Royal Marines Fitness Manual.

Next up on the 'books to check out' list is the Royal Marines Fitness Manual, by former Marine Sean Lerwill. Quite simply it covers the fitness training the recruits are put through; which doubles as a training regime for anyone looking to achieve that 'whole lot fitter' status. Whether that means being able to run a marathon, lift heavy objects, or push through your own mental brick walls.

Sean Lerwill's Royal Marines Fitness Manual. Good stuff.

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 : 10 of the Best - Parkour Television Commercials
  Scott Andrew Bird
  These are incredible.

  
  

• Looking At : Feb 22, 2015
  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 a little fitness writing and would like to submit your own piece for Straight to the Bar, here's how.

Video : How to Wrap Your Knees (Matt Vincent and Mark Bell)

Good stuff guys.

Gymchat 276 - NLP Skills for Fitness Professionals (Jen Mulhall)

Jen Mulhall.

This week we'll be looking closely at these last two areas, identifying the specific skills which are most valuable in a strength-training environment. Particularly for those on the Fitness Professional side of the fence.

Tackling this one are are Personal Trainers (and Strength Athletes) Jen Mulhall and Josh Hewett. Fantastic.


NB : No matter where you stand on a subject like this, we'd love to hear your thoughts. If there's a particular subject you'd like Jen and Josh to address, just swing by the event page for this Gymchat and leave a comment or jump in the Hangout and ask them directly.

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 : Personal Trainers (and Strength Athletes) Jen Mulhall and Personal Trainer (and Strength Athlete) Josh Hewett
Topic : NLP Skills for Fitness Professionals
When : Monday Feb 23, 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 shortly after the Gymchat.

Matt Palfrey.

Tip of the Week: Steel Bending Benefits - Increased Neural Strength

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 'Unbreakable' Adam Glass' superb article Why Bend Steel?; and looks at just one of the great benefits of a regular dose of steel bending. Increased Neural Strength.

Over to Adam :

Adam with a reconfigured #5 Draft Horse Shoe.

First benefit is to your neural strength: Steel bending is an exceptional way to build your single unit application of tension. What I mean is this - you have to tense and load every muscle in your body, take out all "leakages", brace everything together and direct it through you hands with a sniper's precise angle. If you get sloppy punching on the nails ends, you will hurt yourself. You could possibly punch yourself in the face, roll your hands out of the groove, stab yourself, or any other combination of less desirable outcomes. This activity will turn your wrist to stone. Your ability to direct power will be significantly increased. This will directly carry over to any other strength-skill you currently have. The way I load up to bend a Huge Stainless Steel Bastard is exactly the same feeling as when I load up to pull a max dead, to press a 48kg bell, or to slam an axe through a log. It adds a critical power appliance to your "strength skill tool box".

This 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.

Checking Out : Royal Marines Fitness Manual

Royal Marines Fitness Manual.

Next up on the 'books to check out' list is the Royal Marines Fitness Manual, by former Marine Sean Lerwill. Quite simply it covers the fitness training the recruits are put through; which doubles as a training regime for anyone looking to achieve that 'whole lot fitter' status. Whether that means being able to run a marathon, lift heavy objects, or push through your own mental brick walls.

Sean Lerwill's Royal Marines Fitness Manual. Good stuff.

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

Good stuff Bret, looks great.

Weighted Vest Workouts.

Over the weekend I was chatting to a friend of mine about club training, and the excellent Encyclopedia of Clubbell Training came up. We first looked at it a while ago now (and we'll be posting a few additional thoughts shortly); this is just a quick note to mention that it's currently on sale on the RMAX site.

For a whopping 50% discount, just use the Coupon Code CBKB50 at Checkout. Good stuff.

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 : Pull Like A Strongman
  Max Misch
  Time to test yourself.

  
  

• Looking At : Feb 15, 2015
  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 a little fitness writing and would like to submit your own piece for Straight to the Bar, here's how.

Video : Globe and Blob Lifting

A quick dose of grip work. Good stuff.

Gymchat 276 - NLP Skills for Fitness Professionals (Jen Mulhall)

Jen Mulhall.

This week we'll be looking closely at these last two areas, identifying the specific skills which are most valuable in a strength-training environment. Particularly for those on the Fitness Professional side of the fence.

Tackling this one are are Personal Trainers (and Strength Athletes) Jen Mulhall and Josh Hewett. Fantastic.


