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 Jan 2012

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 :

Gem From The Vault : Resolutions and Goal Setting
Joe Hashey
Ready to set some big targets for 2012? Here’s how.
Gem From the Vault : Starting Your Fitness Journey : 10 Things to Consider
Scott Andrew Bird
If you’re just getting started, here are a couple of things to think about. Makes a huge difference.

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 : DIY Cable Machine

No cable machine available? Here’s how to make your own.

Fantastic.
NB : it’s a comprehensive video (it runs just under 20min); showing the entire process.

Gymchat 150 – Goals & Goal Setting

Goal!

This is definitely the time of year to take stock of your life. To look at what you’ve been doing, and to set your goals for 2012.

This week we’ll be taking a look at Goals & Goal Setting (in a fitness & health context, of course) – what to aim for, how to set targets, recording & measuring everything; as well as sharing ideas on your own goals for this year. Really looking forward to it.

Details –
Who : Strength-training fans
Topic : Goals & Goal Setting
When : Wed Jan 4, 9pm EDT (1am UTC)
Where: https://plus.google.com/u/0/113406428532094481598/posts/JhMXEv93yMo
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.

Chris Smith.

Quick update on last week’s gymchat : Thanks once again to everyone who took part in the discussion on Getting Started. 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: Constructing the Inner Shell

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 Derek‘s superb article How to Build Your Own Sandbag; and looks at a simple way to build the sandbag’s inner shell.

Over to Derek :

Inner Shells.

Inner linings can be made out of contractor bags. Contractor bags are thicker than garbage bags and are used on construction sites for waste disposal. They come in various sizes, from 30 to 55 gallons, so find a size that works for your project. I used four 42-gallon contractor bags. I doubled-bagged the sacks and filled each with roughly 15lb of sand. Then I rolled each into neat little parcel and used packing tape to keep everything from exploding all over my rug.

One Inside the Other.

Leave room for the sand (or stones or shot) to move around inside your inner linings. About 3/4 full is good. The final product should shift and move as you use it. This is what makes sandbag training unique.

Good stuff.

Checking Out : The Precision Nutrition Fat Loss Crash Course

Precision Nutrition Fat Loss Crash Course.

This looks superb.
If one of your goals is to shed a bit of excess fat, but you’re not quite sure what to do/where to start, have a look at the Precision Nutrition Fat Loss Crash Course. Absolutely free.

This 5-day course goes through the basics of fat loss – no matter what your starting point is. Whether you’re looking to lose a few pounds or a few hundred – without severely compromising your strength in the process – the Precision Nutrition Fat Loss Crash Course is the perfect place to start.
There are two versions (one for men, one for women), and you’ll find the details here :

Fantastic information.

Crush!.

Quick update on the superb Crush! DVD we noted a few weeks ago : fantastic.
Bill‘s posted a brief review here, but suffice to say that Jedd ‘Napalm‘ Johnson‘s latest DVD is absolutely perfect. If you’re ready to take your gripper work seriously, grab a copy of Crush!.

Exercise of the Week : Reactive Box Jumps

To start the year off, here’s just one of the many ways to incorporate a spot of jumping in your workouts. The Reactive Box Jump.
A quick demonstration :

Good fun.

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.