Interesting idea.

The Cardlax 2.0 is a credit card-sized portable massager for impromptu massage sessions. Electrical Muscle Stimulation, 10 intensity levels.

Wireless, and washable.

A little video :

The Cardlax 2.0.

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 : Re-Entering the World of Fitness
  Scott Andrew Bird | Follow @scottbird
  The journey begins.

  
  

• Looking At : Dec 27, 2020
  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 : Betting Big On Genomics Stocks (Steven Mark Ryan)

This video highlights the potential upcoming changes in genomics (many of which we've discussed on the main site, if you're looking to dive in a little deeper), as well as noting just one of the ways to invest your money into such possibilities. Interesting mix.

Gymchat 278 - TBA

We're still finalising the details for this week's discussion. I'll post them on the blog (and Twitter, 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.

Kurtis Frank. Photo by Kira Beriault.

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.

The Future of Fitness : Health & Fitness Predictions for 2021

Batou (Ghost in the Shell).

Continuing those thoughts, here are a few items that may make an appearance over the next year or so. Health & Fitness Predictions for 2021.

NB : I always receive some wonderful feedback on these 'peer into the future' posts - greatly appreciated. If you'd like to drop me a line, just point me to a tweet or leave a comment on the relevant Straight to the Bar post. Cheers.


Several ageing-related clinical trials begin. I suspect that we'll see the end of 'death from old age' by the end of this decade, with some wonderful advancements between now and then.

Neuralink begins human trials (Initially looking at restoring movement in tetraplegics and paraplegics). Other BCI products such as Paradromics Inc's 'Argo' and Synchron Inc's 'Stentrode' launch publically.

3D-printed temporary hospitals begin appearing. Initially as tests, with emergency uses coming shortly afterward.

Many more electric cars are launched, and EV chargers will seem to appear regularly. If you're in a position to, this is a great time to install a couple at your place of business.

At the same time, several ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) vehicle bans begin, and many more are heavily discussed. The ability to train outdoors gets a little easier as a result, and many of the pollution-related health impacts continue to decline.

SpaceX's global satelite internet constellation 'Starlink' is available in most countries worldwide, with other areas being gradually filled in. Although ideal in many situations, it's the emergency use that I'm most excited about (think of the ability to communicate in a town which has just been hit by fire/flood/hurricane etc).

NB : Amazon's 'Kuiper' service (same idea) will follow shortly afterward, with launches beginning at the end of the year.

Autonomous driving gets a whole lot closer. Tesla's FSD builds are fairly solid, and rolled out to a global fleet of testers in order to find edge cases.

Incredible potential for those who can not (or should not) drive.

Autonomous delivery of food & medicine tested in several locations, prior to their commercial roll-outs. Small, electric and wonderfully convenient.

Intelligent home air-conditioning systems (with inbuilt water and air filtration in many cases) begin to appear. Healthier homes, and much less expensive to run. Perfect.

Gene sequencing becomes much, much cheaper over the year; and is used more and more broadly. In many cases, genetic modification follows close behind, and the diseases solved impact larger and larger groups of people.

Incidentally - if you're wondering how we've done in the past, here are all of the previous futurism articles.

Over to you. What are your thoughts on the various predictions above - both the content and the timeframes? Anything you'd change, or add?

And what are your own predictions for next year, both for the fitness and medical worlds? Drop a comment below, or over on Twitter.

Checking Out : Cardlax 2.0 (Portable EMS Device)

Interesting idea.

The Cardlax 2.0 is a credit card-sized portable massager for impromptu massage sessions. Electrical Muscle Stimulation, 10 intensity levels.

Wireless, and washable.

A little video :

The Cardlax 2.0.

Rather than trying to explain how it works, here it is in action :

Good stuff Bret, looks great.

Looks good.

The OYEET NEX is a Portable Massage Gun for impromptu percussive massage sessions. Nice and deep, nice and fast.

And cordless. There's a cradle for recharging it.

If you've never used one, the video below will show you exactly what it can do.

The OYEET NEX.

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 : The Gym Bag Essential that Could Take You to the Next Level
  Jeff Wilson | Follow @BasinsFitness
  A fantastic grip accessory - the towel.

  
  

• Looking At : Dec 20, 2020
  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 : Apple Fitness Plus Review (KevTheTrainer)

Remember the announcement of Apple's Fitness+ service? It's now here (either individually or as part of 'Apple One'), and looks great.

Gymchat 278 - TBA

We're still finalising the details for this week's discussion. I'll post them on the blog (and Twitter, 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.

Paul Teixeira.

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.

Tip of the Week: License Plate Tearing Technique

Each week we publish a number of tips and techniques via 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 performing Strongman Chris Rider, and is from his superb article Tearing A License Plate. Enjoy.

Following a thorough description of the safety requirements for performing this feat (and it really can be a dangerous one, so proceed carefully), comes the basic technique involved. Over to Chris :

Tear it up.