NB : No matter where you stand on a subject like this, we'd love to hear your thoughts. If there's a particular subject you'd like Jen and Josh to address, just swing by the event page for this Gymchat and leave a comment or jump in the Hangout and ask them directly.

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 : Personal Trainers (and Strength Athletes) Jen Mulhall and Personal Trainer (and Strength Athlete) Josh Hewett
Topic : NLP Skills for Fitness Professionals
When : Monday Jan 12, 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 shortly after the Gymchat.

Matt Palfrey.

Tip of the Week: Checking Your Squat Depth

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 a thread on the VirtualMeet Forums, looking at a device called the Safety Squat. Very interesting idea.

Over to James Chochlinski :

The safety squat arrived yesterday. No instruction manual, just a picture. Tried some squats with it using just the bar. Seems to work similarly to the youtube video sensor. Placement just above the knee requires deeper squat to trigger the sensor; Not as deep when placed higher up on the thigh. It's just a level sensor, so the difference is due to the shape of my thigh. Happy with the safety squat so far.

James was also kind enough to share some video of the device in action :

The obvious use is for powerlifters when training for a meet. However, on Google+, Raymond Ho shared an alternative way to put it to work :

The idea is actually good. I see people when they start loading up the bar (which is too heavy for them) they start to get higher out of the holes until it looks more like a partial rep. and if you squat by yourself then it stops you from cheating.

Sounds great.

I'm curious : has anyone here used a device like this, and what are your thoughts on the idea?

Revisiting : The Encyclopedia of Clubbell Training

Weighted Vest Workouts.

Over the weekend I was chatting to a friend of mine about club training, and the excellent Encyclopedia of Clubbell Training came up. We first looked at it a while ago now (and we'll be posting a few additional thoughts shortly); this is just a quick note to mention that it's currently on sale on the RMAX site.

For a whopping 50% discount, just use the Coupon Code CBKB50 at Checkout. Good stuff.

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

Good stuff Bret, looks great.

Jen Mulhall.

This week we'll be looking closely at these last two areas, identifying the specific skills which are most valuable in a strength-training environment. Particularly for those on the Fitness Professional side of the fence.

Tackling this one are are Personal Trainers (and Strength Athletes) Jen Mulhall and Josh Hewett. Fantastic.


NB : No matter where you stand on a subject like this, we'd love to hear your thoughts. If there's a particular subject you'd like Jen and Josh to address, just swing by the event page for this Gymchat and leave a comment or jump in the Hangout and ask them directly.

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 : Personal Trainers (and Strength Athletes) Jen Mulhall and Personal Trainer (and Strength Athlete) Josh Hewett
Topic : NLP Skills for Fitness Professionals
When : Monday Jan 12, 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 shortly after the Gymchat.

The enigmatic John Keating.

Thank you for the warm welcome.

Up to age 18 I played sports, cycled and ran cross country (badly). At 18 I was 8 and a half stone (about 53kg/115lb). I started doing push-ups, chins and sit-ups for about six months; then I got Arnold's 'Bobybuilding for Teens' from the library and started doing weights in a gym in town.

I mixed Arnold with Stuart McRobert's 'Hardgainer' approach and started training twice a week - focusing on the powerlifts. That worked well for the next 6 years (I got to eleven stone of pure muscle).

Then I blew my ACL. I spent five years running, cycling, swimming and doing yoga; before I said "Lets lift again like we did last summer". It took a couple of years to kick back in and I discovered the fitness world was filled with wonderful gurus; notably Pavel, Dan John and Paul Wade. Now I deadlift to the max (140kg at 70kg bodyweight), do regular kettlebell and calisthenics work and have lifetime goal of deadlifting with 5 plates on either side. I'd also like 15 clean chins, 60 push ups in a minute, 200x24kg kb snatches in ten mins, 5 handstand wall push ups; and focus on health rather than muscle.

Cheers John, appreciated.

Weighted Vest Workouts.

Next on the reading list here : Jonathan Thompson's 'Weighted Vest Workouts'. A close look at this deceptively simple piece of equipment; how to load it up (in all kinds of ways), and how to put it to work. There's also a spot of detail on ankle and wrist weights.

The kindle version's already available, the paperback edition comes out Feb 17th.

NB : If you've been training for a while, chances are you already know many of the exercises it outlines. However, if you're just beginning your strength-training journey, this looks like a great addition to your collection.

Jonathan Thompson's 'Weighted Vest Workouts'. Good stuff.