Following TLG’s sample dry fire routine.
Week 4, Day 5, shooter choice.
Same as week 3 day 5, I’m going to work on basic routine using my snub.
It’s nice when you set a big PR.
“Week 3”
The deadlift was awesome. Set a true PR of 7 reps at 330… never did that much weight before, and of course then never did that much weight for that many reps. So, true max PR there. I felt I could have pushed myself to do a couple more, but that’s not what it’s about. I did feel my back rounding on the last couple reps, so it was powering through stuff… but I refused to get less than 7 reps. Why? Because last cycle I did 7 reps at 320 and I wanted to get the same reps. Johnny got stronger, no question.
The press was a rep PR (most I’ve done is 155 for 3 reps). Last time I did 150 I got 3 reps, so my goal was 4. But once I finished the 4th I felt so damn good and knew I could hit a 5th. I also didn’t feel much of a need to leave more in the tank because I knew I wasn’t going to do assistance work so I ground out #5. The lockout felt good. 🙂
I did actually do a little assistance work. I did a couple sets of chins and dips, then a set of hammer curls, but I didn’t write down amounts. I do recall thinking I’ve lost something on chins… or I’ve gotten heavier. 😦
In light of that, I’m starting to think more seriously towards my next long-term cycle. My present cycle will remain, but after this, as mentioned previously, I’m going to put strength work on hold and work to shed some flab. I recently read about a guy dropping 30# in 10 weeks using Shelby Starnes’ help and carb cycling. If I could get results like that? Awesome. But I’ll take a steady drop of 1-2# week if I can get that. Today I was thinking to stay on 2x week tho more like “option 2” in the book, so squat D1W1 bench D2W1 deadlift D1W2 press D2W2. Takes 6 weeks to get through the cycle. Let the work sets be as normal, but if I grind out more reps on the last set or just prescribed reps will just depend how I feel that day because assistance work will be more important. Adopt something like the BBB template for assistance because I really think doing 5×10 of squats and deads is going to be a HUGE boon for the cardio work. I’ll drop weight light (50%??) and keep rest periods to 60-90 seconds at most. Weights would probably remain the same as whatever my last “prior” cycle had, and if anything go for rep PR’s but I’m also not opposed to increasing weight if it’s called for (e.g. getting 10 reps on the 5/3/1 week last work set? I think upping the weight is right). Do this probably M/Th. Then Tu/F I’d drag the tire sled. Try carb cycling (I tried it before, but had a hard time sticking with it because I didn’t really dedicate).
Not sure… still thinking about a lot of things, but I do think it’s soon time to enter into fat loss phase.
Following TLG’s sample dry fire routine.
Week 4, Day 4, basic routine
I can see improvement in my repeatable index and trigger control. Speed getting better, grip staying consistent and strong. It’s all coming along nicely.
Yes, if you want to maintain skill you need to practice. If you want to improve skill you need to practice a lot more.
From this article:
“I’m not saying you should outlaw guns, but I don’t see the point of hundred-round magazine clips and automatic weapons if you just want to target shoot,” said John Tyson, 66, of Winchester, Va.
I’ll respond with a quote from Mike Muir:
Just ’cause you don’t understand what’s going on don’t mean it don’t make no sense, and just ’cause you don’t like it don’t mean it ain’t no good.
Mr. Tyson continues:
“People say it’s their right to bear arms, but when the Constitution was written there was no such thing as an automatic weapon.”
People say it’s their right to free speech, but when the Constitution was written there was no such thing as the Internet.
I was reading about the horrible attack on Jane Dyer, and one line in the article stood out to me:
The [District Attorney’s office] statement added, “The office will make every effort to ensure the safety of all concerned and the community.”
But you didn’t. She was attacked. She was beaten with a shovel. You did nothing to ensure her safety, and there is nothing you CAN do to ensure her safety.
Where were the police?
Where was anyone that could have protected her from this attack?
Dyer, 63, said she was outside her Cummington home when she spotted the teenager standing at the bottom of her driveway with a shovel, but thought nothing of it. The family has a residence in Northampton. Dyer was alone at the time.
She re-entered the house a short time later and surprised the youth, who she said had apparently entered the house unseen and was lying in wait.
Emphasis added.
There are numerous lessons we can learn, like paying more attention to your surroundings, whatever could be done to better secure your home so unauthorized people can’t just waltz in. But again, are these things the responsibility of the state or the police?
Or are they your own?
