Conor Doherty.

How do you train for it, particularly during the season itself?

This week we'll be answering this exact question, with Personal Trainers Conor Doherty and Josh Hewett. If you've got questions for Conor or Josh, just swing by the event page for this Gymchat (during the discussion itself). Details below.

Details -

Who : Personal Trainers Conor Doherty and Josh Hewett
Topic : In-Season Training for Hockey
When : Wednesday Dec 11, 8pm EDT (the Event page shows what time that is in your local timezone)
How : Watch the live stream, and ask questions, directly on the Event page. We'll also post the full video shortly after the Gymchat.

See you there.

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 :

• Transformation Techniques V - Nutritional Basics 1 - Energy Requirements
  Jason Paris, CSCS
  This is a superb series. If you're ready to physically transform yourself, read on.

  
  

• Looking At : Dec 8, 2013
  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'd like to submit your own piece for Straight to the Bar, here's how.

Video : How To Handstand

Ever wanted to tackle the handstand? Superb thing.

Gymchat 228 - In-Season Training for Hockey (Conor Doherty)

Conor Doherty.

How do you train for it, particularly during the season itself?

This week we'll be answering this exact question, with Personal Trainers Conor Doherty and Josh Hewett. If you've got questions for Conor or Josh, just swing by the event page for this Gymchat (during the discussion itself). Details below.

Details -

Who : Personal Trainers Conor Doherty and Josh Hewett
Topic : In-Season Training for Hockey
When : Wednesday Dec 11, 8pm EDT (the Event page shows what time that is in your local timezone)
How : Watch the live stream, and ask questions, directly on the Event page. We'll also post the full video shortly after the Gymchat.

See you there.

Karsten Jensen.

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

Josh Hewett.

And if you'd like to suggest a future topic or take part in one of the upcoming Gymchats, just drop Josh a line. We'd love to hear from you.

Movember 2013

Josh Hewett.

If you haven't donated yet, and would like to, swing by Josh Hewett's page :

http://ca.movember.com/mospace/7377745

And thanks again. It seriously is for a great cause - prostate cancer research. Cheers.

Tip of the Week: Stretching Causes Weakness

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.

This tip is from Josh Hewett's excellent 'Bulletproof Your Body' series. The impact of stretching on both strength and injury.

Over to Josh :

Exercise physiologists have concluded that passive stretching not only has no effect on preventing injuries, but it can actually make you even more likely to get hurt. But I didn't take their word on it... I've experienced the effects of passive vs. active stretching first hand. I've also worked with biomechanics specialists who use Applied Kinesiology muscle testing as a reproducible way to measure muscle strength and responsiveness. They demonstrated that in almost every case a passive stretch is performed the muscles will test weak after. On the other hand, active isometric exercise will improve muscle activation.

Good stuff. Note that this is only a snippet from the full piece - swing by Josh' blog for the entire article. A great read.

Re-Investigating : The TRX Suspension Trainer

As you might expect at this time of the year, we've been talking a lot lately about training when travelling. How to get the sweat flowing when you're away from home.

Personally, I'm a big fan of suspension training - been using a TRX for years. Beautiful thing.

I'm sure that many of you have seen things like the TRX in action; or used one yourself. Just in case though, here's a bit of video to help show what it is and how you can put it to work :

Cheers Umberto.

And of course, there's Derek's excellent guide on getting the most out of this incredible tool : Suspension Training 101. Absolutely free.

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

Good stuff Bret, looks great.

Transformation.

It doesn't matter what your goal is either.

After you've made your mind up to make a change, it becomes all about nutrition.


We've covered a lot of material up to this point. Now we're going to dig into the nitty gritty. How to make things happen.

Over the next few weeks, we'll cover everything related to nutrition you need to know to burn fat, build muscle, and transform your body.

Today's article will serve as a primer. It will lay a foundation for things to come.

I'm going to do my best to keep things simple. But keep in mind that our bodies are very complex, and so is nutrition. So from time to time things might get a little hot and heavy.

Every detail surrounding nutrition isn't needed to get results. Think about a car. It has lots of moving parts. But you don't need to know how everything works to drive. All you need are a few basics.

Same thing applies with nutrition.

Calories

It all starts here.

It's impossible to talk about changing a physique without talking about calories.

It's a numbers game.

Everything begins and ends here.

There's a lot of confusion surrounding calories. And as they're at the heart of body transformations, explaining what a calorie is makes a good starting point for today's discussion.

