Above: The Dumbbells at Diamond Gym. To get to the heaviest weights, you must do all the work to get them from the bottom! In sports, you can be a Coach or even a fan watching practice or competition and there will be stand out athletes. If you don't know that athlete, then you have NO clue how that athlete achieved his or her skill. he may have worked his ass off for it or, he might be gifted and lazy. But in the weight room, ahhhhhh, that's a different story. You can stand against the wall … [Read more...]
Training In Your 40s, Bulgarian Power Burst, Bench Press + Deadlift Tips
With my hectic schedule I am going through some short training sessions, around 15-20 minutes a clip. Sometimes I get 2 mini sessions a day and instead of complaining, I simply get it done. Announcing how tired or busy I am is a waste of time. Nobody cares, including myself. I despise even my own excuses. While at school where I coach, I might go through 3-4 exercises as a circuit of 3 - 4 rounds. I've used bodyweight, kettlebells, fat bells and some basic machines (perhaps a lat pulldown or … [Read more...]
“REAL World Training” During these Dangerous Times
We are living through some dangerous, crazy times. NEVER did I imagine I would see civilians shooting each other in the streets. NEVER did I imagine such divide in our country here in The United States. It's NOT just enough to be able to lift heavy, run fast and know how to use your hands in combat (boxing, muay thai, jiu jitsu, wrestling, etc). Now we need to know how to handle ourselves with guns. How to handle others with guns. How to grow our own food (gardening, raising … [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...]
THIS GUY WANTS TO BE SOMEBODY!!!
I just received an e mail and HAD to share it. I withhold the person's last name for privacy and screen shot it below as well so you can see no words have been edited. This e mail fired me UP! It reminded me of Mark Smelly Bell's story of how a Powerlifter announcer would shout after each successful lift was made, THIS GUY WANTS TO BE SOMEBODY!!! Listen..... Not everyone REALLY wants to be somebody. Not everyone has that inner Spartan or inner Gladiator. But for those who … [Read more...]
Gladiator STRONG + How I Messed Up My Own Training When I Was Younger?
When I was younger and competing in sports, wrestling specifically, I was unfortunately training the WRONG way. And as an athlete, time is crucial. You NEVER get that time back and so, you miss out on opportunity. The opportunity to train the RIGHT way is often times the difference maker between you being part of the team vs you being someone who goes down in the history books. It was the late 80s and the early 90s when I was training complete opposite of The Gladiator STRONG method. I was … [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...]
“I’m too tired to train…..”
I've been getting a lot of emails from guys who are exhausted from LIFE. Work, family, work more, life stuff happening. I KNOW the feeling. But sorry, fellas, we are MEN, we MUST be STRONG. I guarantee you that any woman reading this agrees, and, she is probably saying the same for her own expectations. If you haven't been training for a while, I want you to do these 4 exercises, 3 x week: … [Read more...]
QnA: Training for Law Enforcement, Thoughts on Distance Running & Strength Coach Business Success Tips
I crushed a GREAT question last night on my Instagram which led to a few more questions. Here is the question from our friend and his name kept anonymous: Hey Zach, Question for you- I’m going to be honest... this is a tough email to write and it’s a long time coming. I’ve been stuck in a training rut for a long freaking time and I’ve reached out to some other people and nobody can seem to help. I know you’ve been building badasses at your facilities and you know what’s up in the … [Read more...]
184 | QnA: Underground Strength Seminars, Wrestling Strength & Gladiator STRONG Origins
Here we go, STRONG Life Podcast ep.184, QnA style! I had a blast crushing this podcast and talking about: - The next Underground Strength seminars and how I plan to run them. - How I train wrestlers in season and what I recommend with regards to nutrition for wrestlers. - How I operate my podcast in terms of business, sponsorship, use for my Underground Strength Gym and more thoughts on podcasting. - How did my Gladiator STRONG program get started and why I love the NO BS, … [Read more...]