About one year ago you may remember me posting a video and article inspired by the Great Strongman, Hermann Goerner and I gave a little taste of his Kettlebell Chain.
Well, now things are the same AND different.....
Enter The Sandbag Chain..... NOT for the weak of mind or heart, check it out and get after it.
Coach Reeve and many of the strongmen from the 1800s and early 1900s have inspired me to lift in some very unique and non conforming ways.
My Question for You: Who has been the top 3 most influential people in the way YOU train, AND, those 3 people don't necessarily have to be someone who is alive today. Psyched to see these answers, drop a comment below!
In Strength,
--Z--
Recommended Resources.....
11 Responses
For me the most influential was Bruce Lee. Definitely.
I love moving various sized and weight objects, especially cleans, presses, squats and throws! You learn how to apply different amounts of force to the ground and to your opponent when necessary. Sometimes overexerting yourself can be detrimental, you must have total control at all times and using various objects helps that goal. I did something similar yesterday in my support of the Barbells for Boobs movement, which is a great cause, everyone should do their part to help out , btw. Here is the workout I did, it ain’t perfect, but it’s a great cause…
http://www.youtube.com/user/mwich40?feature=mhum
http://www.barbellsforboobs.com/
Just 3!? WOW, tough one.
#1. My Grandfather – He bought me one of those plastic weight sets when I was young kid. He taught me how to clean and press. He taught me “If you want to get strong you have to pick heavy stuff up. If you want to get really strong you have to pick heavy stuff up over your head.”
#2. Vasily Alexeev – He was the king when I was a kid.
#3. Bill Kazmaier – The WSM shows inspired me to lift big rocks, logs, etc.. anything that was really heavy.
Zach, You get “Honorable Mention” here. The gym I trained at went out of business this summer. I found your site looking for ideas on new things to do. I’m training with sandbags and big rocks in my yard. LOVING IT!
I’m training EDT style so Charles Staley is in there as well.
This is a tough one. I will list TWO people for my own training.
For my own training
Rob Shaver- He was my high school wrestling Coach.
He instilled the IOWA mentality in us. You always PUSH FORWARD and NEVER take a step back. That is just WHAT YOU DO. Push the action and out work you opponents. NEVER let you conditioning be the reason of you defeat. Anytime we held a scrimmage at our place we prided ourselves for having some of the toughest practices around and we tried to get the other team to QUIT.
We climbed ropes, flipped tires, did sandbag circuits, animal crawls, hindu push ups and a slew of other things to get our conditioning. Sometimes we just held a push ups position and would see who would BREAK first. He instilled the “wrestlers” mentality in me and this has helped me tremendously in my training and in life. His training got me from a sloppy 275 pounder(weighing about 265) to a lean 215 pounder( weighing about 195-200) my senior year in high school.
Will Ellinger- He is kind of like the Mark Rippetoe of long island. His program is simple, but brutally effective. Bench, squat, deadlift, overhead press. Through in some pull ups, inverted rows, push ups, glute hams, single leg squats/lunges, and back raises and you have the jist of his program. Powerlifting combined with body weight training for athletes. He also advocates pushing and pulling sleds for conditioning. His program gave me a great foundation for me as a lifter and a strength coach.
He taught me the basics and helped me become a great lifter. He got me to squat 446 as a teenager at 198(raw WNPF competition) and a 585 low handle trap bar deadlift at 192 while still in high school. He got my very strong at the basics. I can still remember the brutal 20 rep squats and high rep trapbar deads. My best with Coach Ellinger was 325 for 21 on the squat and 475 for 9 on the trapbar deadlift.
I learned to WORK HARD and PUSH THROUGH MENTAL BARRIERS. The experiences I got from those workouts have given me a great foundation for my future lifting.
There are many great strength coaches and lifters that have influenced me along the way. The guys at Elite Fitness System and the coaches I have met at the Perform Better Seminars have all greatly influenced my training and my coaching style. It would really be impossible to pick just one.
Thanks for the post Zach and keep doing what you do man!
#1 My boss working on the farm in high school and college. He taught me to make each task a competition with myself. Digging postholes, mucking stalls, loading and unloading hay bales, cutting trees and shrubs, digging stumps, etc. All became a competition to see if I could best my previous time/amount.
#2 My son, now 16months old and daughter. I have been forced to be more flexible with how I train, when I train and I am much more focused on density and quality of my workouts. I have even incorporated the kids. Push presses and tricep extensions using the 10yo are killer after handstand push-ups. I also have her piggy back for dips, chins and push-ups and sit on my chest for row pull-ups.
#3 Lately, Zach…nuf said!
#4 Mike Mahler
#5 Big Joe a powerlifter who took me under his wing when I was in college. 92-97
I love hearing about different ways to work out. Everyone has a different goal or a unique definition to what there perfect body would be so this adds to the things that can be done to achieve that goal. Great post.
The way I train today is mostly because of Tony Horton and putting my own workout plan together.
Three most influential people.
1. Milo of Crotona
2. Arthur Saxon
3. Brooks Kubik
Very Strong men in their own right.
I know this is more than 3, but I just couldn’t leave the rest out.
1. Greg Glassman
2. Louie Simmons
3. Robert dos Remedios
4. Marty Gallagher
5. Pavel
6. Bruce Lee
7. Martin Rooney
8. Izumi Tabata
9. Brooks Kubrik
10. my Dad
11. Zach Even-Esh(yeah brother, you made the cut)
12. Masayuki Watanabe
Ur definitely first on my list zach next is prob Eugene sandow the the mighty atom and sig Klein probably tie for third, an honorable mention is Dan attanasio from the bar union
Influences:
Much of this is new to me so I am not going to name people from way back because way back when I was not into this type of training.
1 – Zack, you are top on my list. I was following Vince Delmonte for a little while (on youtube) when he did a video with you on Real Training for MEN. The irony is that I stopped following his stuff and started following yours. I was immediately hooked on the way you train. Now I pass your videos on to others in an attempt to convince then to stop doing endless sessions of bicep curls and having a day devoted to just abs(???).
2 – Matt Wiklinski, who I found via you. If someone reading this is not checking this guys videos out they need to go do it. He (Matt) posted above if anyone is interested.
3 – Smitty, which is another guy I follow because of you. I have got to add Joe Hashey as well.
I also lift/train for my family. I know it gives my wife a sense of security to know I am strong even though I only stand 5 and a half feet. She knows I can and will protect her. I am also the first guy called upon when it is time to move things. And I know my daughter and son love it that I can play with them and pick them up and toss them around as if they where a light toy lol.
Thanks for the post Z
Excellent post, man. This is one of my favorite approaches when training. Talk about a full body workout. I find this especially useful with a lot of the women in my classes.