Gem From The Vault : How to Add 20+ Pounds to your DeadliftYael Grauer (Yael Writes)
Time to get a little unstable.
Looking At : Apr 3, 2022Scott 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 : Insane Reverse Benching With Cambered Bar (Mike O’Hearn)
Haven’t tried this particular variation before. You?
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 149 we discussed Getting Started with the incredible Chris Smith, interviewed by Personal Trainer Kirk Fontaine. 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 : isoNeck Pillow (Orthopedic Pillow For Personalized Comfort)
Looks great. Sleep is very much my favourite form of recovery, and this certainly fine-tunes things a bit. The isoNeck Pillow is very clearly designed with a solid dose of shut-eye in mind. Both the shape and structure have been modified in various ways, which are easier to see than to have explained. A little video :The isoNeck Pillow.
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 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 :
Now that’s a neck harness lift.Following is a beginner program to help get you started from Pencil Neck to Neck of Steel.
- 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 : Abdominal Isolation (The Gironda Ab Squeeze)
Via Physical Strategies : It never ceases to amaze me just how many exercises Vince ‘the Iron Guru’ Gironda examined, tweaked and created. One of these is the Gironda Ab Squeeze (although I’m sure it also goes by many other names) and is the perfect example of how a simple change can greatly increase the effectiveness of a movement.
NB : the description is an excerpt from the book West Coast Bodybuilding Scene, a great read.
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 : The Resistance Training Revolution : The No-Cardio Way to Burn Fat and Age-Proof Your Body – in Only 60 Minutes a Week (by Sal Di Stefano)
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.
The Resistance Training Revolution is a wonderful look at the benefits of regular resistance work – in incredible detail, covering both the evolutionary reasoning and current research sides of things.
Love 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.
