Month: September 2011

Contrasts, in martial arts

/ hsoi

I was flipping through a bunch of pictures on the Mu Sool Won of South Austin Facebook page. It was a few hundred pictures from “seminar”. But there was something different about this seminar. Something about Byung In Lee. It’s too much for  a “comment”, so here I write.

Let me back up and give a little history.

I have a black belt in a martial art known as Kuk Sool. When I received it, I was part of an organization known as the World Kuk Sool Association, which is the original/founding organization of the art, created and run by Kuk Sool’s creator, In Hyuk Suh. In my time in the organization I found the art itself to be a wonderful and practical art, but I grew to discover the art was not for me. I think there was too much “art” and not enough “martial” and I struggled to find people I could work with that wanted more “martial”… demos, spin kicks, acrobatics, all nice, but I’m more concerned with fighting and self-defense. I think Kuk Sool can be very solid in this area, it’s just not really stressed because… there’s not as much money in it. And that’s what ultimately drove me away from Kuk Sool, was the business practices and how so much was kinda cult-like-driven towards isolation and feeding of the parent organization. I’m not saying Kuk Sool nor WKSA are a cult — it’s not; just that things were so driven towards feeding the parent organization, especially money-wise. The last “seminar” I attended was particularly bothersome because they spent every moment they could pimping merch and not really teaching anything of value (exception, the segment with Master Sung Jin on dan bong was worthwhile).

And you see, whenever we had seminars, In Hyuk Suh never taught. He’d come out and speak for a little bit, which sometimes was useful, many times not, and frequently arrogant, then go back and sit in the office and let everyone else teach, like his sons Sung Jin and Alex, or  Barry Harmon. Now, Masters Sung Jin, Alex, and Barry are fantastic teachers and people to learn from, don’t get me wrong there either. But come on… why can’t the founder teach us something? Some say it’s his age, but geez… if all the stuff spouted about the age-defying effects of martial arts practice are to be true, then he should be able to show us just fine. I’ve seen older men and women throwing around 20-somethings — hell, Keiko Fukuda is older and in arguably worse health than In Hyuk Suh but she still gets on the mat!

Anyways, a couple of years ago there was yet another schism within WKSA and many people broke off because of a b.s. “franchise” agreement. WKSA lost a lot of good people, including Byung In Lee. But frankly, WKSA’s loss is the gain for the rest of the world because now Master Lee can do as he wishes, and we’ll all be better off for it.

This is what struck me about those photos.

What do I see in the photos? Well, of course I see Master Lee, with his big smile. The first time I met the man he was smiling and joking with me. In fact, now that I think about it, the very first time I met him I came to visit his school when I lived in north Austin to research it. I recall some other student was warming up the class, but only because he was taking care of business including talking to me. Then he got out on the floor, limbered up a bit, then went right into teaching the class. I’m not sure what his rank was at the time, probably 8th degree? And many times people of such high rank don’t teach the colored belts but have their lower-ranked black belts do so. But not Master Lee.

And so that remains.

What was in the pictures? Master Lee out on the mat. He’s doing everything with the students. He’s directly teaching the students, be it some 3rd degree school owner or some white belt child. Doesn’t matter to him, he’s teaching those who wish to learn.

It was such a study in contrasts to look at how Master Lee carries himself vs. how others carry themselves. I have the highest respect for Master Lee because of the person he is. He’s fun loving, a family man, a bad-ass martial artist, humble, always smiling and joking. If there’s any ego about this man, I’ve never seen it. He’s a good man, in every true sense of the word.

Looking at those pictures just spoke so well about the sort of man he is. I don’t see myself going back to Kuk Sool, but so long as he’s teaching the art and producing good students willing to carry on, the art will recover and do alright.

