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 : 30 Day Challenge – Becoming a Morning Person
  Scott Andrew Bird | follow @scottbird
  Not exactly easy, but certainly achievable.
  

• Looking At : Apr 5 2026 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 : You Don’t Need a Sport to Be an Athlete (Enkiri Elite Fitness)

Very interesting look at the underlying reasons for athleticism.

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 250 we discussed Serious Training for Ignored Populations with Personal Trainer & Massage Therapist Bill Kociaba – who himself is completely blind. Bill teaches exercise classes via the Blind Cafe online community, runs his own gym and promotes a number of bodybuilding shows. Joining him is Personal Trainer and Strength Athlete Josh Hewett. 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 : https://straighttothebar.com/2014/06/26/video_for_gymchat_250_-_serious_training_for_ignored_populations_bill_kociaba/ .
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 : FireCold Suit (Clothing For Muscle Recovery)

Interesting idea. The FireCold Suit is a temperature-controlled post-workout suit for focused muscular recovery. A companion smartphone app lets you control everything. A little video :
The FireCold Suit.

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.

Exercises Of The Week : Her FITNESS transformation – Newbie to ATHLETE (Mark Lewis)

A great overview of the various fitness improvements a beginner can make in just a few months. Wonderful.

Fitness Reading/Listening For The Week : ‘What We Value : The Neuroscience of Choice and Change’ (by Dr Emily Falk)

This week we’re returning to the brain with Dr Emily Falk’s ‘What We Value : The Neuroscience of Choice and Change‘ – a great look at how we go about the various decisions we make. Particularly large, life-altering choices such as joining a running club or signing up to a nearby gym. — 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. 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.