What's This?

The Strength & Fitness Newsletter is a weekly email newsletter which summarises the things added to Straight to the Bar (as well as a few gems from the archives). Absolutely free.

btw, I’d love to hear your feedback – both on the individual items and the newsletters themselves. Drop a comment below the relevant issue, or swing by X/Twitter ( I’m @scottbird ).

cheers,

Scott

Ready To Learn Even More?

I love learning new skills, and the many seminars & workshops available are a great way to do that. If you’re looking for a specific type of workshop nearby, check out the ones on Dragon Door. Great mix of kettlebell and calisthenics-based offerings.

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Podcasts

I listen to an ever-changing pool of podcasts, discussing the many aspects of training and nutrition possible. Most recently :
FoundMyFitness (Dr Matthew Walker on Sleep)

Over to you. Any you’d recommend?

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Strength Training on Instagram

It’s fair to say that we’ve checked out quite a few images over the years – on Flickr & Smugmug in particular.

A friend of mine just pointed me to Chris Stanciu ‘s Instagram feed, which contains a great mix of nutrition and workout images :

instagram.com/officialgainsthetics.

NB : if you’d like to share your own images, just add them to one of the sites noted above and send us a link.

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Strength Training on Facebook

I suspect you love talking about strength training constantly (certainly the case here), and you’re always on the lookout for places to do that. Comments on various sites, forums as well as various in-person communities.

Online, I gravitate toward both Twitter and Facebook. In addition to the SttB offerings, here’s another one you may wish to check out :

Garage Gym Reviews (Cooper Mitchell’s page)

We’ve noted a few of his videos in the past, and they’re great for diving in deep on a particular type of equipment. Nice one.

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Twitter Lists

I use X/Twitter for a number of things, as I’m sure everyone else here does. To talk about strength training, nutrition and many other topics. Works well.

To make this a little easier – and so people can dive right in to the topics that interest them – I use X/Twitter’s ‘List‘ functionality quite a bit. There’s a full list of them here :

https://x.com/scottbird/lists

Whatever you’re in to, it’s all there.

NB : the above lists are always being fine-tuned. If you know of someone who posts regularly about a particular subject and should be on one of them, let me know.

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Other (Daily) Newsletters You Might Like

Finally, for a daily dose of tangentially-related information – check out the following. All are compiled daily, and cover the following topics :

Aging & Longevity (living for a very, very long time)
Electric Cars in Australia (great way to help tackle air-pollution)
Better Sleep Nightly (my favourite form of recovery)

And yes, they’re absolutely free.

Bruce Lee : The Art of Expressing the Human Body (Bruce Lee & John Little)

If you’ve ever watched a Bruce Lee film and marveled at his strength, speed, agility, endurance, flexibility or muscularity, this book should take pride of place in your collection. Unlike many other writings covering everything from Lee’s training methods to nutrition, this book is based not on the recollections of people around him; but on Lee’s own notes. Brilliant.

Definitely worthy of a place on the fitness shelf.

Bruce Lee : The Art of Expressing the Human Body.

Monday, 21 Nov 2022

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 : What are Bumper Plates?
Mike Beatty
Nice and thorough.

Looking At : Nov 20, 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 : Heart Rate Variability: Harnessing Your Own Personal Superpower (Inna Khazan : TEDx Talks)

How to (and why you’ll likely want to) train HRV yourself. Wonderful talk.

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.

Derek ‘D-Rock‘ Peruo.

Previously : In Gymchat 192 we discussed Supplementation & Olympic Lifting (Derek Peruo) with Personal Trainer Derek ‘D-Rock‘ Peruo, 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=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 : Insights from Dr. Matthew Walker, Adam Grant/Atul Gawande, Diana Chapman, and Rich Roll/David Goggins (The Tim Ferriss Show #630)

Very interesting indeed. This episode of The Tim Ferriss Show is sort of a taster for several other podcasts (which I’ll certainly be checking out over the next week or two), as well as containing some intriguing ideas itself. Wonderful mix. 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.
The Tim Ferriss Show #630.

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 : Finding a Personal Trainer

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.

It’s about more than the money.

When it comes to getting a fitness professional who’s going to help you clarify and reach your goals, finding one is half the battle. Offering a couple of suggestions in that area is Total Transformation’s John Kaiser, who’s had more than a little experience himself. Nice one. Over to John.
From the article Eliminating the Lug Nuts: How to Find a Good Trainer, a few thoughts :

Get the Digits. Step one, ask your trainer for references that you can contact. Step two, contact those references. It is amazing how many people miss step two–apparently asking for references only as a bluff. When you call the list of references, ask about their results. Where did they start and how far has he taken them? Did their hard work combined with his training know-how pay off? Has he been reliable and professional? Good trainers get results; lug nuts only get your money. One Size Fits All. Is the nutrition/training sheet your trainer gives you just a black and white copy–the same one he hands out to all his clients? Or does she/he give you a personalized workout and nutrition plan? You are paying for a personalized approach, so make sure you get it! Good Trainers Personalize, Bad Trainers Xerox Can’t we All Just get Along? There is nothing worse than putting down several hundred dollars on a personal trainer only to find that the two of you can’t get along. So pay for a few individual sessions (even if it costs a bit more). This will give you an opportunity to get to know the trainer, see how he runs his shop, and strike up a rapport. You aren’t auditioning him/her for the role of best friend, but you should expect a certain level of professionalism. A good trainer is always professional

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 : L Pull-Ups

Running on‘s Shari Keener clearly demonstrating that Ls are not just for men.

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 : Raising the Bar : The Definitive Guide to Bar Calisthenics (by Al Kavadlo)

Raising the Bar

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. Over the weekend I found myself again discussing calisthenics with a friend of mine (I tend to do a bit of it when travelling), which resulted in two things : 1. an impromptu workout 2. a re-reading of Al Kavadlo’s superb book, Raising the Bar : The Definitive Guide to Bar Calisthenics. If you haven’t already, check it out. 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.