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, 5 Dec 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 :

Are Protein Shakes Necessary when Following a Paleo or Primal Diet?
Scott Andrew Bird
Shortly after the discussion on Nutritional Basics, we took a look at this particular topic over on Google+; and there were some very interesting responses indeed.
Straight to the Bar Flickr Group
Various authors
I love photography (pics here from the New Zealand trip), and there have been several great photos posted here recently, notably by Roy Scott, Zach Wheeler, Davie Easton and Wild Kiwi. If you haven’t already, add some of yours. Love seeing where/how everyone trains and competes.

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.

Video : Inspiring Movement (2011)

Indeed.

Gymchat 147 – Motivation II

Roger Lawson.

What is motivation? What role does it play in your training, and how can it be improved?

This week we’re returning to this fascinating area; looking at things from a number of angles. What it is, how to get it, and how to use it to your advantage.
Helping us explore this fascinating topic is none other than Personal Trainer Roger Lawson. Fantastic.

Details –
Who : Strength-training fans
Topic : Motivation II
When : Wed Dec 7, 9pm EDT (1am UTC)
How : Post a comment, question or reply
If you’ve never been to one of these discussions 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 calendar.
See you there.

Roger Lawson.

Quick update on last week’s gymchat : Thanks once again to everyone who took part in the discussion on Nutritional Basics. Some superb ideas in there.
For those who missed out on the conversation, here’s the transcript. Was a great one.

Tip of the Week: Setting up Bands for Dumbbell Benching

Each week we publish a number of tips and techniques via twitter, Google+, the forums, the blog; and now the newsletter. Wherever you are, there’s always a way to improve what you’re doing.
This tip comes to us from the Diesel Crew, in the form of a quick video demonstration. How to set up bands for the dumbbell bench press.

It’s actually fairly straightforward (once you’ve done it a couple of times). The steps :

Create a loop

Put a twist in the loop

Set a neutral, thumb up hand postion inside the ends of the band

Rotate the thumb down as you move the band to a upper to mid back position

Maintain band tension as you pick up the bands and throughout the movement

A quick video demonstration :

Good stuff.

Considering : Business Management for the Personal Fitness Trainer

Business Management for the Personal Fitness Trainer.

If you’ve ever thought about running your own gym (or any fitness business for that matter), you might be wondering exactly where to begin.

I’m keen to check out Charles M Ware‘s upcoming look at this very topic, Business Management for the Personal Fitness Trainer. It’s a complex and fascinating area, as Derek certainly noted in the Setting Up a Strength Training Facility twitterchat.
(Incidentally, the books he mentioned are also great sources of information on this topic).
Looks like a good one.

Quick update on the StrongerGrip Loadable Club Set we noted a while ago : I had a great discussion recently on club workouts for beginners. Great way to train.
When it came to the equipment part of the discussion, we both agreed on the loadable clubs from StrongerGrip. 3lb empty and around 8lb loaded up. Beautiful things.

Exercise of the Week : Homemade Tornado Ball Slam

When you’re looking for a quick DIY Equipment project, it’s hard to go past the Tornado Ball. Beautiful thing.
Here’s Ross Enamait demonstrating just one way to put it to work. 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 Straight to the Bar eBooks

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.