Welcome to Straight to the Bar
If you’ve just joined us, welcome. Here you’ll find everything that grunts, groans and ticks in the world of strength training. In short, this site is the home of all things strength.
Incidentally, this site’s been helping people become fitter, healthier and stronger since January 2004. If you’ve just joined us, I highly recommend subscribing to the weekly Strength & Fitness Newsletter (part of the Strength Kit), which contains details of new posts on the site, freshly-minted video demonstrations & tutorials, details of upcoming Gymchats and a whole lot more.
And yes, it’s absolutely free.
To help get you started, here are a few of our most recent posts. And if you want to dive in to a particular area. check out the ‘Start Here‘ page above. Enjoy.
Fitness Reading/Listening For The Week : ‘Eat the Planet Well : How to fix our toxic food system – one meal at a time’ (by Dave Goulson)
Dave Goulson’s ‘Eat the Planet Well : How to fix our toxic food system – one meal at a time‘ is a wonderful exploration of a fascinating area (and sadly, one which is often overlooked) – how our food system works, and how it arguably _should_ work.
Dive in.
Squeeze (Hand Dynamometer)
The Squeeze is a hand dynamometer with a rather simple (thought somewhat uncommon) design. The video will show you what I mean.
HARDCORE HOME GYMS EP. 22 – The All GRIP Gym ft. Jedd “Napalm” Johnson (Jujimufu)
Big fan of both Jedd (he’s the reason I got into grip training in the first place) and this gym.
Enjoy.
Looking At : May 17 2026
This Week On Straight To The Bar…
Fitness Reading/Listening For The Week : ‘Habits for Greatness : 30 Lessons from the Greats to Live Your Best Life Now’ (by Dr Tim Sharp)
Fitness Reading/Listening For The Week : ‘Habits for Greatness : 30 Lessons from the Greats to Live Your Best Life Now’ (by Dr Tim Sharp)
MedBed (Red Light Therapy Mattress Cover)
Interesting idea.
The MedBed is a red light therapy device in the form of a mattress cover. Unusual combination.
HARDCORE HOME GYMS EP. 21 – Martin Seck’s Martial Arts Home Gym (Jujimufu)
Love this series – great to see how various people train.
Looking At : May 10 2026
This Week On Straight To The Bar…
BikeX (Heartrate Training Zone Calculator)
The BikeX is a heartrate training zone calculator – essentially a consumer version of the pro device.
Fitness Reading/Listening For The Week : ‘Lifespan: Why We Age—and Why We Don’t Have To’ (by David Sinclair, PhD, AO)
Given the current trials, I’m re-reading David Sinclair’s ‘Lifespan: Why We Age—and Why We Don’t Have To‘ – a wonderful look at his thoughts on aging, and a key insight into his present longevity research.
Dive in.