Author: hsoi

2016-06-17 training log

/ hsoi

Yeah, it’s nice to be Pressing again.

Pressing went well. I really did miss it. I felt more in the groove today than last time — tight tight tight all the way from head to toe.

I’m still not used to supersetting all the “pulling” work in between the “pushing” work — I’ll just go into my groove of changing the weight and then remember “oh yeah, I need to do some chin-ups”. But I am enjoying it for sure.

Well, almost didn’t enjoy it today. I started with “normal-width” chins and my arm joints, especially my elbows, did not like the torque. So I played around with grip width, and a narrow grip — about 1 palm’s width apart — seems to be workable. It’s funny how almost everything I do on this Press day winds up being a narrow grip width.

I felt that some weights were a little too light, but I’m not going to worry about it too much — start too light, it’ll get heavier later.

And that’s really more the comment today: the first week back on 5/3/1 felt really good. I expected to be really sore, but I wasn’t. A little, but not crippling (which is what I expected). I think the per-day volume is good but not killer, thus I expect that hitting each “major group” 2x/week ought to work out then. I do have to remind myself to leave something in the tank, to not go to failure, “stimulate, don’t annihilate”, and all that stuff. That said, I did start to have a wonder about adding in just a bit more pressing volume — like a “first set, last” sort of thing. Not sure, and not going to bother for now.

Very much looking forward to the next week as I hit the 3’s. 🙂

5/3/1 Simplest Strength Template

  • Press
    • bar x whatever
    • 60 x 5 (warmup sets superset with band pull-aparts)
    • 75 x 5
    • 90 x 3
    • 95 x 5 (work sets superset with chin-ups)
    • 110 x 5
    • 125 x 10
  • Close-Grip Bench Press
    • 105 x 10 (sets superset with chin-ups)
    • 125 x 10
    • 145 x 10
  • V-Bar Pulldowns
    • 85 x 20
    • 85 x 20
    • 85 x 20
  • Cable Rows
    • 100 x 20
    • 100 x 15
    • 100 x 12
  • Skullcrushers (wound up supersetting with the curls)
    • 45 x 20
    • 45 x 20
    • 45 x 17
  • Close-grip EZ-bar Curls
    • 45 x 20
    • 45 x 18
    • 45 x 13

2016-06-16 training log

/ hsoi

To deadlift again.

I really miss deadlifting, and I’d reason it’s a subtle reason I’m happy to be going back to 5/3/1. Today was pretty light, but it was good. Since I’ve been away for so long, my form is rusty and I really felt it today. I felt very “forward”, with my weight forward, almost more on the balls of my feet than the mid-foot. I had to work to find my groove again. Things improved towards the end, but it’ll probably be another week or two before I feel really dialed back in. Still, that things felt VERY light today was good because I could focus more on getting back into it. I worked up to 10 reps and just capped it — leave it in the tank (tho this was more than 1-2 in the tank; but hey, start very light right?)

Fronts were fine.

Good mornings… I think I hate them because I’m just not sure I’m doing it all right. I just don’t feel anything, other than I’m going to fall over. 😉 That said, my lower back was blown up from the deadlifts and fronts, so I dropped the weight a bit and really tried to work on form. I found towards the end I was doing better at keeping my torso in a good position (I was “slouching”, if you will). That seemed to help. So like just about everything today, too light, but focus on form improvement. So hey, not a bad thing.

As for the hip thrusts, or maybe it’s glute bridges. Whatever — I’m not putting a barbell on my hips, I’m not exploding upwards. I’m trying to find a way to get some hip extension work for my hamstrings, since I have no glute-ham-raise equipment. And I’m sorry, but every time I read about “activing the glutes”, I get some image of “Wonder Twin Powers… activate!” in my head, and the image just goes south from there. 🙂 So I did these, and sure, if I focused on the muscle I could actually feel it more in my glutes, which was pretty cool. And I really do want to keep some sort of bodyweight and unilateral movement around (a Paul Carter holdover). Today was 2-feet on the ground, but I saw this:

and it’s what I’m going to work my way up to. I’ll probably do the normal 2-feet on the ground glute bridges type movement next week as well, just to ensure I’m getting it right with the muscle focus, but I’ll work towards doing the 1-legged raised ones and see how it goes. Who knows — this might wind up being a failure and I find something else to do. But I’m trying it. Hell, I might even go back to long-stride lunges or split squats.

Anyways, today was good.

