Work Asst. – 1-Arm Dumbbell Rows (supersetted with work bench press)
6 x 10 x 70
Asst. #1A – Bench Press
5 x 10/10/9/9/7 x 135
Asst. #1B – Face pulls (supersetted with the asst. bench press)
5 x 12 x 65
Asst. #2 – EZ Bar Curls
3 x 10/9/8 x 50
I’m not totally sure what to make of things. Have I gotten weaker? All my assistance work is at less weight but I’m also getting less reps out of it. But I have ramped up the intensity, with supersetting, a few more excercises and sets, less rest between sets. So I figure it’s all good. Certainly I’m being pushed regardless of what the numbers are.
I noticed my benching was wobbly today. Just didn’t feel stable under the bar. I was trying to work with my foot and leg placement and drive, and think I did more harm than good, but that’s alright… just go back to what I was doing.
In other news… well, I’ll discuss that in another posting.
Before I begin, I want to make it clear this is NOT commenting on the Martin/Zimmerman situation, nor is this to be taken as some sort of commentary in support of or against one party or the other. I am only using the situation as a vehicle to discuss a topic, because 1. the constant use of “unarmed” in all media reports about it (and the ignorance behind those statements) 2. that this article came up and motivated me to write.
In the Martin/Zimmerman case, one of the common mantras was that Zimmerman was armed and Martin was unarmed. The media desire in this mantra is to imply that this was all unfair, that Zimmerman was somehow worse because Martin didn’t also have a “dueling pistol”, or some other disparity implied by the gun or lack thereof. That somehow someone without a third-party weapon is somehow defenseless and can’t inflict harm, or enough harm to warrant someone using a gun and using deadly force in reply.
I find this ludicrous, tho not totally without some merit.
First, there seems to be some belief that an unarmed person — that is, a person armed with only their bare hands — cannot inflict damage or cannot kill someone.
You’ve never watched boxing or UFC have you? Or for that matter, just fire up YouTube, because there’s zillions of fight videos on there. Some might be schoolyard beatings captured on someone’s phone camera. Others are closed-circuit footage. There’s lots out there. And once you opt to remove your blinders and see life for what it really is, you’ll see that yes, bare hands can kill.
It happens more than twice a day, on average. Fists and feet were responsible for 745 murders in 2010, or 5.7 percent of all murders that year, according to FBI statistics. (The data on this have been remarkably stable in recent years. In the five preceding years, the percentage of murders perpetrated by fists or feet fluctuated between 5.6 and 6.1.) It doesn’t even take an experienced brawler to punch someone to death: An 11-year-old California girl appears to have killed a classmate with her bare hands in a February fistfight.
So to say that someone being unarmed is not dangerous or potentially at some sort of advantage, that having their fists reigning blows, having their feet stomping heads into pavement… that this couldn’t possibly be a problem? I don’t buy it.
We also need to look at situations. If a woman is being raped and her attacker has only his bare hands, are you going to seriously say that her using a gun to defend herself would be wrong? If an elderly person being kicked and beaten by an attacker used a gun to defend themselves, that’s somehow wrong?
But this is why I said there could be some merit, because it could be a matter of force disparity. A 100# woman being attacked by a 300# man, a 89-year-old person being attacked by a teenager, it’s arguable based upon those physical factors that there’s enough disparity. In a case like Zimmerman and Martin, it seems to be implied that Zimmerman was a big healthy male and Martin was a little wimpy teenager… at least, so were the initial reports, with accompanying photos. But as more details came out, Martin wasn’t exactly a little guy, and just because Zimmerman was in his 30’s doesn’t mean he’s automatically at some advantage. In this particular case the devil’s in the details and has to be worked out in court.
What I wish to stress here is the fallacy that “unarmed” somehow equates to defenseless or without ability to inflict serious harm. That merely because your attacker is “unarmed” that they couldn’t cause you grave harm and put you in fear of your life. Yes, actual instances of death appear to be rare, but possible. But do you really want to be the statistical anomaly? This does not change matters when it comes to self-defense. It’s still a question of being able to go home at night, of being able to maintain your quality of life (e.g. not becoming crippled for the rest of your life), of being put in fear of your life. The attacker being armed or unarmed isn’t as important a question as the danger being presented.
Asst. #1B – Hanging Leg Raises (superset with hypers)
5 x 8/8/8/5/5 x BW
Foam Rolling
Well, my back wasn’t unhappy with me, which I’m happy about. 🙂 As I said on Monday, form really gets minded here, and I was slacking a bit on the last set. Gym owner was watching me and told me that on that last set, on my descent, I’d get the bar past my knees then my back would round… probably me saying “just get the weight back to the floor”. But it’s right and true because I’ll go back to pull the next rep and my lower back isn’t flat and I have to reset it. So, yeah… need to watch the descent and that I don’t round it at the end. Thanx, Andy.
