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 : Visualisation
  Scott Andrew Bird
  Forming a mental image of the outcome of an event, before the event has taken place.
  

• Looking At : Apr 6, 2025 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 Truth About My Anti-Vaccine Debate (Doctor Mike)

This is a very interesting look at the most common points raised in any ‘Anti-Vaccination’ debate. (Out of curiosity, which side of the debate are you on? Personally I’m on the ‘vaccines can be wonderful things’ side of the fence. )

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 192 we discussed Supplementation & Olympic Lifting with Renaissance Fitness’ Derek ‘D-Rock‘ Peruo and Personal Trainer Kirk Fontaine. Great conversation. NB : 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=hlDG-8NoxRM .
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 : BRIGHTWELL (Productivity Light)

Interesting idea. The Brightwell Productivity Light has an interesting collection of features – especially for everyone who works from home. Of particular interest – here, anyway – are the Health and Breathing modes. The video below shows them both in action.
The Brightwell Productivity Light.

Tip of the Week : Steel Bending Benefits – Increased Neural Strength

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 ‘Unbreakable‘ Adam Glass‘ superb article Why Bend Steel?; and looks at just one of the great benefits of a regular dose of steel bending. Increased Neural Strength.

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Over to Adam :  

First benefit is to your neural strength: Steel bending is an exceptional way to build your single unit application of tension. What I mean is this – you have to tense and load every muscle in your body, take out all “leakages”, brace everything together and direct it through you hands with a sniper’s precise angle. If you get sloppy punching on the nails ends, you will hurt yourself. You could possibly punch yourself in the face, roll your hands out of the groove, stab yourself, or any other combination of less desirable outcomes. This activity will turn your wrist to stone. Your ability to direct power will be significantly increased. This will directly carry over to any other strength-skill you currently have. The way I load up to bend a Huge Stainless Steel Bastard is exactly the same feeling as when I load up to pull a max dead, to press a 48kg bell, or to slam an axe through a log. It adds a critical power appliance to your “strength skill tool box”.

 

This increase in strength and power naturally will carry over to an increase in your endurance. Anyone who has bent a nail will tell you the first time they bent it was so tiring. I have watched people sweat bullets bending their first respectable nail. As time goes on you gain huge reserves of power. A personal testament to this level of power for me was October 2007 when I bent 150 60D nails in one hour using the double under (DU) grip. That represented a massive improvement from Jan 2007, when bending 10-15 nails left my hands extremely fatigued.

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 : Zercher Squat

Ed Zercher was a St Louis Strongman (pictured here performing an unsupported leg press), who famously trained using equipment looking more at home in a junkyard than a gym. His basement was filled with pieces of old machinery, anvils, wrecking balls and assorted odd-shaped heavy objects. Clearly strength was a passion. The name Zercher is survived by a couple of lifts, primarily the Zercher Squat. Deadlifts are also occasionally performed, holding the bar in the same unusual way. Technique For both the Zercher squat and deadlift the bar is rested in the crook of the elbows. This shifts the body’s centre of mass much further forward than in the case of a front squat or traditional deadlift. The hands are then crossed, made into fists, clasped together or held in whatever way feels most comfortable to the lifter. In the case of the squat, these were originally performed free-standing. The bar was deadlifted from the ground (using traditional methods) and rested on the upper thighs whilst the lifter carefully squatted down. The lifter would then proceed to hook their arms beneath the bar and stand up again, before reversing the process and returning the bar to the ground. These days the lift is often started with the bar already raised (via the pins of a rack, blocks or anything else at a convenient height), and only the squatting motion is performed. For the Zercher deadlift the bar begins much lower – on the ground if possible, or at the very least on the lowest pins of a rack. Taking a wide stance, the lifter’s arms are hooked beneath the bar in the same way as in the squat. The hips are lowered, and then the lifter raises the back and straightens the legs simultaneously. As the body’s centre of mass has been shifted forward by holding the bar in this unusual way, much more stress is placed on the hamstrings than in a traditional deadlift; which focusses on the spinal erectors. The Zercher lift ironbarbell.com/Articles/Zercher.html Wally’s Place: The man behind the Zercher lift www.usaplnationals.com/wally/wallyA.html ABC Bodybuilding Forum: The Zercher Deadlift www.abcbodybuilding.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=936321&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=7&fpart=1

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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/Listening For The Week : ‘Living Beyond 100 : Investigation of Genes, Way of Life, and Future Technologies for Longer and Healthier Life’ (by Morgan Blake)

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. Last week we looked at the future of lifespan from a somewhat skeptical point of view (sadly, it’s still fairly common). This week we take a brief wander through a slightly more optimistic landscape, in the form of Morgan Blake’s ‘‘Living Beyond 100 : Investigation of Genes, Way of Life, and Future Technologies for Longer and Healthier Life’. Nice one. 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.