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 : 5 Surprising Factors That Drive Training Results
‘Napalm‘ Jedd Johnson
Is your progress grinding to a halt? Try changing some of these.
Looking At : Jan 12, 2014
Scott Andrew Bird
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 more writing in 2014 and would like to submit your own piece for Straight to the Bar, here’s how.
Video : Fitness for Google Glass™ in Action
In previous Gymchats we’ve discussed various ways to use Google Glass in your training. To give you an idea of what it might look like, here’s a brief demo video of the Lynxfit app in action.
Good stuff.
Gymchat 231 – Fat Loss 101 (Vic Magary)
Fat loss. It’s certainly a goal for an awful lot of people, but where exactly do you start? What do you eat, what do you do?
This week we’ll be discussing this fascinating area. Whether you’re looking to do a little fine-tuning or shed a load of ‘extra material‘, we’ll detail precisely how to do that. Taking us through the entire process is Online Fitness Coach Vic Magary, joined by Personal Trainer Josh Hewett. If you’ve got questions/comments for Vic or Josh, just swing by the event page for this Gymchat (during the discussion itself). Details below.
Details –
Who : Online Fitness Coach Vic Magary and Personal Trainer Josh Hewett
Topic : Fat Loss 101 (for Beginners / Intermediates)
When : Wednesday Jan 15, 9pm EDT (the Event page shows what time that is in your local timezone)
How : Watch the live stream, and ask questions, directly on the Event page. We’ll also post the full video shortly after the Gymchat.
See you there.
Previously : In Gymchat 230 we discussed the World’s Strongest Disabled Man competition (with Strength Athletes and Personal Trainers Jeff King and Josh Hewett). Great conversation.
If you missed the live stream (or just want to go over a particular point again), you can watch the entire video here.
Tip of the Week: Strengthen Your Neck, Reduce Pain, Increase Lifts
Each week we publish a number of tips and techniques via Twitter, Google+, the blog; and now the newsletter. Wherever you are, there’s always a way to improve what you’re doing.
This tip is from Josh Hewett‘s excellent ‘Bulletproof Your Body‘ series. The ‘right‘ way to strengthen your neck.
Over to Josh :
When starting a neck strengthening program, you must be careful to be very progressive… start slow and easy and work your way up to more challenging exercises over time. For example, you can begin your exercise program by doing simple chin tucks while sitting or standing. (See video)
Once you get comfortable with basic sitting/standing chin tucks, you can try doing the exercise lying down. Build up to doing around 10 reps, holding for 5 to 10 seconds each rep. The goal is to increase the muscular endurance of your muscles as well as their strength. Your neck is designed to carry the weight of your head all day, not to lift trains or buses!
Good stuff. Note that this is only a snippet from the full piece – swing by Josh‘ blog for the entire article. A great read.
Re-Reading : The Grip Masters Manual
I love this book.
A friend of mine mentioned the can-crushing feat the other day (it’s a superb feat – here’s a bit of video if you’ve never seen it), and we got to chatting about this superb book. An incredible collection of John Brookfield‘s training ideas and approaches.
Rest assured, if you’re looking for world class grip strength, make sure you’ve got a copy of this.
Quick update on the Hip Thruster we mentioned recently – fantastic thing.
Rather than trying to explain how it works, here it is in action :
Good stuff Bret, looks great.
Exercise of the Week : Thief Vault Tutorial
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.
Kettlebell Exercise Demonstrations & Tutorials
We’ve looked at a lot of kettlebell exercises and variations over the years – in the form of tips, tutorials and demonstrations.
Where do you find them all? Right here – a complete list of Kettlebell Exercise Demonstrations & Tutorials.
Enjoy.
A Daily Dose
Love this stuff? Same here. If you’re looking for a daily dose of strength-training goodness, grab the Straight to the Bar Daily.
Absolutely free.
Free Downloads from the Strength Kit
I recently added a number of resources to the Straight to the Bar Strength Kit, and as a Strength & Fitness Newsletter subscriber you’re more than welcome to download as many of them as you like. Several great eBooks, podcasts and videos – all absolutely free.
Just head over here, save them to your hard-drive, and dive in.
Good stuff.
NB : This is an ever-changing list. If you’d like to put your own work in front of a fantastic strength-focussed audience, let me know.
Giving
If you’ve been training for a while, gradually cleaning up your diet, no doubt you’ve experienced the amazing power of transformation. It’s a tremendous feeling.
If you’re ready to give someone else a hand to transform their own lives – through education, sharing equipment, financial help – take a look at the full list of organisations on the Giving page. Cheers.