Month: January 2012

2012-01-20 workout – Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 5, Squat 3

/ hsoi

I believe I’ve broken through my barrier.

“Week 3”

  • 5/3/1 – Squat (working max: 250#)
    • 2x5x45 (warmup)
    • 1x5x100
    • 1x5x125
    • 1x3x150
    • 1x5x190 (work)
    • 1x3x215
    • 1x5x240 (PR)
  • Asst. #1 – Leg Press
    • 5 x 10 x 275
  • Asst. #2 – Leg Curls
    • 5 x 10 x 80
  • GPP – Elliptical
    • Tabata style (20 sec. 150-ish strides per min., 10 sec. 100-ish strides per min)
    • 2 minutes slow (warmup)
    • 1 Tabata set
    • 2 minutes slow (cooldown)
  • DeFranco Agile 8

Setting a squat PR today of 1x5x240 may not seem like a huge PR, but it is. For far too long I’ve been hovering with this 230# issue. Worked up to it doing the SS/PPNP program but form was horrible so I reset. Shortly after resetting I switched to the Wendler 5/3/1 program, which is much slower progress. Then during this I opted to hang around that level for a while while I changed around my GPP. But finally, everything is coming together and I’ve officially blown through that 230 barrier and setbacks and did 240 today. Felt pretty good too! Onwards.

On leg presses, I did some reading up on the range of motion one should use. There doesn’t seem to be any hard limits here, but the big point stressed is to keep your (lower) back in contact with the backrest. So today I played around with backrest settings to find what worked best for me (all the way down, lowest setting). Repositioned my feet slightly to be closer to my squat stance, and then the range of motion isn’t all the way touching the bottom stops/guards, but almost. It’s more that I’m getting my legs and thighs into the same position as the bottom of the squat, then pressing out explosively, again working to replicate my squat. The whole time, keeping focus on my lower back to ensure nothing curls up. If I’m not careful, in the lower position I can get a curl, but it’s slight. So I just have to keep things focused to keep the arch in my back. Good things. I reckon next cycle I’ll go to 315 and that’ll probably hold me for a little while.

On leg curls, today I just opted to up the weight 5# to 80 because of the lack of additional stress from switching to leg press. That worked. I’ll stick with this during next week’s deload and then go to 85 the week after.

I’ve been thinking about the elliptical stuff. I think the incline setting of “10” is good. I might up the resistance level just slightly to more closely replicate the real life resistance I’d feel running up a hill. “12” is a close setting but not quite. Maybe 14. But once I find myself in the right groove, I decided the way to increase the work is to just increase the workload. Instead of doing 8 “reps”, I’ll work my way up to say 15. I think that may do more for me than just making the resistance higher.

All in all, feeling good. Looking forward to next week’s deload.

Ending the rumor

/ hsoi / 5 Comments

There’s been word spreading around the gun community about gun thefts by putting red dots on tires of cars at shooting-related events (e.g. at the range), then thieves tracking and later breaking into the car to steal the firearms.

When I first heard the rumor, I was curious because it was reportedly happening nearby (San Antonio), but skeptical. I figured we could look into it tho to see if there was any credibility to it. I mean, if the local sheriff met with folks, certainly that’d be on record wouldn’t it? Certainly there’d be hundreds of people who listened to the sheriff that could back this up, right?

Alas, we found nothing.

Finally, a credible response, dispelling the rumor.

I figure tho like most rumors spreading on the Internet, this one is going to continue to float around for many many years. Please work to help dispel it.

on Human Potential

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Dave Tate on human potential.

While Dave is talking at a CrossFit seminar and is talking about human potential in a sports realm, there’s a lot of stuff (mostly in the first half of the video) where Dave’s talk about human potential is applicable to life in general.

QOTD

/ hsoi

Their “political currency” is the tragedy of their victim “heroes”. Ours is the enabling of self reliance and determination. There is no common ground upon which to compromise or even talk.

I don’t quite agree with some about the “just don’t engage them” stance; some nuts are just tougher to crack. But I do agree with Joe… mostly, because while there may be no common ground now, there may be in the future or just that we have yet to discover what the common ground is. But it does take two to tango, and if they refuse to listen to reason, if they refuse reasonable discussion, then in their ignorant stew they will remain.

That’s very cool, Moneydance

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

Readers may remember about a year ago I was looking for a new personal finance program and decided upon Moneydance.

