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.
Checking Out : CZUR Mirror (Smart Posture Corrector)
A deceptively simple combination with an awful lot of promise – both for this device in particular, and the space in general. Especially the ‘how’s my form‘ questions during a workout.
The CZUR Mirror.
Day at Wellness District LA (Katie Type A)
Very interesting look at the Wellness District LA biohacking expo. Nice one. Incidentally, I completely agree with Katie's assessment of the future of personalised healthcare.NB : We first looked at this one in the weekly Strength & Fitness Newsletter (part of the...
Looking At : Sep 26 2021
This week on Straight to the Bar…
The vFit App (Virtual Shoe Fitting)
Although I’ve been a fan of the online shopping experience for many years now, for some reason I’ve excepted clothing. Trying things on always seemed more reasonable than sending things back if they didn’t fit.
The pandemic forced a bit of a rethink, and I’ve been trying out various ‘virtual fitting‘ (assessing the size using AR on your ‘phone) apps. Curious to see if they’re solid enough to remove that exception.
First up – vFit – a virtual shoe fitting app. Free to use (they partner with a number of retailers, who pay for the traffic). Interesting idea.
The vFit app.
Apple Watch Series 7 – All The New Features in 7 Minutes (DC Rainmaker)
Interesting look at the updated Apple Watch (still my favourite tool for tracking workouts, sleep and general health) – keen to see his review once it begins shipping.
Looking At : Sep 19 2021
This week on Straight to the Bar…
Fitness Reading For The Week : Breathe: A Life in Flow (Rickson Gracie, Peter Maguire)
I’m currently checking out the book ‘ Breathe: A Life in Flow (Rickson Gracie, Peter Maguire)‘. Rickson Gracie’s wonderful autobiography – detailing life both in and out of the ‘ring‘. Definitely recommended.
Sleepout (Portable Blackout Curtain)
Nice and simple. The Sleepout is a portable blackout curtain, to quickly block the light from any window; no matter where you are. I'm already a big fan of sleep (it's easily my favourite form of recovery), and am certainly keen to try this one out. Particularly once...
Apple vs Fitbit vs Garmin – The Battle For Your Fitness (Slidebean)
Fascinating look at the history of these three devices, and how they’ve gradually become more and more focused on fitness tracking.
Looking At : Sep 12 2021
This week on Straight to the Bar…