I was in my early teens and training at my first "Hardcore Gym". This gym was 7,500 sq ft. NO AC, just a bunch of stand up industrial fans. ALL the plates were deep dish Ivanko plates and there was rumbling throughout the entire gym, blended with some old rock cassette tapes that blasted through the gym. Usually AC/DC or Metallica, sometimes Def Leppard. The back 1/3 of the gym was lined up with leg equipment. Plenty of squat racks, 2 leg presses, 2 hack squats, 2 leg extensions, 2 leg … [Read more...]
STRONG Life Ep 217 | Success vs Comfort in the Gym AND in Life
I was 15, maybe 16 years old..... It was 1991 and I was training with Jeff, a guy in his mid 20s. He knew I was a wrestler and back then, all we knew was bodybuilding. No Strongman training. No Strength & Conditioning, just train hard, not necessarily correctly. So there we were, on the good ol' leg press. We had already squatted that. I had a habit of always training to failure and beyond. Forced reps always. Of course, looking back, this was unhealthy for the joints and … [Read more...]
STRONG Life Insider Ep. 40 | How to Destroy Those WEAK Excuses Holding You Back
How many weak excuses to come up with on a daily basis? Whether it's in the gym or in life, I constantly hear people making WEAK excuses. They have a laundry list of reasons as to why they are NOT doing something or why they can NOT do something. The habit of creating weak excuses is a slippery slope as your excuses begin to creep from 1 area of your life to ALL areas of your life. Before you know it, you're GREAT at making excuses and GREAT at doing NOTHING in your LIFE. Listen … [Read more...]
You are NOT Special
I've got NO time and ZERO TOLERANCE for excuse making lazy folk. Seriously.... Shut Up and get INTENSE. Do some Research & STOP telling me you don't have time. People seem to have PLENTY of time to WASTE endless hours every day on Instagram & Facebook. Do NOT get fancy on me. Do NOT tell me about YOUR special program. YOU are not Special. … [Read more...]
STRONG Life Insider Ep. 33 | Gym Strong VS Life STRONG
Here we GO! STRONG Life Insider Ep. 33. In this episode, I was inspired as I thought WAY back 30+ years ago to my days of getting my lunch stolen. The days of being afraid of others, where guys would bump me in the hallway on purpose. The days of getting my bike stolen and not being able to do a thing about it. The days of being afraid of the guys in the same grade who were bigger and stronger. Well, those days came to an end because eventually, you gotta get pissed off for GREATNESS. You … [Read more...]
STRONG Life BONUS | Zach Gets Interviewed on The Hard Life Podcast
I had a GREAT time being interviewed on Doug Hershberger's Podcast, The Hard Life! We're in a world where the majority are busy making excuses, whining, complaining and blaming. People of ALL ages get offended by hard work. In fact, when you coach them through a tough workout, they perceive this as He doesn't like me. Or...... Don't you DARE tell an athlete that he cheated on the training. He will say, Everyone else did it. I have ZERO interest in being like "everyone … [Read more...]
DESTROYING Your Sensitive Mindset & Choosing STRENGTH in Mind AND Body
There's lots of sensitivity floating around nowadays. Everyone gets offended by your words, not just from people but from words on the internet, from people they don't know and will likely never meet in person. People argue over politics, training programs, taxes, etc - then they waste hours on end posting their thoughts and feelings on websites or comment sections that will never create change in this world. The truth is, your Instagram or YouTube comment is NOT going to create … [Read more...]
Training for When the SHTF: Building Athleticism vs Building Toughness?
STRONG Life Insider Training for When The SHTF: Building Athleticism VS Building Toughness? The Correct answer is you must do BOTH. If you're reading this article you're likely not that guy who just reads about it and never actually gets your hands dirty. But there are PLENTY of guys getting caught up and duped with doing things like: Barbell Cleans on 1 Leg with band suspended kettlebells hanging from the bar Training with eyes closed, standing on one leg on a balance disc, … [Read more...]
Grit, Toughness, Work Ethic & STRENGTH
Here we go with The STRONG Life Insider. I am fired up and psyched to share some hard hitting truth bombs. To keep up with ALL content with my STRONG Life Insider, it's FREE, go HERE. "The Soft American" is a piece written by John F. Kennedy in 1960! Well, we need to send that letter out to the masses even though it's 60 years later, aka TODAY! I got back to recording The STRONG Life Insider again because I wanted to expand on the writings of my morning e mails. The STRONG Life … [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...]