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, 24 May 2010

This Week on Straight to the Bar

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, you’ll enjoy these :

Ready to add your own opinion, workout log or training article? Just head over to the Forums, Training Logs, or swing by the Article Submissions page. They’re fantastic ways to share your ideas.

NB : if you enjoy the articles, show the authors your appreciation by voting (using the Like, Digg and Retweet icons). Cheers.


Video : Kettlebell Juggling Faceoff

Another great clip from the Atomic Athletic Great Black Swamp Olde-Time Strongman Picnic. Logan Christopher and Andrew Durniat go head-to-head.


Training With : Battle Ropes

Battle Ropes: GrippersA few weeks ago we mentioned the Battle Ropes from MBody Strength – fantastic things.
I’ve been using them for a couple of days now (mainly for the pull-up and kettlebell swing variations seen in the video), and I have to say, I love them. A proper review shortly, but for now, definitely check them out.
Superb.

Coming Events

Protein

Stocking up.

Twitterchat 67 – Protein

Protein : what is it, how much do you really need, how do you make sure you’re getting enough?
This week we’re taking a look at the many forms of Protein, how they relate to your training and your health overall. Helping to guide us through this fascinating world is Ty from The Protein Review. Fantastic.
Details –
Who : Strength-training fans
Topic : Protein
When : Wed May 26, 9pm EDT (1am UTC)
How : include #sbgym in your tweets.
To see when it’s on in your timezone, head over to the twitterchat calendar.
See you there.
Iron Woody BandsQuick update on last week’s twitterchat : Following the discussion on Resistance Bands there’s been a stack of information flowing on which bands to use, and how.
I personally favour the Iron Woody bands (which I freely admit, were the first ones I ever used; though I’ve since tested several others), and I’ve also heard great things about the Jump Stretch bands, and those from EliteFTS. Whichever ones you use, there are some great ways to use them. There are a few ideas here.
How about you – which bands do you use personally, and why?
NB : If you’d like to be a guest on a future twitterchat, let me know. It’s great to hear how other people are training.

Product Review : KAOS Sports Bra

KAOS Komfort Sports Bra

KAOS Komfort Sports Bra.

Although I’m well-placed to offer comments on much of the KAOS Komfort workout clothing range (it’s great stuff, incidentally), I’m not exactly qualified to review products such as their sports bras.
Over to GoodyGirl77.

Exercise of the Week : Band Pull-Aparts

There were a number of superb resistance band exercises mentioned during the discussion last week, including the wonderfully simple Band Pull-Aparts. A great way to finish a serious yoke session.