Yo, Homies! Psyched to crank this blog post, as ALWAYS!
Energy is sky high lately, I’ve been fasting often and experimenting with my nutrition and it’s feeling GREAT. On a mission to get to 205, lean and mean…. agile, mobile and hostile! I haven’t had a scale of my own since about 10 years ago so I’m gonna start tracking everything & dialing that shiz IN!
LOTS of my training lately has been split into training at The Underground HQ in Edison NJ along with my Underground Home Gym in my cold garage. I set up my entire garage with Rogue Equipment, everything arrived in less than 5 days! Although small and in a tight space, it’s a BadAss lil’ training compound, aka The Underground Home Gym (Full Video Soon)!
Training in the cold has a unique effect on the body AND mind. It REALLY pushes you into a different zone and I am exploring it a LOT lately, not for the physical effects, but because I NEED to keep challenging my mind, pushing my mental toughness up a notch. I’m tough on myself, never truly satisfied with my mental toughness.
I’ve also been mountain biking on the cold NJ weekends lately and last Sunday was a legit ride. The temps read 17 degrees with a wind chill of 2 degrees. I had no one to ride with and that NEVER bothers me. Doing things on my own is what I have been trained to do since I began wrestling.
The cold weather was a test. My fingers were cold as hell, riding alone through the woods I got lost, as I always do when I ride solo but it’s been a while since riding solo. Getting lost in the summer time when the weather is warm and cozy is not a problem and getting lost when the weather is upper 90s doesn’t bother me either.
When those fingers are freezing numb and your entire body is cold, you begin to LEARN to Do shit on Your OWN:
- Where was the sun when I rode into the woods? To my left or right?
- Listen carefully…. do you hear cars off the road or do you hear dead silence?
- Look at the trails… are there leaves covering the trail signifying little or no action or do you see frozen tire tracks?
- Check your surroundings…. these rocks look familiar, so does that downed tree…. do I go right or left now?
The mind becomes MUCH more alert and the body has NO choice but to push onward and upward.
I have NO problems training alone, working alone, running a business alone, motivating myself from within….. It sounds crazy and often times offends people but this is me, it’s been me since I started high school and was introduced to wrestling and I think YOU should get used to the same.
YOU should be able to motivate yourself and NOT rely on others for ANYTHING, learn to NOT give a shit what others think of you and learn to stop waiting for permission, help, support, etc from any outside resource, be it a person or thing. Do it on your OWN.
Does this mean I never train with others? NO. Here and again I try to get in a workout with friends if my schedule allows.
Here is some footage from a recent workout, including my typical warm up using Indian Clubs, a popular training tool for combat athletes as well as from the days of physical culture. You’ll also see me using complex training, where you perform 2 – 4 movements explosively using the same motion, i.e. ALL lower body, ALL upper body push, ALL upper body pull, etc….
This training develops mental toughness, strength & power endurance as well as being a GREAT way to add functional muscle mass. There is a BIG difference in hypertrophy from bodybuilding and the hypertrophy that comes from weightlifting, powerlifting…..
If I have a quiet time at The Underground Strength Gym I will train WITH a small group. Last night, one of my wrestlers showed up late, unannounced, after a LONG weekend of wrestling in Va and cutting 15 lbs (NOT my choice, his Coach’s enforce this) he showed up and crushed a workout… on his OWN.
Other wrestlers made excuses for being too sore, too tired, too busy, “I forgot” or the good ol’ No show AND No call from the truly non-dedicated…. NOT this kid, he is a RARE Breed and he INSPIRES ME!
He put together his OWN workout without me even telling him what to do, training 3 x as much as ANY other wrestler who walked through the doors yesterday. I didn’t even tell him what to do, he just fucking grabbed life by the balls and did it.
Do me a favor, give him a shout on Twitter, this kid is a motivation to me and NOT many things motivate me.
I trained along side him, he did HIS workout and I did Mine. I cranked heavy squats on the giant cambered bar, lateral bench jumps, high rep kettlebell swings and cleans.
The special I POD was cranking with new tunes (old in age), some special tunes to inspire, check the newly added tunes below…..
Once again…. training happens best when you do what allows you to “lose yourself and find yourself”…..
Stay tuned for another kick ass blog post, I’ve got LOTS to share with you and you do NOT wanna miss it!
Drop a comment with your thoughts.
Live The Code
Underground 4 Life
–Z–
PS: 1 spot left for USC Cert in NJ. Click HERE to sign up and change your life, I am PSYCHED to see you!
Filed under Articles, Kick Ass Life, Strength Building, Success, Underground Strength Show, Videos, Zach's Workouts, muscle building, old school strength by on Jan 17th, 2012. 15 Comments. 
Remember that OLD school tune with Rage Against the Machine, “Know the Enemy”?
Yep, Yep… well, with training, it’s the same difference.
After training for 22 years I am still learning more and more about my body, sometimes, ya gotta learn the HARD way.
The other day I saw a video of Louie Simmons hitting rack pulls, I was inspired, and decided I too, need to do rack pulls.
Problem is, I’ve been injured on them before, even with light weights well below my max.
Well, as my boy Jonny Hinds says, we’re part of the knuckle head crew. We KNOW not to do certain things but we still do them.
Squats of all types and trap bar deadlifts work plenty fine for me, and, eventually, ya just gotta cut your losses and eliminate some movements.
Heavy rack pulls and even light rack pulls don’t get me stronger OR make my back feel good.
Speed deads work great for me and yes, NO deadlifting works quite well, too.
I remember when I first opened my gym, I was in there a lot and wanted a lil’ change of scenery and some motivation. I decided to train at the gym next door as I was about to deadlift. I knew that people watching me would fire me up.