Still using Moneydance. Still happy with my purchase. Sure, some of the Java GUI quirks bug me, but the reality is it does all I want and does it pretty well. I’m pleased.

But here’s something really cool they recently did: they revamped their license. They made it a lot simpler. For personal users, it’s one license per household. Doesn’t matter how many people use it, how many computers it’s installed on, how many different OS’s it’s installed under, how many data files, whatever. And “As always, we promise that we’ll never sunset our software, remove functionality from older versions, or force you to upgrade.” Which is pretty nice. Speaking as a software developer, that’s a tough promise to keep, so I applaud their efforts.

What I also dug was their reasoning:

Why are we making this change? First, because we recognize that the world is changing:  households may now be multi-generational, include blended families or housemates, or have other structures which are more complex than two adults sharing finances. Second, because we wanted to even further simplify our licensing agreement. Finally, we want to make it easier for kids, teens, and students to learn about personal finance, and we believe that Moneydance can be a great tool for the entire family.

Very cool.

2012-01-18 workout – Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 5, Bench Press 3

/ hsoi

Today was weird, but good.

“Week 3”

  • 5/3/1 – Bench Press (working max: 215#)
    • 2x5x45 (warmup)
    • 1x5x85
    • 1x5x110
    • 1x3x130
    • 1x5x165 (work)
    • 1x3x185
    • 1x6x205 (PR)
  • Asst. #1 – Bench Press
    • 5 x 10 x 125
  • Asst. #2 – 1-Arm Dumbbell Rows
    • 5 x 10 x 55
  • GPP – Elliptical
    • Tabata style (20 sec. 150-ish strides per min., 10 sec. 100-ish strides per min)
    • 2 minutes slow (warmup)
    • 1 Tabata set
    • 2 minutes slow (cooldown)
  • DeFranco Agile 8 – just foam rolling

Today was weird.

My lower back is rather sore from deadlifting 2 days ago. You know how it goes… day after you’re sore, 2 days later you’re REALLY sore. Then last night before bed I couldn’t pop something in my lumbar region and that just made it worse. Finally got it to adjust this morning, but it still hurt. Then while doing my PR set on bench press, I was really tightening up. I’ve been working on putting my whole body into the bench press, keeping my feet really planted, pushing through my heels, whole body tight, whole body pushing, but keep the butt on the bench, keep an arch, etc.. And while I still have a LONG way to go on getting the technique, I did make progress because boy I had an arch today — almost too much arch. My lower back was screaming at me. I only cranked out 6 reps because my back was screaming, it surprised me and threw off my focus, and that was that. Between sets for the rest of the workout I kept doing lower back stretching exercises.

But I don’t feel bad about it. While it hurt, it showed that to some degree there was improvement in my technique. Whereas before things were collapsing down there, today they weren’t, which was awesome. Again, lots of work still to improve, but a step forward is a step forward. And as for 6 reps with 205? Well, last cycle I did 6 with 200. So no regression, I’ve gotten stronger. I can’t be unhappy about the progress.

Everything else just jammed along. I had to use another elliptical machine today and the resistance didn’t feel the same. It should be, in theory, but didn’t feel it. So I bumped it to “13”, and I’ll stick with that number on the machine I regularly use and see how it goes. I don’t really want to up this too much too fast.

A pretty decent day, I must say.

When was the last time…

/ hsoi

… you maintained your carry gear?

Tim relayed this story to me:

I went shooting last Thursday [with a friend]. His gun was having multiple malfunctions and when I checked it it was pretty much dry. That was his carry gun and that’s scary!

Yes, that is. This is the tool you rest your life upon. You want it to work when you need it.

I recall a couple of years ago, a friend came over to my house. When he racked the slide on his carry gun to unload it, I cringed from the sound of everything grinding — the gun was so dry.

So when was the last time you oiled your gun?

If it’s a carry gun, it doesn’t need to be sopping wet, but it needs something. Consider treating your parts with Militec-1 if the liquids could be an issue for you. Moving parts, where metal meets metal, thus friction and grind occurs, you need lubrication.

How about your holster? All the screws tight? Blue Loctite applied to the threads?

Flashlight have good batteries?

Spare magazine in good shape?

How about your springs? any spring anywhere in the whole of the system. How are they looking?

Like any tool, be it a hammer, your car, a knife, a gun, whatever. Everything lasts longer and performs better with a little maintenance. Doesn’t take much time, but the payoff is well worth it.