Now that we have ourselves protected, it's time to grab the plate. I personally like to tear plates at chest level, and that is the method I am going to discuss. As a dry run without a plate, place your dominant hand in a hammer style grip. Place the pinky side of that hand just above the bottom of the sternum. Now place the other fist in the same manner below the dominant one so you have the thumb side of the non-dominant and the pinky side of the dominant meeting. Squeeze as hard as you can and push your hands in opposite directions with the top hand going slightly upward and the bottom hand going slightly downward. If you push straight through, the potential for being cut dramatically increases.

Want more? No problem. Head over to the original article, and watch the video below to see it in action. Beautiful.

Checking Out : OYEET NEX (Portable Massage Gun)

Looks good.

The OYEET NEX is a Portable Massage Gun for impromptu percussive massage sessions. Nice and deep, nice and fast.

And cordless. There's a cradle for recharging it.

If you've never used one, the video below will show you exactly what it can do.

The OYEET NEX.

Rather than trying to explain how it works, here it is in action :

Good stuff Bret, looks great.

Interesting idea.

Although I'm not exactly a fan of the 'late night infomercial' vibe of the video (below), the product itself is intriguing. Particularly the stretching aspect.

The NEXX is a pillow-sized neck therapy device, with a focus on the cervical traction approach to things. A spot of neck stretching and massage.

A little video to show you what I mean :

The NEXX.

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 : The Lost Art of Overhead Pressing
  Scott Andrew Bird | Follow @scottbird
  How much? Time to find out.

  
  

• Looking At : Apr 26, 2020
  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 : How to Make Sense of the Constantly Shifting Info on the Coronavirus (Peter Attia on Impact Theory)

Interesting discussion - especially the exercise & supplementation points.

Gymchat 278 - TBA

We're still finalising the details for this week's discussion. I'll post them on the blog (and Twitter, 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.

Frank DiMeo.

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.

Tip of the Week : Neck Bridge Progressions

Each week we publish a number of tips and techniques via Twitter, the blog; and the newsletter. Wherever you are, there's always a way to improve what you're doing.

This tip is in the form of a video which we first saw back in 2008; I was reminded of this technique after a brief discussion of neck training over on Google+. It's a very interesting series of neck bridge variations.

Over to Martin Rooney :

Good stuff.

Checking Out : NEXX (Home Therapy Neck Device)

Interesting idea.

Although I'm not exactly a fan of the 'late night infomercial' vibe of the video (below), the product itself is intriguing. Particularly the stretching aspect.

The NEXX is a pillow-sized neck therapy device, with a focus on the cervical traction approach to things. A spot of neck stretching and massage.

A little video to show you what I mean :

The NEXX.

Rather than trying to explain how it works, here it is in action :

Good stuff Bret, looks great.

Looks great.

The Jself is a pillow with massage/heating/music functions built in. Looks like an ideal post-workout device.

I'm keen to test one, though I suspect that the heating and massage functions feel pretty good regardless of their long-term abilities. And in the meantime, a spot of video :

The Jself.

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 : From the Fitness Shelves - Goodreads
  Scott Andrew Bird | Follow @scottbird
  Share what you're reading.

  
  

• Looking At : Feb 23, 2020
  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 : What I Learned From Parents Who Don't Vaccinate Their Kids (Jennifer Reich)

A very positive way to look at the anti-vaccination issue, long term. How about you - how do you typically respond?

Gymchat 278 - TBA

We're still finalising the details for this week's discussion. I'll post them on the blog (and Twitter, 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.

Bud Jeffries.

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.

Tip of the Week: Modifying Lifts - The Jefferson

Each week we publish a number of tips and techniques via 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 Jason's superb article 29 Things to do with a Barbell in the Corner; and looks at just one of the many ways to put a partly-loaded barbell to work. The Modified Jefferson Lift.

Over to Jason :

This is where you straddle the barbell with both legs, and grasp above the weights while you lower yourself straight down as if sitting down into a chair. The R.O.M. is limited so you can use heavier weights if you feel comfortable.

You can modify all kinds of lifts in similar ways. Good fun.

Checking Out : Jself (Massage Pillow)

Looks great.

The Jself is a pillow with massage/heating/music functions built in. Looks like an ideal post-workout device.

I'm keen to test one, though I suspect that the heating and massage functions feel pretty good regardless of their long-term abilities. And in the meantime, a spot of video :

The Jself.

Rather than trying to explain how it works, here it is in action :

Good stuff Bret, looks great.

Interesting idea.

The Accusage Thermo is a combination Heating/Cooling Massage Wrap - ideal for workout injuries.

Until I try one personally I'm unable to speak to the device's ability, though I suspect the warmth & heating help things quite a bit (and probably feel great in the process).

A spot of video :

The Accusage Thermo