Logan Christopher.

Joining us is 'Physical Culture Renaissance Man' Logan Christopher, and Personal Trainer and Strength Athlete Josh Hewett. Fantastic.


NB : We love hearing from as many people as possible. Join Logan and Josh on the Hangout, or fire in your questions via the Q&A. Full details below.

And if you'd like to point your friends/colleagues to the discussion, just use the 'share' button at the top of that page. The more the merrier.

Details -

Who : 'Physical Culture Renaissance Man' Logan Christopher, Personal Trainer and Strength Athlete Josh Hewett, and You
Topic : Learning from Experts Outside of Your Discipline
When : Monday Nov 10, 8:00pm EDT (the Event page shows what time that is in your local timezone).
How : Watch the live stream, join the hangout (just add Top Form Fitness to one of your circles, and Josh'll send out the URL when the Hangout starts), or jump in the Q&A on the Event page itself. We'll also post the full video on the main site shortly after the Gymchat.

I'm constantly amazed at just how much my training is influenced by the people on this site. Whether you're looking for a new piece of equipment, an unusual exercise variation or just an idea of how others approach things, you'll enjoy these :

• Gem From The Vault : The Step-up - a Real Squat Alternative?
  Scott Andrew Bird
  A possible addition to your leg training arsenal.

  
  

• Looking At : Nov 9, 2014
  Scott Andrew Bird
  What's been going on this week? Quite a lot actually.

  
  

Over to you. I'd love to hear what you think : leave your comments on the above articles, and share them with your friends/colleagues/clients and so on.
NB : If you're keen to do more writing in 2014 and would like to submit your own piece for Straight to the Bar, here's how.

Video : Clapping UFOs

Unusual name, great exercise.

Gymchat 263 - Building an Indestructible Body (Logan Christopher)

Logan Christopher.

Joining us is 'Physical Culture Renaissance Man' Logan Christopher, and Personal Trainer and Strength Athlete Josh Hewett. Fantastic.


NB : We love hearing from as many people as possible. Join Logan and Josh on the Hangout, or fire in your questions via the Q&A. Full details below.

And if you'd like to point your friends/colleagues to the discussion, just use the 'share' button at the top of that page. The more the merrier.

Details -

Who : 'Physical Culture Renaissance Man' Logan Christopher, Personal Trainer and Strength Athlete Josh Hewett, and You
Topic : Learning from Experts Outside of Your Discipline
When : Monday Nov 10, 8:00pm EDT (the Event page shows what time that is in your local timezone).
How : Watch the live stream, join the hangout (just add Top Form Fitness to one of your circles, and Josh'll send out the URL when the Hangout starts), or jump in the Q&A on the Event page itself. We'll also post the full video on the main site shortly after the Gymchat.

Frank DiMeo.

If you missed the live stream (or just want to go over a particular point again), you can watch the entire video here.

Tip of the Week : Bending Steel = Increased Strength Endurance

Each week we publish a number of tips and techniques via Twitter, Google+, the blog; and now the newsletter. Wherever you are, there's always a way to improve what you're doing.

Adam with a reconfigured #5 Draft Horse Shoe.

The increase in strength and power naturally will carry over to an increase in your endurance. Anyone who has bent a nail will tell you the first time they bent it was so tiring. I have watched people sweat bullets bending their first respectable nail. As time goes on you gain huge reserves of power. A personal testament to this level of power for me was October 2007 when I bent 150 60D nails in one hour using the double under (DU) grip. That represented a massive improvement from Jan 2007, when bending 10-15 nails left my hands extremely fatigued.

Good stuff.

Checking Out : Clubbell 5x5

Clubbell 5x5.

Clubbell 5x5 is Alberto Gallazi's take on the classic 5x5 approach, applied specifically to club training. Simple idea, with an awful lot behind it.

We'll be taking a closer look at the entire package shortly, but suffice to say there are a number of manuals and videos included. For the full list :

clubbell5x5.com

Good stuff.

Rather than trying to explain how it works, here it is in action :

Good stuff Bret, looks great.

Diamond-Cut Abs.

We'll be discussing the topic of 'finding things to read' in this week's Gymchat, but suffice to say that the next one on my own list is Danny Kavadlo's Diamond-Cut Abs. Looks great.

To give you an idea of what it's all about (although the title probably says quite a lot), a piece of one of the reviews on the main page :

The section on nutrition is awesome, stressing the "practical over the theoretical" (p32). He doesn't worry about fat grams, macros, calorie counting or weight scales (unless it involves throwing them out) but rather wholesome and natural foods - nothing processed.

This is where his experience comes into play. While the information about proper eating wasn't necessarily new to me (it may be for others), it was the results he achieved eating in certain ways that convinced me to ditch the meat scales, spreadsheets and everything else I used to count macros and incorporate his approach in my diet.

Danny Kavadlo's Diamond-Cut Abs. Good stuff.

Frank DiMeo.

Absolutely. This week we'll be exploring what/how often/why; no matter what those other topics are. Helping explain how all this works is Strength Coach Frank DiMeo, together with Personal Trainer and Strength Athlete Josh Hewett. Fantastic.


NB : We love hearing from as many people as possible. Join Frank and Josh on the Hangout, or fire in your questions via the Q&A. Full details below.

And if you'd like to point your friends/colleagues to the discussion, just use the 'share' button at the top of that page. The more the merrier.

Details -

Who : Strength Coach Frank DiMeo, Personal Trainer and Strength Athlete Josh Hewett, and You
Topic : Learning from Experts Outside of Your Discipline
When : Monday Nov 3, 8:00pm EDT (the Event page shows what time that is in your local timezone).
How : Watch the live stream, join the hangout (just add Top Form Fitness to one of your circles, and Josh'll send out the URL when the Hangout starts), or jump in the Q&A on the Event page itself. We'll also post the full video on the main site shortly after the Gymchat.

