The sun shines through the windows early morning here at TOUGH Gym.

We open at 5 AM but there is a large crew of men who train before 5 AM, getting here between 4:15 and 4:30 AM.

When I train at 5 AM, these guys are already mid way through their training.

Before I share a wild story with you, check out our latest STRONG Life Podcast with my friend, Dr. Eric Nager.

​Listen HERE.​

This was another powerful STRONG Life and a long time coming.....

Dr. Nager and I will do a round 2 so stay tuned for that as well.

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The first "TOUGH Gym" I trained at was in Perth Amboy, NJ.

When you would through the doors at 5 AM, the heat and intensity of the people training punched you dead n the face.

Everyone in TOUGH Gym was serious about STRENGTH. The hours said 5 AM until 10 PM but at 4:30 AM, TOUGH Gym was pumping. Loud music. Heavy Weights. NO talking.

Of course, TOUGH Gym doesn't exist anymore but I share some stories inside IRON Journeys II which is in the completion phase so be on the lookout via The STRONG Life Insider HERE. 

BOSS Lightning wrote the foreword to IRON Journeys II and we can NOT reveal his true identity but take my word, he is one of the MOST Dangerous men in the world. 

Now......

Back to my story.

The Hells Angels trained at TOUGH Gym and I was working one of my first "gym jobs" - it wasn't official, I was there helping because I basically spent
half my day there.

A group of guys pulled up on motorcycles, I saw them driving past the gym but I heard them a mile away.

About a dozen of them walked in and said they wanted to train. A few of the veterans looked at me from the gym floor and nodded their head at me.

This meant let them in, don't ask questions and don't ask for money.

Tommy was one of the OGs of TOUGH Gym and he walked up casually behind the desk and grabbed a milk crate with a large towel over it.

He put the milk crate on the desk and walked away, elbowing me to walk away as well.

I turned around for a milisecond and saw the guys placing weapons in the milk crate.

Tommy walked up to the dumbbell rack which I always felt was perfect, it was custom welded and all the dumbbells were hip height.

Tommy Grabbed the hundreds, power curled them up and did 8 strict presses overhead.

Tommy casually walked behind the desk and grabbed the milk crate and nodded to the men.

It was an unspoken agreement I picked up on......

These guys were all massive. Some guys were tall and towered over everyone else and then some of the guys were around 5' 10".

The one guy who really stood out to me was a tad shorter than me but he was as wide as he was tall.

He seemed to be the leader of this crew of Hells Angels, a few of whom stayed out front and smoked cigarettes.

This massive man was named Lee, he told Tommy they rode cross country to compete in powerlifting against The East Jersey State Prison inmates powerlifting team.

This prison is often called "Rahway State Prison" and is where the movie Lock Up was filmed with SLY.

Tommy told me to stay out of their way and let them do what they want.

I watched them go to the back of the gym where they dragged a bench to the squat stands.

There was no warm up, they all started benching with 315.

The strongest guys benched 315 with their feet up in the air which was an old bodybuilding style of benching.

After each guy would reach his max, they all went over to the incline dumbbell bench and did endless sets of high reps with the 100s.

No one grabbed any weight except the 100s.

The strongest guy, Lee, kept benching. He went over 6 plates on each side and I watched from the corner of my eye but Tommy walked by and said, "That's over 600."

Lee motioned for Tommy to spot him and I saw Lee his a single with 6 plates and I believe a 10 and a 5 on each side.

He hit for 1 rep. HOLY F--K!!!!

Tommy and Lee stripped down the bar to 315 and Lee did a set of max reps and did over 20 reps. Again......

HOLY F--K!!

After the guys were done throwing around the 100s for endless sets, they did a circuit of dips and tricep pushdowns.

At TOUGH Gym we did not have a cable connection, it was actually a thick rope pulley system and every lifter did the full stack.

These guys expanded in size as their upper body pump expanded their frame in front of me.

When they finished up, Tommy motioned to me get the milk crate covered in a old towel as the men stood by the front desk.

I played it cool, lifting the heavy milk crate on to the desk and turned around to pretend to do busy work like checking the sign in pad.

Tommy said to me after The Hells Angels left......

"When someone walks through their doors, if they are ready to train and work, we don't ask questions. The IRON gives respect if it gets respect. I don't think I need to tell you not to mention this to anyone, right, Zach?"

That was the Fall of 1993.

I never said a word about that day until now.....

But now I know who that man was.

And when I visited Rahway State Prison, I believe that was over 20 years ago.....

I remember the biggest guy telling me about the powerlifting team.

I grew up around a lot of bad people.

I got out of Edison and I am glad I did.

But, I do remember where I came from and what it took to get my family out of there.

But there will always be that part of me that understands the dangerous ways of the world.

See you in the squat rack.

Live the Code 365,

Zach Even - Esh

OLD SCHOOL STRENGTH COLLECTIVE