Around 2003 I read the book 'Secrets of Soviet Sports & Fitness Training', today is called 'Russian Secrets.... Dr. Yessis wrote the book in the early 70s, before I was born I believe. I was amazed at how The Russians were doing smarter things 30 and now 40 years ago compared to The USA today. Here is some insight of Russian Wrestling Training. Whether you wrestle or not, there is MUCH to learn from these videos. Enjoy..... … [Read more...]
Animal Warm Ups & Upper Body Training for Wrestling Strength (Bodyweight & Kettlebell Workout)
Anytime you think you're too busy to warm up, think again. Regardless of your age, it never pays to be "too busy" for a proper warm up. Give yourself 5 minutes to hit a warm up specific to your workout and mobilize 1 or 2 areas of your body that need attention. The "I'm too busy" excuse is never acceptable. Even for myself. When I say this BS excuse in my own mind or to others, I deserve a punch in the face. Whether or not you wrestle is also irrelevant. Although the Video below shows some of … [Read more...]
Program Design: Blending Science with Hell
Throughout my years of training athletes and the decades of my own training, I always loved how the right training built a tough mind AND a tough body. I have seen plenty of athletes built like they were sculpted from stone yet they performed average at best. They followed the pretty boy workouts where you become "All show and NO go". That is a crime. When I see a great physique that can't "rise to the occasion" I KNOW they followed the fads and the gimmicks rather than doing the training … [Read more...]
Gladiator Story: HARD WORK Is The Best Feeling I’ve Had In My Entire Life
I had a conversation with a buddy of mine who coaches in the pros. I saw a video of a "Coach" who was shown training some of the BEST pro football players in the NFL. And guess what? They were box squatting wrong. But, because he is shown on film training pros, the perception is that this Coach is better than someone who doesn't train pros, like myself. I've been mastering my craft for a long time and continue to chip away every day. I get to see transformations of athletes as they put in … [Read more...]
New Video Series – How We Train at The Underground Strength Gym?
How do we train at The Underground? The question is always asked, and the honest answer is this: Every group is different, every kid is different. I might have a general template for the crew to follow but each kid needs something unique and different and they get exactly what they need. Cookie cutter programs for everyone? That might work elsewhere, but not here, and I'm gonna tell you why. … [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...]
Zach’s Top 11 Bodyweight Exercises For Strength, Muscle & Performance
My friend, Coach & Mentor, former Navy SEAL, Brad McLeod, asked me to crush a video for his friends on the best Bodyweight Bodybuilding exercises. Below is the video and also a list of The Top 11 Bodyweight Exercises along with added variations, regressions & progressions. Adding the many variations to each of these bodyweight exercises makes this more like a top 15 or top 20 list of Bodyweight exercises. Bookmark this page and USE these exercises. They are POWERFUL! If you feel I … [Read more...]
Don’t Fool Yourself With These 3 Strength & Conditioning Mistakes
It's easy to get caught up in using exercises and workouts that might look cool and effective on video, BUT, at the end of the day, the flashy exercises and cool looking workouts don't deliver the bottom line results that REALLY count for you to succeed and achieve your high level goals. You want to avoid these mistakes, avoid getting sucked into using these "magic bullets" and fads that pull you away from the basics and the result proven exercises & methods that never fail you or anyone … [Read more...]
Odd Object Lifting For “Functional Strength”
Through my own experiences as an athlete and training other athletes, I was taught a powerful lesson that was once (and perhaps still is seen as a fad): Training ONLY with free weights and bodyweight exercises is limiting your potential in developing strength above and beyond the "norm", especially if you're an athlete. The body quickly gets bored and adapts to training methods unless you implement variety. Variety can be the training tools, the speed of the exercises, the range of motion, the … [Read more...]
Why Do High School Athletes Get SCREWED & How Can You Help Them?
“If you don't have time to do it right, When will you have time to do it over?" ~ Coach John Wooden ~ When I became a teacher, I did so because I CARED about kids and wanted to show them how amazing it is to be strong and healthy. I wanted to teach kids how to think for themselves, to gain confidence and learn about developing empowering habits. I left teaching after 11 years because I realized that the schools I worked for did NOT truly care about the kids. You can SAY something, but … [Read more...]