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| Interview with Zach Even- Esh For EliteFTS.com By Jason Ferruggia Zach Even- Esh is the newest member of the Elite Fitness team. He is a private strength and conditioning coach located in central New Jersey. A former competitive bodybuilder, Zach grew up training in New Jersey’s legendary hardcore training haven, Diamond Gym. Zach eventually decided to pursue a career in strength and conditioning and has been very successful in making a great name for himself in the business. Many of you may have heard of him before; but for those that haven’t, get ready. Zach has a lot of great info to share and best of all, he will now be writing for us on a regular basis. Recently I had the chance to sit down with Zach and welcome him to the team. After a few beers, I left with our smoking hot waitress (what else would you expect?) and Zach stayed to pay the bill. Before that however, we actually talked shop for a while. Here’s what he had to say… Jason: Zach, could you give us a little background information about yourself? Zach: I have been in NJ since age four. I did my undergrad at Kean University (Health & Physical Education) and completed my MA at Montclair State University (Health Education). Jason: What got you into training in the first place? Zach: Before I ever picked up a weight I used to read the bodybuilding magazines my brother had in his room. I finally started to workout by doing push ups every night before bed. It was horrible man, I could only do 3 in a row on my first night. Eventually I was doing push ups all through out the day because getting stronger was awesome. I started hitting the weights in my brother's room during my last few weeks of 8th grade and from that point on I was completely hooked! Jason: What was your training like at the time you started? Zach: Straight out of FLEX magazine I tell you. I supersetted everything! I would do barbell squats with 60 lbs. because I couldn't press any more weight over my head! Then I would follow up with leg extensions and leg curls on my good ol' Weider bench. A bicep workout would be barbell curls followed by hammer curls and concentration curls, some thirty reps in a row! Years later, while training at Diamond, a typical squat workout would include sets of 6-10 reps with 455 followed by some 12-15 rep sets with 405, finished off with some 20-25 rep sets with 315. Jason: And eventually you got into competitive bodybuilding right? Zach: I was a bodybuilder from day one because that is all I knew. I didn't know about Russian training methods or anything like that. I trained like a bodybuilder for wrestling purposes. It was working but there were still times where a skinnier guy felt way stronger than me and it never made sense as to why back then. After high school I focused on bodybuilding since the college I went to cut their wrestling program. I competed in the Teen Mr. Israel when I went to visit my Grandparents. With 10 days notice I got tan and won the competition. A year later I competed in two shows, The Mid Atlantic Natural and The Teen Mr. NJ. I won the teen class at the Mid Atlantic and took 2nd in the men's novice light heavy class. The following week I placed 2nd in the Teen Mr. NJ and since then have not competed. Jason: When did you decide that you wanted to get away from bodybuilding and make a living in strength and conditioning? And please don’t tell me it was after you got tired of oil wrestling rich old guys. Just kidding, just kidding. Zach: After I tore my ACL while preparing to enter the Grapplers Quest Nationals. It was a serious injury and I was completely shocked at how all these years of training led to such an injury prone body. I knew there was a better way and I was obsessed with getting my hands on the information and sharing it with the world so they could avoid all my mistakes and injuries. I love training and it was a natural progression to do something I have a passion for. Jason: Who have been some of your biggest influences? Zach: My biggest influences have been people like Alwyn Cosgrove who is awesome at what he does and is the most genuine guy out there. Also I love the fact that I am making an impact on many people's lives and helping them achieve goals they always wanted. Jason: No mention of me as a big influence? Huh, strange… Anyway, what kinds of athletes do you work with on a regular basis? Zach: Mostly wrestlers and football players, some baseball players. My consultations via phone and e mail are mostly MMA fighters and some special ops military and law enforcement personnel. I like the combative sports so I focus on them. We train very basic. I use max effort, dynamic effort and the repetition method. I use Russian Kettlebells and strong man training as well. Perhaps it is more like farm boy training or dinosaur training - pushing trucks, carrying logs, flipping tires and tons of sand bag work. We train hard and train smart - lots of sweat and tons of fun. Jason: I know you used to wrestle and currently have some products geared towards combat athletes. Can you tell us a little bit about the demands of combat sports and how the training of these athletes may differ from the training of other athletes? Zach: Conditioning is huge with these athletes because a wrestling match can be six minutes of pure hell and a Grappler or MMA fighter can go for five minutes anywhere