Monthly Archives: August 2012
2012-08-31 dry fire practice
Following TLG’s sample dry fire routine.
Week 3, Day 5, shooter’s choice.
Given yesterday’s WHO thoughts, I opted to do the basic routine but emphasizing WHO
- 20 reps of wall drill from extension WHO
- 5 reps of wall drill from extension SHO
- 5 reps of wall drill from extension 2H
- 20 reps of wall drill from press-out WHO
- 5 reps of wall drill from press-out SHO
- 5 reps of wall drill from press-out 2H
I’m not sure I can “ride the rail” of the eye-target line here, at least literally. The gun is coming from a different point, NOT under my right eye. It helps that I’m right eye dominant and right-handed, so naturally they’re all lined up and it is truly just a “ride the rail” press-out. But now with the gun in my left hand, bringing it under my right eye and out doesn’t work so well because the gun is also in my hand at a different angle so the front and rear sights don’t align with the “rail”. So, this is a time where I have to remove the literalness of it all. And doing that helped.
But what really helped?
I know how critical a strong grip is to making this work, especially important in WHO because it is the weak hand. I worked on not just crushing my grip, but really involving the pinky in the crush.
What a difference.
Of course, that shouldn’t surprise me. I know this from my years of martial arts training how critical the pinky is for making grip. But it’s just something that gets lost and doesn’t always happen because it’s not normal (still) for me to grip primarily, if you will, using the pinky. While it makes a good difference in any grip situation, it’s especially important in handgun shooting because of the counter-torque it provides against the recoiling gun.
When I did my SHO and 2H, it was even better because of that.
So there’s something for me to fall back on every now and again: crush with the WHO pinky.
2012-08-30 workout – Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 13, press 2
Get into the gym, get out of the gym.
“Week 2″
- 3 reps – Press (working max: 160#)
- 2x5x45 (warmup)
- 1x5x65
- 1x5x80
- 1x3x95
- 1x3x115 (work)
- 1x3x130
- 1x5x145
- Asst. #1 – Press
- 5 x 10 x 80
- Asst. #1 – Wide, pronated grip lat pulldowns
- 5 x 10 x 130
- Foam Rolling
Something about today just felt good. Just on a roll. Supersetted the assistance work. And gee… it was get into the gym, and get out of the gym. I liked it.
Originally I was going to do 85# on the assistance, but backed off… always start light. That was reasonable, but I do think I can up it later on. In fact, I started thinking about maybe pryamiding down on my assistance work… go as heavy as I can for 10 reps, drop weight, 10 reps, etc… But I will save that for some other time.
2012-08-30 dry fire practice
Following TLG’s sample dry fire routine.
Week 3, Day 4 (basic routine)
- 20 reps of wall drill from extension 2H
- 5 reps of wall drill from extension SHO
- 5 reps of wall drill from extension WHO
- 20 reps of wall drill from press-out 2H
- 5 reps of wall drill from press-out SHO
- 5 reps of wall drill from press-out WHO
Bottom line: grip consistency.
I’m also thinking that tomorrow’s “shooter’s choice” might be working WHO because well… “riding that rail” for the eye-target line is tough with the weak-hand and my right (dominant) eye. Trying to get it all to line up.
Mayor Bloomberg… you are confusing
“Let me ask you this Miss, if somebody pointed a gun at you and you had a gun in your pocket, what would you do? I think that answers the question,” [Mayor] Bloomberg said Tuesday at an unrelated news conference in the Bronx.
Mayor Bloomberg said the above in response to a line of questioning from a reporter regarding how 2 NYPD officers, shooting to take down a crazy man in front of the Empire State Building, did take the man down but also injured 9 innocent people in the process.
But the thing is, Mr. Bloomberg, that the law-abiding citizens of New York can’t have a gun in their pockets. So I guess what they would do is… die.
And Mr. Bloomberg, you actively campaign to make this condition so for the citizens of New York.
Glad to know you’re looking out for your fellow man.
The thing is, it seems Mayor Bloomberg gets the concept of concealed carry. I mean, he’s got armed bodyguards so he does understand the value. But… it’s just something that for some reason he wants to deny YOU from having, yet he’ll enjoy the privilege.
Ah, sweet hypocrisy.
2012-08-29 dry fire practice
Following TLG’s sample dry fire routine.
