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, 1 Nov 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 :

The Human Flag
Al Kavadlo
Al takes a look at this incredibly impressive bodyweight feat.
‘Just Enough‘ Training
The Fight Geek
This is a very interesting idea – the concept of ‘just enough‘ training. 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 : Band Partner Sprints

I first saw these being demonstrated by Ross Enamait, and was instantly hooked. Fantastic things.
NB : this is the partner version, if you’re training solo simply loop the band around something that’s not going anywhere in a hurry (such as a rack or bench).

Twitterchat 90 : Online Coaching

Derek ‘Body by D-Rock‘ Peruo.

If you’re a strength coach or personal trainer, do you offer any online services as part of your training? If you’re an athlete, have you ever used any; or would you like to find out a little more about them?
This week we’re continuing on from last week’s discussion on Setting Up a Strength Training Facility, this time looking at the online side of things. Everything from custom program design to teleseminars and video training. 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 : Online Coaching
When : Wed Nov 3, 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.

Derek ‘Body by D-Rock‘ Peruo.

Quick update on last week’s twitterchat : Thanks once again to everyone who took part in the discussion on Setting Up a Strength Training Facility. Some superb ideas in there.
For those who missed out on the conversation, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Ever considered setting up your own gym? Have one already?

Reading : We’re Working Out

We’re Working Out.

This is a fantastic book.
If you’ve read any of Al Kavadlo‘s articles – either on Straight to the Bar or his own site – you’ll understand just how focused he is on health and fitness. In this book (full review) he shares his philosophy of training, eating well and generally looking after yourself.
A great read.

Exercise of the Week : Neck Training with Swiss Ball

I love neck work.
There are a number of ways to strengthen your neck and upper back (and if you enjoy your Rugby, grappling or motor racing you’ll understand why), including the fitness ball work shown below.
Over to Will :

Good fun.