Month: July 2011

Seek (more) training. Seek (more) education.

/ hsoi

I had some mixed reactions after reading the following article and felt it’d make a good blog post.

To note a bit of context, KRGV is in the Texas Rio Grande Valley, which is basically the southern-most tip of Texas, right on the border with Mexico.

Crime and spillover violence is forcing some people to take safety into their own hands. They are carrying weapons out of fear. Law enforcement says arming themselves for protection doesn’t guarantee safety.

[…]

Armed robberies, carjackings, home invasions, violence from across the border spilling into our back yards, [concealed handgun license instructor, Roy] Balli says a lot of the people he deals with feel like they need to protect themselves.

Understandable. Good people wish to live their lives unharmed. To be at the mercy of evil people is no way to live your life.

“There are so many responsibilities that come with a person being armed,” says Hidalgo police Chief Vernon Rosser.

This is true. However, the statement sounds like it’s about to be followed by a “but…”.

Rosser says he’s not against people arming themselves. It’s their right, but he worries about the implications.

“What my fear is is that if a person sees something or hears something, rather than pick up the phone and call us so that we can be on our way that they may feel like. I will just get my gun and go check it out. I don’t know that they would have the training. I don’t know that they would be mentally prepared of what to do in a situation if it became confrontational,” says Rosser.

This gives me mixed emotions.

I will agree that if there is a potential for danger, should you go walking into it? Generally no, but circumstances will dictate. If I hear my child screaming, I’m not going to dial 911 and wait. If I heard the sound of my back door being kicked in, I’d be more wont to hunker down, arm myself, dial 911, and start shouting commands. It takes too long for the police to arrive. In a city like Austin, 5 minute response time is about the best you could hope for (if you’re lucky), and a lot can happen in 5 minutes.

Nevertheless, I do agree with Chief Rosser. A gun is not a talisman that will ward off evil. It is a tool, and like any tool you need to know how to use it properly. This necessitates education and training.

The chief says if you carry a gun, you better be prepared to use it. That weapon could cause more harm than protection.

“You always have to be faced with one thing. What am I gonna do when it comes time to do it?” says Rosser.

It goes beyond simple marksmanship. Yes, being able to hit your target is fundamental, but you must move beyond that level. You need to be able to shoot under pressure. You need to be able to shoot one-handed. You need to be able to shoot targets at a distance greater than you are comfortable with. But again, we’re still talking marksmanship. After laying this foundation, it’s important to learn about greater skills towards keeping you safe: mental skills, mindset, tactics. Classes that emphasize use of your brain more than your fists or gun, that’s what you ultimately should seek. These are the sorts of things that could keep you out of a dangerous situation in the first place, to recognize it before it happens. The sooner you can bail out, the better for you.

Police do have their place, and there are times when calling them is the best response. But the police cannot always be there and cannot protect us at at moment’s notice. Ultimately self-preservation is your personal responsibility.

Why [insert tragedy here] means we must support my politics

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

Many people will use this terrible tragedy as an excuse to put through a political agenda other than my own. This tawdry abuse of human suffering for political gain sickens me to the core of my being. Those people who have different political views from me ought to be ashamed of themselves for thinking of cheap partisan point-scoring at a time like this. In any case, what this tragedy really shows us is that, so far from putting into practice political views other than my own, it is precisely my political agenda which ought to be advanced.

Not only are my political views vindicated by this terrible tragedy, but also the status of my profession. Furthermore, it is only in the context of a national and international tragedy like this that we are reminded of the very special status of my hobby, and its particular claim to legislative protection. My religious and spiritual views also have much to teach us about the appropriate reaction to these truly terrible events.

Countries which I like seem to never suffer such tragedies, while countries which, for one reason or another, I dislike, suffer them all the time. The one common factor which seems to explain this has to do with my political views, and it suggests that my political views should be implemented as a matter of urgency, even though they are, as a matter of fact, not implemented in the countries which I like.

Of course the [insert tragedy here] are a uniquely tragic event, and it is vital that we never lose sight of the human tragedy involved. But we must also not lose sight of the fact that I am right on every significant moral and political issue, and everybody ought to agree with me. Please, I ask you as fellow human beings, vote for the political party which I support, and ask your legislators to support policies endorsed by me, as a matter of urgency.

Taken from here, and the original appears to be here. I modified it slightly, removing “World Trade Center attacks” in place of “[insert tragedy here]”.

It’s a well-written piece and it’s exactly what goes on every time some sort of tragedy happens. The latest is the bombing and shooting in Norway.

