What's This?

The Strength & Fitness Newsletter is a weekly email newsletter which summarises the things added to Straight to the Bar (as well as a few gems from the archives). Absolutely free.

btw, I’d love to hear your feedback – both on the individual items and the newsletters themselves. Drop a comment below the relevant issue, or swing by Twitter ( I’m @scottbird ).

cheers,

Scott

Ready To Learn Even More?

I love learning new skills, and the many seminars & workshops available are a great way to do that. If you’re looking for a specific type of workshop nearby, check out the ones on Dragon Door. Great mix of kettlebell and calisthenics-based offerings.

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Podcasts

I listen to an ever-changing pool of podcasts, discussing the many aspects of training and nutrition possible. Most recently :
FoundMyFitness (Dr Matthew Walker on Sleep)

Over to you. Any you’d recommend?

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Strength Training on Instagram

It’s fair to say that we’ve checked out quite a few images over the years – on Flickr & Smugmug in particular.

A friend of mine just pointed me to Chris Stanciu ‘s Instagram feed, which contains a great mix of nutrition and workout images :

instagram.com/officialgainsthetics.

NB : if you’d like to share your own images, just add them to one of the sites noted above and send us a link.

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Strength Training on Facebook

I suspect you love talking about strength training constantly (certainly the case here), and you’re always on the lookout for places to do that. Comments on various sites, forums as well as various in-person communities.

Online, I gravitate toward both Twitter and Facebook. In addition to the SttB offerings, here’s another one you may wish to check out :

Garage Gym Reviews (Cooper Mitchell’s page)

We’ve noted a few of his videos in the past, and they’re great for diving in deep on a particular type of equipment. Nice one.

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Twitter Lists

I use Twitter for a number of things, as I’m sure everyone else here does. To talk about strength training, nutrition and many other topics. Works well.

To make this a little easier – and so people can dive right in to the topics that interest them – I use Twitter’s ‘List‘ functionality quite a bit. There’s a full list of them here :

https://twitter.com/scottbird/lists

Whatever you’re in to, it’s all there.

NB : the above lists are always being fine-tuned. If you know of someone who tweets regularly about a particular subject and should be on one of them, let me know.

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Other (Daily) Newsletters You Might Like

Finally, for a daily dose of tangentially-related information – check out the following. All are compiled daily, and cover the following topics :

Aging & Longevity (living for a very, very long time)
Electric Cars in Australia (great way to help tackle air-pollution)
Better Sleep Nightly (my favourite form of recovery)

And yes, they’re absolutely free.

Bruce Lee : The Art of Expressing the Human Body (Bruce Lee & John Little)

If you’ve ever watched a Bruce Lee film and marveled at his strength, speed, agility, endurance, flexibility or muscularity, this book should take pride of place in your collection. Unlike many other writings covering everything from Lee’s training methods to nutrition, this book is based not on the recollections of people around him; but on Lee’s own notes. Brilliant.

Definitely worthy of a place on the fitness shelf.

Bruce Lee : The Art of Expressing the Human Body.

Monday, 20 July 2009

On the Forums

There are some superb discussions as well as brief training tips scattered throughout the forums. Here are just two :

General Kettlebell Questions
Various Authors
Want to find out which kettlebell to get? Read on.
Gym Videos : What’s Your Gym Like?
Various Authors
What sort of equipment does everyone have in their own gym? Take a look.

Ready to add yours? Just head over to the Articles & Logs page and log in, and click ‘Post to Your Blog‘. That’s all there is to it.

Video – Home-made Belt Squat Machine

Ready for another dose of DIY Equipment goodness? Here’s a home-made belt squat machine in action (how it’s constructed). Good stuff.

Coming Events

Grip Contests : There are several grip contests coming up shortly, including :

The Hybrid Competition
Backyard Bash 5
USHS Nationals
The Steel Slayer Showdown
Global Grip Challenge 2009

For details, swing by the Grip Contest Calendar.

Exercise of the Week

Stair Squat Jumps.

This is actually the first exercise I can recall seeing someone perform (in Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens – great spot for outdoor training) : Stair Squat Jumps. Good fun.

The Rotater.

Tried The Rotater yet? If you associate shoulder pain with training (particularly squats), this is definitely one piece of equipment you need in your arsenal.
As I use one regularly myself (review), and genuinely want everyone to try one out, I’ve arranged a great deal on The Rotater with Chris Melton; specifically for readers of this newsletter. Think of it as a way of saying thank-you.
For the next 24 hours, everyone who purchases The Rotater using the coupon code STTB will get a whopping 40% off the usual price. Seriously, it’s that simple.
And believe me, you’ll be astonished at just how good your shoulders feel. Fantastic thing.