I saw a ton of posts at Dave Draper's awesome site dedicated to Dr.Ken and many spoke about his son, Kevin. They posted this pic and it motivated the heck out of me to get me an anvil. I am loving the anvil, I'll be posting pics, articles and videos of anvil training at http://UndergroundStrengthCoach.com You tell me, does Kevin look like a BEAST or what?!?! If the pic above doesn't motivate you, check your pulse. In Strength, Zach Even - Esh P.S. - The snow is coming down HARD … [Read more...]
Q&A: Building Muscle, High Reps vs Low Reps
Above, the Back of BIG Kevin Tolbert Zach, It's a bit confusing to me as I've been reading a lot of books about building up muscle & strength. Many of them said reps should be around 8-12 and anything more is a waste of time. I hear you're saying that we should go for high reps to obtain muscle. Please tell me the difference between doing high & low reps? What impact does it have? You see I've only started training recently & want to build up my muscle. I've … [Read more...]
The Competition and the Battle
At The Underground Strength Gymnasium we hold regular competitions amongst the members. These are unannounced battles and they really hype up the crew at hand to step it up. Noone likes to lose and sometimes a loss exposes their weak area(s) and makes them work smarter AND harder towards filling those gaps. Our last contest was a pull up contest. The winners received a Captains of Crush Hand Gripper. Pull ups are like squats for the upper body. They're amazing at developing strength and … [Read more...]
I Still Remember Him, 19 Years Ago
I was 13 years old, my Dad was getting the big set of stairs in front of our house rebuilt. I used to run up and down those 32 stairs back in high school after they were built, after I ran my 4 or 5 mile wrestling run. The guy who built the stairs was named Americo. He was a shorter guy, maybe 5'6", but I still remember the day he was showing my Dad the different bricks and stones which could be used for the stairs. Americo's hands looked like big meat hooks, his forearms were massive … [Read more...]
Anvil Training
All you need is a barbell, a pull up bar and the desire to eat big and lift big. But, if you're like me, you may have quite the infatuation with the "Golden Era" of bodybuilding and the olden days of strength training. This is why I am always on the hunt for training tools that have history behind them. My latest toy is a 125 lb Anvil, which was a popular strongman implement used for gripping. George Jowett actually grasped a 168 lb Anvil by the horn, and then cleaned & pressed … [Read more...]
I Thought You Needed This..
The squat has been the lift that has been responsible for developing all around strength. When you squat heavy and low, you work your quads, hams, glutes and entire back side like nothing else. The squat has that amazing effect on the rest of the body where it tightens up your abs, making them strong and sturdy, it adds muscle to the upper body and stokes your metabolism. If you haven't been squatting, then what the hell have you been doing? Check our latest article on Rack Training at The … [Read more...]
Breakfast before the Storm
My Breakfast before the Storm: 4 whole eggs 4 egg shites 2 bananas 2 clementines 1 cup of coffee I tend to alternate coffee and green tea through several week cycles. This is what my body is telling me and I go with it. I stray away from dairy products as much as possible except the eggs. I used to do the ol' bodybuilder breakfast of 8 egg whites and one yolk, but after 7 or 8 years of the same thing, I decided to add more yolks to my breakfast and I feel stronger. And this did … [Read more...]
The “GO Factor”
Today I met up with my close friends and Awesome Coaches, Pamela MacElree and Jason C. Brown. They both walk the walk and know how to train hard. They also LOVE to train hard.This was the first time they stopped by my gym and Pam immediately deadlifted the 150 lb. old school globe dumbbell, and yes, one handed. I know a lot of guys who couldn't do this, and I'm not talking about guys who sit home and watch TV all night, I'm talking guys who actually work out. Problem is, many people work out … [Read more...]
The Farm Boys I Met Years Ago…
Wow, today's workout was bad ass. It was a mix of indoor and outdoor training. The cold weather really hits the lungs and I miss that feeling which I experienced back in the day of my nightly winter runs during wrestling season. That was in the early 90's, and that was also when Rocky IV was already out, why didn't more of us learn from that movie? The way he trained with stones, chopped wood, pushed sleds, ran through snowy mountains and performed pull ups on the wooden beams was … [Read more...]
How The Viking, Jon Pall Sigmarsson Inspires The Underground Strength Gym
I have recently watched the documentary on The Viking, Jon Pall Sigmarsson. It's an amazing tribute to one of the most dominant World's Strongest Man Champions. What a pure beast this man was. He unfortunately passed at the young age of 32. To see Jon Pall's evolution of training and various forms of strength competition was incredibly inspiring, and you can bet that tomorrow, at My Gym, The Underground Strength Gym, I will be attacking some serious strongman work using Stones, Sandbags … [Read more...]