Month: March 2012

I guess it’s working

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

I hate to say it, but the scale doesn’t lie.

Both scales.

I’ve been weighing my food before I eat it, to ensure I’m getting the right amount of macronutrients. That I get as much protein as I need in a day, but no more. That I don’t take in much carbohydrates, but some. I strive for about 50 grams of protein per “meal” (eating 5x day). The carbs are harder since by weight there’s a much larger variety of “carbs per ounce” depending what food you’re eating. But I’ll still try to keep things reasonable, maybe just 4 ounces or so? I don’t really weigh it THAT strictly due to the wide variance, just try to keep it small and reasonable. Then all the green leafies I can stomach. Heck, at dinner last night the kids were floored that about 3/4 of my plate was covered in a large mound of raw spinach leaves.

But it does seem to be working. I’m at about 228# now, down from my high of 240-ish. I struggled for a LONG time around 235, so the 7-ish pound drop is just from the past few weeks. You can see from this recent picture (scroll down towards the end, I’m the tall guy with the blue hat) that I’m far from fat/obese, just very tall and gaining muscle. I just have a muffin top, and I hate it. Interferes with my desire to try AIWB carry. 🙂

Kiddos and Wife have noticed that I don’t have as much muffin hanging over my belt as I used to. And the bathroom scale (scale #2) doesn’t lie. But, it’s only telling part of the story: pure weight. With the lifting I’m doing, there’s gain of muscle. So weight doesn’t really tell the whole story. I need to do some body fat measurement, and while I have a pair of calipers it’s tough to get consistent measurement.

But it doesn’t matter much, so long as I can tell fat is shedding and eventually I’ll have a slim enough stomach for AIWB.

One thing that I’ve heard a lot about is carb back-loading. Supposedly it really works. I’m not ready to buy into it just yet, but I have noticed that I have already been following a rough notion of it, in that almost all the carb intake I have been getting, since I’ve been measuring, has been in the morning after workouts, tapering off as the day goes on. I want to keep reading on this topic. It’s interesting.

And ZMA I’m sure contributes here some, because after supper there’s ZERO eating. So last meal is maybe 6 PM? nothing again until I wake up around 4-5 AM. And yes, ZMA gives me some wicked strange dreams. Kinda cool.

I have wondered if this is affecting my strength work, and it probably is. While my current lifting routine doesn’t have me work for new rep-maxes, I don’t even know if I could. I’ve noticed this past week when I hit the 5th rep I feel that’s it, or maybe I could perhaps get 1 more if I really pushed it. Not ideal, but it’s OK. I know I’m walking a fine line here in what I’m doing and mixing things that probably shouldn’t. But if it means I can’t get full reps, then that’s alright. If it gets bad enough, I’ll reset and continue forward on this same basic path. No big deal.

 

One is the loneliest number…

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

The ducklings?

There’s only one left. 😦

Happened over the weekend. Kids have gotten a better fix on the predator and Oldest says it’s a falcon.

I was just outside watching Momma and baby wandering around the yard looking for breakfast bugs, and we saw the predator take off from a nearby tree when we came too close. Couldn’t get a good fix on it against the trees and morning fog, but you could tell it wasn’t a vulture or other non-predatory large birds that live around here.

I suspect little one isn’t going to make it… but gee… I’m rootin’ for him. 🙂

The falcon is pretty persistent, but here Momma can keep tight reigns on the little one and keep him under wing and under cover, which she’s been doing most of the weekend. Little one wanders here and there, so there are windows of opportunity.

We’ll see what course nature takes.

2012-03-12 workout – Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 7, squat 1

/ hsoi

Yeah, this is going to be another fun day. 🙂

“Week 1” – BBB 3 Month Challenge

  • 5 reps – Squat (working max: 270#)
    • 2x5x45 (warmup)
    • 1x5x110
    • 1x5x135
    • 1x3x165
    • 1x5x180 (work)
    • 1x5x205
    • 1x5x230
  • Asst. #1 – Deadlift
    • 5 x 10 x 165
  • Asst. #2 – Hanging Hip-Leg Raise
    • 5 x 8/8/6/6/5 x BW

Yeah… squats then deadlifting is going to be fuuuun. 🙂

Squats went well. I had to do 230# today and gee, it wasn’t long ago I was struggling to deal with 230. Now it’s just another work weight. Cool!

Deadlifting… best I can say here is I MUST remember to really stay strict. It’s easy to let your back and form get out of whack on those last reps of those last sets. Have to remain vigilant.

Bumping up the leg raises. Even tho my reps don’t show it, every time I do these I get better. Stricter form, more complete motions. Everything. I don’t care that much that my reps don’t show it if I can see progress in how everything gets better and stronger. All good. Plus my shoulder isn’t complaining as much since I have a better “ritual” in getting on the bar. Huzzah!

I’m liking the BBB 3 month challenge so far… but I’ve only just begun.

Announcing kwikkEmail – the kwikkest way to send email

/ hsoi / 7 Comments

I’m proud to announce kwikkEmail – the kwikkest way to send email!

Read all about it over at Hsoi Enterprises.

(Hsoi Enterprises is my company, as you might guess from the name. Thus…).

Additional comments on “How not to handle a gun”

/ hsoi

Last night I saw a video of some attrocious gun handling and posted my *headdesk* thoughts about it.

Now that I’ve slept on it, I can step back and say more about why this bothers me, instead of just the play-by-play of my prior post.

Of course, the casual gun handling and lack of rules respect and discipline bother me. But it really goes deeper.

