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 : Best Gym Exercises for Beginners
Jain Sourabh
Navigate your first gym visit.

Looking At : Nov 27, 2022
Scott Andrew Bird | follow @scottbird
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 : The Best Way to Build Tendon Strength – Isometrics vs Eccentrics (The Movement System)

Very interesting research.

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.
Previously : In Gymchat 193 we discussed Training Athletes II with Strength & Conditioning Coach Kyle Bohannon, together with Personal Trainer Kirk Fontaine. Great conversation. (And if you missed it the first time (or just want to go over a particular point again), check out the full video over on Kirk’s Youtube channel : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo0OjBe81Bk).
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 : Fitness Toolkit: Protocol & Tools to Optimize Physical Health (Huberman Lab Podcast #94)

Very interesting indeed. This episode of Huberman Lab Podcast takes a look at several great tools for optimizing both health and fitness, as well as some basic approaches for doing the two. Wonderful information. The video below (although it’s an audio-only podcast, this is just the easiest way to share it) will show you what I mean.
Huberman Lab Podcast #94.

Tip of the Week : Returning to Heavy Training – Inspecting the Equipment

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. This tip is an answer to the question ‘If you’re using your old gear, how do you test things to make sure they’re still safe and working correctly?‘, directed at Vic Magary during the Heavy Training after a Break Gymchat. A great discussion.

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“I think the most important thing to inspect would be the J-cups where you set the bar. Also simply taking a wrench to all of the bolts of a rack to make sure they are good and tight. Depending on the type, you may want to double check the collars. I’d think the barbell and plates would be fine even after a few years as long as they were subject to normal conditions.”

Good stuff.

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.

Exercise Feat Of The Week : The Human Speedbump

The Guinness Book of World Records contains some truly odd events. Several of these are the responsibility of ‘The Human Speedbump‘, Tom Owen, who has allowed himself – on several occasions, I might add – to be run over by trucks. Here’s a look at his record-breaking event from back in 2000 – getting run over by 7 trucks.

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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 (Or Re-Reading, In This Case) For The Week : Paul Anderson – The Mightiest Minister (by Randall J. Strossen)

Remember this? Superb book. As you can probably tell, I’m gradually re-reading several books I haven’t checked out for a while. 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.

Can’t wait to get into it.
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.