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, 23 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 :

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 : Quick Home-made Wrist Roller

When it comes to DIY Gym Equipment, it doesn’t get much simpler than this. Over to Smitty.

Nice work Adam.

DIY : Heavy Clubs


More club-training goodness from DIY Strength. Enjoy.

Coming Events

Derek Peruo

Derek Peruo.

Twitterchat 80 – Setting Up The Home Gym

Whether you’re training for competition or just for the benefits of looking after yourself, the home gym can be a truly incredible place.
This week we’re taking a close look at Setting Up The Home Gym; the equipment and space you’ll need (not as much as you’d think), combining indoor and outdoor setups and integrating the home gym with commercial facilities, work gyms and hotel areas. Helping us explore this fascinating topic is none other than Body by D-Rock‘s, Derek Peruo (@bodybydrock). Fantastic.


Details –
Who : Strength-training fans
Topic : Setting Up The Home Gym
When : Wed Aug 25, 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.

Anthony Price Paradis

Tony Paradis.

Quick update on last week’s twitterchat : Thanks once again to everyone who took part in the discussion on Bulking. Some superb ideas in there.
For those who missed out on the conversation, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Checking Out : Paleo Brands

Paleo Brands

Paleo Brands.

I’ve been following a Paleo diet for a while now (started in April 2009), and I’d strongly recommend it to anyone. I’ve never felt better, or stronger.
Quick question : has anyone here tried any of the Paleo Brands meals? They look fantastic, and I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Exercise of the Week : Ab Rollouts

I love the beautifully simple abdominal rollout. Quick, brutal, and a whole lot of fun.
There are several variations of this wonderful exercise, which will challenge you in many, many ways. To get an idea, look no further than Ross Enamait. Brilliant.