Today I was about to close up shop at the gym until an old friend strolled in to wish me a happy birthday.
Johnny and I competed against each other in the 1995 Teenage Mr. NJ!
That was a loooong time ago. We both competed in the middleweight division which means we were under 176 lbs!
Johnny showed up today weighing 250 and looking lean and mean. Me? I think I'm hovering near 220.
We spoke about his current regime of heavy squats, heavy deads, heavy military pressing, 120 lb dumbbell hammer curls and his strongman training, which he does in a garage located at a trucking company!
We did get busy with some training though...and yes, no worries, ALL on film 🙂
I need to catch some ZZZZZZZZ's before my seminar this entire weekend with Joe DeFranco, 'The Lost Secrets of Strength Development'.
We decided to attack the grip and work grip strength and hand strength.
It was the most fun I had training in ages!!!
Johnny told me was going to the grip challenge at The Arnold Sports Festival this year so we went at it!
Everything was as heavy as possible and still, I knew in the back of my mind about the weights lifted by the guys in the early 1900's and they were still light years ahead of us in terms of strength, it was scarey to think this!
When it was time to close up shop, Johnny and I were still talking training in the parking lot, talking about what is happening nowadays in gyms, and what was happening in the gyms when we started, who we learned from and what was happening before we even started, which was REALLY serious shit.
The old timers had it down pat.
They knew how to build strength and rugged muscle better than the majority of gym rats today.
I have more to show and more to talk about, for now, I wanna get to bed and spend some time with my wife 🙂
Kill it!
--Coach Z--
PS: One of the best books I have ever written on old school strength training is found right HERE. It's a freaking goldmine of amazing training information and it has shaped what I do BIG time. Check it out HERE.
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