Never be afraid to fail

In an old article, Jim Wendler lists 10 nuggets of wisdom. While they’re all good, #5 stands out:

5. One of the best things I ever learned in football (and this was a big turning point for me in college) was to never be afraid to fail. This paralysis keeps too many people from trying – keeps people from doing their first meet, submitting their first article, or asking out the girl you’ve had a crush on for two years.

Emphasis added.

As I’ve gotten (much) older, my fear of failure has decreased. Because yes, it caused me to miss opportunities in life, be it fun events, career opportunities, ways to improve life, or yes… that girl. 🙂

I’m sure you can look back on your own life and see how fear of failure held you back. In fact, I can still see places in my life where the little demon creeps in; I’m working on that.

This would be something to tell my younger self, and so I must tell my children – don’t be afraid to fail.

OK, I have to explain it

The ignorance of Joe Biden is gnawing at me. I shall explain his malfunction.

“Kate.

If you want to protect yourself, get a double-barreled shotgun. Have the shells, the 12 gauge shotgun, and I promise you, as I’ve told my wife… we live in an area that’s wooded and somewhat secluded… I said Jill, if there’s ever a problem, walk out on the balcony here, walk out… put that double-barreled shotgun… and fire two blasts outside the house.

I promise you, whoever is coming in is not….

You don’t need an AR-15.

It’s harder to aim.

It’s harder to use.

And in fact, you don’t need 30 rounds to protect yourself.

Buy a shotgun. Buy a shotgun.

That’s the gist of what Mr. Biden said. He was speaking off the top of his head, so obviously he cut off some of his words as he worked to get all his thoughts out. No issues with that, I do understand how that goes.

So what’s the problem here? Where to begin.

His first major recommendation is to fire the shotgun into the air. I suppose “warning shots”. It comes off like he’s saying if you make the noise, that will scare them away. Bluff. I’m not really sure how well that works. Oh sure, some people may well get scared away by it, but a determined attacker will call your bluff. You’ve given away your position. And really… if “shooting into the air” was such a good tactic, why don’t the police do it? Why doesn’t our military do it? Why doesn’t the Secret Service do that?

Of course, if we’re only to have a double-barrelled shotgun and are to just shoot those 2 blasts, now they know you’re empty. That’s not a good position to be in, especially if they call your bluff.

Mr. Biden is very confident he knows how YOUR self-defense situation will play out. He knows exactly how much ammo you actually will need. He knows exactly how many attackers you will have. He knows exactly what tactics and defensive approaches will work. It’s great that he knows so much! But alas, most of us aren’t able to see into the future as he seems able to do. So if we cannot know what will come, isn’t it in our best interest to be as prepared as possible? But you know… Mr. Biden promises that 2 shots into the air is all you need and that will stop ’em. I’d like to see his Secret Service agents do the same… that’ll stop ’em, right?

An AR-15 is harder to aim? No it’s not. In fact, I’d say an AR-15 tends to be easier to aim, because of things like collapsible stocks that allow the gun to be better adjusted to fit the shooter. Most double-barreled shotguns are big and long, not very well suited for someone even the size of Mrs. Biden, nor very easily adjustable. But an AR-15? Very much so.

Harder to use? No, not really. Point-and-click interface.

Besides… have you ever compared the recoil of a 12-gauge shotgun vs. a .223 Remington AR-15? The 12-gauge will knock your shoulder out. The AR’s recoil is almost negligible. My wife will be very happy if she never shoots a 12-gauge again in her life; or even a 20-gauge. But an AR? She’ll shoot that all day. The gun fits her better, she can hold it better, she can adjust it to work for her better, the recoil is manageable… it’s frankly a lot easier to shoot.

And if you don’t believe me, well… I’ll be more than happy to take anyone to the range to shoot a 12-gauge and an AR-15 side-by-side. Proof is in the pudding.

Updated: I was in a hurry to get out the door last night and forgot to mention a few things.

Firing “warning shots” is reckless.  Do you know where those bullets or pellets will come down? Is “up in the air” a safe direction, because what goes up does come back down… or there could be something along the trajectory there. Let us remind the Vice President of the gun safety rules, or is it OK to ignore these “common sense rules”?

As well, “warning shots” can still be construed as use of deadly force. Depending upon your local laws, you might still wind up in a lot of legal trouble… just for “bluffing”.

Better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool…

… than to be Joe Biden and remove all doubt.

He has no idea what he’s talking about. He does not have the credentials to speak with any authority on this matter. His motivations are 100% political, and have nothing to do with personal safety.

And if you don’t understand why every thing out of his mouth is not just wrong but also dangerous, reckless, will get you in deep legal trouble, and illegal in most parts of the country, well… swallow your pride, admit your ignorance, and drop me a line. I’ll be happy to help.

 

2013-02-19 training log

The more I do, the less I do.

