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, 8 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 :

Primero BJJ
Yael Grauer
Which would you rather visit : a gym with a great atmosphere, or one with great coaches?
Online Coaching Resources
Serious Coaches and Trainers
For the coaches & trainers who offer online coaching services : we’ve set up an area on the forums specifically for discussion on this very topic. What works, where to advertise, what to charge and so on. If you’re currently offering online coaching services (or are just keen to find out more), let me know and I’ll add you to the group.

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 and Retweet icons above & below each post). Cheers.

Video : One Hand Deadlifting with the Strongergrip Plateau Buster

The Strongergrip Plateau Buster (fantastic thing) in action. Nice work Adam.

Twitterchat 91 – Getting Started with Combat Training

Rob Decillis (Combat Trainer).

If you’ve ever considered learning a martial art, taking up boxing or any other form of combat athletics; you may be wondering just where to begin. After all, there are one or two possibilities.
This week we’re taking a close look at Getting Started with Combat Training, no matter what form that takes. Everything from the prerequisite strength and skills to ‘which sport helps with which goals‘. Helping us explore this fascinating topic is none other than Combat Trainer’s Rob Decillis (@CombatTrainer). Fantastic.

Details –
Who : Strength-training fans
Topic : Online Coaching
When : Wed Nov 10, 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 Online Coaching. Some superb ideas in there.
For those who missed out on the conversation, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Do you currently offer any fitness coaching services online, or have you ever used any?

Getting Ready For : Nail Bending – How to Melt Steel with Your Bare Hands

Nail Bending – How to Melt Steel with Your Bare Hands.

Jedd noted this one the other day, and I have to say, it sounds fantastic.
Nail Bending – How to Melt Steel with Your Bare Hands is 1 1/2 hours of solid instruction in how to bend steel correctly, and safely. And when it’s the insanely strong Jedd Johnson at the helm, you know it’s going to be good.
Really looking forward to it.

Exercise of the Week : Shovel Lift Variations

Love a spot of Mace work? Same here.
The other day we briefly looked at a common way to put your Mace to work, the Shovel Lift. Here are a few ways to vary this wonderful exercise.
Before we get into the variations, here’s the basic exercise. As you can see, it’s simply mimicking the shovelling action.

Other ways to perform the Shovel Lift :

Snow shovel intervals (suggested by Mark Konen in Pack Light, Train Hard)
Shovel Dead Lifts (barbell with weight on one side only, same shovelling action)
Perform similar movements using cables, bands, clubs and sledgehammers

And if you’re ready to get serious, check out the StrongerGrip Plate-Loadable Shovel. Beautiful.