Years ago, when I was training wrestlers from my backyard, garage and at beat up, run down playgrounds, something inspired me to step it up a notch. Ironically, it came from a tire yard in Edison, NJ that I would drive by on a regular basis.
Finally, I stopped in the office if the tire yard to see if I could get behind their massive fences and get some training in.
Watch the video below and you’ll see exactly how The Underground Strength Gym began to come to fruition.
That day inspired me BIG time and it was a regular weekend for me to show up at the tire yard with some coffee and bagels for the guys in exchange for them to pull down a tractor tire or two for me.
This gave me a solid 45 minute workout which consisted of calisthenics as a warm up and then rep after rep of tire flips. My first few workouts at the tire yard left me aching for days, but it was a good ache 
During the week I trained with powerlifting, Russian Kettlebells, sled dragging, truck pushing, bodyweight workouts and golden era type bodybuilding workouts.
The workouts took place in my garage, backyard or those run down playground I speak of so often. I didn’t make excuses for not having the right equipment or the right facility to train out of.
I created a Blog loooong ago, it still stands, heck, you can even go back and see some REALLY old Underground Workouts dating back to 2005 by clicking HERE.
I found a way to create success and to this day that is something I am always able to do. NO excuses, just going out and making it happen, whatever it is I want it to be, it happens.
In life, that’s the way YOU must roll. If not, you simply become the hunted, which I have spoken about so very often through my e mails. I prefer to be the Hunter, how about you?
Excuses are for the weak.
If you want to kick ass in training or start your own business or improve your life, it’s time to stop whining and start doing.
Lead from the FRONT.
–Z–
Recommended Resources:
Zach’s Tough Minded Business Newsletter
Underground Strength Coach 30 Day Trial
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Filed under Articles, Kick Ass Life, Strength Building, Success, Underground Strength Show, Videos, muscle building by on Jun 1st, 2010. 3 Comments. 
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://UndergroundStrengthCoach.com
http://zacheven-esh.com/LostSecrets.php
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Filed under Articles, Strength Building, Success, muscle building by on Aug 24th, 2009. 16 Comments.
Just a lil’ highlight of the beasts who stopped by the day before our Lost Secrets of Strength Seminar (coming soon on DVD).
Dudes cruised in from around the country as far as Cali!
They just wanted to watch our Friday crew train but the Underground bug snagged them into the workout and the energy was so damn high we took over the entire parking lot!
This ENTIRE workout is being posted in detail at http://UndergroundStrengthCoach.com along with hundreds of other videos, articles and audio interrogations!
Check the vid…
This kind of training packs on the muscle and strength like no tomorrow.
But it’s not enough to just be strong, you MUST be “in shape” which means having the ability to sustain all types of training which is why we have a HUGE emphasis on using bodyweight / calisthenics to improve physical fitness to an even greater level!
What are your thoughts on training for overall fitness and maintaining a healthy balance between strength, power and conditioning?
Post your thoughts, comments and answers below!
Kill it!
–Z–
PS: Watch this ENTIRE workout on video at http://UndergroundStrengthCoach.com in addition to hundreds of other Exclusive articles, special reports, workouts, videos and audio interrogations.
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Filed under Articles, Strength Building, Underground Strength Show, Videos, muscle building by on May 17th, 2009. 10 Comments.
Interesting story from today while training a crew of mean and hungry wrestlers and gridiron gladiators….
Watch the video below and see what I mean….
I don’t fear the pretty boy bodybuilders who wear tank tops, spike their hair and barely break a sweat when pumping away on their cables and machines.
I do NOT want to run into the guys I train in a dark alley if you catch my drift. They have become BEASTS and they are ready to bang heads in the REAL world…. their training has served a purpose beyond just “looking good” or getting 6 pick abs.
If you want to build a Gladiator’s physique, or maybe you want to dominate your sport, or maybe you just want to walk tall and have the confidence knowing you’re a Gladiator, then you MUST stay away from today’s fancified, pussified training methods.
I don’t care how many drugs a guy takes to look jacked, he ain’t shit once it’s “Go Time”.
Would love to hear your comments on this video.
Looking forward to your replies.
Peace
–Z–
Train to Look Strong AND BE Strong…. It’s the ONLY Way to Walk the Talk.