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 17, week 2

  • Work Set – Bench Press (working max: 230#)
    • 2x5x45 (warmup)
    • 1x5x95
    • 1x5x115
    • 1x3x140
    • 1x3x165 (work)
    • 1x3x185
    • 1x6x210
  • Assistance – Bench Press
    • 5 x 10 x 135
  • Assistance – Pendlay Row
    • 5 x 12/12/10/10/10 x 115
  • Assistance – Stuff
    • JM Press
    • Hammer Curls
    • 1 set, light weight, as many reps as I could muster (didn’t count, but somewhere in the teens I’m sure)

As I’m doing this 4x week thing, I’m finding myself wanting to pare back my sessions from what I was doing 3x week. Things are taking on a more true “BBB” template style.

I felt really good with my benching today, despite my head being elsewhere.. but at least this elsewhere was good stuff and exciting stuff. No, it wasn’t a PR, but looking at past numbers both before and after my technique change and this was good.

In terms of back work then, I figured rows would be the right thing. Keep things in the same plane as bench press. But I’m kinda tired of dumbbell rows so why not a barbell instead. And not just any flavor of rowing, but Pendlay. Why that version? Mostly because of the straight and flat back approach to things, and because of the “from a dead stop on the floor” approach. The gym happens to have a set of 10# bumper plates, so I used those to give me good spacing off the floor. Added then a 25# on each side, there’s the 115#, and away I went. Boy, I could feel it in my lats… which is a big reason for this flavor of row. I’m sold.

I couldn’t not do a little arm pumping tho. 🙂 But I just picked 1 exercise, light-ish weight, and just cranked out as many reps as I could… didn’t really care what, just a lot (tho not like a 5# weight and I did 100 reps and gave up cause I was bored… no, I probably got somewhere in the 15-25 range somewhere… didn’t count, didn’t really care).

It’s always nice to keep it simple.

2013-02-18 training log

Oopf… some days you just don’t set yourself up for success, but things mostly work out. 🙂

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 17, week 2

  • Work Set – Squat (working max: 295#)
    • 2x5x45 (warmup)
    • 1x5x120
    • 1x5x150
    • 1x3x180
    • 1x3x210 (work)
    • 1x3x240
    • 1x4x270 (PR??)

Yesterday, the family went to the local Renaissance Faire. While not physically exhausting by any means, walking around all day, throwing axes, embarassing myself on the high striker, and well… when you structure your energy levels a certain way then do something different and expend what little reserves you already have (hadn’t had any real carbs since Friday morning) well…. that just set me up for being drained. I did have a funnel cake before we left, and ate some Buc-Ee’s Nug-Ee’s on the drive home… but that wasn’t enough. I also ended up crashing out on the couch for I don’t know how long, woke up and shuffled into the bed and proceeded to sleep 8 hours (maybe 10 hours total?). Didn’t eat a proper dinner, or pre-bedtime shake or anything because I was zonked. So uh…. yeah, not setting myself up for success. :-\

Thus today was a “jack shit” day because it was all I could muster. I probably could have done more squats and ab work, but I really didn’t feel like draining myself more than I already was.

As for the work I did do… is 4 reps of 270 a PR? Sorta. It wasn’t but cycle 15 when 270 was a PR and I got 3. Today I got 4 (5 was not going to happen). And I wasn’t even fully into it because of the physical factors, and I wasn’t very focused because I wasn’t able to unwind from yesterday and waking up barely in time to get to the gym (slept late!), I wasn’t able to get my brain ready for today either. So you know… hey… 4 reps and I wasn’t really there? Well, not ideal on paper, but in the greater context of it all, fine.

Next week… 285… that will be a true PR. That should kick ass. 🙂

2013-02-15 training log

Less is more?

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 17, week 1

  • Work Set – Press (working max: 150#)
    • 2x5x45 (warmup)
    • 1x5x60
    • 1x5x75
    • 1x3x90
    • 1x5x100 (work)
    • 1x5x115
    • 1x8x135
  • Assistance – Press
    • 5 x 10/10/10/10/8 x 75
  • Assistance – Stuff
    • Upright rows
    • Hammer Curls

So at the last minute I decided to try 4x week. I kinda like it… if nothing else, getting into the gym 4x a week is damn fun. More weights, that’s great!

And I just felt damn strong this morning. The 115 went up so easily. I think in part because I’m paying more attention to my Press form and especially breathing, and so I’m finding my groove better and so things are just moving. Heck, I was actually supposed to do 130 but I HATE 130… so many plates to fiddle with, and it’s just not as awesome as 135… I like the big wheels. 🙂 So fuck it, I felt good, I put 135 on the bar, and cranked out 8 reps. Looking back over my logs, I’m not sure if this really counts as a rep PR, but there’s no question my performance is improving compared to the past few cycles. So, awesome!

But with that, I started doing less.

I think it’s a combination of things.

