Zack Zweifel, M.S., CSCS

Zack Zweifel, M.S., CSCS Strength for athletes and people who train like them
MS, CSCS • 10+ years coaching all levels
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06/12/2026

Here’s why most flashy exercises suck.

Explore. Try new things. Find what works for you.

But don’t let the flashy stuff replace the basics.

There’s an endless supply of cool, trendy exercises. They never run out. And if you lift long enough, you’ll find there’s a very short list of things you keep coming back to, year after year, because they just keep working.

A lot of what feels optimal today, you’ll barely remember in five years.

This isn’t about dogma. It’s not about telling you what you can’t do.

It’s about keeping the fundamentals at the center of your training. They’ve been getting results for athletes and everyone who trains like one for a long time.

06/11/2026

Make sure you’re training grip endurance, not only strength. They’re not quite the same thing.

This is one drill I keep coming back to. Gets after that specific quality.

Give it a shot.

06/09/2026

Zombie Squats 🧟‍♂️

One of the best drills to add before a squat day.

It also works fantastic as a standalone exercise to load progressively and improve technique.

Pay attention to where you struggle! That’s the information. Let it guide what you work on next.

It’s been an honor to train Muay Thai in Thailand, experience its culture, and push myself to fight here. That was somet...
06/05/2026

It’s been an honor to train Muay Thai in Thailand, experience its culture, and push myself to fight here. That was something I never really thought would be possible for me.

Of course I wanted to win. It didn’t happen this time, and honestly, that’s okay. I overcame a lot of self-doubt just by getting in there.

From here, I’m just excited to train more and improve. Grateful for the experience, had a lot of fun, and I’m going to learn so much from it.

06/04/2026

This one simple question has helped me so much over the years.

Whether it’s a hard conversation you keep avoiding, the workout you keep pushing to tomorrow, or the task that’s been sitting in the back of your mind for a week.

If you constantly feel overwhelmed and don’t know where to start, ask yourself one thing.

What’s the one thing that, if I got it done today, would make my life a lot easier?

Finish it, and you can ask again. Keep prioritizing the thing that gives you the most relief. The thing that lets you feel content before you go to bed.

06/02/2026

Athletes are optimizers by nature.

We consume podcasts, articles, conversations. We’re always looking for angles and ways to improve.

But constant input without real rest is just overtraining for the brain.

For me, reading fiction was a big surprise. It opened my mind without demanding anything from it. I didn’t have to take notes or extract lessons. I just get to be present in someone else’s world for a while.

I’m not saying every athlete needs to pick up a novel. But it’s done more for my brain and overall mood than I ever expected.

Go find what actually restores you!

06/01/2026

Low-intensity work is one of the most underrated tools in any athlete’s training week.

Here are four reasons it matters more than you think.

1️⃣ It increases your stroke volume. The heart adapts to pump more blood per beat, which means faster recovery between rounds and between hard efforts.

2️⃣ It raises your lactate threshold. The stronger your aerobic base, the longer before acid builds and your muscles lock up. Every grappler who’s had their arms go dead in a scramble knows what a weak base feels like.

3️⃣ Without it, high-intensity methods hit a ceiling fast.
You can’t build real conditioning on a weak aerobic foundation. The base determines how high everything else can go.

4️⃣ It structurally changes the heart with less nervous system fatigue. You’re building a more efficient engine without tanking your skill training.

It’s not glamorous. But it works.

05/31/2026

If you’re a competitive grappler, bodybuilding-style lifting is working against you.

The objectives just don’t align. In a grappling match, you need strength, power, muscle endurance, and a real gas tank. Bodybuilding won’t develop all of those qualities adequately for competition.

I like bodybuilding. I even use it at certain times of the year. But it’s not the best primary training method if your goal is performance on the mat.

21-day Smarter Strength for BJJ series in the bio.

Free.

05/30/2026

Grateful to & for all their help in making this possible.

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