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 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 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 Twitter’s ‘List‘ functionality quite a bit. There’s a full list of them here :

https://twitter.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 tweets 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, 7 Nov 2011

This Week on Straight to the Bar

As I noted last week, I’m currently on vacation in the beautiful New Zealand (back Nov 16). In the meantime, here are a couple of Gems From The Vault :

Thomas Topham : The First Modern Strongman
Scott Andrew Bird
A close look at a fascinating 18th century Strongman.

GripWalking
Dan Hardisky
Like your grip work? You’ll love this. Great idea.

Ready to add your own opinion, workout log or training article? Just head over to the Forums, Training Logs, or swing by the Article Submissions page. They’re fantastic ways to share your ideas.

Video : Autumn Training (Parkour)

Nice one.

Gymchat 143 – Strength Training Over 40 : II

Raymond Ho.

A little over a year ago we first looked at the idea of training longevity; specifically Strength Training Over 40. Time to revisit some of those ideas, from a slightly different angle.
This week we’ll be returning to our discussion, looking at the nutritional, recovery, injury and equipment considerations related to training at this age. Everything that will help make sure you’re stronger, healthier and in generally better condition in your 40s (and onward) than you are/were in your 20s.
Helping us explore this fascinating topic is none other than Zen My Fitness‘ Raymond Ho. And as I’m still on vacation, this conversation will be moderated by none other than Personal Trainer Kirk Fontaine. Fantastic.

Details –
Who : Strength-training fans
Topic : Strength Training Over 40 : II
When : Wed Nov 9, 9pm EDT (1am UTC)
How : Post a comment, question or reply
If you’ve never been to one of these discussions before, here’s how to join in the fun. Simple, quick to set up and free.
And to see when it’s on in your timezone, head over to the calendar.
See you there.

Eric Chessen.

Quick update on last week’s gymchat : Thanks once again to everyone who took part in the discussion on Gymchat 142 – Fitness & Autism. Some superb ideas in there.
For those who missed out on the conversation, here’s the transcript. Was a great one.

Tip of the Week: Improvements in Fitness Trained Autistic Clients

Each week we publish a number of tips and techniques via twitter, Google+, the forums, the blog; and now the newsletter. Wherever you are, there’s always a way to improve what you’re doing.
This tip comes to use from Eric Chessen, and was part of last week’s conversation on Fitness & Autism. Great discussion.

Eric Chessen.

From the Fitness & Autism discussion, in response to the question :
What kind of short term and long term improvements do you see in your autistic clients once you start training them?

It depends on the individual, but it is never only physical improvement. That’s why I created the PAC Profile, because we’re never just looking at physical ability, but adaptive and cognitive abilities as well. In the short-term, I’ve had athletes begin to really enjoy movement and improve in their gross motor skills, strength, stability, and stamina.

In the long term it becomes a lifestyle, and the athletes begin to embrace movement and fitness.

Good stuff. Whether you know autistic individuals or not, it’s great to know what’s possible.

Exercise of the Week : Hip Mobility

Although the stretches in the video are directed toward hockey goalkeepers, they have much broader use. Over to Maria.

Incidentally, if you’d like to get in touch regarding this or any other aspect of strength, you can send me an email here. Look forward to hearing from you.

Free Straight to the Bar eBooks

As a Strength & Fitness Newsletter subscriber you get several great eBooks, absolutely free. Just head over here, save them to your hard-drive, and dive in.
Good stuff.
NB : This is an ever-changing list of books. If you’d like to put your own work in front of a fantastic strength-focussed audience, let me know.

Time for Some New Gear? Here’s What to Get, and How to Use It

Thanks to everyone who’s sent in feedback (via email, Facebook and Twitter) about the Straight to the Bar Guides – it’s greatly appreciated.
For everyone who hasn’t seen them yet, the Guides will help you decide what to get (and where), and how to train with it. There’s some great information in there.