INTERVIEW WITH ZEF ZAKAVELI

1.Zef, could you please tell us the story about your life before street workout became a part of your life?
Before street workout my life was really fast and reckless, I’ve done a lot of things that I’m not proud of. I live my life carelessly, I was motivated by the wrong things. After my father died from colon cancer it change the way I viewed life. Reality hit me like a Mack truck, it made me a colder person but at the same time it made me respect life more. I started to change the people I hanged around with , change the way treated my body. I always worked out but I never took it serious as I do now. There’s too much for me to explain for a interview,maybe I’ll write a book one day,lol
2.I have noticed that you are a calm and polite persona, are there situations in life that make you lose control?
I lose control a lot of times it’s just I know when to let it be seen and not to. I lose control when anyone I care about becomes in danger. What makes me calm is that I like to view things from every angle and I try my best to foresee reactions from my actions. I often put myself in another persons shoes to get a better understanding of different situations.
3.Physically you are developed well, and according to thecitations, intellectual development is not far behind. Tell us how do you get the knowledge, do you read books, andwhat kind of music you do you listen to?
I don’t read as much books as I use to, I do more reading online because it’s much more convenient, so many things interest me, like space travel, ancient Egypt, conspiracy theories, too much to list. Musically I grew up on classical and jazz,because my father was a musician and a piano teacher. Don’t get me wrong ,I do listen to the obvious which is hip hop ,r&b,reggae..
4.A friend of mine noticed some similarities with you and2PAC, have anyone told you this before? Can you tell us what made you to the choose your nickname as ZefZakaveli, because Tupac was also known by the nickname Don Makaveli, is this connected with your choice?
Definitely, Tupac is one of my favorite artist besides Sade because of the passion he put in to everything he did, he was the best to me and a originator that doesn’t get the credit he deserved. He was also a Gemini like me, that explain the alter egos that I battle with time to time,lol
5.Often come across photos where you are cycling. What are you fascinated about except workout and cycling? Do you experience in other sports?
Fixed gear bikes are a totally different experience from just cycling. Riding a “fixie” is being apart of another culture on its own, not only is it harder to ride but it takes a lot courage to ride a bike in the city with no brakes. I also enjoy swimming and playing basketball which was the first sport that sparked my competitive nature.
6.It seems to me that many are wondering why we cannot see you making a human flag or handstand. Why are you not demonstrating many of elements?
There’s a lot of moves I choose not to do in the public eye because I feel that they’re many strong individuals in the bar-world and each of them possess their own signature skill that makes them unique. When you try to do too much it’s focus on what’s important and what’s important to me is being able to workout ’til I’m old and grey.
I also started focusing more on extreme routines because I notice more and more people are able to practice a power move but when ask’d to workout with a intense repetitious exercises they have a hard time and their form is terrible.
I wanted to show the young guys that you have to start & strengthen yourself with the basics then challenge yourself with power moves. To create a great athlete , you should start with a strong foundation.
Last year a lot of people been requesting to see that Zakaveli that they seen on YT in 2007-’08, so I will bring him back one more time just to inspire and motivate the next Zef Zakaveli to do the same.
7.Are you following certain diets? Do you drink alcohol occasionally or smoke cigarettes?
I do not smoke, I drink only on occasion and when I do drink it’s champagne, wine and tequila(celebration purposes)I eat a lot of greens, I try to stay away from sugar, dairy, recently pork, junk food and fast food(McD’s). I also eat a lot of wheat. There’s too much for me to list about my diet, I will post on my blog a more detail description about my diet regimen.
8.What are your plans for the future, which are not connected with workout?
Wow, too much to list, I really don’t want to say because I actually want those things to happen. I prefer to show the world what im doing then to tell the world what I want to do. What I can say is that I will start back creating music, I will be my productive in every aspect of my life.
9.If you would have an opportunity to change something in your life, you would use it? (Maybe you can give an example what would you change)
There’s a lot I would like to change but about my experience in the calisthenics world is that I would change some of the people I chose to be in my circle, there’s a lot of people that act like your friends just to empower themselves and then turn around a betray you. I love to teach and learn from anyone I can. It’s important to try to go thru life with the least amount of regrets as possible.
10.What qualities in other people you value above all else?
Loyalty! I value that more than anything. That’s why Bar-Barians is more of a family than a team, you can always leave a team, you can’t leave your family. I don’t care if I don’t speak to you anymore or we have disagreements, I will still consider you my brother and would never let anyone disrespect or hurt you. I’ve had so many bad experiences with disloyal people that I’m more pre cautious about who I let near me and my family.
Like I said before, I should write a story about what lead me to the working out and experiences inspiring and travel throughout the world. “street workout” changed my life dramatically in a positive way and I’m very happy that I get the chance to motivate people from all over the world. Thank you for taking the time and asking original question that gave me a chance to talk about other side to Zef Zakaveli that not too much people get to see.
Shout out to Makar, good luck next year as you continue to grow stronger!