5/3/1 Simplest Strength Template

  • Deadlift
    • 135 x 5
    • 160 x 5
    • 190 x 3
    • 210 x 5
    • 240 x 5
    • 270 x 10
  • Front Squat
    • 110 x 10
    • 130 x 10
    • 155 x 10
  • Good Morning
    • 95 x 10
    • 95 x 10
    • 95 x 10
  • Hip Thrust (really, glute bridges)
    • BW x 20
    • BW x 20
    • BW x 20
  • Crunches
    • BW x 10
    • BW x 10
    • BW x 15

2016-06-14 training log

/ hsoi

Eye-opening for sure.

Wendler says a few things about the “press” days. Things like for every 1 pushing rep you should do at least 2 pulling reps. That in between your pushing sets you should do some sort of pulling, like pull-ups. Basically it’s a way to get a lot of back volume because back is important.

When I first did 5/3/1 some years ago, I didn’t do this. I did some back work, yes, but I didn’t do the above because 1. I couldn’t do pull-ups (fatter, weaker), and 2. I had a wussy attitude. You see, when you don’t have much, every little bit is significant; but when you have a lot, you don’t consider the details as much. For example, I’m tall and when people ask how tall I am I say things like “6 foot something”. My wife is short, so when people ask how tall she is she says “5 feet 4 and 1/4 inches” — that 1/4 is important! And so it was for me back then I was afraid that trying to do back work in between my pressing sets would detract and tire me out and keep me from getting all the reps or getting that weight number — I was weak (minded) and wanted every little bit I could get.

But it’s been a few years, and I know that sure maybe it will detract a little bit — at first — but over the long haul I’m going to be better and stronger for it all.

So this time as I 5/3/1 I’m making sure to do pulling work in between my pressing work, because 1. I finally can, 2. I’m stronger (minded).

How did things go?

Really well.

The pull-ups were very strict — dead-hang, chin above the bar, no swinging, no momentum, fully reset between reps. That worked well.

The pressing? Well, just a few days ago I was benching and my AMRAP set was 195 for 11 reps. Today’s PR set was 195… and I got 12 reps AND had a couple left in the tank. So does pull-ups in between each set detract? I don’t think so. 🙂 Granted it’s not a total apples-to-apples comparison, but good enough to demonstrate that it’s just good for me.

On the pull-ups I generally got 5 reps per set, which was really cool. I’m taking longer rests between sets, and I think that’s going to pay off in terms of better recovery and thus greater volume. Thing is, at the end of the session I totaled up all the pulling reps I did and basically did hit that “twice as many pulling as pushing reps” metric; not precisely, but very close enough. I dug that. 🙂

The wide, neutral-grip lat pulldowns were interesting. Yeah, I got some lat work in there, but I really felt it in my rear delts and that area. It’s been interesting to see how various handles on the pulldowns have hit different things for me. Like the v-bar really hits the middle of my upper back (and my lats). This wide, neutral-grip really hits my rear delts and that outer-upper back (and my lats). Something like a curl-grip pulldown really really works my lats. Quite interesting. Mostly because some time ago when back work still didn’t “move me”, I didn’t feel much difference between the grips/handles. But as I’ve gotten better at really working my back muscles, I’m finding the differences. It’s cool.

The DB rows were “Kroc-style”. I can’t do true Kroc Rows (implies you take the heaviest db in the place and rep it out). But I do the approach of 2 10-rep sets to warm up, then hit the last set for 20-40 reps. Dig that.

I found that my back was worked well, but not killed — that whole “stimulate, don’t annihilate”. My back hasn’t felt like this before; pretty cool.

I actually didn’t feel like I got enough pressing work, but I have to remember the pressing work is of a different orientation, so just roll with the program.

So far, digging the SST.

Music: Metallica, on shuffle…. and hitting “skip” a lot when it comes to particular albums. 😉

5/3/1 Simplest Strength Template

  • Bench Press
    • bar x whatever
    • 95 x 5 (warmup sets superset with band pull-aparts)
    • 115 x 5
    • 140 x 3
    • 150 x 5 (work sets superset with neutral-grip pull-ups)
    • 170 x 5
    • 195 x 12
  • Incline Press
    • 105 x 10 (sets superset with neutral-grip pull-ups)
    • 125 x 10
    • 145 x 10
  • Wide, neutral-grip Pulldowns
    • 110 x 15
    • 110 x 15
    • 110 x 12
  • DB Rows
    • 55 x 10
    • 55 x 10
    • 55 x 21
  • Overhead Triceps Extensions
    • 40 x 20
    • 40 x 20
    • 40 x 15
  • Hammer Curls
    • 25e x 15
    • 25e x 12
    • 25e x 9

2016-06-13 training log

/ hsoi

Time for a change.