Because the only person that’s certainly around when you’re being attacked is you.
I could also examine if she ever thought violence would happen to her. From her reaction to the beating she didn’t fight back. The reporting of her attack response leads me to believe she was surprised and in shock that she could get attacked, in such a way, in her own home — like it never occurred to her “this could happen to me”. Some say “I’ve never been attacked”, and I’m sure in Mrs. Dyer’s 63 years she may have figured she beat the odds. We must remember that just because it hasn’t happened yet doesn’t mean it won’t ever happen. Finally, in the past I’ve asserted that tools are only useful if they are handy/available when needed; that “home defense shotgun” in the closet isn’t useful as you’re on the floor being beaten. But your hips are still with you, right? And what can you keep on your hip or in your pocket?
What seems more unfortunate is, at least from the way the article presents it, the Dyer’s don’t appear to take any further responsibility for their own actions:
Dyer’s husband, Tom, said Monday he believes the suspect is receiving foster care at a nearby home. The incident marks the second time someone from that program has allegedly broken into their house, the first occurring about four years ago, he said.
“We’re not waiting for a third,” Tom Dyer said.
Dyer said he’s sensitive to the needs of at-risk youth who need supervision and services like foster care, but believes the rural location isn’t appropriate, and he would like to see it shut down.
“It’s unfair to the kids,” he said.
He said that there is little for the youth in the program to do in such a remote area on a dead-end road, and it may be that a lack of activity options contributed to the July attack.
It’s the second time someone broken in.
They believe the problem is the foster kids, and the solution is to shut down the foster program. The solution isn’t to lock their doors. The solution isn’t to increase their awareness. No, they don’t see solution in improving their own behaviors. Their solution is to shut down the program. Heck, if it is such a bad program, why don’t they try to do something to help fix the broken program? But again, that would require them to change their own behavior. I understand as humans we wish to justify our own behavior as right and can be quick to find fault in others; we also need to be better than that and first look at ourselves to see what we did wrong and how we can improve ourselves.
I could be wrong; it could be the way the article is reporting it. I hope I am wrong and they are taking steps to improve their own behavior so they won’t ever be victims again. What happened to Mrs. Dyer is terrible, and I do hope justice is served. But this isn’t so much about the Dyer’s as it is an illustrative point that personal safety is your own responsibility, and I hope you take it seriously.
Unsweetened Chocolate.
I wanted to try unsweetened chocolate to see what it’d be like. Would the sweetness of milk be enough? I don’t really care for artificial sweeteners, so could adding a little cane sugar work out? What else could be done?
My usual consumption practice is to use 2 heaping scoops, which ends up being about 50-ish grams of protein. I put it into a 16 oz glass, then I add as much liquid as needed to fill the glass. I don’t know exactly how much liquid I use… probably at least 8 oz, but I add the liquid up to the rim, then stir… the liquid level goes down, add a little more, topping off trying to keep the glass as full as possible.
First time was with milk, HEB Mootopia skim milk. Oh no no no… that wasn’t good. It was like cardboard. But this stands to reason. I remember as a child seeing “baking chocolate” and just thinking “Wow! That’s a HUGE chunk of chocolate!”, then biting into it and recoiling in horror at the lie that is baking chocolate. 🙂 Unsweetened chocolate just doesn’t cut it, and there wasn’t enough ratio here with the milk to help out.
Second time I added 1 tsp of sugar made from evaporated cane juice. That was just a hint better but still not great. I added a second teaspoon and that made it palatable. I stopped there, figuring 2 tsp (for the way I make it) was minimum.
Later on in another drink I did try adding more sugar; I tried with 3 tsp and then with 4 just to see. I think 3 is mighty tasty, and 4 you find yourself tasting more of the sugar as a dominant flavor. So really, I’ll probably stick with 2 because that seems sufficient…. at least in milk.
I tried mixing in water. Using 2 tsp of sugar was enough to remove the cardboard flavoring, but not really make it yummy. Still, I think 2-ish tsp is sufficient to allow you to drink things down and not gag. I reckon if you mixed with other things, like in a smoothie with frozen fruit, that may be enough sweetness to compensate. All depends what sort of sweet tooth you have, I guess.
In the end this settles to me as a reasonable staple flavor. It’s chocolate. I’m happier adding a bit of sugar than using artificial sweeteners; sure it’s a bit of carbohydrate, but meh… you just compensate for it elsewhere.
Following TLG’s sample dry fire routine.
