Guest newsletter from Zach Even-Esh
I’ve deadlifted over 500 lbs, squatted 455 for reps, benched over 300 lbs and at 220 lbs can perform 25 pull ups at any time.
Impressive, right? WRONG……
Here’s where it REALLY counts.
My back hurts and I can’t play with my kids without back pain…. and some knee pain thrown in for good measure.
I wake up and walk down the stairs in pain…. hand pain, foot pain, back pain and the pain of feeling like a useless clunk of NOTHING.
I remember having dinner with Dave Tate years ago in Syracuse, NY and he was telling me the first thing he does when he wakes up is go to the jacuzzi. Without the jacuzzi he can’t move his body.
After getting fed up with the endless aches and pains I remember Dave seeking out the help of Alwyn Cosgrove, aka Uncle AC. Uncle AC helped Dave rebuild himself not just for the sake of getting rid of aches and pains, but for the sake of Dave being able to become healthy again, able to play with his kids and operate his business without feeling like he played a Football game day in and day out.
I’m nowhere near as strong (or as cool) as Dave Tate but I feared I felt just as shitty as he was feeling back in the day and I was determined to do something about it.
When you’re no longer living home with Mom and Dad and you actually have to work for a living, support a family and do your own cooking and laundry, feeling sore and unable to walk without pain day in and day out loses it’s “cool factor”.
No matter how much you squat, bench and deadlift, you’re NOT impressing anyone when you’re always in pain and walk around like a car just ran you over every morning.
That USED to be me. Key words, “Used to…”
Strong as all heck…. but as useless as a bike without wheels.
I wanted my health back.
I wanted to play with my kids…. pain free.
I wanted to wake up and go to sleep pain free.
The magazines from the early 1940s were spot on with their training methods. Heck, even the title of the magazine, Strength AND Health made complete and perfect sense.
There is NO strength without your health. Without your health, you have NOTHING.
We’ve ALL been hurt before. Most of the time you’re told to rest and come back when you feel better, “work around the injury” they tell you.
You come back eventually, weaker than before and your injury is still there, the only difference is your injury took a “rest”, a mini vacation so to speak. As soon as you increase your training intensity again, your injury will end his mini vacation and come back to haunt you.
Each injury will lead to a downward spiral, causing poor movement patterns in your body, leading to more injuries. I’ve been there and done that.
You have two choices:
1) Keep living with the pain, ignoring the issues and continue to do damage to your body.
2) Address the injuries, rebuild your weak areas and turn them into strong areas.
After feeling like complete shit, both physically and emotionally, I wanted to rebuild my body and be a better Dad and a better husband.
I also wanted to be a Strength Coach that could walk the talk, not sit behind a computer telling people what to do while I got fat, weak and made excuses for not training.
Nope.
Men should “live the code”.
In essence, as a man, you need to be strong AND healthy. You need to have a blend of strength, conditioning, flexibility and power, also known as athleticism.
You need to balance your body, get away from focusing on your strengths while ignoring injuries and weak areas. Go on and focus on attacking what will make you healthy AND strong in the long run.
Be brutally honest with yourself. Are you as healthy as you can be or are you avoiding doing the necessary work to help you move better and live a better life for yourself and those you love.
It’s time to go back in time…. again…. what’s old is new again. The men of the past were strong, agile, mobile, conditioned and athletic. They had physiques that men of today worship and they were healthy.
Strength AND Health, inside AND out. Live the code.
This is How I Live the Code now, a Far Cry from What I used to do…. Click HERE.
Peace
–Z–
–
AC
PS- you can pick up Zach’s latest product Bodyweight Bodybuilding HERE
