Recently a gentleman stopped by my gym to gift me with some very, very, very rare gifts.

This shocked me BIG time....

This gentleman, named John, stopped by my Underground Strength Gym unannounced. Normally, I am not a fan of unannounced visitors as they want to talk and take me away from the # 1 focus I have, training my athletes.

John was DIFFERENT. He waited until ALL training was done for the night before he introduced himself to me.

John watches my Underground Strength Show, a BIG Fan, he reads the newsletters and loves what I'm doing. He loves seeing a young guy bringing back the old school ways of lifting when men trained like REAL men.

He was in the area, visiting a nursing home and some family.

John is a teacher and a Church Pastor - trust me, I felt very odd and I immediately apologized for my cursing on my videos 🙂

I told John I cursed from excitement, and hoped he would understand 🙂

John had seen my videos and newsletters on how the strongmen of old influenced me so much, and John had a VERY rare gift stashed away in his attic:

1) ALL The Dino Files from Brooks Kubik. I'm talking about the ORIGINAL Dino Files, NOT the re-published Dino Files.

2) VHS tapes of Dr. Ken Leistner - these are tapes with rare footage of Dr. Ken training himself, training D1 Football Teams and training along side his training partners behind his gym on a day called the "4th of July Training Massacre" - this was Brutal! Dudes were throwing up in between sets of doing farmer walks with empty missiles, barbells on their backs, squats & MORE craziness.

He showed up with them in a gift bag, the kind you would give a family member for their baby on a birthday....

Covered in a light dust, there were 3 binders, filled tightly with page after page of old school training, a combination of Underground Strength Training and old school bodybuilding - in my opinion, an amazing combo, deadly for those who stand in your way 🙂

After John left I did some research on him. Found a few interesting things....

I found out he was quite the BEAST on the Football field in college and turned down going into the NFL to become a Pastor in his Church! I saw his name sprinkled on a few web sites where men spoke of him as "One of the strongest guys you've never heard about...." -

One day I plan to have my gym a place not just for people to train, but also a place for strength fanatics to hang out at. Perhaps with a library of books, DVDs and VHS tapes. A movie room where the old films can be viewed.

This is the type of place I would have LIVED in when I was younger as I used to do my homework at the gym, just so I could be around the weights and hear the sounds of plates clanking together or heavy barbells / dumbbells being dropped to the floor!

They did this back in the day, when bodybuilders of the Golden Era owned supplement shops, the muscle building and strength fanatics would gather in the back of the store, watch bodybuilding shows, read books and magazines, share stories and training methods - all while pounding down their favorite protein shakes.

Sounds like heaven to me 🙂

I'll fill the back room with my library of strength books, videos, memorabilia and more.

I can see it now...

Tales of bodybuilding and Tales of The Underground:

- talks of sandbag training and heavy barbell workouts

- dumbbells and tires

- kettlebells and gymnastics

- ropes and rings

More to come, more to come...

In Strength,

-- Z --

Recommended Resources:

The Underground Inner Circle 30 Day Trial

The Gladiator Experiment