Time to Pursue the (next) Goal

I knew after I finished The Defattening Project that my next big goal was “3/4/5” — bench press 3 wheels (315#), squat 4 wheels (405#), and deadlift 5 wheels (495#). I didn’t start on this immediately after I stopped defattening because I was enjoying the hypertrophy work (still do). But recently I’ve been thinking about it more, and it’s come time to officially start on this journey. Sure, I’m stopping the GMM after only 2 weeks, but I learned some years ago that once you’re certain of something, get on with it else you’re just wasting precious time. So, I’m getting on with it.

Back to 5/3/1

While I’ve really enjoyed Paul Carter’s programming and philosophy, I’m moving away from it. I don’t think I’ll totally abandon Paul’s stuff, and I’m sure someday I’ll come back to it. It’s just that 5/3/1 has proven itself to me in the past, and it’s quite proven “around the world” that it works. It’s simple, it’s got solid foundational principles, and it works.

I also look at what I’ve learned over the past few years, in general and about myself and what I do and do no respond to. I see what’s working, I see what can help me maximize potential, and 5/3/1 should play in that. And since it’s nice to start out with a pre-planned template, I found that the 2nd edition’s “Simplest Strength Template” jives with what I’ve learned and what I’ve been doing. Sure, Boring But Big is proven and was my first choice for how to start off again, but SST may well be a better thing for me right now. The volume is just a hair lower than BBB, but it’s a little more comprehensive to the whole body. I’ve found that a general approach of “3 exercises” with the first being the big compound strength movement, the 2nd being an almost-big movement for more reps, and the 3rd edging towards an isolation movement for even more reps — yeah, I respond well to that: SST takes that approach (more or less). As written, it also uses some of the “big assistance” movements that I’ve been enjoying lately, like front squats. And I gotta say: going back and Pressing again has been fun and I look forward to that.

It’s other things too, like the increased frequency — it’s not 1x/week but 2. It’s a general upper/lower split. With things like the PR set, it requires me to push myself; but there’s auto-regulation and the ability to deal with less than stellar days if you need it.

Really, it should be alright. I really miss how things rolled on 5/3/1, so I’m happy to try getting back to it.

A few things to note

I am going to try 4x/week. In the past I found 4x/week was too much for me, but I also know I didn’t have a lot of stuff on point back then. Could 4x/week still be too much for me? Certainly. If that happens, I’ll fall back to 3x/week. But I want to see how this goes now and take whatever learning I can from it. That said, in the past I’ve also done the 2-cycles in a row before deloading, but I will NOT do that here; I will take the deload on the 4th week. This is an attempt to balance things a bit in terms of the 4x/week load.

I will start out as-written, but I’ll change up as needed, in whatever way that might mean.

I picked my working maxes based on a few things. Some things I flat out had the hard data on, so it was simple math to figure out. Other things I had reasonable guesses on or close enoughs and went from there (e.g. I don’t have straight-leg deadlift numbers, but I did have stiff-leg — so I took the stiff-leg and adjusted downwards a little bit). Bottom line is to “start too light” so when in doubt, round down, underestimate, etc. because in time it’ll work up.

Today

It felt so different from what I’ve been doing. 🙂

I’ve been used to 5/4/3/2/1 on the work up, so doing the same # of reps felt a little odd. Small thing, but still there.

When I was doing the last set, I just kept going 1 rep at a time. When I hit 10 reps, my first thought was to keep going, but I racked it because my brain said “You know, somewhere Wendler wrote that it’s reasonable to cap the 5+ set at 10 reps”. So I did. It was good, because another thing to remember is that you’re supposed to leave 1-2 reps in the tank — this is not going to failure. So much of my work the past many months has been AMRAP and to failure, so I have to break out of that habit and let myself rack it before I get to that failure point. I think 10 was actually legit that point anyways because I know 11 was possible, 12 was a maybe (i.e. make the call after I’d finish 11)… so yeah, good.

