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, 15 February 2010

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 :

Rob’s Training Log
Size and strength. Perfect.
Floral Apron Adventures
The serious training continues.

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.

NB : if you like what you see, show the authors your appreciation by voting (using the icons for Digg, StumbleUpon etc above each article). Cheers.

Video – Kettlebell Basics with Steve Cotter

Kettlebell training is superb. If you’re just getting started, take a look at this. Good stuff.

Deal of the Week – Metolius Eco Ball

A few weeks ago, Derek Peruo took a look at ‘Chalkless Chalk‘ – the Metolius Eco Ball. I finally got a chance to test it out myself, and I have to say, it’s exactly like he said.
Superb stuff.

Coming Events

Twitterchat 53 – Circuit Training : Looking to shed a little excess bodyfat? Train in small groups, indoors or outdoors? Perhaps you simply want to take full advantage of the equipment you’ve already got. Circuit training may be just what you’re after.
This week we’re discussing the ins and outs of circuit training – what it is, some common and uncommon ways to use it and the ways to incorporate it into your routines. Helping us to navigate this fascinating world is Jackie, better known as @girlwithnoname. Fantastic.

Who : Strength-training fans
Topic : Circuit Training
When : Wed Feb 17, 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.
Got an event that you’d like to add? Let me know.

Reading : The Grip Masters Manual

I love this book.
Jeff’s recent can-crushing exploits reminded me that this is just one of the many fantastic feats and training ideas John Brookfield shares with the world. If you’re looking for world class grip strength, make sure you’ve got a copy of this.
Superb.

Exercise of the Week : The Serratus Crunch

Frank Zane.

I first came across this one several years ago, in Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding – The Serratus Crunch. Good fun.
The Serratus Anterior (sometimes known as the Serratus Magnus, or ‘boxers‘ muscle) is perhaps best thought of as the ‘3 fingers‘ on your side, below each arm. Its job is to hold the scapula (shoulderblade) against the thoracic wall (rib cage). The Serratus Crunch comes in two main forms, each of which is described here.
What does it look like in action? Here’s a quick demo of the hanging version from Oracle Fitness :

Nice one.