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, 11 Oct 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 :

Specific Method Variations for the Early Phase of a Macrocycle
Karsten Jensen
An excerpt from Karsten‘s The Flexible Periodization Method. Nice one.
Health & Fitness Research
Various authors
There has been some fantastic research posted recently, both on the forums and the Facebook page. Dive in.

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 : Developing the Thumb Pad for Gripper Closes

Another great idea from Mighty Joe – Developing the Thumb Pad for Gripper Closes. Good stuff.

Coming Events

Bill Long.

Twitterchat 87 – Recovery Methods

As much as I love picking up heavy things, a key part of my fitness lifestyle is recovery. Everything from contrast showers to a good dose of shut-eye.
This week we’re taking a close look at the many, many Recovery Methods available; whether that involves nutrition, increasing blood flow or just giving your body time to get back to normal. If it works, we’ll be talking about it. Helping us explore this fascinating topic is none other than Sports Performance Coach Bill Long (@bill_long1). Fantastic.

Details –
Who : Strength-training fans
Topic : Recovery Methods
When : Wed Oct 13, 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.

The Fight Geek.

Quick update on last week’s twitterchat : Thanks once again to everyone who took part in the discussion on Strength Training Over 40. Some superb ideas in there.
For those who missed out on the conversation, I’d love to hear your thoughts. For those over 40, do you find it easier to gain strength than you used to? How about adding muscle mass?

Checking Out : Loadable Bulldog Beast

Loadable Bulldog Beast.

15lb empty, loadable to 150lb. This is a serious kettlebell.
Art of Strength‘s Loadable Bulldog Beast. Beautiful.

Exercise of the Week : Divebomer Push-up

I love these.
Starting in the usual push-up position, spread your legs wide and walk back a little with your hands. Your body will now be in the shape of a large inverted ‘V‘.
Move your feet apart a bit, flare your elbows out and swing your torso down and forward; keeping it as low to the ground as you can. When your hips are just above the ground, drive your head straight up (your shoulders will be above your elbows at this point) until you are looking straight ahead.
To complete the exercise, simply reverse the movement. That’s one rep.

NB : if you’re looking for even more of a challenge, try doing it on one leg (suspension trainers are great for this, or put one leg on something like a medicine ball).