After returning from a great vacation, I shared a story with my kids to remind them just how good and easy they have it. And, many times I wonder, is this "easy life" hurting my kids and humans in general? My Dad would take us on "vacations" that included canoeing or rafting. Another "vacation" was fossil hunting after my Dad saw an article in the newspaper about people finding old fossils, so off we went! The Canoe trip was more of a death defying stunt than a "vacation". First off, I … [Read more...]
28 Years of Lifting: Strength Training In Your 40s & Training As You Get Older
This is the article I dreaded ever having to write; "Training as you get older" or "Training in your 40s". Before I move forward, understand, these are my experiences. My experiences don't make anything universal or the end all, be all laws. Other guys my age might have a different training experience under their belt and in turn, they don't have the same mindset or physical experiences. Back up almost 30 years and I began training in June 1989, some 2 weeks before 8th grade ended. I was … [Read more...]
Will Anyone Ever Squat In Peace Again?
I feel bad for this generation of lifters. I'd say that 99.99999999% will NEVER know what it's like to JUST train for the sake of training and have NO phone around them. The kids I train nowadays always sneak a look at their phone when they grab a drink. Eventually ya gotta tell them to STOP taking a water break after EVERY SET. The beauty and purity of a training session where / when there were NO cell phones is beyond what my words can describe. When I was 17 years old, my buddy … [Read more...]
3 Simple Tips To Improve Olympic Weightlifting & Get STRONGER
Here's a cool question that came in the mail box and I wanna answer this question more in depth for you with some sample workouts: Zach, I've been following you for awhile and now that I'm not an active trainer at my local CF box, I have slowly pieced together a garage gym to call home. Which program from your Online Training would you recommend to A) build my strength and .... B) stay on top of Oly/CF type movements? I know I desperately need the strength build up, but … [Read more...]
I Changed My Mind: REAL World Strength AND Bodybuilding
It must have been 6 years ago or so, I remember the moment quite clearly. We were outside The Underground Strength Gym, the athletes were hitting their finishers and training like farm boys. Back and forth they went pushing and pulling sleds, carrying the anvil, the atlas stone, dumbbells, kettlebells and sandbags. A BIG bodybuilder and his skinny friend began approaching. The bodybuilder was jacked. His friend looked like a typical high school kid weighing about 160 lbs or so. The … [Read more...]
STRONG Life 33: Ray Jaz, NO Easy Day & Arnold Legacy
You think you're working hard until someone makes you rethink what work ethic, commitment, intensity and passion looks like at the NEXT level. That is the key to the latest STRONG Life Podcast. I'll be giving you insight into the story behind a kid who may have rivaled my own passion and intensity as a kid from the gym, but, even better, he understood how to apply the lessons learned from the gym to his life and sports. … [Read more...]
10 Reasons You’re NOT Gaining Muscle or Getting Stonger
As I "get older" and time seems to be going way too fast, I have been thinking about time, training, life and a slew of other things. This whole life thing goes way too fast. Every year I get older, I quickly do the math and have a memory from age 6 of what seemed like yesterday. You must make it ALL count. Life is too short to walk around weak and with a laundry list of excuses. Bill Starr has a GREAT book call The Strongest Shall Survive. The title alone hits home, it can be updated to … [Read more...]
The 6 Most Effective Strength & Muscle Building Methods
I've been doing a LOT of thinking about the various ways I have trained since starting back in 1989, well over 25 years of experience. I thought about the methods that wasted my time and didn't produce anything but all show and NO go muscles. Those days bother me BIG time because they have scarred me for a lifetime and unfortunately didn't help my success in athletics. I also thought about my days of squatting 455 lbs for reps. My days of breaking away from what the other guys in the gym were … [Read more...]
Dominate In Training AND Life: Tips from Myself, John Jesse & WARRIOR Man
Regardless of the type of athlete you are, your training and your mindset should be focused around these 3things: … [Read more...]
Breaking The Rules Of Traditional Strength Training & Muscle Building
I came up learning from the Golden Era Greats of Bodybuilding and the late, great John Kemper, the owner of Diamond Gym. These men were strong, jacked and ripped. They lifted heavy and often did supersets, even with the big compound movements. Even if they trained on machines, you would see guys loading up the machines and then rigging up the machine to add more 45s to the stack of weights. When I followed their routines of aggressive and heavy training using mostly free weights, my … [Read more...]