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 : The Hack Squat
Scott Andrew Bird
History and technique for this wonderful exercise. Love it.- Looking At : Oct 20, 2013
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 : Barstarzz In Paris (at the King of Push and Pull event)
Nice one guys.
Gymchat 220 : High Intensity Training – HIT (Chris Lutz)
High Intensity Training (HIT) – what exactly is it, and should it be part of your training routine?
This week we’ll be explaining exactly what HIT is, and how everything works; as well as some of the fascinating research into this area in particular. Tackling this is Personal Trainer Chris Lutz, joined by Strongman & Personal Trainer Josh Hewett. If you’ve got questions for Chris or Josh, just swing by the event page for this Gymchat (during the discussion itself). Details below.
Details –
Who : Personal Trainer Chris Lutz and Strongman & Personal Trainer Josh Hewett
Topic : High Intensity Training – HIT
When : Wednesday Oct 23, 9pm EDT (the Event page shows what time that is in your local timezone)
How : Watch the live stream, and ask questions, directly on the Event page. We’ll also post the full video shortly after the Gymchat.
See you there.
Previously : Last week we held Gymchat 219 – Assessing Current Fitness Trends (with Adam Klymkiw and Josh Hewett). Great discussion.
If you missed the live stream (or just want to go over a particular point again), you can watch the entire video here.
Coming Up : we’ve got several fantastic discussions lined up for the next few months, details shortly. One of those is an area I’m intrigued by personally, the Future of Fitness. Fascinating topic.
To give you an idea of what we’ll be talking about and why it’s essential (especially if you’re a fitness professional yourself, or planning to be), here’s a quick primer. And if you’d like to join us on the panel, just drop Josh a line. We’d love to hear from you.
Tip of the Week : A Moment of Silence
Each week we publish a number of tips and techniques via Twitter, Google+, the blog; and now the newsletter. Wherever you are, there’s always a way to improve what you’re doing.
How do you mentally prepare for a workout? Listen to heavy music and generally get psyched up?
Try doing the opposite. Parth explains.
In the article Silence for Intense Workouts, Parth shares an interesting idea :
There is a moment right between my warm-up, and workout. Sometimes it is brief, perhaps lasting a few seconds, but other times it is long, lasting almost ten minutes. It is a moment of silence. Of reflection. The quiet before a storm. The soothing nature of the wind, steadily picking up the dead leaves off the tree and dropping them gently on the ground before the final gust of wind begins the season of autumn.
This is my moment of ZEN. To make sure that I am mentally THERE. I don’t want to be thinking about my job interviews, about that girl I like, or about that thing I wanted to buy but was too broke ’cause I still live with my parents. No, it all goes away.
And yes, the music can come on right after this. Works well.
Revisiting : Warrior Power T’s
Remember these? Fantastic things.
We first looked at these around 4 years ago, and they’ve been part of my training arsenal ever since. Comprising push-up handles with a very small connection to the ground, they make almost any variety of push-up just a little more challenging. A quick video to give you an idea :
The Warrior Power T’s – love ’em.
Quick update on the Lift the Blob package we mentioned recently – fantastic collection.
I’d love to hear how you go with it, when it comes to tackling this challenging feat you really can’t go past Lift the Blob. Superb.
Exercise of the Week : The Reverse Snatch
Martin Rooney notes a very interesting exercise – the Reverse Snatch. Looks great.
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.
A Daily Dose
Love this stuff? Same here. If you’re looking for a daily dose of strength-training goodness, grab the Straight to the Bar Daily.
Absolutely free.
Free Downloads from the Strength Kit
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.