Everything else was generally good, but man… I bet I’m going to be so damn sore in my hamstrings, glutes, and lower back come tomorrow. That got a lot of work. So much that while I was supposed to finish with some hanging leg hip raises, I opted to just do crunches so my lower back could be a little happier. 🙂 First day and already calling audibles. My body will get used to things.

I recall last night looking at this thinking that on paper it should be a pretty easy day. And relatively speaking I’ve had tougher days, but it’s a reminder that just because it’s a “5” day doesn’t mean it’s easy and something you can just phone in.

So hey… felt a little strange, but yet, felt good. Happy. Looking forward to where this goes.

5/3/1 Simplest Strength Template

  • Squats
    • bar x whatever
    • 105 x 5
    • 135 x 5
    • 160 x 3
    • 175 x 5
    • 200 x 5
    • 225 x 10
  • Straight-leg Deadlift
    • 145 x 10
    • 170 x 10
    • 200 x 10
  • Leg Curls
    • 30 x 15
    • 30 x 12
    • 30 x 10
  • Hyperextensions
    • BW x 12
    • BW x 12
    • BW x 12
  • Crunches
    • BW x 10
    • BW x 10
    • BW x 10

CSAT sights

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Back in October 2015 when I attended the Combat Shooting and Tactics (CSAT) Tactical Rifle Operator course taught by Paul Howe, I picked up a set of his iron sights.

The front is is a TROY Industries M4 folding sight, and the rear is a TROY Industries folding sight as well. But the real hook? The rear sight is using the CSAT Aperture.

Here’s a short video of Paul Howe himself demonstrating and explaining the CSAT Aperture:

And here’s another video that explains it a little more in-depth:

I finally got a chance to install them on my S&W M&P-15TS. It came with factory Magpul BUIS, and these TROY replace them. I do use a Aimpoint T-1 most of the time, but that’s what the BU in BUIS is about.

I started zeroing at 7 yards using the small peep, just to get on paper. Only had to make a slight windage adjustment to the rear. That was a small pain because the TROY uses a pin in the adjustment wheel to keep things in place. BUT, making it a pain to adjust means it’s a pain to adjust – accidentally. So I actually like that feature since it will keep things in place. Once I got on paper, I went to 10, 15, 25 yards, all standing, Things seemed to be working well.

When I got to 50 yards, I wanted to go prone. Well, that didn’t work. 🙂  I was of course shooting at the KR Training facilities. The past few weeks, Texas has been getting lots of rain, so that means grass has been growing and no mowing has been able to take place. Karl’s only been able to mow bare essentials for class, and so much of the non-essential areas are tall grass. Going back to 50 yards? Non-essential, tall grass, and when I went prone I couldn’t see the target at all. 🙂  I did some kneeling, but I suck at shooting from a kneeling position, so not an ideal way to try to zero. I figured there was no point in going back to 100 yards either. Of course now as I write this, I’m thinking I should have just pulled a barrel and bench back to 100 yards and shot from that, but I guess the Texas heat fried my brain and it didn’t occur to me. Ah well. Things do seem zeroed enough for now, and I can refine it later.

After that was done, I went back to 7 yards and played with the CSAT Aperture’s rear notch. It takes a little getting used to the sight picture, but it works great. At 7 yards I was POI = POA and that’s some surgical shooting. I was using a 3″ dot as a target area, and was drilling the center out just fine at 7 yards. So I played with distance. I went up to 3 yards and nothing — you’re just way too close, the bullet hasn’t has any time/distance to start rising, so it’s still holdover time. At 5 yards it was hitting at the bottom of the 3″ dot. Around 10-12 yards it was hitting the top of the 3″ dot (aiming at the middle of the dot). After that it rose pretty quickly out of the dot, so for sure it’s back to the peep.

The more I shot it, the more I got used to the new sight picture. Really, I am digging this.

It almost makes me want to shoot irons and not red dot. 🙂

And think about it. In a home situation, that sort of 5-10 yards is about your distances, yeah?

I did a little more shooting too.

Most of the work was just using some Freedom Munitions .223 Rem 55 grain new manufacture ammo. But I did switch to some Hornady TAP 5.56 55 grain GMX barrier-blind — just 1 box of 20 (because expensive and hard to find), but after I had things dialed in I tried that ammo. Fed and ran fine, and at these shorter distances I noticed no difference in trajectory or impact point vs. the Freedom Munitions. 100 yards will be more telling. Yeah, switching to the TAP 5.56 55gr GMX for more serious purposes (from the TAP 75 grain non-GMX stuff); seems to be the better recommendation these days.

