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, 2 May 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 :

Clapping Handstand Pushups
Scott Andrew Bird
Looking for a challenge? Once you’ve made your way through the list of 10 Challenging Bodyweight Exercises, have a go at these. Clapping Handstand Pushups.

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 : CalChain Warmup – The Kettlebell Reinvented

Several ways to put the CalChain to work. Good stuff.

Twitterchat 116 – Getting Started : Training for Beginners

Yes, I love the deadlift.

I absolutely love working out. Feeling great is a beautiful thing.
I understand though that getting started is more than a little intimidating. Where do you begin? What do you do? What happens if …? Whether you’re a beginner or have been training for years, you know what it’s like.

This week we’re discussing exactly how to get started. How much space & equipment you really need (not as much as you’d think), where and how to train. Helping us explore this fascinating topic is none other than Kevin ‘Sgt Sweaty‘ Miller (@SgtSweaty). Fantastic.

Details –
Who : Strength-training fans
Topic : Getting Started : Training for Beginners
When : Wed May 4, 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.

Judo.

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

Tip of the Week: See How It’s Done

Each week we publish a number of tips and techniques via twitter, facebook, the forums, the blog; and now the newsletter. Wherever you are, there’s always a way to improve what you’re doing.

Whether you’re just starting out or have been training for years, one of the greatest ways to learn a new technique is to watch someone both demonstrate and explain it.
Accordingly, I’ve put together a number of tutorial videos – covering a range of training types – over on my YouTube page. Here’s an example :

For more, just head over here. And to add one, simply point me to it. Love seeing them.

NB : for more tips like these, swing by the Beginners areas of the forums. And for more on Block Weights (Blobs), check out Jedd ‘Napalm‘ Johnson‘s superb article The Many Types of Blobs. Good stuff.

Looking Forward To : Super Human Workshop DVDs

Logan Christopher.

These should be fantastic.
The recent Super Human Workshop put on by Logan Christopher and Bud Jeffries was absolutely superb. A stack of great information being shared.
If you missed it, you’ll be pleased to know that Logan’s almost finished creating the DVDs from this event; a great way to take in the information from the comfort of your own home.
Brilliant.

Home Made Strength II.

Quick update on Home Made Strength II : Grip Strength Edition : A few weeks ago we noted Jedd’s most recent DVD – 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 : Wide Pinch Work

Horizontal Pinch Device.

Pinch work is always fun – whether you’re using a TTK, a couple of plates, or a block weight.
Still, I’m a huge fan of Chris Rice‘s Horizontal Pinch Device. Nice and smooth. If you’re looking for a new DIY Equipment project this week, this is a great one.
Beautiful thing.

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.