I'm constantly amazed at just how much my training is influenced by the people on this site. Whether you're looking for a new piece of equipment, an unusual exercise variation or just an idea of how others approach things, you'll enjoy these :

• Gem From The Vault : The Ab Wheel
  Scott Andrew Bird
  Beautifully simple.

  
  

• Looking At : Nov 2, 2014
  Scott Andrew Bird
  What's been going on this week? Quite a lot actually.

  
  

Over to you. I'd love to hear what you think : leave your comments on the above articles, and share them with your friends/colleagues/clients and so on.
NB : If you're keen to do more writing in 2014 and would like to submit your own piece for Straight to the Bar, here's how.

Video : Low Back Tweak Fast Fixes - Kelly Starrett and Jenny Labaw

Good stuff.

Gymchat 262 - Learning from Experts Outside of Your Discipline (Frank DiMeo)

Frank DiMeo.

Absolutely. This week we'll be exploring what/how often/why; no matter what those other topics are. Helping explain how all this works is Strength Coach Frank DiMeo, together with Personal Trainer and Strength Athlete Josh Hewett. Fantastic.


NB : We love hearing from as many people as possible. Join Frank and Josh on the Hangout, or fire in your questions via the Q&A. Full details below.

And if you'd like to point your friends/colleagues to the discussion, just use the 'share' button at the top of that page. The more the merrier.

Details -

Who : Strength Coach Frank DiMeo, Personal Trainer and Strength Athlete Josh Hewett, and You
Topic : Learning from Experts Outside of Your Discipline
When : Monday Nov 3, 8:00pm EDT (the Event page shows what time that is in your local timezone).
How : Watch the live stream, join the hangout (just add Top Form Fitness to one of your circles, and Josh'll send out the URL when the Hangout starts), or jump in the Q&A on the Event page itself. We'll also post the full video on the main site shortly after the Gymchat.

Fadel D.

If you missed the live stream (or just want to go over a particular point again), you can watch the entire video here.

Tip of the Week : Use Checklists in your Training

Each week we publish a number of tips and techniques via Twitter, Google+, the blog; and now the newsletter. Wherever you are, there's always a way to improve what you're doing.

Seeing Complexity. Photo by Michael Heiss.

However, they're very powerful things indeed.


The basic logic behind using a checklist is pretty straightforward. As Adam Stoffa notes in the article Checklists and Complex Problems :

An example from training might be properly warming up. Everyone knows it's foolish to engage in physical training without warming up first, but with time pressure, competing interests, or environmental stress, this step occasionally gets skipped. The risks associated with skipping this step, are significant. Pulled muscles are a major setback to a training program. When you balance the interests involved, saving a few minutes versus suffering a major setback, the risk associated with skipping this key step is unacceptably high. Therefore, item number 1 on your checklist could be:

1. Complete Warm Up Exercises

And yes, although it looks almost laughably simple, this absolutely works. The checklist approach is very highly recommended indeed.

Checking Out : Diamond-Cut Abs

Diamond-Cut Abs.

We'll be discussing the topic of 'finding things to read' in this week's Gymchat, but suffice to say that the next one on my own list is Danny Kavadlo's Diamond-Cut Abs. Looks great.

To give you an idea of what it's all about (although the title probably says quite a lot), a piece of one of the reviews on the main page :

The section on nutrition is awesome, stressing the "practical over the theoretical" (p32). He doesn't worry about fat grams, macros, calorie counting or weight scales (unless it involves throwing them out) but rather wholesome and natural foods - nothing processed.

This is where his experience comes into play. While the information about proper eating wasn't necessarily new to me (it may be for others), it was the results he achieved eating in certain ways that convinced me to ditch the meat scales, spreadsheets and everything else I used to count macros and incorporate his approach in my diet.

Danny Kavadlo's Diamond-Cut Abs. Good stuff.

Rather than trying to explain how it works, here it is in action :

Good stuff Bret, looks great.

Strength Training for Triathletes.

Certified USA Triathlon coach and NSCA Personal Trainer of the Year Patrick Hagerman, EdD, reveals a focused, triathlon-specific strength training program that will enable triathletes to push harder during training and on the race course when the effort is hardest. Triathletes who master this progressive strength training program will also become more resistant to injury, meaning fewer missed workouts.

Strength Training for Triathletes. Nice one.

Fadel D.

This week we'll be exploring this somewhat enigmatic area; answering these and a whole lot more. Helping us is insanely strong Powerlifter Fadel D, together with Personal Trainer and Strength Athlete Josh Hewett. Fantastic.


NB : We love hearing from as many people as possible. Join Fadel and Josh on the Hangout, or fire in your questions via the Q&A. Full details below.

And if you'd like to point your friends/colleagues to the discussion, just use the 'share' button at the top of that page. The more the merrier.

Details -

Who : Powerlifter Fadel D, Personal Trainer and Strength Athlete Josh Hewett, and You
Topic : How To Increase INTENSITY
When : Monday Oct 27, 8:00pm EDT (the Event page shows what time that is in your local timezone).
How : Watch the live stream, join the hangout (just add Top Form Fitness to one of your circles, and Josh'll send out the URL when the Hangout starts), or jump in the Q&A on the Event page itself. We'll also post the full video on the main site shortly after the Gymchat.

Frank DiMeo.

If you missed the live stream (or just want to go over a particular point again), you can watch the entire video here.