Click HERE to Find out How
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Filed under Announcements, Articles, Strength Building, Underground Strength Show, Videos, Zach's Workouts, muscle building, old school strength by on Mar 27th, 2009. 45 Comments.
Oh man, now this was a flash back into time.
I found this video below on my You Tube Page (you can subscribe by clicking HERE & then clicking the “subscribe” button)
This video was filmed in my backyard, the local playground and the tire yard I used to trian at!
I would train there myself, as well as take my athletes to all these locations.
The workouts were sick, using all these odd objects, all because I didn’t have money.
To me, this was not some FAD, I was flat broke, I couldn’t afford a good barbell or a fancy set up.
So instead, we traveled to tire yards for tire flipping, I even rigged up a front end tractor tire for sled drags and sled type movements of all kinds!
The tree logs were from an Old cherry tree that had to be cut down in my back yard because it was hanging over the roof and damaging the house. My wife’s cousin cut the tree down and left me two logs, a 4 and 5′ length and they were heavy as shit!
Man did my athletes get strong as hell and packed on muscle faster than anything else they ever did.
I was combining this training with a pair of 53 and 70 lb Kettlebells back then.
Let me tell you, these workouts added thick muscle and real world strength to me and my athletes at break neck speed.
I guess being broke at the time was a blessing in disguise. if I had money I woulda had a leg press machine, rowing machines and the like in my garage.
Check the video below….
Make no mistake about it though. You can use bodybuilding in combination with this style of training.
I do it and so do my athletes.
It’s some sick shit.
What about you?
Do you combine bodybuilding and strongman together?
If so, comment below.
Let’s crank this shit to 30 + comments!
Kill it!
–Z–
Reccomended Resources:
PS: If you dig this Blog, Pls tell your friends about us! BIG Thanks in advance!
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Filed under Articles, Strength Building, Videos, Zach's Workouts, muscle building by on Mar 14th, 2009. 5 Comments.
There’s no doubt about it, I’m a crazy man, a mad man if you will. There is also a method to my madness.
Sometimes, crazy is good, other times, you must know how to tame your wild side.
I’ve been molding my craziness through years and years of experience on myself and while training others, not while pushing keyboard buttons and claiming to be a tough guy.
I have my flaws, but I’m always working on improving those flaws.
I’m relentless on attacking flaws and weak points and you should be doing the same.
For most people, it’s everything they CAN’T see when looking in the mirror. That’s right, your entire back side is likely way weaker than it should be, and you need to jack up these muscles.
Read more on Crazy Strikes Again…
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Filed under Articles, Zach's Workouts by on Apr 2nd, 2008. 5 Comments.
Mind over Matter…
If you don’t mind, It don’t matter.
Put your mind into your training with a NO
fear attitude and you’ll start taking
your training to a whole new level.
Last week many of our athletes were used to
flipping the 400 lb tire.
I then told them how “Curls”, one of our
Beasts was flipping the 600 lb tire with ease.
This sparked some fires within the minds
of our training crew and they began focusing
their attention on the 600 lb tire instead
of the 400 lb tire.
Every single athlete flipped the 600 lb tire
that day.
No matter how hard the battle was, each athlete
wrestled and fought hard to get that tire moving.
Read more on Mind Over Matter…
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Filed under Articles, Zach's Workouts by on Mar 26th, 2008. Comment.
Have you ever heard of Herschel Walker?
If you’ve read my Blog for the past year, you certainly have.
Pull ups, push ups, sit ups – hundreds and even thousands of reps every day…..
Sprinting with a tire and rope strapped around his waist….
Hill Sprints…
Throw in some power cleans…
We have quite the recipe for amazing strength, speed, conditioning and mental toughness….
That is a list of 5 exercises. Work the heck out of them for the next 2 months, or maybe the next 3 months, or how about from now until September 1st? Will you commit yourself to kicking the crap out of those few exercises and working harder than ever before on them, aiming to get an extra rep or an extra 5 lbs added to the bar every week?
The consistency and die hard dedication is what most people lack. So, I say remove the complication and go hard with the list above.
It will work, you just have to put in the time. Plain and simple.
Dedicated to your success,
Zach Even – Esh
P.S. – I have always loved plain and simple. Herschel Walker would have loved This Training Kit!
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Filed under Articles by on Mar 11th, 2008. 1 Comment.
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