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, 28 Jun 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 :

My friend The Human Vice.
Nice piece on a seriously strong guy – Pat ‘The Human Vice‘ Povalitis.
The Magnificent Seven
There have been some truly incredible articles on this site over the years; here are a handful of favourites. 7, to be exact.

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 : AntiGravity Obstacle Course

If you’ve ever thought about building your own obstacle course, here are a few ideas. Nice one.

Coming Events

Karsten Jensen.

Twitterchat 72 – Periodisation (or Periodization if you prefer)

I’m fascinated by the various ways in which people adapt their training in order to suit long-term goals. Everything from a specific challenge or competition to a simple ‘I want to pull x lbs by the end of the year‘. Good stuff.
This week we’re taking a look at one of the many kinds of physical preparation available, Periodisation – itself having a variety of uses and implementations. Helping us peek into this fascinating world is Strength Coach and ‘Trainer of Trainers‘ Karsten Jensen (@CoachKarsten), himself a long-time adherent to a structured, cycled training approach.
Should be a fantastic discussion.

Details –
Who : Strength-training fans
Topic : Periodisation
When : Wed Jun 30, 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.

Well traveled suitcase.

Quick update on last week’s twitterchat : Following the discussion on Training Whilst Travelling there have been a number of superb videos showing various DIY and travel-ready pieces of equipment.
Of these, my favourite is the setup shown in this video – an inexpensive suspension training system which is perfect for both indoor and outdoor sessions while you’re on-the-road. Nice one.

Getting Ready For : SELECTED!

SELECTED! DVD.

There’s an enormous stack of training books & DVDs sitting beside my desk here (it’s amazing just how much arrived while I was in Townsville), and I’m diving into it at every available opportunity. There’s some great stuff in there.
Among them is Josh Henkin’s new SELECTED! DVD, which outlines a series of workouts based on those used with US Army Special Forces candidates. I have to say, it looks fantastic.
Full review shortly; in the meantime, swing by Josh’s site and check it out. Good stuff.
NB : as I mentioned above, there’s a stack of great material here. If you’re interested in reviewing any of it, drop me a line or grab me on twitter. Look forward to it.

Exercise of the Week : Kettlebell Snatch

Here’s a brief tutorial on a kettlebell staple – The Snatch. Good stuff.