Gem From The Vault : DIY – How to Build Your Own Tire Sled
Matt Hunt
Make your own.Looking At : Apr 14, 2024 Scott Andrew Bird | follow @scottbird What’s been going on this week? Quite a lot actually.
Video : Jennifer Doudna – The Exciting Future of Genome Editing (Eric Topol – @EricTopol)
Wonderful conversation.
Gymchat 278 – TBA
We’re still finalising the details for this week’s discussion. I’ll post them on the blog (and X, 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 132 we discussed How to Find a Personal Trainer with Kirk ‘Captain‘ Fontaine, and New York-based Trainer Derek ‘Body by D-Rock‘ Peruo. 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 : Ring X (Smart Ring)
Looks great. Yet another entrant to the Smart Ring space – the Ring X. Once again, a clear focus on the health-tracking side of things – with an emphasis on all-day blood pressure monitoring. A dedicated smartphone app completes the picture. A little video :The Ring X.
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 : Beginner Neck-Building Program
Each week we publish a number of tips and techniques via X (Formerly `Twitter`), the blog; and the newsletter. Wherever you are, there’s always a way to improve what you’re doing. This tip comes to us from the obscenely strong Mike ‘The Machine‘ Bruce, and is a snippet from his superb article Building A Neck Of Steel. Take a look.Neck work – whether you’re a beginner, or have been training for years – doesn’t need to be that complicated. And if you’re new to the area of neck strengthening, this is a great place to start. Over to Mike :
Following is a beginner program to help get you started from Pencil Neck to Neck of Steel.
Now that’s a neck harness lift.
- Neck Curls on a flat bench with weight 1-2 sets of 20-30 repetitions
- Neck Harness work [same as above]
- Side of Neck on a flat bench [same as above]
Do this every other day for the first month. Then you can increase the workload to every day you train. Or increase the weighted repetitions to 5 sets of 50 repetitions. Once you can attain 100 straight repetitions in the 3 exercises then it is time to increase the weight.
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 Of The Week : Kettlebell Hold
John Brookfield performing a Kettlebell Hold.
Just noticed this on John Brookfield‘s Grip Tips – the kettlebell hold. Much, much harder than he makes it look.
The picture clearly shows the final position, but there are two ways of getting the bell there in the first place :
- use the other hand to place it there
- clean the bell slowly (itself quite a challenging task), and stop it before it hits the back of your forearm
Either way, start out light (John recommends a 20lb bell), crush that handle and curse when it hits you in the back of the arm. Did I mention that it isn’t easy?
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/Listening For The Week : ‘The Inside Running Podcast’ (by Brady Threlfall, Julian Spence and Bradley Croker)
It’ll come as no surprise that we discuss a lot of fitness-related books, courses & podcasts; on this site as well as the various networks noted in the sidebar.
‘The Inside Running Podcast’ is a wonderful exploration of the running world – interviews, discussion of events, equipment and of training.
Enjoy.
Incidentally, I’m always looking to add to the ‘books to read‘ list. If you’ve come across something which you’d love everyone else to check out, drop me a line.
There’s also a list of our all-time fitness suggestions over there. Dive on in.