Being as there are guns involved, it perks my interest a little more. As expected, those that wish to ban guns aren’t even waiting until the dead are buried before they work to dance about with their political agendas. And as expected, the pro gun people are pointing out how the gun-banners are being disgusting political opportunists. But I also see the pro gun people making comments like “and if their gun laws were better” or “if they had concealed carry”… and frankly folks, you’re doing the same thing, working to push your political agenda. But of course, we never see it that way because we’re fighting for the greater good, blah blah blah.

My point?

We cannot use every tragedy as justification to push politics. Take this line of reasoning to the logical extreme and it will destroy the very civilization that this short-sighted behavior claims to preserve.

Also, if you find it reprehensible to use tragedy to push politics, make sure you’re not being a hypocrite.

2011-07-25 workout

/ hsoi

Today sucked.

Squats

  • 2x5x45
  • 1x5x85
  • 1x3x130
  • 1x3x175
  • 2x5x220
  • 1x3x220

As you can see, I had my first true miss on my work sets. On set 2, I almost got stuck half-way up on rep 5 but powered it out. On set 3, rep 3 was tough, then the seed of doubt was sown in my head if I’d make rep 4… and that seed was all it took. I figured to be conservative, rack the bar. Oh well, it’s how it goes some days.

I’m having that same ache too, tho it’s more localized now, on the outside of my right calf. It feels like my soleus, but not 100% sure as the ache kinda “radiates” up and down and in and out. It sucks, but I know it’s playing into everything… even if not physically making feel miss, it’s messing enough with my head.

Press

  • 2x5x45
  • 1x5x55
  • 1x3x75
  • 1x2x90
  • 3x5x107.5

Press I actually felt good with. I felt strong and my form wasn’t 100% on the work sets, but still pretty darn good. I was happy with this.

Chins

  • 1x10xbw
  • 1x9xbw
  • 1x6xbw

What happened here? This is certainly a big step back. I did feel stricter… that first set, every rep had my body stiff as a board and pulling all the way chest to bar (well, as much as my shoulders and such would let me). So who knows… maybe that tired me out some. But still, it didn’t feel good to drop like this.

*sigh*

Metcon (for Dave…)

Not sure if I’ll keep calling this “metcon” but for Dave….  🙂

I did a Tabata of rope jumping. 4 minutes; 20 seconds jumping, 10 seconds resting; 8 cycles. Just simple “double hop” schoolyard type jumping.

If you want to feel like an uncoorindated boob, jump rope.

Commentary

Today was just…. off. Not sure why. I did notice a lot of resting this past weekend… sleeping a lot longer than usual at night, yesterday I took a huge nap after lunch and still slept a long time last night. Body is trying to tell me something.

It could be that my diet changes are starting to kick in? As I mentioned before, really working to cut the carbs to nothing but the “raw veggies” (think paleo) and then a lot of meat/protein. I dropped a bunch of overall calories, no question, but feeling it so soon? And then the calf ache….

Maybe it is time to change up the routine. If nothing else, I am feeling tired of squatting. Maybe just a simple change of routine will do me well.

Much to ponder.

Lessons learned, from today’s Basic Pistol 1 class

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

Just returned from another day at KR Training, assisting with a Basic Pistol 1 class. The class had 15 people, 9 of which were female — a slightly higher number than usual. But due to this, we were able to really demonstrate the importance of gun fit as well as dispelling some myths about guns, especially ones that tend to get directed towards women.

What is gun fit? It’s not just that the gun has this nebulous “feels good” in your hand. To “feel good” is quite subjective: I had some folks in class that thought the big heavy .357 Magnum revolver felt good, and some that thought the little lightweight .38 snub felt good… at least, until they shot it. 🙂  Gun fit is ensuring the gun actually fits well and proper in your hand for your hand size, so you can properly grip the gun and reach the trigger. There’s much involved in selecting a first handgun, and this guide goes in-depth on the topic. The key I want to make is you must try guns and be willing to keep trying more guns until you’ve exhausted a good deal of them to find what actually fits you and allows you to shoot successfully. There was one woman in class whose hands were so small she could not reach the trigger on the .357 revolver. Double-stacked semi-autos could be an issue for her as well due to their thick grips. But a slim, single-stack 1911 with a proper trigger would be no problem.

