Hey Friends! Next up as a guest blogger here at Jen's Gym we have Zack Even-esh. I asked Zack to tell us about his gym and his Training. If you find yourself in a rut with you motivation you should go to his blog...Zack does not hold back! He tells it like it is! I love it. His blog is in my links.
Thanks Zack for taking the time to do this for me.



I opened The Underground Strength Gymnasium in June of 2007.

I already had a base of approximately 15 - 20 high school wrestlers and football players.

I was training for about 3 years out of my current home. I converted my 2 car garage into a bad ass gym. The only downfall was low ceilings, so overhead barbell work was not happening, but overhead kettlebells and dumbbells training was in.

I used my back yard as well as the field down the street for log carries, rope climbing, stone training, sled training, hill sprints, truck pushing and playground training.

I wanted to get my training out more to the public, not just the few in the know. I now have about 30 athletes training here, middle school and adults, all are athletes.

I wanted to add group training via CrossFit and I was always a big fan of CrossFit. I loved the bonding and the intensity of all the training.

Unfortunately, I had a lot of people "say" they would join but VERY few followed through. My athletes kept growing in numbers and soon we were out of room to justify the small groups of CrossFit.

Right now we have a small group of guys who train and are non athletes. They train with very much the methods of cross fit, but my personal style of program design.

With CrossFit I was not screening and interviewing prospects as I used to, and it was making it too easy for people to try out. Our athletes must prove themselves and they commit to 3 month membership. This eliminates half assers immediately.

Now, every single one of our clients is highly committed and intense with their training. I love it this way.

I am located next door to a gym and many of the law enforcement guys were stopping by, saying they would train with us, instead, they stayed next door, sitting on machines, doing preacher curls and other garbage. I started realizing that this style of training is perhaps TOO hard for the majority of people, and I did NOT want to give up my values and train people like p***ies (parden my language). I decided to stick to my guns and emotionally as well as from a business standpoint, this has been the best decision ever.

My time at the CF cert was amazing, The crew of people and Coach Glassman were awesome, it was really a throw back to the Golden Era where a lot of bonding happened amongst the strength community.

My own training follows a style that is a mix of powerlifting - old school bodybuilding - strongman training and lots of calisthenics.

I fit in training by resting very little and utilizing only the most basic and effective movements, no time wasters for me.

Lots of squats, deadlifts, benching, military pressing, barbell rowing, pull ups, push ups, tire flipping and sled work.

I work during the day, after work, I get to the gym and train for 30 - 40 minutes before clients arrive. If I'm too busy, I might get in 10 - 15 minutes before clients, then another 15 minutes or so at the end of the night.

It's not odd for me to hit pull ups almost every day as my work is a 30 second walk from a playground.

On breaks I hit push ups and pull ups regularly.

I refuse to be the typical weak, fat man after marriage and fatherhood - it's not in me, as I believe that man is supposed to be strong and rugged, regardless of the circumstances.

My plans are to keep growing my gym, and I will be holding a certification in the late winter - early spring. I am psyched for that.

For those who can't make it, they can always access me via my membership site at http://UndergroundStrengthCoach.com

Thanks for having me Jennifer, keep kicking ass!

--zach--