Also just did a bunch of mag dumps — because fun. 🙂

A couple things I need to work on.

First, I should dry-practice my rifle more. I focus mainly on pistol, but I really should do rifle dry work more.

Second, I’d love to take Paul’s class again.

Third, when I shoot I need to square up my body more. I tend to get bladed and that puts more of the recoil into points in my shoulder/pectoral and it gets old after a while. If I’m more squared up, the recoil is spread out more and it’s more comfortable. This goes back to point 2, as dry work will help me get my body into the habit.

Anyways, I’m digging the sights.

 

2016-06-10 training log

/ hsoi

Apparently the hardest thing to do in the gym is WIPING DOWN THE EQUIPMENT WHEN YOU’RE DONE WITH IT! Seems some Thursday evening regular has rather (over-)active sebaceous glands, because I always find his/her head-funk on the benches, and today I found his/her leg-funk on the lat-pulldown seat. How fucking difficult is it to wipe down the equipment when you’re done with it?!?!

Apart from that grossness tho…

Today was alright. Yesterday I was doing a lot of pistol and rifle shooting. I had on a long-sleeved Under Armour shirt and had pulled the sleeves up, with the cuff being just above my elbow. After some time I was feeling great discomfort and a weird sort of “weakness” in my arms (I’m sure restricted blood flow). Pulled the sleeves down and things were eventually better. As well, the bottom point of the AR’s buttstock hits my pec just right and really pokes into the muscle and tenderizes it good. So today’s benching was affected. My arms felt that same strangeness, and my pec hurt a bit. I don’t think it was a major problem — I still hit my weights and reps, even having increased things by 10# across the board. So all was generally good, but I just didn’t feel so great.

But weights are better dialed in in terms of getting the proper reps out. Inclines went well. Rows went well. And I have to say — those neutral-close-grip pulldowns on the V-bar… man, really let the arms up and shoulders go forward, then pull “from the elbows” and really sweep the upper arm back until it’s at least parallel with your torso… man… that really works my lats like nothing else I’ve felt. Crazy.

And by the end of the session, my arms felt MUCH better.

This all said, I’m thinking about making some changes. I’ll explain when it’s time.

Music today was a bunch of “80’s metal”, a playlist from Apple Music. Anthrax, Testament, Exodus, Skid Row, Dio, Metallica, Ozzy, Megadeth, W.A.S.P., Mötley Crüe, Slayer, Motörhead, Quiet Riot, Suicial Tendencies, etc.

Based on Paul Carter’s “Guaranteed Muscle Mass” article.

  • Bench Press
    • bar x 10
    • 145 x 5
    • 165 x 4
    • 195 x 3
    • 215 x 2
    • 235 x 1
    • 195 x 11 (AMRAP)
    • 195 x 6 (50%)
  • Incline Press (350 Method)
    • 95 x 24
    • 95 x 14
    • 95 x 11
  • BB Row
    • 155 x 8
    • 155 x 8
    • 115 x 12
    • 115 x 12
  • Wide, Pronated-Grip Pulldown (350 Method)
    • 85 x 20
    • 85 x 14
    • 85 x 12
  • BB Curl (350 Method)
    • 40 x 28
    • 40 x 15
    • 40 x 13

Urban Decay Vice Lipstick – now available for iPhone

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

For the past 6+ months I’ve been working on a new iPhone app. Now I can finally talk about it. 🙂

It’s an app for Urban Decay Cosmetics (a division of L’Oreal), to help introduce and promote their new Vice Lipstick line.

You can download the app from the App Store here.

(iPhone only, needs iOS 9 or above, and looks best on larger phones like the iPhone 6, 6s, 6 Plus, or 6s Plus; tho it functions on any iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch that runs iOS 9).

What’s really cool about the app is the virtual “try on” feature, where there’s a live camera that superimposes the lip shades on your lips so you can see what they might look like on you! That particular bit of technology comes from Modiface, who themselves have some apps in the App Store and do some pretty neat facial recognition and morphing stuff. Check them out.

I mention this not only because I’m proud of the work (and learned a lot about the cosmetics industry, which I have a newfound respect for), but I’m hoping to get back to writing more now that I’ve been able to come up for air. You may have noticed (or maybe you haven’t) that my writing has been light the past some months — it’s because of the intensity of this app project. But it’s done, and so I hope to get back to writing more regularly.

