Custom Search

all things strength

over 100,000 readers monthly

Photo by Steve Collins

Get your fix.

Keep up with the world of strength - sign up for the Strength & Fitness Newsletter. Absolutely free.

As a bonus, you'll get a copy of Jedd Johnson's '14 Things you NEED for your First Strongman Contest' - absolutely free.

Perfect.

TGIF : weekly round-up (WE Fri 20 Apr 07)

by Scott Andrew Bird | April 20, 2007
Filed in TGIF

Articles : Christian Thibaudeau hits the ground running in his new Optimized Figure Training series with 10 Ways to improve your workout, Jonty Rhodes discusses why fielding should be fun and Eric Cressey urges everyone to stop thinking and start doing.
Videos : Grip World Records are broken by Elizabeth Horne and Martin Arildsson, Dr Lamont J Cardon performs some arthroscopic shoulder surgery and the Iron Maven takes a look at some old-school Polish weightlifting training.
Grip : Scott Styles is in training for this year's Michigan Grip Championship, Aneta Florczyk does a little frypan-rolling and Dunkster finds a great use for the Argos catalogue.
Blogs : Raymond Britt delves into marathon running (and has some great shots from Boston), Danny finds some great DIY equipment over at Chasing Elite and Joshua Bird blends Crossfit- and WSB-style workouts on Interfit Online.
Bonus : Tracy Fober looks at the benefits of video analysis. Very interesting indeed.

Enjoy this post? You'll love the newsletter.

In the meantime, here are a few others you might like :

Discussion

I'd love to hear what you think. Pop over to the forums and share your opinion. See you there.

on the rack

tell us about it

Straight to the Bar is very much an interactive website. In addition to the articles here, there are a number of ways to share your passion with other lovers of the iron :

Seen something cool? Send us a tweet
Discuss it in the forums
Join the SttB Facebook group
Vote for stories on Digg & StumbleUpon
Add training and comp pics to the Flickr group
Create articles on styles and techniques
Subscribe to the tutorial videos on youtube

»» more »»

reading

the team

There are several great writers here, looking at the world of strength training from a number of angles. The regulars :

Scott Bird (@scottbird)
Writer and Fitness enthusiast
Jedd 'Napalm' Johnson (@jeddjohnson)
Grip champion and Strongman
'Unbreakable' Adam T Glass (@adamtglass)
Bending freak and Strongman
Kat 'The Mighty Kat' Ricker
Bodybuilder and Writer
Joe Hashey (@jhashey)
Athlete, Teacher and Trainer
Josh Hanagarne (@joshhanagarne)
Kettlebell and grip afficionado
Bill Long (@bill_long1)
SPC and grip fanatic

In addition, articles are submitted from across the globe. Got a piece you'd like to share? Let us know.

training at work

There's always a way to train while you're at work. (Josh Hanagarne)

elsewhere

This is a fantastic book. If you've ever considered learning this incredible strength feat, the Card Tearing eBook (review) is the perfect place to start. Love it.

In addition to the articles on this site are a number I've written elsewhere. Including :

thanks to

I get regular questions regarding the hosting of this site, my favourite stats package and so on, so here are a few details :

Web hosting : pair Networks
Email : AWeber
Stats : pMetrics
Feeds : FeedBurner
Computer : MacBook Pro

Pair is easily the fastest and most reliable host I've come across - perfect for a site like this. If you're setting up your own blog, forum or ezine; check them out. Brilliant.

what to get?

Thanks for dropping by. If you’d like to help support this site (and get in great shape at the same time), here’s a list of strength-training books, DVDs and tools I recommend. Love them.

Dragon Door Kettlebells
These are easily the best kettlebells I've used; and I'd strongly recommend them above all others. Well-made, comfortable to use and ready to take any abuse you send their way. Love them.
RMAX Clubbells
I'm a big fan of leverage training in any form, especially things like the RMAX Clubbells. Beautiful things.
MBG Powerwheel
Although I generally avoid single-purpose tools, I'll happily make an exception for the Powerwheel. Ab training has never been so much fun.
Battling Rope Kit
This is easily my favourite form of conditioning work. Incredibly fun, exhausting and - most importantly - effective.
Precision Nutrition
When it comes to body transformation - whether that's a increase in strength, packing on a bit of muscle or losing a bit of excess fat - this is the perfect place to start. Dr Berardi's Precision Nutrition.
Gymboss Interval Timer
If you've ever tried to do interval work with a stopwatch, or by counting out the time, grab a Gymboss. The perfect way to time your fat-shedding sessions.
The Ultimate Sandbag
I love sandbag training, and this is definitely the way to do it right. Beautiful thing.