This Week on Straight to the Bar
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 :- Health & Fitness Research
Various authors
There has been some fantastic research posted recently (particularly surrounding Vit D, and new stem cell trials), both on the forums and the Facebook page. Dive in. - Calculating Your One-Rep Max (1RM) (registered forum members only)
Scott Andrew Bird
How do you work out your 1RM? Like this.
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.
NB : I'd love to hear your thoughts. Leave a comment beneath the article itself, and share your views with the fantastic strength-training community. Cheers.
Video : Bulgarian Bag Guillotine Series
Interesting way to put the Bulgarian Bag to work. Nice one.
Twitterchat 120 - Exercise Variations
You know the feeling.Perhaps you've run out plates, or room on the bar. Perhaps you're sick of the routine, and want something a little different. Or perhaps you're just having a great day, and want a bit more of a challenge.
Whatever the reason, there's always a way to switch things up. An alternative exercise, the use of bands or chains; shorter rest breaks and so on.
This week we're discussing these options, and many others. How to make your favourite exercises just a little more interesting, challenging and - in some cases - effective. Looking forward to it.
Details -
Who : Strength-training fans
Topic : Exercise Variations
When : Wed Jun 1, 9pm EDT (1am UTC)
How : Include #sbgym in your tweets.
If you've never been to one of these twitterchats 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 twitterchat calendar.
The Virtualmeet.net Gathering 2011
Kris, this looks fantastic.
The Gathering is quite simply a way to physically meet those you've only competed against virtually (in the Virtual Meets - great things). It takes place in Kris' own outdoor gym just outside Vaasa, western Finland.
To give you an idea of what goes on during the 4 days of The Gathering, here are some of the photos from the last meet-up in 2009. There's also an excellent write-up by Alberto Caraballo over on his blog The Reinvention Tour.
For full details - and to sign up - head over to the Virtual Meet site. Beautiful.
For those who missed out on the conversation, here's a brief summary. Was a great one.
Tip of the Week: Why Armwrestlers are Called 'Pullers' (and How To Be a Better One)
Each week we publish a number of tips and techniques via twitter, facebook, 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 us via professional armwrestler Scott Latella, and is part of his superb article How to Become a Better Armwrestler. Enjoy.
Armwrestling is a leverage sport; gain that advantage and your chances of winning skyrocket. So when getting your grip focus on a nice tight grip, tighten your whole arm so it stays super tight at a 90% angle and then when the ref (or 3rd buddy) says go, yank his arm straight back to you (aim for your nose). If he is not ready for this his arm will open up and you will have a great leverage advantage. At this point you go for the pin and thrust sideways. Can you say winner??
Checking Out : The StrongerThanU Ultimate Anchor
This is a great idea.StrongerThanU is a collaboration between StrongerGrip's Ryan Pitts and trainer Eric Chessen. This product - the StrongerThanU Ultimate Anchor - is a superbly simple concept; an anchor point for undulating rope training, for up to 4 people at once. If you train groups of people using things like the Battling Ropes, the StrongerThanU Ultimate Anchor really is an essential piece of kit.
Beautiful.
As I'm more than a little partial to the deadlift, I'm a big fan. What do you think - has Explode Your Deadlift helped you in your own quest?
A great read.