2011-09-14 workout

/ hsoi

The only way to get good at the things you hate is to keep doing them until you don’t hate them any more. So with that, today was squat day. 🙂

“Week 1” 5 reps

  • 5/3/1 – Squats (working max: 230#)
    • 2x5x45 (warmup)
    • 1x5x95
    • 1x5x115
    • 1x5x140
    • 1x5x150 (work)
    • 1x5x175
    • 1x7x200
  • Asst. #1 – Squats
    • 5 x 10 x 85
  • Asst. #2 – Leg Curls
    • 5 x 10 x 40
  • Metcon – jump rope
    • 1 Tabata set – all single hop

I don’t look forward to squat days, but I’m always appreciative of them when I’m done. Certainly of the 4 big lifts, it’s my least favorite, but I know it’s the #1 at making you overall bigger and stronger. So, you do it.

I’m happy I was able to crank out 7 with 200#, since that’s 1 more than the last time I did 200#, which would have been on “week 2” of the previous cycle. So, that’s alright. Form continues to improve, giving myself the cues of “chest up” and “torso tight”. Unfortunately I then realize I lose shoulder tightness, so I have to work on that. I also have been working more on keeping my eyes at a “higher plane”. The issue is, most of the equipment in the gym is up against walls so trying to look at a spot on the ground 6′-8′ in front of you doesn’t really happen, so I’ve been looking further down than I should. When I pick a spot on the wall that’s not as far down, my head still stays down but not as much, and that appears to be helping. Helps with the “chest up”.

I get a good burn (I hate that term) on my assistance squats, and while 85 is pushing me I think it’s time to bump that up. I’ll likely go to 90 next workout. 1 minute in between sets here really gets my heart pumping.

I’m also glad I made the on-the-spot choice to take leg curls up to 40# because that worked me nicely. I do think 45# next time, along with the squat assistance weight bump, should leave my hamstrings good and sore. 😉

On the jump rope… I realized, I don’t need to add a second set. I need to make my 1 set more intense. I worked to jump faster today, averaging about 2 hops per second, which was hard to do after killing my legs on the squats and curls. But that’s what I need. I also think that perhaps I should start to change technique from hops to “running in place”, which will likely require me to back off while I learn the skill, but that’s alright because I reckon that’ll be a better workout in the long run. I may try starting on that next workout.

Anyways, today was alright. Need more red meat tho. 🙂

Parenting: you’re doing it wrong, tale #85992592968290

/ hsoi / 5 Comments

Dear Parent of the whiny child at the music store last night:

When your husband went into the cymbal room and the door closed behind him, then myself and the clerk heard this shriek of a small child, we both wheeled around thinking the child got its fingers caught in the closing door.

That was not the case. No… the child was just upset that it wasn’t allowed to go into the cymbal room. Sure, you tried to explain to the 2-3 year old that it was in their best interest to not go into that room, and for their sensitive ears that’s a good decision.

If you had stuck to your guns, if you had remained the parent — you know, the one in control of the situation — things would have been better.

Alas, you did as too many “parents” today do, you gave into the child. In fact, you said something like “Well, if you’re just going to keep whining about it, then ok, you can go in.” And proceeded to open the door for the child and let her/him into the cymbal room.

And now the child knows… if I am not getting what I want, whine and cry, pitch a fit, and eventually they will give in. It doesn’t matter if the thing is bad for me or not, and chances are I, being a small child, don’t know that it’s bad for me… but my “parents” will give it to me anyways.

*sigh*

 

What’s that pounding in my ears?

/ hsoi / 8 Comments

I’m sure my neighbors are going to love me.

Daughter is starting drum lessons.

Drum… set… lessons.

The lessons start next week, but yesterday I got her signed up and last night we went to Guitar Center to get her a pair of sticks and a practice pad. They were out of the method book so I ordered it from Amazon.

By coincidence, it was the first night of Guitar Center’s 2011 Drum Off competition. We stuck around and listened to a few of the folks play. A lot of your rock/metal drumming, but one guy was especially tasty, very smooth.

One thing Daughter noticed? Of all the people lined up to play, there was only one girl. 🙂

I told her it doesn’t matter. It’s not about being a boy or a girl, it’s about being a drummer. If you’ve got chops, that’s all that matters. Oh sure, she will have to learn how to hang with the boys, but having two brothers helps. But in the end, it’s about the music, and anyone that refuses to support and encourage you is as asshole and can go away.

