I am always learning. I find podcasts or articles, even old books from decades ago to see how the "What's old is new" philosophy can help me become a better coach & lifter. Recently, I have been listening to an interview with Dave Tate & JM Blakley. I will share the video below as it's over 3 hours long. I listen to the interview while driving. And the 1 part that hit home for me was when JM said that we are not all that different. We like to THINK we're so different and that we all … [Read more...]
BONUS | Zach Gets Interviewed on The Garage Gym Start Up Podcast
In this BONUS episode of The STRONG Life Podcast, I get interviewed by fellow Underground Strength Coach, David DeLeon. David runs Of The Lion Fitness in Tx and The Garage Gym Start Up Podcast. This was a great, GREAT episode filled with LOTS of stories along with crucial training AND business tips for ANY Strength Coach. David and I met when he was part of The CrossFit Central Team of Coaches which was the first group / team of coaches to travel for a private Underground Strength Coach … [Read more...]
STRONG Life Insider: The Development of Muscular Bulk & Power
From Anthony Ditillo's Book, The Development of Muscular Bulk and Power There is something about bulk and power training that invades your very soul. It is extremely hard to put into words. The exercise movements themselves are quite simple to perform. The routines one must utilize in order to gain rapidly that much sought after strength are not especially interesting or dynamic in appearance. All in all, powerlifting and bulk training is a rather mechanical robot like procedure, which is … [Read more...]
205 | 1 KEY Trait of Successful Strength & Conditioning Coaches
In this episode of The STRONG Life Podcast I share The 1 KEY Trait of Successful Strength & Conditioning Coaches. And by the way, if you are NOT a Coach, then NO worries. This trait can be applied to ANY endeavor and / or career path. Remember, SUCCESS LEAVES CLUES! This quick podcast hit me this past weekend after attending and speaking at Pat Beith's Complete Speed & Power Summit. Man, I am fired UP! Every Coach who presented was also front and center learning from the other … [Read more...]
History Behind The Underground Strength Gym, Life Stories & Lessons Learned
Welcome to another Bonus episode of The STRONG Life Podcast. In this episode, The boys from The Mind Muscle Project hit this one out of the park when they interviewed me. It was reminiscent of when The Barbell Shrugged crew came to NJ and we could have kept talking for hours on end. This episode is a Bonus of The STRONG Life Podcast and you're going to LOVE it! We talk about early days of The Underground Strength Gym and how it all started. From my $3,000 "Lunch at Taco Bell" with Gary … [Read more...]
Seek The Discomfort
Here is a short snippet From my morning newsletter aka The STRONG Life Insider. I am intrigued by people. MORE intrigued with who is tough vs who is not. Who quits vs who keeps going. Who punches the clock vs who does AWESOME work. Who genuinely cares about their work and how they work vs those who never gives a sh-t. What type of person are you? Normal people quit. A LOT. … [Read more...]
UNSTOPPABLE Mindset: In The Gym & In Life
It's awesome to see how strength training has exploded, very much thanks to the internet. On the flip side, I still struggle with being the most fired up guy in the room. At age 43, I should NOT have more fire than the 15 year olds. Those younger years are like bottling up the energy of a rocket ship, you can't let them go to waste, not for 1 day. The things I've seen on social media and heard about in globo gyms downright scares me. So in this article, I want to address attitude and … [Read more...]
Training for When the SHTF: Building Athleticism vs Building Toughness?
STRONG Life Insider Training for When The SHTF: Building Athleticism VS Building Toughness? The Correct answer is you must do BOTH. If you're reading this article you're likely not that guy who just reads about it and never actually gets your hands dirty. But there are PLENTY of guys getting caught up and duped with doing things like: Barbell Cleans on 1 Leg with band suspended kettlebells hanging from the bar Training with eyes closed, standing on one leg on a balance disc, … [Read more...]
Grit, Toughness, Work Ethic & STRENGTH
Here we go with The STRONG Life Insider. I am fired up and psyched to share some hard hitting truth bombs. To keep up with ALL content with my STRONG Life Insider, it's FREE, go HERE. "The Soft American" is a piece written by John F. Kennedy in 1960! Well, we need to send that letter out to the masses even though it's 60 years later, aka TODAY! I got back to recording The STRONG Life Insider again because I wanted to expand on the writings of my morning e mails. The STRONG Life … [Read more...]
STRONG Life Insider: When Men Lose Their Edge
When men lose their edge..... Worse yet, when a man NEVER had an edge. A mental edge, a physical edge...... Any sign of inconvenience is viewed as a threat by these men. And, while we're at it, let's also include young men / teenagers. It's a frightening world where I see the smallest things are threatening, scaring and completely stopping people. The lack of getting our hands dirty nowadays is NOT a good thing, regardless of how much technology we have or how many robots are coming to … [Read more...]