Month: July 2011

Draw comfort from discomfort

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

Only people willing to work to the point of discomfort on a regular basis using effective means to produce that discomfort will actually look like they have been other-than-comfortable most of the time. You can thank the muscle magazines for these persistent misconceptions, along with the natural tendency of all normal humans to seek reasons to avoid hard physical exertion.

— Mark Rippetoe

Granted, Rippetoe is talking about weightlifting and exercise, but it really holds for anything and everything in life.

You watch those ice skaters during the Winter Olympics, and they look so effortless; that’s only because you haven’t seen how they have to train all those years prior to that one performance. Someone that is comfortable in front of a crowd, speaking in public… they had to do a lot of work to get up there and make it seem so natural. When you watch someone shooting a gun, like top competitors such as Rob Leatham or Julie Golob, they look so cool under pressure because they’ve put themselves under a lot of pressure. That’s how they got to the top of their game.

When it comes to self-defense, like Mark alludes to, people are unwilling to seek discomfort. Can you think of a more uncomfortable situation that being attacked? How do you think you can overcome this discomfort? You have to put yourself into it.

Try competition shooting, or at least, take shooting classes and realize that everyone else in class is watching you, sizing you up, and comparing you. Hopefully that class might have some drills or activities that put pressure on you, like having everyone shoot a drill solo while the rest of the class looks on, or doing “shoot off” elimination drills, etc..

Take some boxing classes… no cardio boxing, but something where you’ll actually get hit in face and gut.

Take some Force-on-Force training classes, where you get put into life-like scenarios and have to decide when and how to use your gun or other defensive skills and tactics.

Life is full of discomfort. Sometimes you can ignore and avoid it, but many discomforts will hound you. The only way to rid yourself of the discomfort will be to become comfortable with it.

Texas man attacked by feral hog

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

 

“He came to me, and he was literally flying, and I jumped up on the gate,” Fox said. “But I did not jump high enough or fast enough, and he hit me.”

The hog’s tusk dug several inches into Fox’s calf. A doctor later closed the wound with more than 100 stitches.

 

 

Full story. (h/t to CHLGuy’s Twitter feed)

Hard to say exactly why he got rushed, but with water and thus also food being so hard to come by right now, critters are wandering further, getting more difficult to deal with. They are also showing up in urban areas.

Your pepper spray and cell phone and “self-defense clinic” aren’t going to do you much good here… even a good pair of Nike’s won’t help you for very long. A .44 Magnum on the other hand….

 

on Prototyping

/ hsoi

We prototype so we may fail and learn from our mistakes. There is little point prototyping if you have no time/budget to iterate.

— Andy Budd, Twitter post.

He’s right, and it points out why prototyping is important — because we’re going to make mistakes. It’s rare that the first draft of anything is perfect: you will do things wrong, you will make mistakes, you may not fully understand the problem and may actually come to understand it better due to that first pass.

It’s also true that if you don’t have time or budget to do more than one pass, you can’t prototype because your first draft will be what you deliver.

What’s not directly stated in this is that if you can’t prototype, if you’re unwilling to budget the time and money and resources to prototype, then what’s the point? That is, unless you’re willing to accept shipping something half-assed. Unfortunately so much of the computer software world is willing to do so, and that explains the sorry state of software today. *sigh*

It’s rare to find a company that gets it and is willing to invest what it takes to get there. That means many iterations, code review, and a willingness to not ship until it’s ready.

Freedom is not defined by safety…

/ hsoi

“Freedom is not defined by safety. Freedom is defined by the ability of citizens to live without government interference. Government cannot create a world without risks, nor would we really wish to live in such a fictional place. Only a totalitarian society would even claim absolute safety as a worthy ideal, because it would require total state control over its citizens’ lives. Liberty has meaning only if we still believe in it when terrible things happen and a false government security blanket beckons.”

— Ron Paul

It’s not often I agree with HuffPo…

/ hsoi

…but this is one of those times.

Why ‘Calyee’s Law’ Is A Bad Idea.

And I just hope the HuffPo folks remember why laws made in this way are a bad idea when other “bad things” happen. For instance, knee-jerk firearms legislation….

