Results matching “Bird”

Dorothy Darke and Arthur Owen - shown here in 1931 - demonstrate a couple of basic self defense moves [streaming, 4.75mb .flv download]. As you'll see, things haven't changed all that much.

If you missed out last year, make sure you mark your calendars for one of the year's greatest adventure challenges - Mark Webber's Pure Tasmania Challenge. The fun begins on November 17.

Outside it's nice and stormy; in fact it has been all week. Here at Straight to the Bar it's been just as hectic :

• Articles : Just when I got a shock by realising that my gut was competing with my chest for pole position, Mike Roussell talks about Testosterone and saturated fats; Mike Johnston relates his own experiences with overhead and bench pressing and I lament the demise of monkey bars.
• Videos : Legendary Olympic Weightlifter Tommy Kono talks about the basics of Olympic lifting, PJTrainer enjoys a little mini-blob lifting and Hammar Sports quarters a few bottlecaps.
• Exercises : It's always great to discover new ways of working out. Amongst this week's finds were Drop set chain push-ups, Shoulder squatting and the kettlebell getup/situp.
• Blogs : The list of blogs just keeps on expanding with the addition of Kettlebell Rob, Jawbone Journal and the Human Vise - Pat Povailatis.
• Bonus : Triage, Hierarchies, and Snowballs. Chris Shugart talks about, well, quite a lot actually. If you missed his recent Boston seminar, here's your chance to catch up.

Bottlecap bending [streaming, 5.4mb .flv download]. A little more difficult than it looks.

Via Dedwarmo : JuggleTube. YouTube for jugglers.

I love these things. As you can see, it's exactly what the name suggests - a pull-up performed using only 2 fingers from each hand.

Although I've never tried rock climbing, these are often known as Climbers' Pull-ups; and a couple of climb training techniques will come in handy. The training tool you'll need is known as a Fingerboard.

Fingerboards don't have to be fancy to be effective (the picture here shows the one regularly used by climbing coach Dave McLeod); although there are various commercial offerings if you prefer. Dave discusses the use of a fingerboard here; Moonclimbing also has some great information on this type of training.

Why would you want to do this?

Finger strength. You can never have too much. You'll also give your hands and forearms generally a good going over. If the hangs and pull-ups are out of the question at the moment, keep in mind that you can use bands to support some of your weight and make things a little easier. Temporarily, of course.

Further reading/viewing

Neil Mathewson demonstrates a couple of 2-finger pull-ups [streaming, 640kb .flv download]

Campusing. And you thought the fingerboard was hard work.

The Turkish Get-up (with a kettlebell or two) is a fantastic exercise, but not exactly easy when you're just starting your kettlebell journey. The kettlebell getup/situp - demonstrated in this week's Minute of Strength newsletter - is a great way to prepare for the real thing.

The Genius in all of us - an excellent blog - is calling for stories on 'born geniuses' who have reached an almost mythic status over the years. The example given is the superb hitter Ted Williams, who was often credited with having almost superhuman eyesight.

In his own words :

Sure, I think I had good eyesight, maybe exceptional eyesight, but not superhuman eyesight. A lot of people have 20/10 vision. The reason I saw things was that I was so intense...it was discipline, not super eyesight."

As writer David Shenk points out,

Built-in ability is nice, but acquired ability is inspirational.

Palance Points is a review blog with a difference, asking a single question :

'Would Jack Palance have liked it?'

Unusual, entertaining and - I suspect - right on the money.

Just when I thought I'd seen all of the squat varieties, All around strength has a new one - resting the bar on one shoulder. Definitely one to try.