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 :
Late Nights and PRs
Matt Hunt
What’s your own training like? Here’s a glimpse of what Matt‘s getting up to these days.
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 : I’d love to hear your thoughts. Leave a comment beneath the article itself, and share your views with the fantastic strength-training community. Cheers.
Video : DIY Training Equipment
Reading Fight Geek‘s excellent site this morning, I came across this : a brief video showing how to make a few of your own strength training tools (medicine ball, slosh-pipe & suspension trainer). Good stuff.
Want more? For several fantastic grip tools you can make yourself, check out Jedd‘s superb Home Made Strength II. Love it.
Twitterchat 111 – Making the Most of Your Gym Time II
Love training? Same here. In the garage, local park or a hotel gym somewhere.
This is the second part of the discussion on ‘Making the Most of Your Gym Time‘, looking at things from the client’s point of view. How to make the most of the time spent in the gym, and in the period inbetween visits. Nutrition, training logs, measurements and so on. 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 : Making the Most of Your Gym Time II
When : Wed Mar 30, 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.
Quick update on last week’s twitterchat : Thanks once again to everyone who took part in the discussion on Making the Most of Your Gym Time. Some superb ideas in there.
For those who missed out on the conversation, here’s a brief summary. Was a great one.
Checking Out : The Beast Sled
Yael pointed me in the direction of this recently, and I must admit, it looks great.
The Beast Sled has thick uprights (same as an Olympic bar), 4″ skids and is as tough as they come. Whether you’re doing strength, speed or endurance work, the Beast Sled is for you.
70 lb of pure joy.
Quick update on Home Made Strength II : Grip Strength Edition : A few weeks ago we noted Jedd’s upcoming DVD (now on sale), the second in the Home Made Strength series. Absolutely fantastic.
This is the one that shows precisely how to build – and train with – several fantastic grip tools. It really is top quality.
Thanks to everyone who grabbed a copy, and to those that left feedback; it’s greatly appreciated. If you haven’t yet got one for yourself, you can grab it here. Love it.
Exercise of the Week : The Neider Press
I first saw Ross Enamait performing a variation of these (with an upright barbell) several years ago. A painfully simple exercise – The Neider Press.
To perform the exercise, imagine you’re performing a bench press whilst standing up. The bar moves from the chest -> to arms’ length -> and back. That’s one rep.
NB : as you’ll see in the video, gravity’s not your friend when doing these. Although I said ‘bench press‘, the bar actually moves up a bit.
Here it is in action :
Incidentally, if you don’t have access to a bar, try using a weight plate. Or a large stone. Or the branch of a tree. In fact anything that will keep you hands apart, and is reasonably heavy when held at arms’ length.
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.