Zach Even-Esh | UNDERGROUND STRENGTH, 90'S BODYBUILDING, Table Talk
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In this 167th Table Talk Podcast episode, Dave Tate is joined by Zach Even-Esh.
Zach Even-Esh is a Strength & Sports Performance Coach located in NJ. Zach is the founder of The Underground Strength Gym, author of The Encyclopedia of Underground Strength, and creator of two certifications; The SSPC Cert (Strength & Sports Performance Coach) and The Underground Strength Coach Cert.
Zach began coaching full-time in 2002 and has been in the private sector for 20 years while also coaching at The D1 level (Lehigh and Rutgers). Zach has consulted with college programs, the FBI, Naval Special Warfare, and coaches worldwide. Zach has been a full-time high school strength and conditioning coach since 2019 and is The NJ State Director for The NHSSCA (National High School Strength Coach Association).
Zach's IG: / zevenesh
Zach Even-Esh Website: zacheven-esh.com/
ABOUT THE HOST
Dave Tate is the founder and co-owner of elitefts.com. He is the author of twenty books and has logged more than 40,000 hours of training and consulting. Dave is married to elitefts co-owner Traci Arnold-Tate, and they reside in London, Ohio, with their two sons. Personal Credo: Live, Learn, Pass on™.
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0:00 Sponsors
4:30 Dave sells Zach a power rack
13:55 Being weak has a consequence
26:33 Andre the Giant story
37:35 How Zach found Elitefts
48:25 Roles in a Gym
57:20 Dave starting his coaching in the 90s
1:02:45 Staying power and not knowing quitting to be an option
1:13:20 Environment is everything
1:27:00 What motivated Zach to being coaching people
1:59:35 Interning to learn and value the opportunity
2:09:00 Training D1 athletes with injuries and getting hired at first D1 school
2:16:15 Zach accepting position as D1 strength coach
2:25:05 Zach likes old gyms and equipment
2:38:20 Getting rid of good old warm up that worked for a “fancy” new one
2:51:35 Working on an athlete’s mindset
3:24:55 Zach reminisces on Diamond gym and bodybuilding
3:42:40 Why Dave found EliteFTS
3:45:50 Getting ahold of Zach
I remember I heard Zach once say: “go before you are ready!” I’ve applied this towards many things in my life since hearing that. Thank you for that alone Zach
WOW, 4 hours went by too fast!!! There's a LOT running through my head! GREAT time seeing you Dave and spending time at Elite!!! To say this was good for the soul is a understatement!!!
Hey Zach, great job on the podcast. I started watching last night and finished this morning. A few years ago I moved to NJ and came out to mannesquan to work with you a couple of times. I was way too hard headed at the time and ended up not coming back which I regret 😅 As I’m listening to your story I realized we had a lot of similarities, I moved back to Ohio and started a gym out of my parents outdoor storage building with a lot of elite fts equipment. I trained people out of the gym for about 1.5 years but ended up shutting that down a few months back. I do miss that but seeing how you persevered and adapted to make the business work and continue to coach was great for me to hear. Thanks for talking on the podcast and continuing to be a real OG in S&C
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Elitefts and Zach are two of the reasons I got into lifting in the first place. Flashback to being a high school wrestler doing weighted pullups and handstand push-ups in my basement while reading underground strength articles lol
Zach is a phenomenal guest. This convo was much appreciated.
*Yeah everyone’s raving about my content* …
Zack rocks!
Damn remember reading articles from Zach from elitefts , tnation and bodybuilding when I first started. Great podcast 💪
Efs has associated themselves with wonderful human beings. Zack is one of the best. Great podcast.
*Yeah everyone’s raving about my content* …
This was excellent! I am a high school strength coach and have learned a ton from research, trial and error, but mostly from listening to guys like Zach, Buddy Morris, Jim Wendler, and Mike Gentry. Coach Gentry lives close and has been a great source of information.