Either I’m a dork…

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

…or it’s just the frosting side of me talking.

I just want to go drive somewhere. It doesn’t matter. I just want to drive.

It’s like a kid a Christmas. You get new toys, you want to play with them. 🙂

PBR’s Customer Brass Program

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

No, not Pabst Blue Ribbon – Parabellum Research.

They are a small company in Buda, Texas (just south of Austin) crafting ammunition. From their website:

One of the driving forces behind the creation of PBR was the disappointment we had with the quality of practice ammunition being sold by some small manufacturers. It doesn’t take many jammed cartridges or inconsistent firings to make you start to wonder if those “cheap” rounds really represent a savings at all. Having had our semi-automatic handguns reduced to single-shot pistols frustrated us and we decided to do something about it.

In addition, we also recognized that many people don’t want to stand in front of a press for hours on end to “save” money by loading ammunition themselves. In many cases this is a false economy for anyone who puts a realistic value on their time. So, we decided to use our combined 25 years of ammunition loading and engineering experience to create a company that can produce a viable and affordable practice round that is still top quality. Remember, time spent pulling a handle on a press is time that could be used to pull a trigger and more time is one thing you can’t buy.

I have heard of them before, but have never tried their ammo, mostly because I reload my own. That said, I appreciate what they’re doing because I like reloading for the higher quality and cost savings. But it is true, it’s only cost savings if you have time to spend.

Rog posted on Facebook tho that perked my interest: the Customer Brass Program.

Basically, you send them your new or once-fired brass, and they’ll load it up for you. The cost savings? No Firearms and Ammunition Excise Tax. Plus brass is generally the most expensive component, and so you’re not having to pay for that component.

Prices seem reasonable, if the prices listed on their website are in fact the price you pay. Hard to say exactly what the final cost is as there are some other factors they have to take into account. Plus there’s always shipping, but if you’re in the area I would imagine you could drop off and pick up (don’t know for sure).

Nevertheless, this seems like a neat solution. They offer numerous calibers, and if in fact it can keep your costs down, that’s a win.

2012-01-16 workout – Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 5, Deadlift 3

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Set a personal record, and looking forward to the next 2 cycles as I’ll get to break nice milestones!

“Week 3”

  • 5/3/1 – Deadlift (working max: 305#)
    • 1x5x125 (warmup)
    • 1x5x155
    • 1x3x185
    • 1x5x230 (work)
    • 1x3x265
    • 1x8x295 (PR)
  • Asst. #1 – Good Mornings
    • 5 x 10 x 70
  • Asst. #2 – Hanging LegHip Raise
    • 5 x 5 x WT
  • GPP – Elliptical
    • Tabata style (20 sec. 150-ish strides per min., 10 sec. 100-ish strides per min)
    • 2 min slow (warmup)
    • 1 Tabata set
    • 2 min slow (cooldown)
  • DeFranco Agile 8 – foam rolled
  • Grip
    • 3x10xT, 2 sec. hold between reps
    • 3x3x1, 2 sec. hold between reps, 10 second hold on the last rep

1x8x295 is a nice personal record. What I really like about it tho is how I’m set up for the next 2 cycles, not just for the PR’s but how they are some cool milestones. Next cycle I’ll do 305, which breaks the 300# barrier, and the cycle after I’ll do 315, which will be 3 45# plates per side, another cool milestone. And then it’s on to 325, and so on.

I wasn’t sure how to assess today’s PR, but I realized that last cycle I did 1x8x285, so, same reps, more weight, that’s an acceptable improvement. I’m stoked.

On good mornings, I want to focus more on moving like a hinge, and keeping a belly full of air as I move — Valsalva. I don’t get as much a range of motion, but everything works better.

On the leg raises, due to my continuing weird shoulder issues I told myself I’d rather get 5×5 awesome reps than 5×7 or 8 reps where I am exhausted, pushing myself too hard, lose tension in my shoulder area, and make things worse. And so, I did that. The right shoulder still got that odd twinge. It’s not a bone thing, it’s like this odd ache in the medial deltoid muscle. I’d have a doctor look at it, but I don’t know what to tell them….

Gripper work is progressing nicely too. I didn’t need much help on the left hand save for the last rep of the last set so I could do the 10 second hold with a fully-closed gripper. This is all good progress. I’ll probably bump to 3×4 or 3×5 next cycle.

All in all, a great way to start off the week.