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 X/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 X/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 X/Twitter’s ‘List‘ functionality quite a bit. There’s a full list of them here :

https://x.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 posts 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, 16 Aug 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 :

Floral Apron Adventures
GoodyGirl77
Hard and heavy.
Training & Loss Aversion
Adam Stoffa
Superb question (particularly for coaches and trainers) – would love to hear your thoughts.

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 : World’s Strongest Hands

There’s a stack of great video coming out of the World’s Strongest Hands grip contest; here’s a sample :

Nice work Adam.

DIY : Clubs

When it comes to home-made equipment, one of the items I get asked about the most is the humble club.
Here’s just one of the many ways to construct this wonderful training tool. The video above shows off the finished product, and details of construction are here :
DIY Gym Gear : How to Make Your Own Clubs
Good stuff.

Coming Events

Tony Paradis.

Twitterchat 79 – Bulking

With so much focus on the idea of weight loss, you could be forgiven for overlooking the other side of the coin – intentionally gaining weight.
This week we’re taking a close look at Bulking, whether it’s for an upcoming competition or simply to assist things a little in the gym. Helping us explore this fascinating topic is none other than Food and Fitness‘, Anthony Paradis (@foodnfitness). Fantastic.

Details –
Who : Strength-training fans
Topic : Bulking
When : Wed Aug 18, 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.
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.

Tim Hull.

Quick update on last week’s twitterchat : Thanks once again to everyone who took part in the discussion on Your First Strongman Competition. Some superb ideas in there.
For those who missed out on the conversation, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Have you ever considered competing in a Strongman competition? Which one?

Checking Out : Wild Black Jack 21

Wild Black Jack 21.

I love rope training; especially outdoors. Great fun.
This double-disc DVD not only explains the many techniques involved in using ropes as conditioning tools, it provides a couple of superb workouts; making use of the ropes by themselves, as well as with a kettlebell or two.
Fantastic.

Exercise of the Week : Inman Mile

The Inman Mile is really just a supersized version of a Farmers Walk. And a whole lot of fun.
Although there are several variations of the Inman Mile (details here), the most common is carrying 1.5x bodyweight over a distance of 1 mile. Yes, that feels as long as it sounds.
When it comes to the form of the weight, I’ll leave it up to you to experiment with a loaded barbell, dumbbells, trap bar and so on. Here’s Derek Boyer in action (setting a world record, no less) with the suitcase implements :

Enjoy.