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, 21 Feb 2011

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 :

Grip-Focused Training
Matt Hunt
Love your grip work? Same here.
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‘ button beneath each post). Cheers.

Video : Weight-Over-Bar Record

42lb over an 18′ bar? Love it.

Twitterchat 106 – Biphasic Sleep

Adam Stoffa.

When it comes to recovery, there’s nothing quite like a good dose of shut-eye. Love it.
This week we’re discussing my favourite form of this strange beast, the idea of Biphasic Sleeping. Everything from the ‘how to‘ to the benefits of sleeping twice each day. And in particular – how it can assist your training.
Helping us explore this fascinating topic is none other than the astonishingly creative Adam Stoffa (@SEEAdamTrain).

Details –
Who : Strength-training fans
Topic : Biphasic Sleep
When : Wed Feb 23, 9pm EDT (1am UTC)
How : Include #sbgym in your tweets.
If you’ve never been to one of these twitterchats before, here’s how to join in the fun. Simple, quick to set up and free.
And to see when it’s on in your timezone, head over to the twitterchat calendar.
See you there.

Crushdown.

Quick update on last week’s twitterchat : Thanks once again to everyone who took part in the discussion on Nail Bending. Some superb ideas in there.
For those who missed out on the conversation, here’s a brief summary. Was a great one.

Deal of the Week : 25% Off AtLarge BCAA+

AtLarge BCAA+.

I love the AtLarge offerings, particularly things like BCAA+ (Branched Chain Amino Acids). Top-quality gear.
If you’ve never tried BCAA, the benefits are simple : improvements in strength, recovery times and a distinct reduction in the soreness you get after a heavy session. For details on exactly how this works, swing by the AtLarge site.
Sound good? It’s about to get even better – for the next month (up until March 20th), AtLarge is generously offering their BCAA+ at a whopping 25% discount. Great time to grab a couple.
To take advantage of this offer, just enter the coupon code SB25 when ordering. And tell Chris that Straight to the Bar sent you. He’ll look after you.
AtLarge BCAA+. Fantastic gear.

Looking Forward To : Home Made Strength II

Home Made Strength II.

As Jedd announced recently, Home Made Strength II is on the way. Looks superb.
I’m a long-time fan of DIY Strength-Training Equipment (I built a wrist roller shortly after I began training); it’s a fantastic way to test out a new training tool or technique without breaking the bank. It also enables you to customise the equipment and try out your own ideas for new ways to train.
The first Home Made Strength DVD included a range of projects, covering the entire body in one form or another. Home Made Strength II concentrates on my favourite form of home-made equipment – tools for the hands and forearms.
If you’re similarly obsessed with your grip and wrist work, Home Made Strength II is definitely for you. An incredible collection of extremely creative hand & forearm tools. Fantastic.

Exercise of the Week : ‘U-GO‘ Rope Pull

As you can see, there are many, many things you can do with the U-GO handles. This is one of my favourites.

Good stuff.

Incidentally, if you’d like to get in touch regarding this or any other aspect of strength, you can send me an email here. Look forward to hearing from you.

Free eBooks from Straight to the Bar

As a Strength & Fitness Newsletter subscriber you get several great eBooks, absolutely free. Just head over here, save them to your hard-drive, and dive in.
Good stuff.
NB : This is an ever-changing list of books. If you’d like to put your own work in front of a fantastic strength-focussed audience, let me know.