2011-07-13 workout

/ hsoi

Squats

  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x80
  • 1x3x125
  • 1x2x165
  • 3x5x210 (work)

Today’s work reinforced that it was good to do the major reset. I continue to tweak and solidify my form. Chest up was key, but one thing I found I was paying more attention to was my foot positioning: the width apart, and the angle of my feet. When I walk the bar out, my feet are closer together so I have to fully reset them before I squat. I wasn’t quite getting things where they should be and then always end up adjusting as I go along. I worked to get it right from the onset. After I was done with my sets, I stood in front of a mirror, put myself into my position, then looked at myself in the mirror. My heels were perhaps a hair over shoulder width apart, and my feet were angled out more than I thought they should be… but actually when I looked at them from another angle, they were at a good 30 degree angle. Point was, I was more comfortable here, less stress on my hip and knee joints. With everything happier, well, I’m happier.

But as well, that foot position coupled with “chest up” really worked my adductors and posterior chain more… which is good, because obviously everything else I’ve been doing has been because those are weaker parts of my whole and so my quads were compensating. Yesterday I did watch Matt Wenning’s “So You Think You Can Squat” series and that put some good thoughts in my head. Anyways, I got the 3×5 but my bar speed was very slow. Next workout I’m going to keep my weights the same, keep focusing on form, but work to get the bar speed up to a “normal” speed.

Bench Press

  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x75
  • 1x3x105
  • 1x2x135
  • 3x5x155 (work)

As well, I continue to work on form here. I’m getting the hang of putting my feet back and pressing my heels down so that I get a full body drive from the legs up, but I’m still far from mastery of the technique… still feels weird to me, but every time I bench I get a little better and more aware of doing things right.

I am not sure how much longer I can keep up 5# jumps, but I wouldn’t be surprised if before the end of the month I dropped down to 2.5# jumps. I don’t want form to go to crap here all for the sake of weight.

Deadlift

  • 2x5x95 (warmup)
  • 1x5x125
  • 1x2x175
  • 1x5x210 (work)

Whoops! I slipped up and did 5 @ 125 instead of 3. No big deal.

This is starting to feel heavy, but not “oh God I can’t do this!” heavy. I do think that either next or certainly the subsequent deadlift session is going to need to go to a mixed grip on the work set. Until now it’s been exclusively double-overhand grip, and likely I’ll continue that for all the warmup sets, only using mixed for the actual work set.

I do think I can continue 15# jumps here, but again, that’s not going to last much longer.

Gear

I had another change of gear today. The only athletic type shoes I own is a pair of Nike Free, which I bought years ago due to Kuk Sool because they offered protection to the feet while allowing a lot of movement. I used them to lift because they’re what I had. As I read about what shoes to wear when lifting, running shoes or anything that has a lot of cushion in the heel is bad because that creates a lot of give and an unstable base under the bar — makes sense. Wrestling shoes or dedicated lifting shoes are best, but the other recommendation tends to be the good old Converse Chuck Taylor. They are basic, simple, flat soled, and not a lot of cushion to them. You see a lot of powerlifters using them. The Free’s were starting to tear and come apart on me, so I opted to buy a set of Chucks. Wore them today. Not sure I noticed any real difference other than they don’t look as fruity as the Free’s. 😉

Diet

I’ve put on about 15-20# since I started this SS-inspired program about 6 weeks ago. It’s lifting, it’s eating. Trouble is, I really can’t afford to get bigger, at least, due to fat. There’s no question I have some fat gain, but there’s also a fair deal of muscle gain — both are evident. The issue becomes my clothing. I’m starting to push to the edge of what my clothing can handle, and there’s no way at this stage that I’m going to start buying a whole new wardrobe.

But I know what I’ve been doing, and it’s been consuming too many calories overall. I’ve been very focused on whatever it took to maximize my strength gains, and that worked. But now, I gotta trim back. I need to keep the strength and muscle gains up, but shed fat. I weigh about 240# now (6’3″ tall), and using the US Army bodyfat method I’m around 20% BF, maybe 20-25% is a better range to say. So, if I could shed down to 200#, that’d be cool. That’s actually been a goal of mine for some time (remember the up-day-down-day thing I was doing?). Of course, it’s hard to say how that’ll play out as I’m building muscle too, but I still think 200# a reasonable target. Exactly where my weight ends up isn’t as big as issue as the overall body composition improving.

Given that, I need to drop my protein intake down to 180-200 grams a day (i.e. 1 gram per pound of lean bodyweight). I know I’ve been overdoing it here, on purpose. Trouble is, I started to get bad about carbs too… I shouldn’t have, thus here I am taking in too many calories in a day; I was good about this at first and actually lost a little weight, but then I got consumed by building bigger strength numbers — let’s hear it for that ego again *sigh*. So the big thing is to scale back protein intake and strive for 0 carbs in a day — that won’t happen, but if I target that it’ll help guide my choices and habits. I reset my squat, this is a reset of my diet. 🙂

Commentary

I still feel I’m doing alright. I’m getting better with my form in every way, but still a long way to go. I am slowing down, but I have to expect that will happen. With the diet change, my gains may slow and I may get pushed onto an intermediate-level program a little sooner than expected. It’ll be what it’ll be.