Thank You!! Coach Gentry is AWESOME 🔥🔥🔥
@@ZEvenEsh yes he is! He helped me understand how to incorporate pylo and jumping into a 3 day split for my kids. Sent me his book with a great letter inside.
This was fantastic to watch. I’m a teacher and high school coach. You guys nailed it on what it takes to be a great coach for your athletes!
Did the Underground Strength Coach training back in 2011 in the Edison NJ garage gym. Great experience.
Zach is why I lift. Dave scared me 😆
Great conversation. It really keeps things in context and perspective with dealing with young athletes. There’s more to training besides weight training. Develop, nurture, and grow the physical but more importantly the mental training with young athletes.
Great guy
Two legends in the strength game! Thanks for posting!
Zach is a legend? On what planet other than the one in his mind…..Please, as far as Dave has taken his name he’s not even close to being a legend.
@@hushai5154 Early 2000’s Zach was pushing out great free material and running a strength training center in New Jersey for wrestlers. Wresting is a niche sport but in that world, Id argue he’s a legend and pioneer and helped thousands of athletes and coaches.
@@matthewdelanoy4243 Yeah okay, he ran a production line circuit, he squeezed as many kids in as he could and put them through an amped up CrossFit program. The guy was a salesman and full of himself.
@@matthewdelanoy4243 I witnessed the one he ran in Manasquan NJ personally. Just a money making belt line. Zero effort to develop absolute strength ( the one thing wrestlers don’t develop through their training). The reason was simple, you can’t pack 30 kids in a class when you need to pay personal attention to them. And it takes personal attention to give quality strength training.
Amazing podcast thanks for the free content saving up for a couple quick ship items and if I can afford it I want to join the crew as well I always look forward to these episodes
Thank You Brother!!! We appreciate it!
This was definitely ELITE!
Great podcast. Love his work.
Thank You 👊👊👊
@@ZEvenEsh I learned things I didn't know about you and can't wait to get that book. Keep up the great work.
Zach is so much fun to listen to. He is very passionate and sincere. Thanks Dave and Zach.
*Yeah everyone’s raving about my content* ….
My friend talked me into joining the wrestling team for one season as a sophomore. It was so bad that everyone after practiced was worried about me because I was always dizzy and delirious. To this day I don’t know the rules of wrestling, I don’t think most of us did. The only thing I knew e how to do was shoot for a double leg, but I didn’t know about the timing for it, so I would just easily get caught in a head lock and it was game over. But one day we went to the weight room and my friend showed me how to do bench press for 3 sets of 10. After that I came to the weight room every day I could and did bench press for 3 sets of 10, and I soon became the strongest kid in my grade. I wish there was more info out. Like I could have learned the importance of squat and deadlift and gotten on a program for that. In the 90s it was all just word of mouth.
It was a fantastic conversation. Thank you, gentlemen!
Great podcast, love Zach
This was a great one! Thank you
Did I notice a Elite FTS red rocking chair in the background? 😂
You certainly did lol
Did he say Apollon Gym??? My buddy used to own that gym when I lived in Jersey. That was definitely the spot!! No fluff, no BS!
Anec-data related to the point at 2:29:55 - I’ve heard from several (small “nowhere school”) high school coaches that non-mandatory after school training is being viewed by parents as a waste of time, since the parents (falsely) believe taking the kids to a different after-school application-padding activity will be better for the kid than allowing the kid to focus on greatness in a chosen field.
Greeting from Romania
If 2023 keeps up like this I’m unfollowing all other channels 💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪 You guys are nailing it!
Great stuff!
Glad you think so!
Not sure if ur familiar with Damien Pezzuti. He's like a version of John haack, built, insanely strong. U should have him on. Check him out on KZhead.
I remember this guy visiting our wrestling club in Jersey. He could sell sand in the desert. He came across like without his secret methods you’d never make it.
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Israel u mean palestine