First, if I am going 4x week, I think more volume and more work doesn’t serve me well. That’s more stress, more breakdown, more to recover from, and the frequency doesn’t lend to that, y’know? Second, my shoulder joints have been bugging me, and while I don’t think chins or anything like that caused it, I think they may not be lending to things healing up. So today I didn’t do chins, I didn’t do dips. Third, I’m finding that my assistance work and even my work sets are just more intense… maybe in part from CBL, maybe in part because I’m getting more mentally there into every rep that I squeeze more out, more intense, whatever. But it just feels like less is more. I only cranked out a couple sets of the rows/curls and didn’t really care much.

I might be falling back to a more strict BBB template.

I also think that I will not do chins on both pressing days. I’ll probably do chins on Press day and DB rows on Bench Press days. Kinda winging how this cycle evolves as I deal with my shoulder, CBL, and 4x week. As long as I’m seeing good progress on the main lift, that’s the key thing.

2013-02-14 training log

Meh….

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 17, week 1

  • Work Set – Deadlift (working max: 365#)
    • 1x5x150 (warmup)
    • 1x5x185
    • 1x3x225
    • 1x5x240 (work)
    • 1x5x275
    • 1x7x315
  • Assistance – Deadlifts
    • 3 x 5 x 185
  • Assistance – Pulldown Abs (kneeling)
    • 3 x 15 x 120 (1 second hold on each rep)

Today just didn’t do well. I had a lot of crap on my mind, totally distracted. I did my best to put it out my head, but I couldn’t… it was stuff I needed to think through and work through, so it just had to happen. Thus I wasn’t with it.

But it was what it was… and frankly getting 7×315 with a crappy workout is pretty good… imagine how it would have been if I was properly focused. 🙂

So it was what it was.

I also feel a need to scale back my work. If I’m doing this 4x week, I just feel I shouldn’t knock myself out with heavier and more volumous work, y’know?

Leveling the playing field

Now, 15 years later, virtually all law enforcement agencies and officers are either issued AR-15 style rifles, or have them accessible. But, that is the police. In the context of self defense, why do armed citizens need AR-15 style weapons? Because, the armed citizen faces the VERY SAME criminals that police face. The only difference is that police, because they are more often called TO the incident, face these criminals more regularly. Understand, though, criminals do not prey on police, but instead, they victimize the public.

If the armed citizen wants to have a fighting chance against criminals who are armed with high capacity rifles and pistols, they also need effective weaponry. Just like the police did back in the 1990s and today.

Marty Hayes, President of the Armed Citizens Legal Defense Network, responds to “why anyone would need one of those”.

In reading Marty’s response, it made one thing clear: it’s about “leveling the playing field”.

I’ve often said that a firearm is a force equalizer. A petite woman vs. a 300# beast of a man? Force disparity. Old man vs. young thug? Force disparity? Fit able-bodied person vs. small gang? Force disparity. So much of self-defense is about overcoming that disparity. I mean, when some martial art talks about how it’s techniques allow that weak tiny woman to overcome and cripple a 300# man, the underlying message is that martial art allows you to overcome force disparity, and thus it’s a good thing. Rape prevention techniques talk about using tasers, pepper spray, walking in groups – all means of overcoming force disparity. It’s all about reducing the disparity, or better, becoming the one with the force advantage so perhaps no one will mess with you in the first place. However, the reality is while these measures are all useful and do overcome force disparity, a firearm is a better tool for overcoming force disparity. It’s like any technological advancement; it’s why we blog and tweet and email, and why the US Postal Service is shriveling up.

We seem to put great stock in “leveling the playing field”. Why do we drug test in sports? Because we don’t want someone to gain “unfair advantage”. Why is there large political movement to change this country’s legal and economic structure? To stop few people from gaining unfair advantage and control over the rest of us. We want the field level, or whether people want to admit it or not, if the field is going to be tilted they want it tilted in their favor. So why should self-defense be any different? Why should we put ourselves at a disadvantage or force others to be at a disadvantage? That’s akin to telling the petite woman to not fight back against her rapist. To use force of law to deny her effective tools? That’s akin to tying her hands behind her back. Doesn’t it sound stupid to suggest “Hey ladies, the most effective way to keep from being raped is to lie there and take it! Just give him what he wants!”? So why do you suggest solutions that effectively create this situation?

There are numerous reasons why someone would “need one of those”, be it an AR-15, a modern semi-automatic firearm (rifle or pistol or shotgun), a firearm that could hold more bullets than you deem to be “necessary”. Fundamentally it comes down to overcoming force disparity and ensuring that “level playing field”. It’s about allowing the weak to stand strong. And yes, YOU are weak. There is always someone stronger than you: physically, mentally, economically, politically. And if not today, tomorrow you may be weaker (if nothing else, someday you will be old and frail). Are you willing to resign yourself and your fellow man to being crushed? Or would you prefer to stand strong?