“What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.”

Jan is trying to show how she’s a big 2A supporter. It’s evident at least one of the women on that show is NOT comfortable with guns, and it seems like the other one isn’t either, or at least is understandably uncomfortable with having a gun pointed at her. And no, it doesn’t matter if the gun is loaded or not, and no I can’t trust you if you say “it’s unloaded” because far too many people have had the last words they hear be “It’s OK, it’s unloaded”. None of us are above screwing up (we’re human), so we MUST be disciplined in our adherence to and practice of gun safety rules to minimize the chance of unacceptable consequences.

Jan is trying to win people to her side of the debate. Unfortunately her behavior isn’t going to win converts.

#1 – you don’t point a gun at someone. That’s likely going to close them off to anything you have to say.

#2 – you must understand your audience and shape your message to them.

If someone is “way over there” on a topic, and you’re “way over here”, you cannot carry on in a manner like someone “over here” because it’s just too far away. It’s too huge a leap, too large a gap for the person “over there” to overcome. What you, as the speaker wishing to persuade, must do is take yourself “way over there”. It isn’t just meeting halfway, but going well over to their side. You talk to them, you address them in their terms, in their mode. You engage them on their ground. Why? Because they are more comfortable there. Establish yourself there, then you can slowly move back “over here” and guide them along with you.

So if Jan could know the other ladies were afraid of guns, how about not bringing a gun on set in the first place? Just talk with them. Or if there’s a need for a prop, could you use a fake gun? Or how about a real gun with a training/inert barrel — that you installed at home before you brought the prop on-set so it never has a chance to cause discomfort due to handling the gun. Or if you need a fully functioning real gun, how about keeping the slide locked back the whole time? Or of course, how about just adhering to good gun handling, or at least never pointing the gun at the hosts and brushing off their concerns. And if you get called on your error (which Jan was), instead of blowing it off, own up to your mistake, apologize, and correct yourself. You’ll gain far more respect for owning up to your mistakes.

I couldn’t watch the whole video, and that’s a shame. Whatever message Jan had after the first 3 minutes was lost. A light scanning through the comments on the video and it looks like most commenters had problems with her gun handling too. So you can see what message came through the video, which means her intended message was lost.

Of course now Jan could make good out of this bad situation by admitting her mistakes, and maybe signing up to take some basic gun handling classes at a reputable training center. She could even document it. And then hopefully continue to exercise what she learned and really lives it, instead of just making for a photo op.

You’ve got to know your audience. You can’t talk with a beginner the same way you talk with an advanced student the same way you talk with someone totally on the other side of the debate. You can make the same message, you just have to shape how you convey it in terms of your audience.

2012-03-09 workout – Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 7, bench 1

/ hsoi

“Week 1” – BBB 3 Month Challenge

  • 5 reps – Bench Press (working max: 225#)
    • 2x5x45 (warmup)
    • 1x5x95
    • 1x5x115
    • 1x3x135
    • 1x5x150 (work)
    • 1x5x170
    • 1x5x195
  • Asst. #1A – Press
    • 5 x 10 x 80
  • Asst. #1B – 1-Arm Dumbbell Rows (supersetted with the Press)
    • 5 x 10 x 65
  • Asst. #2 – Rope Triceps Pushdowns
    • 3 x 10 x 40
  • Foam Rolling

Man, it’s hard to not rep-out on the last work set. *sigh* I will be generally restrained here, but on my 5/3/1 week, that last set I will allow myself to do up to 3 reps. Gotta get some sort of satisfaction. 🙂

Today was fine. Really, not much to write home about. One comment I can make is how Jim’s template suggested arm work across the Press and Bench Press days. There’s some choice and flexibility on how you do things, and I think it’ll work ok for me to do it as I am. I think my selections and structure will work out. But if not, I’ll change it up per cycle.

I can say that while this 50% month isn’t too tough, I can tell the next 60% and last 70% are going to be a bitch. 🙂

How not to handle a gun

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Seen over at Unc’s

All sorts of displays of how not to handle a gun.

2:59 – pointing gun at the lady on her left.

3:00 – her own hand in front of the muzzle, still pointing gun at the lady to her left.

3:05 – yes, your gun handling is making me very nervous

3:07 – well, you’ve got some good trigger finger discipline

3:08 – again, her hand right over the muzzle

3:09 – waving the gun at the lady to her left

3:11 – called!!

3:12 – “but it’s empty”. BULLSHIT! All guns are always loaded. Never point a gun at anything you’re not willing to destroy. ALWAYS keep the gun pointed in a safe direction. And no, I do not believe your promise, I cannot believe your promise.

3:14 – “let’s just show folks”… show them what? That now you’re pointing the muzzle at them (the camera)?

3:15 – “take the clip out”. Clip? AARRRGH!!!

3:16 – still no idea what a safe direction is. And all she did was rack it and then press the trigger. She did NOT perform any sort of visual nor tactile chamber check. Guess she doesn’t realize that extractors can fail, that rounds can be stuck in dirty chambers. Granted, she probably did confirm the state of the gun before recording this segment, but she’s still making a poor showing on how to safely handle a gun… while trying to convince us that the gun is safe and she’s a safe gun handler. *headdesk*

3:18 – again with the muzzle in the hand.

And I couldn’t watch any more.

Jan, I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but you’re doing it wrong.

Please review the rules. Now. For the sake of everyone, including yourself. And please don’t just review them, please put them into practice every time you handle a gun.