Strength & Fitness Newsletter

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

DragonDoor Workshops

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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, 11 Jul 2022
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 :
  • Justin AndrushkoGem From The Vault : Lift Fast, Lift Strong
    Justin Andrushko
    How fast?


  • Scott Andrew BirdLooking At : Jul 10, 2022
    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 a little fitness writing and would like to submit your own piece for Straight to the Bar, get in touch.


    Video : You Can And SHOULD Train Every Day! (The Bioneer)


    I agree entirely (and personally, I find this approach much easier to incorporate into my life than a ‘training on specific days‘ approach). How about you – how often do you work out?

    Gymchat 278 – TBA

    We’re still finalising the details for this week’s discussion. I’ll post them on the blog (and Twitter, Facebook etc) shortly. In the meantime, take a look at some of the previous episodes of the show – (there’s an example below, and a full list here). And if you’ve got any questions or comments on the various topics discussed, we’d love to hear them. Just leave a note below the video.
    Whitehouse Gym, Truman Administration
    Whitehouse Gym, Truman Administration.
    Previously : In Gymchat 166 we discussed How Do You…IV with Strength Fans Everywhere. Great conversation.
    NB : if you’d like to take part in a future episode – either as an interviewee, or as a guest host – just drop us a line. Love hearing how everyone else trains.

    Checking Out : Ghydion Gallon (Large, Smart Water Bottle)

    Interesting mix. This is the first of the smart water bottles I’ve seen which looks large enough to be useful (otherwise I’d constantly be refilling the thing). The Ghydion Gallon. It keeps track of the amount you drink (a companion smartphone app notes the details), and the base acts as a portable charger for the ‘phone. Perfect for outdoor workouts. A little video :
    The Ghydion Gallon.

    Ever Tried Kettlebells?

    If you've seen people using them but never taken the plunge yourself, here are the ones I use personally. You can also pick up a book/DVD/course if you want to learn how to put them to work.

    Tip of the Week: Tie Your Water Consumption to the Number of Calories You Burn

    Each week we publish a number of tips and techniques via Twitter, the blog; and the newsletter. Wherever you are, there’s always a way to improve what you’re doing.
    Water
    Water.
    I drink a lot of water (mostly in the form of green tea, unless it’s during a workout). Still, how do you work out how much you need?
    From the article 8 Glasses of Water Per Day?, a bit of history that’ll make the whole thing a lot clearer :
    Most people are aware that the drinking of plenty of water is advisable, and anecdotal evidence suggests that more = better (up to a point). However, where did the current guideline of ‘8 cups per day‘ come from?
    According to Valtin (i) the origin is probably the 1945 recommendation made by the Food and Nutrition Board of the US National Research Council. This stated :
     
    A suitable allowance of water for adults is 2.5 liters daily in most instances. An ordinary standard for diverse persons is 1 milliliter for each calorie of food. Most of this quantity is contained in prepared foods.
     
    The 2.5 litres was changed to 8 x 8 fluid ounce cups in later recommendations, but is otherwise unchanged.
    Incidentally, if you’re wondering how to work out the number of calories you’re burning these days – here’s how to work it out.
     

    Unlock Your Hips, Unlock Your Squat

    I get a lot of questions regarding the impact of ‘unlocking your hips‘ on heavy squatting. Rick Kaselj goes into it in plenty of detail in the ‘Unlock Your Hip Flexors‘ program; and I’ve also posted a brief video below which demonstrates/explains some of the exercises.
    Both (working with Ryan, and Rick’s program) are highly recommended. And as always, we love hearing your feedback – if you sample any of the above exercises or the ‘Unlock Your Hip Flexors‘ program, we’d love to hear about it.

    Exercises of the Week : Dutch Parkour


    Another great Parkour video, this time from The Netherlands. Enjoy.
    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.

    Fitness Reading For The Week : Habits for Mastering Anxiety: 10 Steps to a Calmer, More Confident You (Written & Narrated by Dr Tim Sharp)

    Habits for Mastering Anxiety: 10 Steps to a Calmer, More Confident You
    Habits for Mastering Anxiety: 10 Steps to a Calmer, More Confident You.
    It’ll come as no surprise that we discuss a lot of fitness-related books; on this site as well as the various networks noted in the sidebar. We’ve noted a couple of Tim Sharp’s audio series in the past (Habits For Happiness and Habits For Good Sleep), and this one tackles the area of Anxiety with a similar blend of information and suggestions. Wonderful. Incidentally, I’ve got an evergrowing list of ‘books to read‘, and I’m always looking to add to it. Suggestions welcome. There’s also a list of our all-time fitness suggestions over there. Dive on in.