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, 24 Sep 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 : Fix Your Body with a Foam Roller – The Basics
Derek Peruo
What exactly do you do with a foam roller? This.
Looking At : Sep 23, 2012
Scott Andrew Bird
We’ve been discussing some very interesting techniques, products and services recently. Here are the highlights.

Over to you. I’d love to hear what you think : leave your comments on the above articles, and share them with your friends/colleagues/clients and so on.

NB : If you’d like to submit your own piece for Straight to the Bar, here’s how.

Video : Separating and Linking Resistance Bands

Very interesting indeed. Over to Dave.

Gymchat 186 – Metabolic Typing (with Stephen Duncan)

Stephen Duncan.

This week we’ll be discussing Metabolic Typing, Allergy Testing and a whole lot more. No matter what your views are on these, join Kirk Fontaine and Stephen Duncan and fire in a question or three. See you there.

NB : if this is your first Gymchat, welcome. Just head over to the URL noted below, and join the hangout. We’ll be starting at 9pm EST on Wednesday.

Details –
Who Balanced Fitness‘ Stephen Duncan
Topic : Metabolic Typing
When : Wed Sep 26, 9pm EST (here’s how to find out when that is in your timezone)
How : Google+ Hangout. Follow either Kirk or Scott for details on the live feed.
See you there.

Chas Melichar.

Quick update on last week’s gymchat : Thanks once again to Kirk, Chas and everyone else who joined us for the discussion : Training for Marathons & Triathlons. Some superb ideas in there.
For those who missed out on the conversation, you can grab the full video here. And to see future videos as soon as they’re posted, just click ‘Subscribe‘ at the top of that page. Welcome.

Tip of the Week: The Benefits of Getting Your Shoes Fitted (Rather Than Fitting Them Yourself)

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.

There were a number of great points raised in the last Gymchat, including this suggestion from Chas. There are real benefits to having your shoes fitted, rather than simply picking the ones you think will work well.

Well said.

Checking Out : Upgraded Chef – 12 Core Recipes to Supercharge Your Body & Brain

Upgraded Chef – 12 Core Recipes to Supercharge Your Body & Brain.

This looks great.
I’ve been intrigued by Dave’s work for a while now (he’s at bulletproofexec.com if you’d like to check it out), and am really keen to dive in to this one. The latest incarnation of the Upgraded Chef ebook.
The book outlines his own philosphy when it comes to nutrition. The reviews on Amazon describe it well; here’s a sample :

This book is meant for people who want to learn to cook with less toxins in less time and to eat a Bulletproof (or better-than-paleo) diet. It is not a self-upgrade manual; it’s a cookbook for people who want to use healthy cooking techniques to upgrade the way their body works.

Good stuff.

Quick update on the StrongerGrip Modular Grip System (MGS) we mentioned recently – absolutely fantastic.
If you haven’t seen it yet, check out the video. Warning : you will want one.

Beautiful.

Exercise of the Week : Treadmill Abdominal Work

What do you get when you mix a treadmill with a PowerWheel? This.

Incidentally, if you’d like to get in touch regarding this or any other aspect of strength, you can contact me here. Look forward to hearing from you.

Kettlebell Exercise Demonstrations & Tutorials

We’ve looked at a lot of kettlebell exercises and variations over the years – in the form of tips, tutorials and demonstrations.
Where do you find them all? Right here – a complete list of Kettlebell Exercise Demonstrations & Tutorials.
Enjoy.

Free Downloads from the Strength Kit

Returning to Heavy Training After a Break

I recently added a number of resources to the Straight to the Bar Strength Kit, and as a Strength & Fitness Newsletter subscriber you’re more than welcome to download as many of them as you like. Several great eBooks, podcasts and videos – all absolutely free.
Just head over here, save them to your hard-drive, and dive in.
Good stuff.

NB : This is an ever-changing list. If you’d like to put your own work in front of a fantastic strength-focussed audience, let me know.

Want to Help Out?

Shout!

As you might expect, at Straight to the Bar we’re always looking for new ways to share the love of strength-training with the world. Via the main site, the weekly Gymchats, this newsletter and a whole lot more.

We’ve got a new project coming up (a couple actually), and we’re looking for someone to help out with the graphics side of things. In return we offer not only our eternal admiration, but the sincere appreciation of the entire strength-training community. And, of course, the myriad connections and opportunities that go along with that.
If you’re a designer (think illustrations more than physical products) and have more than a passing fondness for the world of strength training, get in touch. We’d love to hear from you.