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.



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?



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.



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.



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.



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, 9 November 2009

On the Forums

I’m constantly amazed at just how much my training is influenced by the people on this site. Whether you’re looking for a new piece of equipment, an unusual exercise variation or just an idea of how others approach things, head over to the forums :

Josh Hanagarne’s Training Log
More training goodness. Here’s what Josh‘s getting up to.
Fight Geek’s Training Log
It’s always great to see how other people train. Here’s how Fight Geek does things.

NB : Ready to add your own workout log or training article? 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 – Modified Reeves Deadlift

If you’ve ever tried the Reeves Deadlift (the one pictured here), you’ll understand just how challenging it is. To get you started, here’s a slightly simpler version. Nice one.

Deal of the Week – Gymboss

Whether your conditioning sessions revolve around sandbags, hill sprints, stair work or another form of fun; if interval work is at the centre of it, make sure you’ve got a Gymboss.
Simply put, the Gymboss is the perfect interval timer. Compact, accurate and loud enough to hear when you’re in the middle of a set.
Beautiful thing.

Coming Events

Twitterchat 39 – Advanced Kettlebell Techniques II : If you’ve been using kettlebells for any length of time, you’ll appreciate just how many ways there are to put them to work. Use them for your strength training, conditioning work and as a perfect way to add weight to other exercises.
This week we’re going to take a look at a few of the many ways to train with your kettlebells, focusing on the advanced techniques which help you crank it up a notch. Helping us navigate this fascinating area, Dave ‘Iron Tamer‘ Whitley.
Fantastic.
Details –
Who : Strength-training fans
Topic : Advanced Kettlebell Techniques II
When : Wed Nov 11, 9pm EST (1am UTC)
How : include #sbgym in your tweets (here’s how)
To see when it’s on in your timezone, head over to the twitterchat calendar.
See you there.
NB : if you’d like to be a guest on an upcoming chat, get in touch. It’s always great to discover how other people are training.
Andrew Durniat’s Day of Strength : Grip, Strongman, Highland Games and other fun things. Fantastic..
Got an event that you’d like to add? Let me know..

Exercise of the Week : Sonnon’s Lawnmower Extension

A great one for the rings – Sonnon’s Lawnmower Extension. Good stuff.