I did opt to NOT do more deadlifts for my assistance work, which I think is wise at this time. Did some hyperextensions instead, which gave my lower back and hamstrings some work, but didn’t kill me. Plus some nice stretch too. Supersetted that with the leg raises, which I’m trying to stop pussing out on. 😉
I don’t think it’s so much that my abs are weak (tho they could be). But moreso I’m not keeping them solid and tight throughout the duration of the movement. It certainly could be weakness, but I won’t know until everything is tight and THEN starts to collapse, y’know? I need to try to watch and analyze for this. I have even thought that I might do some light ab work during my other days, e.g. during triceps pressdowns or biceps curls, just drop to the floor and do 10 crunches or something. We’ll see. I must confess I hate ab work, that keeps me away from it and easy to justify skipping it, and that’ll be the death of me. The right thing to do is to do what you hate until you love it…. *sigh* I know this, it’s just hard to do it. 🙂 But nothing worth having in life is easy so….
Why haven’t you heard about this? Because the only way this would have been covered by the national media is if the child shot himself or worse (better? ratings, y’know) started shooting up the rest of the students.
But instead, the child followed safety procedures — you know, the ones taught by that evil NRA in their dastardly “Eddie Eagle” program. Stop. Don’t touch. Leave the area. Tell an adult.
And so, it wasn’t reported. It’s not “newsworthy”.
I applaud the child. I applaud the school for allowing the program to be taught to all students. If all the anti-gunners really cared about saving lives and “won’t someone think of the children”, they’d appreciate such programs for just such a reason. You can hate guns all you want, but the reality is they are around and no ban will ever eliminate them (criminals will always have them). So the best way to keep kids safe is through education… because for some reason we believe education is so vital, yet this seems to be one area where some believe ignorance is preferrable.
This was “accidental” in that it appears there was no intent to harm anyone. But, if the facts of the article are correct, it wasn’t an accident, it was negligence … or ignorance about what a “safe direction” is.
Four men were found shooting on a nearby property and are suspected of firing the errant round that hit Jones, among a few others that hit her home and her husband’s car about 9:20 a.m. Saturday, Dezarn said.
Adel Mandavi, 26, Pouyan Mandavi, 21, Hani Zahrooni, 23, and Mani Zahrooni, 23, all of Austin, have all been charged with deadly conduct, a third-degree felony and remain in Bastrop County jail Sunday, according to jail records and Dezarn.
“They didn’t have a proper backstop. (They were shooting at) just a clump of trees that had fallen over,” Dezarn said. “They were just kind of blasting away.”
They didn’t have a proper backstop, just shooting at a clump of trees.
Another article covering the story says they were shooting at a “deer box” (or maybe she said “beer box”? I listened to it a few times and couldn’t tell). Either way, cardboard certainly won’t stop a bullet nor will plywood that is commonly used to make deer blinds.
The key here is where the bullet will come to rest. A clump of trees is not a solid object that can stop a bullet (not like a 15′ high mound of dirt). And it would seem numerous bullets did not come to rest.
Unfortunately the 4 men are now charged with a felony, and they won’t be able to own or shoot a gun again (if convicted). They’re all also pretty young, and the rest of their lives forever altered.
The Rules exist for a reason. While I certainly advocate getting as much education and training as possible, if nothing else please follow the core rules, be they the NRA 3 Rules or Col. Cooper’s 4 Rules. They’re there precisely to prevent situations like this.
Work Asst. – Chin-ups (supersetted with work Press)
6 x 2/2/2/2/2/3 x BW
Asst. #1A – Press
5 x 10/10/8/8/8/ x 85
Asst. #1B – Wide, pronated grip lat pulldowns (supersetted with Asst #1A)
5 x 10 x 120
Asst. #2 – Triceps pressdowns (EZ-Bar)
3 x 12 x 55
After my mishap with my lower back last week, I took the rest of the week off. While my back feels better, it’s still not “normal” feeling again. So with reserve I went back to the gym… I need to see what I can do, because sitting around doesn’t do anything useful at this point.
I also am resetting my weights. It’s coincidence that I reset at the same time I have the injury, but it works out and bodes well. I opted to reset just about every weight because well… there’s no harm. Always go a little lighter and it’ll be fine in the long run. Must listen to the wisdom of Wendler, even if my ego doesn’t want to accept it. Because like Henry Rollins said, “200 pounds is always 200 pounds”. Worth listening to.
So I went and did what I did. A little surprised I only got 8 reps with 125, but then I realized 1. I’m supersetting with chins, 2. I was only taking 2 minutes rest in between sets! I need to rest longer during my main lift sets. Silly me. But I figured hey why not, let’s see if I can make my last chins set also a “rep max” thing. Only got 3, but hey, why not. Every bit helps.
I’m then a little surprised how my assistance pressing went, dropping the weight and the reps like I did. But, whatever. It pushed me, and probably because I took enough out of myself during the main sets. I dunno. Whatever.
I will say, my back felt OK. Granted this isn’t deadlift or squat day, but the back is still involved here. I really did watch my form tho… really keeping my torso tight, my butt clenched, breathing well, taking time to move slower if that’s what needs be so there’s no risk of a jerk or movement more sudden than my back would desire. I gotta say, this is a good thing, and maybe, just maybe, this injury is a time to learn. I’ll take that.
