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.
Sleep Cycle App Review – Apple Watch Science Test (The Quantified Scientist)
Very interesting look at the Sleep Cycle app on the Apple Watch. Not bad at all.
Looking At : Jan 17, 2021
During the past week we’ve discussed a number of great links; on Facebook, Twitter, in The Daily ‘Paper’ and so on. Here are a few of my favourites.
Ageless – The New Science Of Getting Older Without Getting Old (Andrew Steele)
Looks great.
We briefly looked at Andrew Steele’s work yesterday in the form of the article ‘Do We Have To Age?‘. As you’d expect, the book Ageless is a much more detailed exploration of those topics.
I’m about to dig into it myself, and will share a few thoughts shortly. In the meantime, you can check out the ebook/hardback/audiobook versions over here.
Looking forward to it.
Ageless.
Partial vs Full – Were The Bros Right About Range Of Motion? (Jeff Nippard)
Very interesting look at the research behind the use of a Full ROM vs a Partial one.
Looking At : Jan 10, 2021
During the past week we’ve discussed a number of great links; on Facebook, Twitter, in The Daily ‘Paper’ and so on. Here are a few of my favourites.
Lumos Ultra (Bicycle Helmet With Inbuilt Lights)
Great combination.
The Lumos Ultra is a bicycle helmet with inbuilt lights. A wonderful blend of fitness and safety.
Lightweight, customisable & easily rechargeable (USB-C). It can even be controlled (think turn signals) via an Apple Watch.
A little video :
The Lumos Ultra.
Performing the Hanuman Push Up (Karate TV)
Wonderful exercise.
Looking At : Jan 3, 2021
During the past week we’ve discussed a number of great links; on Facebook, Twitter, in The Daily ‘Paper’ and so on. Here are a few of my favourites.
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.
The Future of Fitness : Health & Fitness Predictions for 2021
We’ve looked at the possible future of both health & fitness many times over the years – Workout Clothing, Virtual Training Partners, various medical discoveries and of course the Gymchats. Particularly 176 and 224.
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.