Week 3, Day 3, retention
- 10 reps of wall drill from press-out 2H
- 10 reps draw and fire from retention, slow
- 10 reps draw and fire from retention, 3/4 speed
- 5 reps draw and fire from retention while stepping L, 3/4 speed
- 5 reps draw and fire from retention while stepping R, 3/4 speed
- 10 reps beginning at full extension, draw back to retention, and fire, 3/4 speed, 2H
One thing to keep in mind? On string 6, there’s 10 hidden press-outs in there. Make sure you don’t skip them. 
Quick diet update
It’s been a week now. Yeah… I decided to just dive in. Why bother waiting?
I’m trying to find something I can stick with, because that’s the hardest part. Really, I can stick with almost anything with sufficient motivation. But what seems to make a difference this time around is data. First, having numbers up front, thanx to something like Scooby’s calorie calculator. Second, keeping track of things somewhere, like here on this blog.
Having the numbers up front is what’s making things interesting. If I know I can have x grams of carbs and y grams of protein and that’s that… boy, it sure changes your perception of portions. And yes, you need to measure it all out. I’ve had a kitchen scale for a while now and boy that’s handy. But also simple measuring cups and spoons. Really tho, using grams for everything is about the best and easiest way. Plus calorieking.com has such a great interface for being able to calculate on the fly. Good stuff there. And yes, I do this. I try to figure out every meal.
It’s kinda tough. You can’t just measure out meat and say “there’s protein” because what if I’m having brown rice? That’s got enough protein in it to matter. I’ve been using Daipoong brown rice (hey, it’s the Korean in me), and 1 cup of cooked is about 50g of carbs but also 5g of protein… and when I have to measure things out, that 5g matters. In fact to show how much it matters, I went back to Scooby’s calculator. I re-entered my calculations from before, then I adjusted it from “moderate exercise” to “light exercise”. It dropped down 300 calories per day, and each meal dropped 5g protein, 5g carbs, 2g fat. Not much, but you can see how 5g can add up over the course of a day!
But the real interesting thing is watching portion sizes. I thought “oh, this is how much rice to have”, but no… 1 cup of cooked rice on your plate looks pretty huge. Then I pack an afternoon snack of some dried fruit, and a portion size to give me 55g of carbs there ends up looking like a handful… something that would have been “one bite” for me in the past. Geez. Enlightening.
What’s been kinda cool tho is noticing my energy levels feel pretty solid. I don’t feel drained for my workouts or for just getting around in a day, which is great. I do fear in the past I just wasn’t steady enough at bringing in energy vs. my output, so I’d underconsume thinking it was right levels, then my body would scream from being depleted and I’d gorge and get no where. So this is all very good. I did wonder about it in yesterday’s deadlift workout… is the reduction in diet affecting me? Is that why I didn’t get 8 reps and only got 6? Perhaps. I also gave blood a couple days prior, which could still have a mild effect. Hard to really say what’s involved here… it’s only been a week of eating this way.
And in that week, I haven’t seen much affect on the scale. I’m not sure why. Could it be a muscle vs. fat issue? That is, the scale won’t tell me if I’ve both gained a wee bit of muscle and lost a wee bit of fat. Or maybe I just found a static intake. I did wonder that because when I see what I am ingesting for carbs, maybe I am taking in enough but now just spread over 5 meals instead of 3? I don’t know. I probably should have measured my complete food intake prior to this for a baseline.
So given all of that, I am adjusting my intake slightly. Instead of aiming for 55g of carb/protein per meal, I’m aiming for 50g. I do want to keep it at least 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight. Again, I expect my strength work will either stall or decline some, but I’d like to minimize it. Workouts will continue forward on this 2x/week BBB-style plan, still increasing weights and moving ahead as normal. I figure when I stall due to diet, I’ll stall and I’ll know it, meantime why not just forge head?
Onwards.
Priorities
A blog posting at JW Enterprises, while a little on the ranty side, hits the nail home about priorities in firearms use.
In short:
- Find gear that works, then move on to master that gear.
- Get a mentor
- Focus on fundamentals, even if you’re an expert (but then, an expert knows to focus on fundamentals).
Again, the posting is a little ranty and disjointed, but it’s point is a solid one.
2012-08-27 dry fire practice
Following TLG’s sample dry fire routine.