She’s nervous, excited, a little intimidated, and certainly overwhelmed. But she’s happy, so she told me. She’s looking forward to this.

Right now, she’ll stick with the practice pad. Since she’s to learn set, yes eventually we’ll have to get one. People — even the instructor — tells me to get an electronic set. But I’m not convinced, because you just can’t equal what an acoustic set looks and feels and sounds like. We’ll see. If we got that route, I’ll be looking for some basic used sets on craigslist for sure.

And… my neighbors will really, really love me. 😉

What to expect at your first action shooting match

/ hsoi

Local action pistol shooter, Nathan Taylor, made a 2 part video series for folks interested in getting involved in action pistol shooting but aren’t quite sure what to expect.

 

Supplement experimenting

/ hsoi

I know some people are going to give me flack for this, but whatever. 🙂

If you get into the world of weightlifting, without a doubt you’ll be hit with the avalanche of supplementation. All sorts of promises to help you get bigger, stronger, faster, and shed fat, be sexy, feared and envied by men, and women will swoon at your rippling pecs… if you just take our product.

And of course, most of it is hype and bullshit. I mean, not just the marketing, but the products too.

On the whole, you don’t NEED supplements because they are just that: supplements. They are not and should not be the core of your intake. Eating right, eating a lot (in my case, to gain muscle and strength), is really the core of it. Nevertheless, there are some things one can and should do, if you can, to help that out.

A multivitamin is good, just to ensure there’s no shortage of anything. Plus, you likely need extra to help do all you do.

Fish oil is well recommended for numerous reasons. In this realm, it’s especially recommended due to the anti-inflamatory properties, which is helpful for your joints. I used to take just one or two 1000 mg capsules a day, but once I jumped up to 6000 mg (which gives you a little over 1g of the EPA and DHA), I did notice a marked improvement in how my joints felt. I’ve been experimenting with amounts and taking 3 capsules in the morning and 3 in the evening seems to work for me.

Whey protein. Because it digests fast, so it’s good pre- and post- workout to get some stuff in me. I use it mostly for that, tho sometimes if I’m crunched for time I might just swig some down because it is fast.

Creatine monohydrate. CreaPure stuff. Because there’s enough research out there to say there’s little reason not to do it if you can.

Those really are about the core for one to take. Beyond that, it all gets gray.

I thought about trying some other things, like glutamine or BCAA’s, but reading things like this and some other things well… I’m not sure if there’s much benefit beyond the copious amounts of protein I’m taking in as it is, both from whey and from beef, chicken, pork, venison, fish, etc..

And really… I have to admit that after a couple of decades of being inundated by the more esoteric stuff well… damnit, I think I’m just going to satisfy some curiosity after all these years. Yeah, I reckon most of it is crap because there’s minimal science, a lot of promise and hype, and it’s mostly bro-science. But I’d like to try, and I’m willing to be semi-experimental and semi-scientific in it. I say semi because it won’t be strict, I only have me so there’s only so much “control” and comparison here. But hey, why the hell not. Life’s short and I finally wish to scratch this itch after all these years. It’s the 16-year-old in me, I guess. 🙂  I’ll be honest: if something can improve performance, why not? I don’t want to do anything harmful, but as humans we’re always looking for an edge. I will say there’s a difference between “edge” and “shortcut” and I know there are no shortcuts: you still have to eat well and lift heavy. But if something can help, we humans are always looking for an edge.

After much poking around I figured hey… let’s try a pre-workout supplement, like Jack3d. I do figure a lot will be bunk, but why not.

I’ve been taking it slowly. Start at 1 scoop, see how I feel. Then go up 1/2 scoop at a time and see how it goes. I’ve even been taking it on non-workout days just to see how it makes me feel. I’m certainly not overdoing it, but I am curious to watch and feel the effects and if it’s doing anything for me.

