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 :
- How to Get Your Gym on the Map
Yael Grauer
Got your own training facility? Fancy getting some new clients? - The Top 5 Mistakes to Avoid When You Create a Periodized Training Program
Karsten Jensen
Creating a training program or two? Here are a few considerations. Over to Karsten.
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 : Band-Resisted Hanging Knee Raises
Despite being a long-time fan of these, I’ve never done them with bands. Very interesting idea.
Coming Events
Twitterchat 88 – Incorporating Fitness into a ‘Normal‘ Life
A deceptively simple question lies at the heart of this week’s topic – ‘How do you incorporate fitness into your life?‘ Perhaps it’s a dose of bodyweight exercise in the morning, a lunchtime weight session at the gym near work, and a run after you get home.
Whatever form it takes, we’d love to hear about it. This week we’re discussing the many, many ways of incorporating fitness into your life. Home gyms, a kettlebell at work, the local park and so on. Helping us explore this fascinating topic is none other than SEE’s Adam Stoffa (@SEEAdamTrain). Fantastic.
Details –
Who : Strength-training fans
Topic : Incorporating Fitness into a ‘Normal‘ Life
When : Wed Oct 20, 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.
Quick update on last week’s twitterchat : Thanks once again to everyone who took part in the discussion on Recovery Methods. Some superb ideas in there.
For those who missed out on the conversation, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Do you factor in recovery when developing a new training routine, and in what form?
Looking Forward To : The 4-Hour Body
OK, the title sounds like it came from an infomercial (particularly the full title, The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman). It is however – as you may have guessed – the latest offering from the incredible Tim Ferriss.
Filled with snippets of more than a decade of body-hacking ideas, this looks like a great read. Although I don’t exactly agree with everything Tim says, the ideas he generates make his blog (and I suspect, this book) essential reading.
Really looking forward to it.
Exercise of the Week : Front Plate Raise
As GoodyGirl77 will attest, these are fantastic. They’re also one of the simplest exercises you can perform with the aid of a plate.
The basic idea is to hold a plate away from your body, raise it to eye level and lower it again; under control. Works the anterior deltoids, and is great after a spot of pressing or a push-up or three.
Good fun.