Another problem that tends to get directed towards women is “small guns”, where the guy at the gun counter suggests they get a little snub revolver, or even the woman chooses the snub because it’s small and cute. Yes, one woman told me that she liked the snub, at first, because visually it was small and cute. What I’ve started doing in the BP1 classes is having everyone that comes up to my station shoot a big, heavy, .357 Magnum revolver: it’s heavy, it’s steel, it has big rubber grips — it’s a pleasure to shoot. I then have them shoot an airweight snub revolver. Both shoot the same ammo, .38 Special practice ammo, but even with “light loads” like that, the snub is still painful to shoot, stinging their hands. The intent is to show them that while little guns have their place, they are not ideal as a first gun. Now they know first-hand, and nothing the salesguy at the gun counter says or does will get them to buy one. Good. 🙂  It also shows them what a difference a heavy gun makes, and while their initial feeling may have been to avoid the heavy gun because it’s heavy, the heavy guns are actually what you want to shoot because they are a lot more pleasant to shoot. If they are fun to shoot, you’ll keep shooting them. If it hurts to shoot, you won’t shoot, you won’t go to the gun range to practice, you won’t take classes to learn and improve your skills… and what good is that? Finally, shooting these revolvers demonstrate another aspect of gun fit, because those triggers are long and heavy, and if you can’t reach them with a proper grip, they’re not for you.

I do hope to see the folks back for Basic Pistol 2 and beyond. From the questions they were asking, it sounds like we had a lot of people interested in learning more about firearms and how to safely and effectively deploy them in a self-defense context. That’s what we’re here for, and we look forward to seeing you at a future class. 🙂

A good day.

Ain’t that the truth

/ hsoi

It’s easier not to be awesome.

– Jim Wendler

Found here, part of a Q&A with Jim:

 

12/15/2009 8:43:00 AM – Scott

Hi Jim, I read that Jason Adams was using your 5/3/1 Training Program BBB for a bodybuilding show, and that you were working on a “bodybuilding” template version of 5-3-1. Any update on that or what mods to BBB do you recommend?? Thanks.

Scott,

I’ve got numerous Boring But Big programs in my new book – but they are all essentially the same.

There is no secret to any of this – You have to be willing to suffer the soreness of the training and continue to get stronger.

And be disciplined as hell with the diet (i.e. NEVER miss a meal/cheat on a meal for months/years) and the training.

That is what most people find hard to do.

 

 

If you read my prior workout entry, especially the comments, diet is the toughest thing for me. Reading what Jim wrote above makes it all hit home. That it’s going to take months/years — it’s like everything else, the long haul. Have to be disciplined as hell.

And perhaps if I just keep it in my head that I am seeking to be awesome well…. that won’t make it any easier, but it may keep me on track. “John, do you want to be awesome, or do you want to be a slob like everyone else?” Yes, I’ve got just enough ego that might work. 😉

But it doesn’t even hold for lifting weights or losing weight. It holds for everything in life. Look at people at the top, in professional sports, the Olympics, business, shooting sports, show business, whatever… it wasn’t easy to get to the top, nothing worth having in life is easy, and it’s only through hard work that you’ll get to the top.

So… maybe this posting is just me trying to pound it through my own thick skull. Fixing my diet, and fixing a few other things.

Be awesome. It’s hard, but worth it.

 

2011-07-22 workout

/ hsoi / 16 Comments

Today was generally good, but I need to change things up.

Squat

  • 2x5x45
  • 1x5x85
  • 1x3x125
  • 1x2x170
  • 3x5x215

I did the same setup as Wednesday’s workout because I wanted to fix my bar speed. It was better this workout, smoother. However, I have this achy pain running down the back-outside-right of my right leg. Not sure what it is nor where it came from, but I do feel it affected my lift. Nevertheless, I feel generally good about this and am going to bump up 5# next workout.

Bench Press

  • 2x5x45
  • 1x5x80
  • 1x3x115
  • 1x2x145
  • 3x5x165

I felt very strong today. I didn’t need to rest as long between sets, and I was just powering them out. Better form? More leg drive I know. Whatever reason, this felt very good. Another 5#.

Pull-ups

  • 1x10xbw
  • 1x10xbw
  • 1x9xbw

And I could have gotten a 10th out if I cheated on that last rep. Is it odd that I feel stronger on pull-ups than chin-ups? Maybe after next week I’ll be at 3×10 across on both chins and pulls and will start on the assisted/negative real chins/pulls.

Other

Not sure what to classify this as yet… but I did some jump rope Tabata style. I don’t yet have the coordination to do this like a boxer so it’s just simple “double-hop” until I don’t feel as uncoordinated. It’s also far from HIIT, but I have to start somewhere.

Commentary

Overall today was good. Felt strong. Felt good.