Yes, I’m a little nervous about Wednesday’s deadlift session. I just don’t want to risk injuring myself, but there’s no question that if it’s too much I’ll stop. I MIGHT actually only do my deadlift main lift and then do something else for assistance work like bodyweight hyperextensions. Not sure yet… I’ll think it over and see how it goes. I want good pain, not bad pain. 🙂
While Apex Tactical Specialties hasn’t officially released trigger parts for the M&P Shield, they have released some research information. One key tidbit is the sear is the same as the full-sized M&P’s.
This bodes well.
So I picked up an Apex hard sear and set about installing it.
It’s pretty easy.
First, watch this video made by Randy Lee of Apex:
While that’s for the full-sized M&P, it’s MOSTLY the same. And really, it’s not too hard to do if you have some patience and the right tools. Yes, you need the right tools.
Some differences.
The Shield has a thumb safety, so that mechanism will be part of the mix. I don’t know what it’s like on a full-sized M&P, but on the Shield it does wrap around the sear assembly so it will come out. Because of that and how the trigger bar inserts into it, you will have to do a little finagling to wiggle the assembly out of the frame. Be careful, don’t bend/break your trigger bar! And also be mindful to look at how the bar end inserts into the assembly so you can put it back together correctly.
You will also need to take the safety bar off the assembly, because of how the sear pin works. Taking it off isn’t hard. Don’t force anything. If you look at the assembly you’ll see how the bar can be moved around, dropped down through some slots, and then gently “twisted” off the assembly. Again, there should be NO need to force anything. Just look at the assembly and work slow and easy. You should be able to figure it out.
This is needed because one end of the sear pin has a cap on it, which ends up being under the safety’s thumb bar. Thus why you need to take the safety bar off. But then getting the pin out is easy. And do as Randy says and shows in the video – keep the assembly upright!
When you have the factory sear out, compare it to the Apex sear to see what’s different. It’s so slight, but makes such a big difference.
Reassembly is the opposite of disassembly, and when you try to work the assembly back into the frame, if it’s hard do NOT force it. Chances are you don’t have the end of the trigger bar back and into the assembly all the way. Check that, and once it’s all the way inserted, the assembly should drop into the frame easily. Apart from these few little things, it works like the video.
Again, NOTHING should be forced in any of this procedure. And if you screw up your gun, it’s not my fault. If you don’t know what you’re doing, if you have any doubts, take this to a gunsmith. I assume no responsibility here for you or your stuff.
But now that it’s back together?
Oh my.
It’s a big improvement.
There’s not that hard wall of a trigger break point, and it certainly doesn’t take as much effort to pull. I don’t have a pull weight gauge, but I’d say the improvement was along the lines of what Randy shows in the video (e.g. a 4-5# trigger). It’s still a bit gritty, but it’s certainly more pleasant to use. I am very curious to see what else Apex does in their “Shield Carry Kit” to improve the trigger.
I’m pleased, and can’t wait to try it out at the range.
Ben shoots the drill a few times, putting up amazing times on each run. What’s different about each run is he uses different gear and technique. And take note of the final comment he makes.
Gear matters.
It doesn’t matter what you’re doing, the tools you use can help or hinder you. It’s not just in shooting; in my daily life as an iOS programmer, using Apple’s blessed toolset of Xcode helps me write apps. I’ve seen some people try to use alternative toolsets and they always struggle or have shortcomings. In constructing a house, having a good hammer and proper screwdrivers enables you to better get the job done. Proper tools, and then the best of those tools will help you accomplish the task.
This is why in classes we implore people to get proper guns, ones that fit. Why we want people to get good holsters, good magazine pouches. They will help you shoot better, and yes the crappy stuff you bought at Academy will hinder you. Ben’s video is good demonstration of this because he’s got top skill and the only thing changing is his gear… and it affects his shooting.
To follow up on the “going faster” post tho, check out Ben’s “take 2” of the FAST drill.
Some people were giving Ben a hard time for not shooting the drill exactly as written. So Ben made this second video, and still put up awesome times. Heck, shooting the drill at 25 yards he shoots it better than most people do at 7 yards.
While there’s a lot of things you can learn from watching Ben’s videos, the one thing I want you to focus on in terms of the “going faster” context is how Ben changes up speed.
Watch Ben’s non-shooting movements. Look at his draw, his reload. Look how fast they are, and look how they are the same speed regardless of the distance he’s shooting at. He’s always fast on these things, not wasting time. But he changes up his speed when required, such as at 25 yards (you have to go slower at longer distances or smaller targets). It’s not one steady acceleration curve from start buzzer to end buzzer, but going at the right speed for the subtask at hand. And notice that while Ben changes up his speeds, he’s still “going faster” but not “going faster” and puts up some amazing times on this drill.
So don’t think that to go fast you always have to go fast. There’s more to it.
Stuff From Hsoi 