I’ve only been using it a couple of weeks now and well…. I’m not sure I’m sold on it, tho I think it’ll take a few more weeks and maybe a second tub before I’ll feel I have enough personal data. Today I tried 2.5 scoops and well, I think that’s why I felt “odd” during my workout. I did feel like I could move mountains, but then, I put the bar in my hands and felt like I had no idea what I was doing. I was there, but I was out to lunch. It’s hard to describe, but 2.5 scoops put me in a realm that seems like “too much”. But as well, I’ve been a bit off, slept a lot over this past weekend, so maybe I’m just out of it otherwise? It’s hard to say, need more data.

I certainly don’t feel the marketing hype, which I expected. I would have been surprised to get those “sick pumps” where it felt like my muscles were ready to rip out of my skin. Frankly I’m getting good pumps, but it doesn’t feel any more or less than without the stuff. Could I be moving more weight? That’s still to be determined, once I go off the stuff. The jury is still out, but data so far is… interesting, mostly in terms of how it makes my head feel.

Who knows. I am probably a fool parting with my money, but that’s ok. Life’s short and I’m curious. Once I’m done with this stuff, I do plan to try some other things because well… I’m curious. What? I don’t know. Figure that out when I get there.

2011-09-12 workout

/ hsoi

Today was… odd.

“Week 1” – 5 reps

  • 5/3/1 – Bench Press (working max: 195#)
    • 2x5x45 (warmup)
    • 1x5x80
    • 1x5x100
    • 1x3x120
    • 1x5x130 (work)
    • 1x5x150
    • 1x11x170
  • Asst. #1 – bench press
    • 5 x 10 x 95
  • Asst. #2 – 1 arm dumbbell rows
    • 5 x 10 x 40
  • Metcon – jump rope
    • 1 Tabata set – all single hop

Today was a little odd for me. I’m not sure exactly where it came from but my head was there but not there today. I felt like I could move mountains, yet when the weight was in my hand it was like I forgot how to move it. That last work set on the bench press felt like the sloppiest damn thing in the world and I could only crank out 11 reps and even that felt like I was going to drop the bar and kill myself. I have some theories, which I’ll discuss at another time.

Nevertheless, the workout was what it was. Not too bad really. I do think the assistance weight on bench can go up to 100# to ensure progressive stress. 40# was good on the rows, as I had to do a little cheat on the last reps of the last sets to ensure I got the sets and reps in.

I’ll discuss the other stuff later.

on zeroing

/ hsoi

In this past weekend’s Defensive Long Gun class, the first thing done in the class was discussion of zeroing. Students were lined up at 5 yards, 15 yards, 25 yards, and 50 yards. A white 6″ paper plate was put up, and the students were told to aim at the center of the plate. We didn’t want students to adjust their shooting, we didn’t want them to try to put the holes in the center of the plate. Aim in the same spot every time as we vary distance so one can see the effects of their zero, the effects of distance upon their zero, the effects of distance as it pertains to point-of-aim vs. point-of-impact and so on.

Remember, the point of KR Training’s Defensive Long Gun is to look at long gun use in a civilian defensive context. So what does that likely mean? Something goes bump in the middle of the night. Strictly speaking that’s not the only scenario, but it helps to frame the context for the class. This isn’t military tactics, this isn’t shooting out to 300 yards. In fact, most of the shooting inside a typical home or office isn’t going to go above 25 yards. That frames the class.

Students came to class with a wide variety of zeros. Some had the traditional hunting “zeroed at 100 yards”, some had 25 yard zeros, some had 50 yards, some … well, we don’t know. 🙂   I’ve got a cool iOS app called Ballistic, and I wanted to run a bunch of numbers through it so you could see what the effects of different zeros are.

Settings

Ballistic comes with a large library of projectile characteristics. Since most students came with AR’s chambered in .223/5.56, I picked Hornady TAP .223 Rem 75 grain HP, because that’s a reasonable choice for a home defense load. As well, I chose a sight height of 2.5″, which isn’t strictly correct but is good enough to talk some numbers. But whatever the specifics, I kept all those variables the same, only changing the zero point since that’s the intent of the discussion.

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