Strength & Fitness Newsletter

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

DragonDoor Workshops

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, 1 March 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 :

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 – Thick Rope Training

A dose of rope work. Good stuff.

Deal of the Week – The Definitive Guide to Kettlebell Juggling

Logan Christopher.

This is a brilliant collection.
Kettlebell Juggling is an amazing activity, and these DVDs will show you exactly how to do it. It’s a complete progression, assuming nothing more than a basic proficiency with a kettlebell.
What’s more, Logan has updated this collection with an even greater array of bonus materials – including regular video tutorials to help keep you at the top of your game.
Perfect.

Coming Events

Chase KarnesTwitterchat 55 – Log Training : If you’ve ever considered competing in a Strongman competition, a dose of log work will quickly form a major part of your routines.
This week we’re taking a close look at this superb form of training – what it is, how to do it well, and the many ways to make it even more challenging. Helping us to navigate this fascinating area is Strongman Chase Karnes (@ChaseKarnes), who’s certainly no slouch with the log. Fantastic.


Who : Strength-training fans
Topic : Log Training
When : Wed Mar 3, 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.
Personal Record Every Day
What’s your latest PR? No matter what sort of training you enjoy, there are always records to be broken. Helping to highlight that process (as well as giving away some fantastic training gear) is none other than Adam Glass and Josh Hanagarne. Nice one.
Got an event that you’d like to add? Let me know.

Reading : Diesel Crew Bending eBook

Diesel Crew Bending eBookReady to bend some steel?
Grab a copy of the Diesel Crew’s Bending eBook.
Superb.

Exercise of the Week : Seated Half-Press

Scott Andrew Bird

Yep, that’s me.

Although the Seated Half-Press looks like a shoulder exercise, it’s actually for the lateral head of the triceps. And a new triceps movement is always welcome.


From the original article :

To perform the movement, put a bench in a power rack and set the pins just above head height. With the bar directly overhead, take a shoulder-width grip and point your elbows out to the sides. Press, pause at the bottom and repeat.

Love it.