341: Zach Even-Esh on The Power of Chaos and Imperfection in Building a Superior, Adaptive Athlete

Today’s podcast features strength coach, Zach Even Esh. Zach is the founder of the Underground Strength Gym, and has been a leading figure in creative and adaptive strength training means. He is also the host of the Strong Life podcast and the creator of many educational resources in the realm of human strength and performance. As the world moves forward, the world of training has become an interesting place, accelerated by the changing club sport scene, technological advances, social media, and more. At the same time, the actual human being performing the training hasn’t changed, and human beings have far more nuances to them than simply being based on the same concepts that a machine, such as a car, does. In many ways, human beings are being trained less and less like actual humans, and more as machines. Cones and ladders have replaced playing basketball or soccer. “Speed Training” has replaced running track, playing other sports, or racing friends on the playground. This isn’t to say that our collective intelligence hasn’t created a substantial leap forward in understanding training frameworks, but at the same time, increased intelligence doesn’t automatically equal understanding how to create the richest possible environment for an athlete. On the show today, Zach speaks on the importance of imperfect, and chaotic elements in training. We talk about how these elements are not just important with respect to the chaos of sport, but also in the level of how we are meant to adapt to training in general as human beings. He talks on the power of a nature-based training system, his menu-based training days, as well as what we can learn from training that “breaks the rules” or would be thought to create “sub-optimal” adaptations. Finally, Zach hits on the important elements of community in the world of sport, and the modern plague of business that has enveloped the schedules of kids, as well as society in general. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, Lost Empire Herbs, and the Elastic Essentials online course. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com Find out more about the the online course, Elastic Essentials, by heading to justflysports.thinkific.com View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points: 3:23 – The branding of “underground strength” versus “speed” when it comes to marketing, and what sports parents are familiar with in performance 8:07 – What a ideal world of play and movement would (and does) look like for a uyoung athlete 15:48 – The nature of preparation based on nature and chaos, versus things needing to be neat 28:19 – How kids are doing more now days, with more coaches, yet accomplish less 38:13 – Keeping training as “rich” and dense as possible, so athletes can spend less total time in training, yet hone human qualities to a maximal level 42:13 – Zach’s menu-based workout system for his athletes 48:01 – The power of nature based, variable training to improve an athlete’s power outputs and general adaptation 1:10:23 – The value of community in one’s training environment as well as the value of training equipment with a history behind it, and the inspiration of using that “He’s playing soccer… that is speed and agility” “Sport has no absolutes, so when they are training, I want their body to feel comfortable in awkward positions” “That’s something software hasn’t brought to the table, kids learning how to compete” “My gym is located across the street from the park, so we’ll warm up with a game of ultimate football, and how do you get to the park? We partner up and you carry kettlebells or a heavy medicine ball; then we’ll segue into jumping and hand walking and crawling then we do a 5-point game, and then carry everything back” “We carried to the park, played, and carried back.. and they don’t even realize we are training” “Never before have I seen, and worked with kids who are so busy, yet achieve so little” “They played medicine ball dodgeball with a 6lb med ball, and I thought someone was going to get killed, but I just let them do it” “Let them do it wrong at least some of the time… so they have fun, so they are excited to train, and when I look back to those garage days, they worked a lot harder because of it” “They say 'I can’t deadlift heavy, put on my song!' but what about when you play football, and they are making fun of your mom, what are you going to say?” “You don’t want to train to be a workhorse, you want to train to be a racehorse” “What’s a little heartbreaking is kids always have to leave right away… they used to hang out and talk. Our football players, we didn’t use to do speed and agility with them because they used to play basketball at the local park” “We are always in a rush, and it kills the experience of sport” “If the kids want to do 7 or 10 deadlifts, go for it. They don’t think it’s bad, so it won’t be bad” “If your training is always so perfect, we don’t build winners” Show Notes “Nikocado Avocado” and Becoming That Which Your Audience Influences You to Be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XX2RpY_dj9Y “Without Limits” Movie About Steve Prefontaine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYvpXdSR8gs About Zach Even-Esh A leading figure in the strength & conditioning industry, Zach Even - Esh has trained over 1,000 athletes ranging from the youth level to the Olympic level. Zach founded The Underground Strength Gym and created The Underground Strength Coach Certification, both of which have inspired and educated coaches and athletes from around the world to achieve greater success in both sports and life. Since creating The Underground Strength Gym, Zach has consulted with Division 1 athletic teams, Olympic Level athletic clubs, Spartan Race, pro teams and independent coaches and athletes from around the world. The Underground Strength Gym began from Zach's parents garage while he was a Health and Physical Education teacher in 2002. What started as a summer experiment training a few athletes grew into a full time obsession and now Zach and his Underground Strength methods have grown into a world wide movement, inspiring athletes and coaches all around the world in training and life. Zach's Underground Strength Coach Certification has attendees traveling from all around the world and range from independent Strength Coaches, active Military personnel, athletic coaches, college coaches and former Navy SEALs. Zach lives in NJ with his wife and 2 kids and continues to inspire and educate the world through strength on his web site, through his gym and seminars.