Interesting combination.

I'd love to see more pairings like this - a piece of equipment for the home gym & a virtual class of some sort. Online training, form guidance or a fitness class such as this.

In this case the equipment is a rowing machine, the Echelon Row. A spot of video to show you what's on offer :

The Echelon Row.

A very interesting way to tackle pandemics.

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 : Owning an Underground Gym - Some Insights
  Al Heinemann | Follow @AlHeinemann
  The first 18 months of the Terminal City Barbell Club.

  
  

• Looking At : Feb 2, 2020
  Scott Andrew Bird | Follow @scottbird
  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 a little fitness writing and would like to submit your own piece for Straight to the Bar, get in touch.

Video : Fighting Pandemics - Vaccinating Vampire Bats (TEDMED)

A very interesting way to tackle pandemics.

Gymchat 278 - TBA

We're still finalising the details for this week's discussion. I'll post them on the blog (and Twitter, Facebook etc) shortly.

In the meantime, take a look at some of the previous episodes of the show - (there's an example below, and a full list here). And if you've got any questions or comments on the various topics discussed, we'd love to hear them. Just leave a note below the video.

Jen Mulhall.

NB : if you'd like to take part in a future episode - either as an interviewee, or as a guest host - just drop us a line. Love hearing how everyone else trains.

Tip of the Week: How to Fix Your Back

Each week we publish a number of tips and techniques via Twitter, the blog; and 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 'right' way to fix up your back.

Over to Josh :

What happens when you sit all day (at a desk, watching TV, or while driving) is that certain muscles, ie: glutes, can become lengthened and weak while other muscles compensate and become tighter to take up the slack, ie: QL (lower back) and psoas (hip flexors). This can lead to all sorts of issues including back pain. Weak abdominal muscles is also a culprit.

So what can you do to restore muscular balance and function to get rid of that pain? The progressions I follow are very similar to what I outlined in my Fix Your Knees blog post:

1. If it's an acute injury see a medical professional and get assessed. Rest and ice.
2. Test your Active Range of Motion as comfort allows (avoid passive stretching).
3. Use Isometric Exercises to activate the weak muscle groups.
4. Once muscles start to "fire" better, you can add in some isolation exercises to target and strengthen those muscles.
5. Progress towards compound multi-joint exercises that incorporate those muscles.

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

Checking Out : Echelon Row (Rowing Machine With Connection To Virtual Classes)

interesting combination.

I'd love to see more pairings like this - a piece of equipment for the home gym & a virtual class of some sort. Online training, form guidance or a fitness class such as this.

In this case the equipment is a rowing machine, the Echelon Row. A spot of video to show you what's on offer :

The Echelon Row.

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

Good stuff Bret, looks great.

Great series.

The incredibly timely series 'Pandemic' is a set of documentaries (6 in total) on Netflix, examining the impacts of major cross-border outbreaks.

If public health is an area of interest, or if the current coronavirus outbreak has you a little concerned - this is strongly recommended viewing.

The official trailer for the series :

Pandemic - How to Prevent an Outbreak (Netflix Documentary Series).

Fantastic.

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 : A Word of Advice for Training - The Importance of Fundamentals
  Justin Andrushko | Follow @JustinAndrushk1
  Understanding the basics.

  
  

• Looking At : Jan 26, 2020
  Scott Andrew Bird | Follow @scottbird
  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 a little fitness writing and would like to submit your own piece for Straight to the Bar, get in touch.

Video : Using AI To Build A Better Human (The Age of AI)

Fantastic.

Gymchat 278 - TBA

We're still finalising the details for this week's discussion. I'll post them on the blog (and Twitter, Facebook etc) shortly.

In the meantime, take a look at some of the previous episodes of the show - (there's an example below, and a full list here). And if you've got any questions or comments on the various topics discussed, we'd love to hear them. Just leave a note below the video.

Craig Bongelli.

NB : if you'd like to take part in a future episode - either as an interviewee, or as a guest host - just drop us a line. Love hearing how everyone else trains.

Tip of the Week : Knee Rehabilitation Progression

Each week we publish a number of tips and techniques via Twitter, the blog; and 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 'right' way to fix your knees after surgery.

Over to Josh :

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

Checking Out : Pandemic - How to Prevent an Outbreak (Netflix Documentary Series)

Great series.

The incredibly timely series 'Pandemic' is a set of documentaries (6 in total) on Netflix, examining the impacts of major cross-border outbreaks.

If public health is an area of interest, or if the current coronavirus outbreak has you a little concerned - this is strongly recommended viewing.

The official trailer for the series :

Pandemic - How to Prevent an Outbreak (Netflix Documentary Series).

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

Good stuff Bret, looks great.

Interesting idea.

I'm a big fan of the various Health-Tracking Smartwatches currently available - especially things like the Apple Watch. Still, there are several things I'd love them to track; blood pressure in particular.

The BP Doctor performs that function, using an inflatable cuff within the watch itself. Keen to see how well it performs, and which software it integrates with (hopefully anything and everything, so I can add my own).

A spot of video :

The BP Doctor (Health-Tracking Smartwatch).