up to thirty minutes! We work on getting stronger using max effort work, but after that we move very fast. Often times performing two exercises back to back, either same muscle or opposing muscles. Strength endurance and power endurance is very important for combat athletes - it is often times in the final stages of a fight or match when one athlete becomes less effective in capitalizing on their moves. We also do plenty of prehab and rehab work, working a lot of stability as well. Just like Westside, we attack the weak areas a lot. Kettlebells are used often in our workouts in many different variations. Sometimes we do combo lifts with them, other times one exercise at a time and other times we perform a matrix of exercises for reps or time. Doing a matrix for time, such as 6 minutes of non stop kettlebell work is a killer. We also do timed exercises with barbells, dumbbells, body weight and sand bags. The work outs are certainly not for the faint of heart. Jason: Describe your training philosophy in a nutshell if you can for our readers? Zach: Stick to basics, don't get fancy. Constantly add variety to your workouts, follow some variation of the conjugate or concurrent system. Use strong man training methods and learn to listen to your body. Back off when you have to but kick ass when you're feeling strong! Stay in shape by moving your body, don't just hit the weights. Jason: How do you monitor the training of your athletes and keep them from over training or do you do this at all? Zach: We have a general warm up that where we incorporate a mix of movement, bodyweight calisthenics and some other light work (bands, dumbbells or kettlebells). I talk to them about their day went and how they feel. Watching them go through their warm up and listening to them speak about how they feel and what they did helps us gauge how hard we will work that day. For instance I train a 17 year old who plays football but also joined the track team to throw shot, disc and javelin. The coaches had him running 1 - 3 miles per practice plus stairs. We cut back from 3 days of training per week to 2 days because he was constantly exhausted from all the running. We kept a third day which we called a floating day. It was a day he can come if he felt good and we kept the intensity low and focused on things like reverse hypers, some sled dragging and some light calisthenics or other weak point training. I learn a lot just from listening to my athletes. Jason: What are some of the most important rules you try to instill in your training programs and in your athletes? For example, don't train to failure. Are there certain rules you abide by across the board? Zach: I push for them to change their nutrition to regular eating, always have breakfast and post workout meal - and we write down a choice of quality foods to choose from as well. I also look for an athlete ready to dedicate him or herself. I never take on an athlete if they seem to show me an inkling of being only half way dedicated. When they train on their own I emphasize the need to rotate their core lift or their max effort lifts on a regular basis. I also like to see them do some strong man work. I have seen a lot of strong guys in the gym yet many who die when it comes to working with a sand bag, log, sledge hammer or tractor tire. Jason: Do you do anything specific for recovery? Zach: Take a day off! Resting and stepping away from training is one of the most undermined recovery methods out there. Sure we have post workout meals and I emphasize a daily nap for 1 hour when they can fit it into their schedule, but I have no problems seeing them do absolutely nothing for two days of the week. I have my athletes train with me three times a week. After that, they can do their own GPP or extra work outs. The champion does this on his own and doesn't need me to tell or ask them to do it. The champion WANTS to do these little extras. These mini workouts do help recovery as they improve GPP which I am a big believer in. Jason: If you had to give an athlete your top five tips to performance enhancement, what would they be; besides, of course, Viagra, Cialis… I mean, sorry wrong interview, that’s one I meant to ask my therapist later tonight. I meant athletic performance enhancement, of course. Zach: Get stronger, especially in the posterior chain. Never skip breakfast and have a post work meal asap. Train with solid effort on a basic program three days a week minimum. Always get eight hours sleep per night and a 1 hour nap mid day if possible. Participate in another sport either recreationally or competitively. Jason: What is the worst training gimmick out there today? Zach: Brother, you know you shouldn't ask me that question! We speak about this all the time! One thing I do question is any training program which boasts about being the best way or the only way to improve or get stronger, or faster, etc. There is no one single miracle tool or training method. Jason: Who’s cooler, me or Jim? Zach: (laughing) Dude, I’m gonna have to go with you since I don’t know Jim as well. Jason: Trust me, that wouldn’t change your vote. Who would win in a fight, Coach X or Coach H? Zach: Aahhh…H is a pretty big guy so I gonna go with the size advantage. Jason: Ok Zach I just want to thank you for taking the time to speak to us and officially welcome you to the team. Zach: Thanks a lot, I’m amped up to be here. |