Week 4, Day 3, low-light
This of course requires knowing proper flashlight technique. For those curious, KR Training has AT-1A Low Light coming on October 20. The class can only be offered a few times a year due to the need for low light that comes at a time that 1. isn’t during deer hunting season (consideration of range neighbors), 2. isn’t very late at night (again, consideration of neighbors).
This routine again stresses what I like about TLG’s sample routine. It covers the majority of all needed skills, but puts a proper emphasis and perspective on the skills. Low-light flashlight skills aren’t likely to be needed (in reality, you will usually have enough light; and if you don’t, you shouldn’t be shooting at all), but they are still useful to practice as you may need them.
If nothing else, you get more SHO practice. 🙂
I couldn’t practice in true low-light given it’s daylight out, but I did draw the blinds and turn off the lights and got things as dark as I could. On the reloads, I just closed my eyes, but don’t forget the flashlight may still be in the mix and you have to contend with it (lanyard? stow under the armpit?).
For years I carried a Springfield XD-9, but some months ago I switched to a Smith & Wesson M&P9.
There were many reasons for my switch, and if you’re curious you can flip through my article archives. What follows isn’t a reason for my switch, but I think works out to being a good but subtle win for the M&P over the XD.
First, in most respects the guns are the same and both will function fine for most people. Both strive to provide some degree of ambidextrousness, but neither are 100% ambi. The XD has a mag release button that works on both sides, but the slide-stop lever only exists on the left side. The M&P has a single-sided mag release button that with a little bit of work can be flipped over to work from the other side, but it only truly works from one side or the other. However, the M&P does have a slide-stop lever on both sides.
After my prior “weak-hand-only” dry fire session, I noticed how much my old XD habits remained and that I hadn’t yet created the muscle memory for the M&P in this regard. It didn’t take me long to adjust to using the middle finger of my left hand to press the “same-side” mag release button, but even by the end of the session I was still forgetting about the slide-stop on the right side. But it made me realize something:
I think the M&P has a better ambi setup than the XD.
First, for a left-handed shooter, the M&P wins because you can have all controls “in the normal positions” on the M&P. A little work to flip the mag release button, and you’re there. Nothing can be done with the XD to make it 100% lefty-friendly like this, tho you can work around it.
Second, for someone like me where left-hand is “weak-/support-hand”, I still think the M&P wins because if I still have enough hand to shoot, then I still have enough finger that can press the “same-side” mag release button. And then all other controls are where they should be. But as witnessed by my dry session, you have to learn it because most guns are not set up with slide-stops on the right side and so you have to make sure you train your body to use it. With the XD, you just have to train using other approaches.
So all training issues aside and looking purely at the design and mechanics of the guns, I do think the M&P gains a slide edge here.
Orange Goblin “Acid Trial”
Joe Hoare is a riff monster.
Following TLG’s sample dry fire routine.
Week 4, Day 2, SHO (all drills WHO)
All WHO. Man, that’s painful, especially the reloads and malfunctions…. yes, weak-hand ONLY, only one hand involved period. The one thing I wasn’t sure about was drawing. Was this supposed to be a true WHO draw, reaching across my body to a “backwards” gun? Or was it to be a regular SHO draw then transfer to my weak hand? I figured WHO-only since again everything seemed to point in that direction. And this post by TLG confirms yes, it’s WHO draw across your body. Fun! NB: if you haven’t been properly trained in these techniques, don’t necessarily think you can get it off YouTube. Learn from a proper trainer (I learned from Karl Rehn and Claude Werner).
One thing I focused on was my grip, as noted in yesterday’s session. I should clarify. It’s not that there’s some greater rearward pressure from my fingers. No, it’s still an evenly pressured crush-grip. However, what I need to feel is my fingers being active and involved. If I feel that, I know I’m gripping the dickens out of the gun. As noted in the past, one problem I have is getting my grip to be solid during dry fire — it’s too easy to slack off here and not grip much at all, which then can lead to great inconsistency. I’m sure that carries over into live fire, not so much the grip itself but consistency of grip. A consistent, strong grip leads to better recoil management and shot recovery. We’ll see how emphasis on this in dry work will translate to live work for me. Will take time to get there.
I must admit, it’s rare for me to work all these WHO skills, like the reloads and malfunction work — I can’t remember the last time I did it WHO. Again, a good rear sight (e.g. Dawson Precision Charger) makes a big difference. I think this is also the first time I ever did it with my M&P, and I learned a few things:
Stuff From Hsoi 