How They Got Started : Ray Hulm
Ray Hulm
How it all began.
Looking At : Jul 20, 2014
Scott Andrew Bird
What’s been going on this week? Quite a lot actually.
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’re keen to do more writing in 2014 and would like to submit your own piece for Straight to the Bar, here’s how.
Video : Misses Are Just Warm-ups
Excellent way of looking at it Jedd.
Gymchat 252 – Alpha Aesthetics (Personal Development In The 21st Century with Omar Atlas)
How do you become the ‘alpha dog‘ – the leader of the pack? And how do you use strength training to do it?
This week we’re exploring this enigmatic area – the intersection of bodybuilding and personal development. Tackling this is the wonderful Omar ‘Bromar‘ Atlas, joined by Personal Trainer and Strength Athlete Josh Hewett. Fantastic.
NB : We’d love to hear your questions and comments. If there’s a particular subject you’d like Omar and Josh to address, just swing by the event page for this Gymchat and leave a comment or jump in the Hangout and ask them directly.
And if you’d like to point your friends/colleagues to the discussion, just use the ‘share‘ button at the top of that page. The more the merrier.
Details –
Who : Physique Coach Omar ‘Bromar‘ Atlas, Personal Trainer and Strength Athlete Josh Hewett, and You
Topic : Alpha Aesthetics (Personal Development In The 21st Century)
When : Monday Jul 22, 8:00pm EDT (the Event page shows what time that is in your local timezone).
How : Watch the live stream, join the hangout (just add Top Form Fitness to one of your circles, and Josh’ll send out the URL when the Hangout starts), or jump in the Q&A on the Event page itself. We’ll also post the full video shortly after the Gymchat.
Previously : In Gymchat 251 we discussed Gaining Maximum Functional Muscle Mass (with Performing Strongman Bud Jeffries and Personal Trainer and Strength Athlete Josh Hewett). Great conversation.
If you missed the live stream (or just want to go over a particular point again), you can watch the entire video here.
Tip of the Week: Rice Bucket Rehab
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.
In the discussion on Recovery Work for the Hands we noted several superb recovery techniques, including the ever-popular Rice Digs.
If you’ve never tried doing these, the process is incredibly simple. From the post ‘Rice Digs (for Grip-Training Warmups)‘, a brief description :
The exercise is an extremely simple one; pour some uncooked rice into a bucket and repeatedly burrow your hands into it. Make fists, rotate your wrists and generally move your hands around whilst they’re surrounded by rice.
To make it more difficult, use sand or even lead shot instead of the rice. Nice and painful.
NB : All other things being equal, a finer material will feel more difficult. Things like lead shot have less give, and will quickly prove challenging. Rice is a good starting point.
And to make things a little clearer, have a look at the video below. Great exercise.
Re-Reading : Paul Anderson – The Mightiest Minister
Remember this? Superb book.
As you can probably tell, I’m gradually re-reading several books I haven’t had available for a while (they were in storage). Next up : Randall J. Strossen‘s Paul Anderson: The Mightiest Minister.
If you haven’t yet read it, there’s a brief description below (and if you have, I’d love to hear your thoughts).
From Amazon :
What’d he really squat? How about the back lift and those one-arm presses? If you want to know, you’ll want to read this book. An Olympic gold medalist, world champion and world record holder in weightlifting, Paul Anderson is widely considered by the leading authorities to be one of the strongest men who ever lived, and his unofficial lifts continue to be the source of jaw-dropping wonder. This highly acclaimed book combines a readable style with scholarly precision; it compiles the principle articles on Paul Anderson from the major periods of his life, documents and reviews his lifts – both official and unofficial – and tells the story of the man who was dubbed a wonder of nature by the awestruck Russians, who were happy to stand out in the rain just for a chance to watch him lift.
Quick update on the Hip Thruster we mentioned recently – fantastic thing.
Rather than trying to explain how it works, here it is in action :
Good stuff Bret, looks great.
Exercise of the Week : Power Wheel Racing
Via Recreate Fitness : a new sport is born – Power Wheel racing.
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.
New Guide : The Straight to the Bar Guide to Fat Loss
We’ve received some fantastic feedback following Vic Magary‘s Gymchats on Fat Loss, cheers. Greatly appreciated.
If fat loss is one of your own fitness goals, and you haven’t yet watched the discussions, you’ll find them all here. I’ve also added several other fat loss resources we’ve noted over the years – all of them highly recommended. Dive in.
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.
Giving
If you’ve been training for a while, gradually cleaning up your diet, no doubt you’ve experienced the amazing power of transformation. It’s a tremendous feeling.
If you’re ready to give someone else a hand to transform their own lives – through education, sharing equipment, financial help – take a look at the full list of organisations on the Giving page. Cheers.