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 : Straight to the Grip Contest Part V – The No-sets
  ‘Napalm’ Jedd Johnson
  No pre-closing.
  

• Looking At : Apr 20, 2025 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 : Fat or Fuel? What Your Body REALLY Does With Carbs (Institute of Human Anatomy)

Great information.

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 194 we discussed Performance Training for Hockey with Certified Athletic Trainer Conor Doherty, as well as Personal Trainer Kirk Fontaine. 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 over on Kirk’s Youtube channel : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOSLyxgAi4g .
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 : PiEEG Kit (Home Bioscience Lab)

Interesting idea. The PiEEG Kit is a ‘Bioscience Lab In-A-Box’, a great way to measure and analyse signals from the brain, muscles, heart and so on. Looks great. A little video :
The PiEEG Kit.

Tip of the Week : Use a Weight You Can Control

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 the enigmatic Gerard F, and is a snippet from a series of very interesting conversations surrounding the insights of the ‘Iron Guru‘, Vince Gironda.

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The full quote is :  

Use a weight you can control, and control the weight you use.

This applies to a lot of things, but in this case we were talking about the bench press. Gerard noted :

At best the Bench Press is an “OK” exercise even when done correctly, but nearly everyone performs it based on the wrong concept. Using 8-12 reps its OK, but what happens is, when the reps get tough, your form goes bad, the back arches and/or your torso torques; stress goes from the chest to the triceps to the shoulder/cuff, and your strong side lifts the load that your weak side can’t handle.

Over bench pressing gives you a circle looking chest, that’s when the shoulders and tris are developed because the chest can’t handle the weight, and what happens is the shoulder and tris are targeted more than the pecs.

Very interesting. Would love to hear your thoughts on the subject.

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 : The Bradford Press

Whilst looking through a few of the older T-Mag articles the other day I came across a mention of the Bradford Press, one of the less well-known movements favoured by The Renegade himself, John Davies. The Bradford Press is named for former US Heavyweight lifter Jim Bradford, an olympic lifter, who had a reputation for being able to press any weight he was satisfactorily able to clean. After doing a few sets of these I can understand why. The exercise looks similar to a Military Press, except that the weight is moved in an arc from in front of the head to behind it; and back again. This manages to work all parts of the deltoids, as well as giving the forearms something to think about. An unusual, but highly effective, movement.

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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 : ‘Anatomy for Runners : Unlocking Your Athletic Potential for Health, Speed, and Injury Prevention’ (by Jay Dicharry MPT SCS)

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. Jay Dicharry MPT SCS’ ‘Anatomy for Runners : Unlocking Your Athletic Potential for Health, Speed, and Injury Prevention takes an incredibly thorough look at the biomechanics underlying running – how everything works, and how to identify which aspects to modify (and how). Wonderful. 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.