What Is a Calorie?

A calorie is nothing more than a unit of measure.

It's the amount of energy needed to raise 1 gram of water 1 Celsius.

To breathe, grow, and move all requires energy. That energy is supplied by food. The amount of energy our body gets from eating and drinking is measured in calories.

In the lab, calories are written as cal. A nutrition calorie is 1000 lab calories and is written as Cal or Kcal. Notice the capital letters.

Are All Calories Equal?

It's common to see people bicker about calories all the time.

Are all calories created equal?

Is a calorie a calorie?

Short answer is yes.

It has to be.

As I mentioned earlier, a calorie is a unit of measure.

Wouldn't be much of a measuring tool if it wasn't a constant.

Just like a pound is always a pound. It's a measure of weight. Doesn't matter if it's a pound of rocks or a pound of feathers. Each weighs a pound.

The volume will be different, but weight remains constant.

Same thing applies to food. A 600 Cal breakfast of bacon and eggs has the same calories as a 600 Cal breakfast of pop tarts or a 600 Cal breakfast of fresh fruit.

Each plate will look different, but they'll all have the same amount of calories.

So as a measuring tool...

a calorie is a calorie.

It has to be.

Karsten Jensen.

This week we'll be discussing this area in depth, with Strength Coach Karsten Jensen and Strongman and Personal Trainer Josh Hewett. If you've got questions for Karsten or Josh, just swing by the event page for this Gymchat (during the discussion itself). Details below.

Details -

Who : Strength Coach Karsten Jensen, joined by Strongman and Personal Trainer Josh Hewett
Topic : The Tempo Matrix
When : Wednesday Dec 4, 8pm EDT (the Event page shows what time that is in your local timezone)
How : Watch the live stream, and ask questions, directly on the Event page. We'll also post the full video shortly after the Gymchat.

See you there.

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 : Specific Training for the Transverse Abdominis: Belt It In
  Kat 'The Mighty Kat' Ricker
  How do you train it? Like this.

  
  

• Looking At : Dec 1, 2013
  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'd like to submit your own piece for Straight to the Bar, here's how.

Video : One Hand Pinch High Pulls

High Pulls with the Euro. Nice one.

Gymchat 227 - The Tempo Matrix (Karsten Jensen)

Karsten Jensen.

This week we'll be discussing this area in depth, with Strength Coach Karsten Jensen and Strongman and Strongman and Personal Trainer Josh Hewett. If you've got questions for Karsten or Josh, just swing by the event page for this Gymchat (during the discussion itself). Details below.

Details -

Who : Strength Coach Karsten Jensen, joined by Strongman and Personal Trainer Josh Hewett
Topic : The Tempo Matrix
When : Wednesday Dec 4, 8pm EDT (the Event page shows what time that is in your local timezone)
How : Watch the live stream, and ask questions, directly on the Event page. We'll also post the full video shortly after the Gymchat.

See you there.

Craig Bongelli.

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

Josh Hewett.

And if you'd like to suggest a future topic or take part in one of the upcoming Gymchats, just drop Josh a line. We'd love to hear from you.

Movember 2013

Josh Hewett.

If you haven't donated yet, and would like to, swing by Josh Hewett's page :

http://ca.movember.com/mospace/7377745

And thanks again. It seriously is for a great cause - prostate cancer research. Cheers.

Tip of the Week: Setting a Gripper

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.

This tip comes to us from the incredible Jedd 'Napalm' Johnson, and takes the form of a superb video. Enjoy.

Incidentally, if you want to learn more techniques like this, check out Jedd's own The Grip Authority.

Fantastic site.

Re-Reading : The Grip Master's Manual

We've noted this one many times over the years, it's certainly an essential book to have on your fitness shelves. If you haven't come across it before, here's a quick snippet from the Amazon page to give you an idea of what it's about :

This book is THE book when it comes to grip training and becoming a well rounded athlete. Brookfield lays this book out very logically starting with a section on getting ready. He then progresses through: Advanced Lower Arm and Grip Training; Advanced Grip Challenges; and Steel Bending. No matter where you turn to this book is filled with helpful tips and ideas to get your workouts going.

The Grip Master's Manual. Fantastic.

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

Good stuff Bret, looks great.

Mike Jenkins.

The freakishly strong Mike Jenkins (1982 - 2013).

Greg Kovacs.

Canadian professional bodybuilder, the incredible Greg Kovacs (1968 - 2013).