food.
Vince: You work with lots of teenagers – any specific advice for teens on getting strong and big?
Zach: Don’t overtrain! Train 3 x week using an upper / lower split and focus on getting REALLY strong with the basic lifts.
Don’t just focus on the “beach muscles” – get your legs strong as hell from squats, work your back and every muscle you can’t see in the mirror intensely. These are large muscles that contribute to muscle mass and even hyping the metabolism helping you to burn fat around the clock!
Stay tuned for part II plus another kick ass video!
Questions / Comments? Post em’ below!
Kill it!
–Coach Z–
PS: I’m shutting down resale rights to http://BodyweightU.com tomorrow at 12 PM
Filed under Announcements, Articles, Q & A, Strength Building, Success, Videos, Zach's Workouts, muscle building by on Mar 5th, 2009. 10 Comments.
A few days ago Scott Colby and I cranked out an hour long teleseminar about REAL Man Muscle Building.
I unleashed some killer info and now you can replay it or download it for your own listening, any time, any where, any place….so, here it is, enjoy!
===> http://instantteleseminar.com/?eventid=4735299
Kill it!
–Coach Z–
PS: If you were on the call, please let me know your thoughts by posting a comment below
PPS: If you weren’t on the call, please post a comment after you listen to the teleseminar!
PPPS: If you want more info on my REAL Man Muscle Building Course, simply go here:
Filed under Announcements, Q & A, Success, Zach's Workouts by on Oct 25th, 2008. Comment.
Sorry for the late notice on this and my apologies for sending you 2 e mails in one day, but hey, it’s f-r-e-e so who would be upset with free, right?
I am being grilled tomorrow night, Tuesday, October 21st on my REAL Man Muscle Building system.
The teleseminar begins at 9 PM EST, but try to hop on the call 5 minutes early because there are limited lines.
If you’re a busy guy, try to get on the call so you can listen in and see what I do as a busy man and still get the job done in a beastly manner!
The info is here:
http://instantteleseminar.com/?eventid=4735299
I am unsure if the replay will be available because I am not hosting this teleseminar.
Hope you’re having a great week so far, %$firstname$%, and once again, sorry for 2 e mails in one day.
But I figured you wouldn’t mind since it’s a f-r-e-e gift
Kill it!
–Coach Z–
PS: Feel free to spread the word to your friends or others who will appreciate this gift.
Filed under Announcements, Calendar, Q & A, Success by on Oct 20th, 2008. Comment.
I was supposed to wait for this vid, but you guys gotta see this, it’s too freakin’ funny and too freakin’ cool!
If you’re wondering what I’m talking about with The REAL Man Muscle Building Course, you’re gonna have ti wait for the public release, unless you’re a member of The Underground.
Kill it!
–Coach Z–
PS – If you want to stay up to date on what we do don’t forget to sign up for the e journal.
PPS – Like the shows? Feel free to click on the links below to share it with others, using digg, furl or any of the networks you like! Thanks for spreading the word and showing some love!
Filed under Underground Strength Show, Videos by on Aug 10th, 2008. 3 Comments.
I was in a bit of a rush Friday before clients were heading in and I was finishing up some internet work.
Not to worry, as I knew I could crank out some brutal workout for myself.
Hey, 15 minutes sounds like nothing but when you’re as insanely busy as I am, it works, and, I am still getting stronger and stronger.
Getting stronger is what I love, plus, the side effects of added strength are more muscle and burning fat around the clock.
So, here’s what I did in my Underground Strength Gym, where the heat was hovering slightly above 100 degrees thanks to the good ol’ jersey humidity
1A) DB snatch from the floor 4 x 5 reps each hand
1B) lateral jumps over flat bench 4 x 10
2A) weighted pull ups 4 x 5
2B) handstand push ups 4 x 5
On paper, this workout doesn’t look like much, but give it a shot and I know you’ll be feelin’ it.
Don’t fear going heavy either.
I hit snatches with a 90 lb dumbbell and my pull ups were with 60 lbs of chains.
If you can come up with a kick arse 15 minute workout, show me by commenting on this Blog Post.
The best 15 minute workout will get a f-r-e-e copy of my up coming e course, soon to be released. So you’ll wanna keep your eye out on your e mail box because this new e course is jam packed with materials that I have never released before.
The winner will be announced Tuesday
Post your workout in the comment section below.
Remember, this workout must be no longer than 15 minutes in length and somethign you actually did.
Gotta walk the walk baby!
Kill it!
–Coach Z–
PS - I have a free gift for you, regardless of the workout you post, over at http://realmanfittips.com – it’s updated and awesome and best of all, it’s fr-ee
Filed under Announcements, Articles, Success, Zach's Workouts by on Jul 20th, 2008. 88 Comments.
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