I’ve been thinking about changing things up. This marks the end of week 7 on this program. I don’t feel a need to change just because of a time-limit, but I am feeling a need to change due to the packing on of fat. Going along with a desire to shed some of the weight, a program designed to pack on the weight doesn’t really work. But by the same token, I really want to get the rest of my lifts up to the same point as my squat. That is, I’m feeling that my squat is at the limits of what I can really do, so the progress is slow and I can accept that and go with that. Presses feel like I could go with a slow increase too… in fact, if I went to a weekly program I could actually even consider going back to a 5# bump on presses and not feel bad about it, but still slow. However, my deadlift and my bench press still feel like they’re progressing at a pretty decent pace and I’d hate to slow them down.

Besides… I know the real secret to things is getting my diet cleaned up. That’s the hardest part for me.

So here’s my present thinking:

Clean up my diet.

Start adding some HIIT in. Right now I’m going to jump rope and do it just like I mentioned above. As I get more coordinated, I’ll bump up the intensity. I will do this at the end of every workout. Will this be how I continue to do things? I don’t know. I was tossing around the notion of doing something like the Wendler 5/3/1 “boring but big” approach and having the 5×10 assistance set be somehow HIIT-like… maybe doing it 5×10 with 30 seconds of rest, more strict to Wendler’s plan… or maybe doing that exercise but pure Tabata-style. I don’t know… it’s just fresh ideas rolling around in my head, not sure what do to with it yet.

But in general, I know that changing the program is going to be necessary eventually so I can keep up muscular and strength gains, or at least, maintain if not improve… but acknowledge this will slow down if I’m trying to shed fat. My recovery will also be affected, thus a program change. But that alone won’t do it, and changing too much at one time isn’t wise either. Besides, like I said, I want to try to keep my bench press and deadlift gains going as long as I can, even if the other 2 lifts have slowed down.

So, work on my diet, add the jump rope, otherwise keep going, and we’ll see where this goes.

Even Imaginarily Armed Gays Don’t Get Bashed

/ hsoi

I’ve thought a lot about the turning point of the situation — the fact that one of them thought that I might have a gun. None of them said, “There’s a law against antigay hate crimes!” That wasn’t the deterrent. It was the possibility that I might have had a gun that saved my life Friday night.

Jimmy LaSalvia is gay. He was attacked by 8 thugs for being, as they called him, a “fucking faggot”. Laws, restraining orders, police, none of that did any good to prevent this assault from happening. The only thing that kept Jimmy alive and unharmed was the fact his attackers thought he had a gun. Full story. (h/t Cato)

While there are exceptions (Jimmy himself being one of them), in general you find the same people who want rights for minorities — like women and GLBT — to also hold anti-gun and gun-banning positions.

A weapon is a force equalizer, they allow the user to overcome disparity. When because of their minority status someone repressed and held in a lower and more vulnerable regard, why would those that claim to fight for their rights, that claim these groups deserve equal status, wish to deny them means to overcome disparity?

If you want rights and equality for all, remember the right to life and dignity is the essential first step. There are those in this world that seek to deprive good people of those things — don’t be one of them.

When society breaks down…

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

I was reading this Quip from John Farnam where a friend of his in the Chicago area told of how thunderstorms hit, the power went out, and some uh… “enterprising youths” decided that the extra darkness afforded to them by the power failure made for an excellent opportunity to break into homes. John’s friend — due to his vigilance, dog, and gun — allowed him to not be a victim. Unfortunately, many others in the area were robbed.

This was something rather typical and mundane — a power outage.

Look at how quickly and easily “society” broke down and failed. What a thin veneer civilization really is.

There are those that question the need for guns, especially “big scary guns” (e.g. AR-15, AK-47). Consider Hurricane Katrina. Consider the L.A. riots of 1992. No, we may not have massive uprising (yet), we may not have war on our soil (yet), but we certainly do have bad things happen, be they on the scale of Katrina or just a neighborhood power outage. Either way, good people need a way to stand strong against those bent on bringing injury and harm. We all appreciate technological evolution (how did we ever manage before smartphones, right?), and when it comes to being able to stand strong, guns are the best technological evolution of tools for this purpose.

Parental Controls, iPods, iTunes, and you….

/ hsoi

So I find out the hard way that the Parental Controls for iTunes and iPod’s don’t apply to each other.

That is, in the iTunes.app you can set Parental Controls to restrict the content your children have access to. Well, it seems that only applies to accessing the iTunes Store via the iTunes.app. If there’s a device involved, like an iPod, then you must also set the Restrictions on that device. They don’t apply to each other, which makes sense now that I think about it, but it didn’t occur to me when I was first setting things up. I only set stuff on the app thinking it would carry over… and in a way, that would seem logical to do.

But alas.

And we got to learn the hard way.

All is good tho. Something for us all to grow on.