Author: hsoi

2016-05-23 training log

/ hsoi

Another “gotta make do with what you have” day.

Just have a bench and a rack of DB’s up to 40 lb. so you do what you can. It was supposed to be a no-deload-deload week, but what with being down with strep throat last week (hooray for antibiotics!) I figure I ought to do something this week. So nothing intensive, but aiming to get some work in.

Started with good old “pre-exhaust” because 40 lb’s of DB isn’t enough for pressing. But then to help that, I did incline pressing instead of flat. Again, nothing major, just get a little work. Some lat raises, some extensions, and good enough done. LOTS of focus on the eccentric in everything I did today. I did walk out with a nice pump, felt ok, good enough for circumstance.

In other news… I was listening to the JuggLife Podcast with Chad Wesley Smith, Max Aita, and Dr. Mike Israetel. It got me thinking again about where to go next. It’s about frequency. I know that 1x/week is not enough for me, but 2x can be a little much. BUT that’s also older me — I’ve got some things going on now that may help me out and may make 2x work a little better. I’ve been thinking about one more hypertrophy cycle then a strength cycle, and well… putting it all together and I’m wondering about trying Paul Carter’s Inception again. That would be perfect in terms of another hypertrophy then a strength cycle. Yeah, there’s no deadlifting but that’s OK. The frequency is a little much for me — I know from past experience that a sort of A1/B1 A2/B2 type of split 3x week (so spread over about 9-10 days) tends to work well for me. But again, some things are different now and I guess I’m curious if I might be able to pull it off.

Going to think about it this week because come next Monday, whatever it is I’m going to do has to start. 🙂

  • DB Flies
    • 12e x 15
    • 20e x 15
    • 25e x 15
    • 25e x 15
    • 25e x 15
  • Incline DB Press
    • 40e x 12
    • 40e x 12
    • 40e x 12
    • 40e x 12
    • 40e x 12
  • DB Lat Raises
    • 20e x 12
    • 20e x 10
    • 20e x 9
  • Overhead Triceps Extensions
    • 40 x 15
    • 40 x 12
    • 40 x 10

Car break-ins up in Austin

/ hsoi

A neighbor posted some data regarding vehicle break-ins in Austin.

APD has what’s called COMSTATS, that give information about what kinds of crimes are happening in an area. I’m going on focus Property Crimes and specifically Burglary of Vehicles (BOV’s.) These stats (MTD and YTD) are thru March 2016 and will cover Region 4 Frank and David Sectors. These numbers do not cover any TCSO stats for those unincorporated areas, Sorry

March 2016 #’s YTD #’s
BOV’s- Burglary Of Vehicles

DAVID- Down 1% this year from last to date
MTD-113 Cars
YTD-350 Cars

FRANK- Up 5% this year from last to date
MTD-125 Cars
YTD- 305 Cars

TOTAL Region 4- So far the # of BOV’s is up 2% for the year over last to date
MTD-382 Cars
YTD- 655 Cars broken into this year so far! 655!!! Crazy numbers

655, in just Region 4, in the first 3 months of 2016.

You know what could have prevented a vast majority of these?

Locking your damn doors.

Seriously, that’s it. It’s that damn simple.

Most thieves want a quick score and do not want to attract attention. This car locked? Move on to the next because it probably won’t be. Why waste time trying to break in when people just leave the doors open?

In addition, keep stuff out of your car (or at least out of sight). A fish doesn’t bite on an empty hook.

While you’re at it, lock the doors and windows on your home as well. I’ve been hearing too many stories recently of people finding unknowns in their home, and yes they left their doors unlocked and the dudes just waltzed right in.

Greg Ellifritz has an excellent article on the same topic. Please read.

In fact, don’t bother reading. Just lock your damn doors.

Armed queers don’t get bashed

/ hsoi

The Pink Pistols maintain that, since “perceived sexual orientation” is the second most common source of animus in bias-motivated crimes (FBI Crime Statistics). This common animus, they further maintain, constitutes a clear and present danger to the sexual-minority community that predicates just cause to carry a firearm for self-defense. Further, they maintain that nowhere in the Second Amendment is the concept of “good reason” enumerated, and a requirement to show such special need is fundamentally unconstitutional. Today, the District Court agreed.

Press release: Pink Pistols Pleased with Court Decision re Grace v. DC

The advancement of civil rights sometimes requires force to back it up.

2016-05-20 training log

/ hsoi

No training the rest of this week. I’ve been wanting to but…

Strep throat.

I’ve been on antibiotics since Tuesday and modern medicine is a wonderful thing. Think about how fortunate we are that we can contract something, take a pill, and “by magic” we’re cured.

Anyways, I was staying out of the gym because sleep is more important. I thought about going this morning, but man… I woke up, honestly thought about it, went back to sleep, and slept for another 3 hours. Yeah, my body’s not ready yet.

So while next week was supposed to be a no-deload-deload, I may actually do some light work.

For me, not thee

/ hsoi / 5 Comments

“I feared for my safety and I had a lot of security around me,” she told CNN’s Kate Bolduan on “At This Hour.” “I’ve never had anything like this happen.”

Full Story

Those are the words of Sen. Barbara Boxer.

Must be nice to have (armed) security around you, Sen. Boxer.

Tell me, Senator, how are we plebeians supposed to manage in the face of similar circumstances?

XS Big Dots – a differing opinion

/ hsoi / 8 Comments

Dr. House writes about his experience with XS Big Dot sights.