Bottom line: I continue to enjoy the journey.

Kara’s HoPE

/ hsoi

Kara’s HoPE is a non-profit 501(c)3 charity, with a focus on providing direct assistance to children and families dealing with life limiting, and often terminal brain disorders.

I was contacted by Kara’s HoPE founder and Kara’s father, Stuart Palmer, with a request for some assistance in publicizing a fund-raising event:

For one of our current fundraisers, we are raffling a fully engraved Ed Brown Classic Custom, “Centennial Model” to one lucky winner. The prize package also includes an alligator holster, mag pouch and dress belt set from Galco Gunleather. We are conducting this event with the full knowledge and support of Ed Brown Products which you are welcome to verify with Renea Brown. You can view our contest by clicking here.

There’s also a posting on TFL made by S.W.A.T. Magazine publisher Rich Lucibella.

If you’re interested in the 1911 raffle, click here for information.  They are also raffling a Porsche Boxster, if that’s more your thing.

Slow but busy, vacation

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

I’m taking 3 weeks off work. Why? Because I can. Because I need it.

I need the time to rest, recoup, and think about things other than work.

I also have a to-do list a mile long. Got the side of beef ordered this morning. Got some low-fencing around the backyard beds so puppy will hopefully stay out of them (and veggies can grow undisturbed). Put in a low-rent sprinkler system in the backyard so all I have to do is turn on the faucet and turn it off again. Got more ahead. But bit by bit, things will get done.

Best thing? Kiddos are in summer camp for 2 weeks… day camp, but still. So Wife and I get a bunch of time alone together. I look most forward to that. 🙂

Anyways, blogging may be light… it’s been light I know, and actually, since I have some time I’m going to try to get some nice posts up during the vacation time. But I may not blog a whole lot. Got things to do…. and frankly, one of those things is getting away from the computer for a bit. 🙂

2011-07-11 workout

/ hsoi

My change-up was a good thing.

Squats

  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x80
  • 1x3x120
  • 1x2x160
  • 3x5x205 (work)

In the prior workout I was doing 230# work sets, but my form went to crap — not good. I opted to do a major reset, drop 10% (rounding down, be conservative), and work to fix my form. While there may be a lot of things to fix, I wanted to pick just one or two things so as to not overload myself. The two cues I set for myself were: 1. chest up, 2. abs tight. I focused on those, reminding myself of them when I got under the bar, again after I walked out before I did my first rep, and then resetting and checking myself between each rep. I didn’t focus on moving the weight or getting the rep, I focused on good form, especially the 2 cues.

Yes, things were better. Tougher no question, and I really felt it on my thigh adductors, which tells me I was doing more to include my posterior chain — all good improvement. So, it was a smart move to drop the weight and pick up the form. Remember: the body doesn’t know how much weight you’re lifting, just that there’s a stress. The poundage, the reps, those numbers are only known to the ego. Better to have the right form.

I will progress from here in 5# increments.

Press

  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x55
  • 1x3x70
  • 1x2x85
  • 3x5x100 (work)

Nice round number. 🙂 I could tell my bar speed was slowing down on these tho, not always getting the full push through of my head and the shrug at the end. So, I think this is another time to slow down. I’m going to drop down to 2.5# increases, so I’m happy I bought those fractional plates ahead of time. Again, I worked on cues like “chest up” to fix form.

Chin-ups

  • 1x10xbw
  • 1x8xbw
  • 1x7xbw

What happened here? I didn’t feel as strong for some reason, but I noticed I was being stricter on these too… I guess my brain got into a “strictness” groove and it just carried over here. Not going to complain.

Commentary

Not the toughest, most demanding physical workout I’ve had, but it took a lot more mentally because I had to be very into what I was doing, keeping focused on fixing my form, constantly reminding myself of my cues. I do think it paid off, and long-term this will have been a wise move to reset and move on.

I do think things are starting to slow down, but that’s expected. While I know I need to focus on the now, I am starting to think down the line about exactly what I’m wanting for a more long-term program. The Wendler 5/3/1 is appealing to me because it continues to focus on strength, throws in some mass building and balance, is straightforward and logical, and I also think it’ll be something that I may be able to better recover from. We’ll see… much to research and consider.