Anyways, go check the app out and give it 5-stars 🙂

2016-06-08 training log

/ hsoi

Oof.

Today was telling, but not for the obvious reasons.

Squats went well. I felt good with the 265. Still hate that I’m in the 200’s, but here I am. I felt like I could have gotten at least 3 reps with it, maybe a 4th grinder. The AMRAP is also something I need to push a little more. I’m not allowing myself to go to true failure (no spotter, and I hate dumping because it hurts my neck/back/shoulders), but trying to get to a point where I can tell I couldn’t do 1 more. I think I may be stopping just shy of that point, but it’s tough to gauge without actually hitting it, y’know? Still, as long as I make progress (and I am), that’s really what matters.

What was more telling was I continue to examine 5/3/1. I plugged in some numbers from today’s squatting and it was telling. I’m generally where I should be, and frankly I figure if I did 5/3/1 that before the end of the calendar year I’d set a new PR on squat. Plus I keep gravitating to 5/3/1 SST and damn if that doesn’t seem to hit everything I’m after. So I have to be honest with myself: as much as I enjoy and appreciate Paul’s work, I think there’s a strong part of me that wants to go back to 5/3/1 because it’s dead simple and ought to give me what I need.

Plus, I think pushing those PR sets will actually be very good for me. I think I need that sort of constant thing to push me further, push me harder. And no question, that sort of “daily feedback” would be useful.

So yeah, I think it’s going to happen. If I’m smart, I’ll finish out this GMM cycle (at least 4 weeks of it). If I’m really smart I’ll do at least 8 weeks, then something like a Strong-15 short cycle. But I also know that sometimes prolonging the inevitable isn’t a wise expenditure of time, energy, and limited resources — so I may just dive in (sooner rather than later, in fact).

Oh… and split squats continue to be…. uh…. looking for a positive word here. Intense. 🙂

Today’s music: Hatebreed. Their new one, “The Concrete Confessional”, plus some other songs of theirs (because their albums are short).

Based on Paul Carter’s “Guaranteed Muscle Mass” article.

  • Squat
    • BW x 10
    • bar x 5
    • 135 x 5
    • 175 x 4
    • 215 x 3
    • 245 x 2
    • 265 x 1
    • 215 x 13 (AMRAP)
    • 215 x 7 (50%)
  • Stiff-Legged Deadlift
    • 135 x 5
    • 185 x 4
    • 225 x 3
    • 275 x 2
    • 325 x 1
    • 245 x 12 (AMRAP)
  • Split Squats
    • BW x 12
    • BW x 12
    • BW x 12
    • BW x 12
    • BW x 12

Talking Campus Carry

/ hsoi

My friend Paul Martin participated in a panel discussion on campus carry sponsored by NEW Leadership Texas – part of the UT Center for Women and Gender Studies.

Paul shares his experience, which was positive and impactful.

The audience leaned left of center, although there were at least two license to carry (LTC) holders in the group.  They were very engaging and willing to listen to opposing viewpoints in a respectful way.  Likewise, the panelists were respectful of each other despite the significant difference of opinion among us.

One of his observations stood out to me:

Those who oppose concealed carry have little understanding of the licensing process or the training curriculum. Students seemed surprised to learn that non-violent dispute resolution is a statutorily mandated curriculum requirement. There seemed to be some belief that 18 year olds can obtain a LTC (minimum age is 21, unless the applicant is active duty military or veteran).

Take that for what you will.

Still, Paul has a greater message:

We need to be taking these people to the gun range to let them experience it first hand. Some of the participants who visited with me after the event said that they were generally supportive of concealed carry but had some reservations – and these included people who expressed left of center political leanings. I took that as a good sign. But there are others who were indicated they were agnostic on the issue until they attended the event. We need to be doing a better job of inviting people who may not be “pro-gun” to the range in an effort to encourage people to have a better understanding of how guns work.

Bottom line: it’s about education. We can tell they don’t know, but chastising folks for their ignorance only serves to drive the wedge further, the strengthen alienation.

There was a time in American politics when we would “reach across the aisle”. Unfortunately today’s political climate seems to only want to yell, spit, and throw punches across the aisle.

If you’re willing to listen, I’m willing to teach. If you’re accepting of education, I’m happy to help. We can work together to have greater understanding, and that will yield better things; because allowing ignorance to rule and proceeding through life with ignorant zealotry, does no good for you or the world.