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 : Soothing Music and a Handful of New PRs
  Scott Andrew Bird
  How about there – what sort of things do you typically listen to? Does it depend on the type or length of the workout?
  

• Looking At : Nov 3, 2024 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 : I Only Ate ‘Healthy’ Fast Food For 50 Hours (Will Tennyson)

Interesting. Curious though : what’s your own diet like when travelling – does it change at all? Personally, if I’m only on-the-road for a few days or weeks; I eat & drink whatever I like. Get back to a routine once I return.

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 164 we discussed Online Training II with Renaissance Fitness‘ Derek Peruo. 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 : Measurrd (Smart Kitchen Scale)

Interesting combination. The Measurrd Scale is an intriguing mix of kitchen scale and online recipe guide. A smartphone app (with an API!) completes the picture. To show you what I mean, a little video :
The Measurrd Scale.

Tip of the Week : The Stages of Workout Nutrition

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 is a brief look at the major stages of workout nutrition, and their goals. A bit of fine-tuning here can go a long way indeed.

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From Gymchat 133 – Workout Nutrition :

Kurtis Frank.

Any meal can contribute to a workout (glycogen replenishment mostly), but generally workout nutrition is broken into three segments. The pre-workout, the intra-workout (optional dependent on goals), and the post-workout. Pre-workout is literally just a meal you eat before you hit the gym. It holds more importance than other meals (say, breakfast if you train in the PM) since the nutrients you ingest at this meal will still be floating around in your blood when it comes time for a workout. Intra-workout is typically something you bring to the gym to sip on, and where stuff typically gets all fancy with supplementation and is the area most people like to talk about. (This includes post-workout shakes consumed immediately after training) Post-workout is when you get home and make a nice meal. There are typically higher rates of muscular metabolism and generally more metabolic direction to muscle and away from fat mass (compared to other meals). So nutrients post workout tend to be put to better fates than other meals.

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 : Upright Kettlebell Rows (Rope)

This afternoon I was mulling over various trap exercises and their equivalents with the kettlebell. Several of the usual suspects came to mind, and I found myself doing everything from Farmer’s Walks to Monkey Rows with the kettlebell. The favourite, however, proved to be Upright Rows done using a kettlebell and a length of rope (or a steel tow-cable in this instance). Lots of flesh-tearing fun.
Upright kettlebell rows (rope) Find a few feet of rope, cable, washing line or anything similar that comes to hand. Feed this through the handle of the kettlebell, grab the rope about 4″ either side of the bell, and lift until both hands are above sternum height. Lower slowly and repeat. Variations Altering both the distance between hands and bell and the type of cord will make this exercise more or less difficult. This can also be done as a High Pull (start with kettlebell on floor, rather than a hang position). Further thoughts This could just as easily be done by feeding weight plates onto a length of rope. The rope simply adds a bit of grip work to the standard exercise.

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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 : ‘Insulin : A Hundred-Year History’ (by Stuart Bradwel)

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. Stuart Bradwel’s ‘Insulin : A Hundred-Year History’ takes a wonderfully thorough look at the history of this incredible hormone – notably that of the synthetic version. Enjoy. 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.