I hadn’t deadlifted for 2 months! But…. I had been doing plenty of similar movements such as squats with barbells, kettlebells, sandbags and even stones.
I was also doing lots of sled work at the end of each workout as well as 2 – 3 trips during my warm ups.
What happened?
I went in and deadlifted 515 for an easy single, beating my best 500 lb deadlift. I realized then I didn’t need to deadlift to break a deadlift record, but, sometimes we fall in love with an exercise and overdo it.
Be smart and LISTEN to your body, do what it tells you to do. Right now, I am in rest & recovery mode, something I haven’t done since I graduated from undergrad and finished a stressful 4 month internship. My body was wiped out as was my body. I rested and stopped training until my body told me it was time to get back in action.
The Bench Press is awesome, BUT, if it kills your shoulders even after you’ve worked with experts in the field to make it better, f**k it, get rid of it and do what works and what feels good for YOU.
Don’t be afraid to veer from a program that you love, but may be causing you some bodily harm. The more you train the more things change – your body begins to respond to things differently and you need to keep tweaking your program to find what does two things for you:
1) What makes you stronger, bigger, faster, etc – improves overall performance
2) What makes you feel GREAT, not just good, but GREAT. If the training bangs you up, change it up and drop out of the knucklehead club.
In Strength,
–Z–
PS: I’ll be laying low on external resistance until my body tells me it’s time to get back to it. As I am in rest & recovery mode, my next assault will be on taking my bodyweight & gymnastics based drills to a new level.
Follow along with me, This is Legit – The Convict Conditioning Workout
Filed under Articles, Strength Building, Success, Underground Strength Show, Videos, Zach's Workouts, muscle building by on Apr 22nd, 2011. 6 Comments.
I had a kick ass workout last night. This is Part I, stay tuned for Part II.
But check it out, movin’ some heavy weight and plenty more to come!
Got questions, thoughts or comments?
Drop a comment below and let’s hear it!
Looking forward to your comments!
Lead from the FRONT!
–Z–
Recommended Resources:
The Underground Strength System
Underground Strength Coach 30 Day Trial
Filed under Articles, Strength Building, Success, Underground Strength Show, Videos, Zach's Workouts, muscle building by on Jun 22nd, 2010. 30 Comments.
I had a goal of Trap Bar Deadlifting 225 lbs for 50 reps.
It was easy, mainly because I didn’t allow myself the option to fail.
I did fail, however, in my ability to count.
I watched the video and realized I did 49, NOT 50!
I’m a knucklehead, enjoy the Madness Below….
Drop a comment with your thoughts!
Lead from the Front!
–Z–
PS: Just had a dude sign up for the 1 Day Underground Mentorship coming on March 20th!
Now that is Dedication, traveling to another country for a day of training & business! I will let attendees know about our meet up the night before which oughtta be off the hook, crazy as well!
No Excuses Bad Asses can Sign Up HERE
Filed under Announcements, Articles, Calendar, Strength Building, Success, Underground Strength Show, Videos, Zach's Workouts, muscle building by on Feb 26th, 2010. 32 Comments.
No Rules.
No cry babies or whiners.
This is how I get Hybrid and BEAST at the same time. Check it kids….
I love training this way.
Nobody ever said I should or could, I just followed my heart and gut instincts.
Back when I was bodybuilding, I would sometimes superset squats with 315-365 lbs and leg presses with 7 – 9 plates on each side. It was crazy but damn was it fun.
Deadlifts and Zerchers offer more of a “REAL World / Functional Strength” type workout compared bodybuilder leg presses.
This is what you gotta do if you wanna be a BEAST.
And you CAN become a BEAST yourself, because in a few short days I’m opening up the gates to THE 12 month program guaranteed to transform you into a BEAST.
Stay tuned!
Peace!
–Z–
Coming Soon…..
To a BEAST Near YOU!!
Filed under Announcements, Articles, Calendar, Strength Building, Success, Underground Strength Show, Videos, Zach's Workouts, muscle building by on Nov 14th, 2009. 18 Comments.
Joe DeFranco is one of the best Performance Coaches in the country, actually, the world.
2 weeks before my wedding, I finally got the chance to get a 1hour consult with Joe D. It took 6 months to get into his schedule, I never stopped asking him via e mail and I didn’t care what the cost would be.
I receive many e mails from people who want in on the USC Cert, the apprentice program or any other coaching variation, but everyone is “in a bad financial situation”.
I think my investment made a HUGE difference in how I trian athletes, and because of it, I got better results, which in turn led to more clients, leading to a bigger and better business, leading to me never having to say those words I hear so often, “I can’t afford that right now, money is tight”.
Today, Joe D and I are good friends, and last week when I went to his gym I was challenged to beat the trap bar deadlift record of 600 lbs for the “washed up meathead category” 
I don’t deadlift often because they make me sore as hell. Musta been 3 months or so since I deadlifted. Regardless, I don’t back down from challenges and, OTHER things I do make me plenty strong to grip and rip big weights off the ground.
Let’s see if I broke the record…..
It wasn’t the prettiest lift, but then again, it isn’t called the deadlift for pretty reasons!
What records have you broken lately? Maybe it’s in strength, maybe business, maybe it’s deep within and personal. Share your success stories below, let the world know!
Kill it!
–Coach Z–
P.S. – 4 spots left for The USC Cert on 11/1 and 11/2. Who wants to kill it? Click the “get certified” link at the top and e mail me if you are ready, 110% ready, nothing less!
Filed under Underground Strength Show, Videos by on Aug 9th, 2008. 3 Comments.
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