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.
Looking At : Aug 18 2024
This Week On Straight To The Bar…
Fitness Reading/Listening For The Week : ‘The Maps We Carry – Psychedelics, Trauma and Our New Path to Mental Health’ (by Rose Cartwright)
Rose Cartwright’s ‘The Maps We Carry’ is a wonderful look a the use of psychedelics to help treat various mental illnesses, interwoven with the author’s own journey.
Dive in.
BARTNER (Workout Measurement Device)
The BARTNER is a measurement device for your workouts, though I suspect it’ll see far more use in rehab settings. Where ROM can be accurately measured and adjusted over time.
I Survived North America’s Highest Gym (10,361 ft) (Will Tennyson)
Interesting to see the various ways in which the higher altitude affects things.
Looking At : Aug 11 2024
This Week On Straight To The Bar…
Fitness Reading/Listening For The Week : ‘The Complete Book of Five Rings’ (by Miyamoto Musashi, translated by Kenji Tokitsu)
This is Kenji Tokitsu’s wonderful translation of the swordfighting classic by Miyamoto Musashi – commonly referred to simply as ‘The Book of Five Rings’.
Enjoy.
Lung Master (Breath Trainer)
The Lung Master is a simple way to train your breathing – for strength, and for the associated calming effect. The video shows it in action.
How To Mix Calisthenics & Weight Training – The Hybrid Approach (Abnormal Beings)
I was asked today about mixing calisthenics & weight training, and this is the video I pointed to (my own training follows a similar approach).
Looking At : Aug 4 2024
This Week On Straight To The Bar…
Fitness Reading/Listening For The Week : ‘Functional Training and Beyond: Building the Ultimate Superfunctional Body and Mind’ (by Adam Sinicki)
If you’ve ever seen any of ‘The Bioneer’ videos on Youtube, you’ll be well aware of Adam Sinicki’s ‘a little bit of everything’ approach. His book ‘Functional Training and Beyond: Building the Ultimate Superfunctional Body and Mind’ explores this approach in great depth, detailing the how and why of various approaches to training.
A wonderful read.