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 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 :

All About Australian Pull-ups
Al Kavadlo
Al takes a look at a great exercise – the Australian Pull-up.
Two PRS : Bench and Squat
A great day in the gym.

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 – Steve Maxwell: Half-Moon/Iranian Twisting Push-Up

Enjoy last week’s Circular Push-ups? Grab a taekhte and try these.
Good fun.

Deal of the Week – TRX Mobile Workouts

TRX Mobile Workouts.

In last week’s twitterchat we noted the value of the TRX for combat athletes. Here’s a simple way to store your favourite workout or two on a mobile device – the TRX Mobile Workouts.
Good fun.

Coming Events

Twitterchat 57 – Achieving Optimum Health : It’s pretty clear that health is strongly connected to your training. Feel better and you’re well on the way to a solid performance in the gym.
This week we’re diving into the world of Optimum Health – how to eat better, feel better, and function better in the weight-room. Helping us to navigate this fascinating area is NU FIT‘s, own Max Barry (@NU_FiT). Fantastic.

Details –
Who : Strength-training fans
Topic : Optimum Health
When : Wed Mar 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 Primal Blueprint

The Primal Blueprint.

Over the past week I’ve been getting a number of questions about my diet, particularly on the difference between Paleo and Primal approaches. The Primal Blueprint (full review) takes a detailed look at the Primal side of the fence.
As Sandy notes, since switching to Primal he’s noted a number of changes in both body composition and overall health. If you’re curious to see how, pick up a copy of The Primal Blueprint.
Great book.

Exercise of the Week : Battling Ropes Pole Pull

I love Battling Ropes work, and this is one of my favourite exercises. The humble Pole Pull.

Enjoy.