Wow, what a night Thursday was....
Sorry for the delay on this, I've been pretty wiped out
since Thursday night 🙂
Stay tuned though, because I will have some cool
trip footage of my times Thursday night to be posted here on the Blog 🙂
If you haven't heard, last Spring and Summer a film crew was recording every second of action at Joe D's place and it was churned out and whipped into an amazing documentary.
I'm tlaking about the stuff you've seen in Pumping Iron, except there is more training footage and more emotion behind this.
Yep, it's a freakin' classic already, I loved it.
It made me laugh, almost had me crying, gave me goosebumps and really hit home as to how big of a deal it is when we can touch and change people lives by the slightest bit from our information.
One week before I got married, about 4 years ago, I was able to get some consult time with Joe D. I was e mailing Joe for a good 6 months before he caved in and found a small opening in his schedule for me.
Back then, he was training athletes in a storage closet of a health club. I wasn't a cry baby about it either, I payed big bucks to see Joe D that day for an hour of his time, because I knew that information would help shape my methods into greater methods.
In turn, this was best for my athletes and of course, better for my business. Business is best for all people when the results are powerful across the board. I don't feel good when I'm not learning, and Joe D was a coach that I was relating to very much.
Today, we're good friends and are both on the Elite FTS Q & A board.
I trek up to Joe's gym whenever I can (or whenever my wife lets me, ha ha).
You see, Joe has not only influenced me because of his training methods, but more so because of his passion, his commitment to being the best, and his dedication to family, friends and his athletes.
He knows what "friends" can do to you, he knows his athletes should get the best and he is very close with his family.
His father, George, who was at one time the 3rd best arm wrestler in the world, was a huge influence on Joe. George used to own a few gyms, the last of which I actually trained at long before I even met Joe.
That gym was under new ownership, but it still had all the homemade welded equipment that George put in there. It was in a scarey place, not in an area where you wanna take more than 1 wrong turn if you catch my drift 🙂
Joe came from a hardcore lifting background, as did I, it's only we know. You really feel this and see this when watching Joe's documentary. The intensity is awe inspiring on film.
It taught me that perhaps my athletes and even myself, are not training hard enough, not intensely enough, or perhaps do not want "it" bad enough.
When you see what some of these athletes had to go through in life as well as finding a way to train with Joe D I see no reason why my athletes or anyone else out there needs to complain one second.
Some of Joe's clients had to scrape by tooth and nail just to get by, due to living conditions, violence, danger and life threatening illnesss.
What are you complaining about?
Joe's father, George, reminded me why a father / husband needs to be strong and tough, mentally and physically.
Joe reminded me to go for my dreams, do what I love, strive to be the best, and most of all, be a down to earth human being.
Typing away I feel a bit teary eyed, thinking of everything that hit me in this movie.
I'll keep everyone posted as to when it's available on DVD.
I can see myself watching the DVD over and over again, just the way I watched Pumping Iron over and over again when I was 15. I must have watched that movie 5 or 6 times in a row on a Saturday when I got myself a bootleg version on VHS tape! That shows my age, ha ha, and my love for the iron.
Time to make some breakfast for the family 🙂
In Strength,
--Z--
P.S. - I have interviewed both Joe and his father George, both interviews light me up. You can find Joe's interview at http://UndergroundStrengthManual.com and George's at http://UndergroundStrengthCoach.com.
This is NOT your typical, politically correct stuff so if you're easily offended, you will not want to listen to them. Don't say I never warned you!