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 X/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 X/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 X/Twitter’s ‘List‘ functionality quite a bit. There’s a full list of them here :

https://x.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 posts 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, 11 Apr 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 :

My Weight Success Story
Dan Hardisky
A brief introduction, and how Dan began training.

The “Fu-Fu Visualization” All Strong Lifters Use
Karsten Jensen
Karsten has shared a number of great insights on breathing and visualisation techniques. Take a look.

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 : 97lb Stacked Kettlebell Press For Reps

More training goodness from Mike Mahler, this time in the form of some Stacked Kettlebell Presses. Nice one.

Twitterchat 113 – Sports Injuries

Troy Anderson.

Injuries are unfortunately a fact of life, particular on the playing field.
This week we’ll be discussing many of the common injuries people get whilst enjoying their favourite sport – whether they’re professional athletes or not – and how to deal with / minimise them. Helping us explore this fascinating topic is none other than Alpha Kettlebell‘s Troy Anderson (@troyATS). Fantastic.

Details –
Who : Strength-training fans
Topic : Sports Injuries
When : Wed Apr 13, 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.

Log Flipping.

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

Looking Forward To : Super Human Workshop

Logan Christopher.

This looks superb.
If you’re ready to learn about becoming seriously strong, check out the Super Human Workshop. Taking place on April 15-17 in San Jose, California, this is a fantastic way to learn the real tools of the trade. Featuring presentations by trainers Bud Jeffries and Logan Christopher – certainly no slouches when it comes to physical culture and brutal old-time skills – the Super Human Workshop combines mental toughness with physical performance to help create obscene levels of strength.
Really looking forward to this one – it’s a perfect blend. The Super Human Workshop.

The Beast Sled.

Quick update on the Beast Sled : Two weeks ago we noted the Beast Sled; beautiful thing.
If you haven’t ordered yours yet, swing by the The Beast Sled site and check them out. I’d love to hear what you think.

Exercise of the Week : Horizontal Rope Climbing

Horizontal Rope Climbing.

During the week a friend of mine asked me about Horizontal Rope Climbing (no doubt after watching Charles Bronson in The Great Escape). Good fun.

If you’ve never tried this, the picture above (some of the highly creative training at The Ice Chamber) will show you how. Grab a length of rope and a low trolley – this sort of thing – and go to work. A particularly fun way to train, and far more difficult than it looks. Enjoy.

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.

Time for Some New Gear? Here’s What to Get, and How to Use It

Thanks to everyone who’s sent in feedback (via email, Facebook and Twitter) about the Straight to the Bar Guides – it’s greatly appreciated.
For everyone who hasn’t seen them yet, the Guides will help you decide what to get (and where), and how to train with it. There’s some great information in there.