He writes a lot on the topic, so you’ll just have to click through to read it.

Note: I respect the good doctor a great deal. I just don’t totally agree with him in this case. But that’s how life can be sometimes — and we’ll still be friends tomorrow. 🙂

I tried the XS Big Dots some time ago. They’re fast, they’re for fighting! I wanted to look into them because I wear corrective lenses and figured if I didn’t have my lenses on for some reason, could I still find a front sight and do my business? Well, the Big Dots didn’t help any in that regard. But I also found in my use of them a lot of difficulty in making accurate hits. Oh sure, I could get in the ballpark, but as distances increased and/or targets got smaller, it gets really difficult with those sights. What exactly do you line up?

They are big.

They are coarse.

I recall sitting in a restaurant one day with Daughter, we were far away from the line and cashiers, and I thought to myself: if I had to make a shot from here could I do it? The answer was “no”, because these sights just would not allow it. Oh sure, I’ve seen videos of people making “hits” at 100 yards, but just how accurate are those hits? A steel popper still rings if you hit it in the “toe”.

Even Dr. House alludes to this:

It also depends on the shooter, and which, “part,” of the dot you are using (meaning, “dot,” centered in the notch, the center of the, “dot,” or tritium vial bottomed out in the notch, etc).

That seems… complicated. When fur is flying, can I spend so much time trying to sift through such minutia?

Sure they can be “good enough for fighting” if you look at how most gunfights are within a car length (0-5 yards). But the reality is at those distances, you really don’t even need sights! Indexing off the frame/slide can be generally effective enough. Where sights start to become more important is at 7+ yards, and that’s where the Big Dots start to be more hindrance than help.

If you don’t believe me, try it yourself.

First, shoot some solid drills like the updated FBI Qualification, the Rangemaster Level 5 Qual, or other such tests. Something that requires fast, accurate hits, at distances from 3 to 25 yards, to relatively small targets. Shoot these with whatever sights you have now.

Then install some Big Dots, spend a little time getting used to them, then shoot the tests again. Compare your performance.

Then maybe even try getting other types of sights. My personal preference is a 0.100″ wide front sight with a red fiber optic insert, and a plain black (or maybe serrated black) rear sight with a 0.125″ wide notch. I get mine from Dawson Precision. Try shooting the drills. See how things do.

Try others, like from Warren Tactical, Heine, 10-8 Performance.

Spend time with whatever sights you choose. Make an honest assessment. You want things that will improve your performance, and that won’t fail under pressure.

Here’s where Dr. House and I mostly agree:

So pick what works for you. Get sights that you can see, and shoot to the point of aim and point of impact of your chosen practice and carry loading. Then worry about something else! It’s really easy to get wrapped up and concerned about the gear, but the gear is actually the LAST thing you need to worry about. In 99% of cases, most gear will do, if YOU will do.

I say “mostly” because I think it’s worthwhile to spend the time to research and try things out. Equipment DOES matter and it can help OR hinder your performance. So it is worthwhile to find gear that is solid, proven, reliable, and can enhance your performance.

But then yeah, once you get it figured out? Stop dwelling upon it. Move on to more important topics because gear is the least important thing.

2016-05-16 training log

/ hsoi / 5 Comments

You feel like crap, but you do it anyways.

I’ve got something… not sure if a “cold” or allergies or what, but something. Friday it started to creep in. Saturday I was ok, but beyond exhausted by the time I got home — I couldn’t even finish my supper because the effort involved was too much. Yeah. Sunday I slept a lot of the day. Waking up this morning I feel a little better but still like crud. I debated skipping the day (let the body rest/heal), but 1. I often feel better if I get the blood pumping, 2. I scheduled myself to try something today, 3. this will be the last week on this cycle so, let’s do it.

So I compromised and opted to just do something — let me decide as I feel it while I’m there.

I inclined, and worked up to 225. That’s an all-time PR for me. Unfortunately it was a little scary too. I got to the sticking point, started to grind it, then my head started to feel…. wrong. As if I kept it up, I’d probably black out and have 225 lb. crashing down on my face. So the effort became about just racking the damn bar. I got it, but I’ve never been that scared under the bar before. I attribute it to that “something” that has me. No bueno. Still, a PR so I’ll take it. 🙂

After that, I opted to just do some dips. I haven’t done them in ages and like doing them. I started dipping and my shoulders told me it had been a while since I had dipped! Nothing bad, just very tight in the bottom position. So after 5 reps I stopped and figured it’d be more beneficial to do lots of sets of 5 and get blood flowing there, get the stretch, and that volume and stretch would do me better. After 10 sets, I figured 50 reps was enough all things considered. Finished off with some lat raises and that was that.

Glad I went. The PR was a little scary, but I got it. It feels good going into my deload and then the start of a new cycle where I won’t be BB Inclining, so a nice cap to it all.

  • Incline Bench Press
    • bar x 10
    • bar x 5
    • 135 x 5
    • 155 x 4
    • 175 x 3
    • 205 x 2
    • 225 x 1 (PR)
    • 175 x 8
    • 175 x 4
  • Dips
    • bw x 5
    • bw x 5
    • bw x 5
    • bw x 5
    • bw x 5
    • bw x 5
    • bw x 5
    • bw x 5
    • bw x 5
    • bw x 5
  • Lateral Raises
    • 20e x 12
    • 20e x 12
    • 20e x 12