Week 3, Day 1, basic routine
- 20 reps of wall drill from extension 2H
- 5 reps of wall drill from extension SHO
- 5 reps of wall drill from extension WHO
- 20 reps of wall drill from press-out 2H
- 5 reps of wall drill from press-out SHO
- 5 reps of wall drill from press-out WHO
Today I was really working not just on the eye-target line stuff, but really ensuring my grip was strong and consistent. That front sight isn’t allowed to move!
I did about my usual on the 2H, but on both SHO and WHO I did a lot better than usual. It’s there that I can really forget to clamp down on the grip, and it just shows me what I need to keep working on.
2012-08-27 workout – Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 13, Deadlift 2
Ooof.
“Week 2″
- 3 reps – Deadlift (working max: 355#)
- 1x5x145 (warmup)
- 1x5x185
- 1x3x215
- 1x3x250 (work)
- 1x3x290
- 1x6x325
- Asst. #1 – Deadlift
- 3 x 10/8/10 x 185/185/135
- Asst. #2 – Pulldown Abs (kneeling)
- 5 x 12 x 110
- Foam Rolling
Oof…. that’s a lot of deadlifting.
The work sets went fine, but when I hit into assistance oo… that was a lot. I got through 1 set, hit the second set and knew it wasn’t going to happen. My lower back was rounding bad… just too much. So I dropped down the weight and then left it at the 3rd set. I want to get 5×10 so I think maybe I’ll try 5x10x145 and see how that goes. I cannot allow form to be sacrificed to make this work… .because it’s a LOT of work.
I’ve been working on my diet too, but I’ll write about that another time.
Are guns really the problem?
Downtown New York City, right in front of the Empire State Building. Man brings the crazy and executes a former co-worker he had a major beef with. As the man runs off, a construction worker notifies a couple NYC Police Officers standing nearby and the officers pursue and eventually shoot the killer.
And 9 innocent people were injured in the shooting.
All by the NYPD.
It’s been interesting to watch this one unfold in the media. The initial accounts wanted to make this into yet another rampaging bloodbath, but that media ratings frenzy was brought to a halt once it became evident the innocents were injured by the NYPD.
Awkward moment for the media and those who wish to profit from ratings or agenda pushing. They aren’t ignoring the fact all 9 injured were injured by police bullets, but it’s being relegated to a footnote. Gotta make it fit the agenda and grab the headlines somehow.
I’m still waiting for Mayor Bloomberg to holler for more gun control. As if all the onerous anti-guns laws in NYC did any good in the first place, so I fail to see how making it more illegal will accomplish anything. Once again, it’s as if criminals and crazy people bent on destruction don’t follow laws… funny that. Of course, maybe the sort of gun control needed in this situation is to use two-hands when shooting.
It also demonstrates that just because your job requires you to carry a gun doesn’t mean you can shoot it well. Heck, here’s a study from 2008 on the NYPD’s training, including many problems with their training setup. An article discussing the RAND study, from 2009.
Granted, this is some arm-chair quarterbacking. It’s hard to be mindful of “the rules”, like being sure of your target and what’s behind it, when you’re in the middle of downtown Manhattan and people are around you in every direction. Really, is there any one direction that’s going to truly be safe, without something innocent downrange? One can argue the safest direction is into the bad guy and stopping him as quickly as possible, which is what the NYPD was ultimately working to do. Still, from the video surveillance footage, it does appear some better technique and training may be in order.
But how can NYPD cops get that? Where can they go train? And train in a realistic environment, not just on a static firing lane. Something involving shooting on the move, perhaps force-on-force training. Mayor Bloomberg, shouldn’t it be a priority to have a well-trained staff?
Inevitably, some are saying this is proof that even cops shouldn’t have guns. But that just shows further ignorance and lack of understanding about reality — the author’s assumptions and lack of understanding and awareness show through.
The sad part is, people are only looking at the guns.
Why?
Is the gun evil? If the gun is evil, then that means the NYPD is evil. But that’s not the case. The gun is merely a tool, and it’s the one that uses that tool that matters. One man used the tool in an evil way. Two men used the tool in a good way. In either case, it was the man and his actions that are ultimately being analyzed and judged.
And so, why are we not focusing on the man?
What has changed in our society that we feel “shooting everyone dead” is the way to solve our problems? Why are we not looking deeper at root causes that drive such behavior in the first place? Instead of focusing on symptoms, maybe if we focused that same energy into root causes, maybe we might actually be able to manage the problem better. Else we just keep taking cough medicine, but the flu wears on.
