Author: hsoi

2016-01-22 training log

/ hsoi

The deload of no-deload.

Just opted to not go to the gym today. I need the break.

Instead, I sat down to outline where I’ll be going.

Inception program? For sure, going to stop. I think it’s a great program, but it’s just too much for me right now. Again, I learned this back with 5/3/1 that I just can’t recover well enough from such a split. I mean, it’s basically an upper/lower A/B 2x/week type of split. I could recover from that, if I could get enough sleep in a day. But I can’t because numerous reasons, and even 30 minutes less sleep a day adds up. Sucks, but it does show how you have to work within your “Maximum Recoverable Volume” and all that.

Again, the only reason I went 4x/week was because diet, which isn’t a reason right now. I’ll fade back to 3x, then go back on 4x when/if diet needs it again.

So what AM I going to do?

Well, I’m enjoying working on some heavier stuff, and I was about to go into the Inception strength phase. Given I know another diet cut cycle is in my future, I’d like to work on heavier stuff and some mass building while I can. But again, keeping to 3x/week, tho that means I can make those sessions pretty intensive since it’s 3x/week overall and 1x/week per “body part” if you will.

Just by chance I was flipping through Paul Carter’s Strength, Life, Legacy eBook and came across his “Lift-Run-Bang Template”. It looks to be exactly what I need. So, going to run it. There’s no time-limit on how it’s run, but it seems fitting for about a 6-week run before you’d make adjustments and run again (or change entirely). That should be appropriate for my timing on things relative to my work and diet and such.

Paul actually originally put this on his website. Part 1, Part 2.

I spent time this morning figuring out what work to do, what weights, etc.. Bench and Squat, I’m going to use the max I calculated at the end of Inception, and use that actually as the target weight to hit (given how Strong-15 calculations work). Deadlift, I haven’t done in ages, but looking at my logs, comparing it to where the squat was back then, I’m picking a number and that should be good enough for me to work with.

I won’t actually start next week. Due to circumstance, next week will be a weird kinda “free-form” week for me. I will apply the 3x/week, but the work I do will be a little haphazard, dictated by what I can do based on my situation. Nothing bad, just not ideal. Just going to focus on getting in a bunch of work. Then starting the LRB-SLL template the week after.

Oh… one other thing that comes out of the 3x/week. That means 4x/week I get to sleep in. See, one problem I’ve dealt with is all the gym days, I need to be up and out the door by a certain time. Which means alarm clock, which means that yeah, sometimes I don’t get all the sleep/recovery I need. An intentional choice in 3x/week is that then on the other days, to turn off the alarm and sleep until I wake up. Granted, my body is well-conditioned to just waking up, but if it does then I’m going to work to go back to sleep or even if I just lie in bed for a while, I’ll take that. I don’t need to hit cardio work right now (on this bulk/massing diet), and what little I do need to do isn’t a huge sweat to do a little later in the morning (the dog is loving the morning walks in the cold). Point being, more sleep should be good.

Overall, I expect this should be a better deal for me.

2016-01-21 training log

/ hsoi

Deloading.

20 minutes and out.

Still tho, those split squats give me a wicked quad pump.

In other news… hanging at 209 lb. this morning. I reckon I’ll work to hold 210-ish for another month then start on another cut to get down to 190. I shall enjoy eating copious amounts of food while I can. 😉

I am also going to stop Inception and go to 3x/week. I think my body will be happier for it. Recovery is important. I don’t think Inception is bad, nor is it indicative of the program being bad or “too much”. It’s truly just a “me” thing.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Inception program

Week 7

  • Pause Split Squats (rear leg on bench)
    • BW x 15
    • BW x 15
  • Leg Press
    • 115 x 20
    • 165 x 20
  • Standing Calf Raises
    • 40 x 20
    • 40 x 20

Accidents DO happen

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

A few days ago, an accidental discharge – not a negligent discharge – did happen.

It happened during an advanced class at KR Training. I wasn’t out there, but my friend and fellow assistant instructor, Dave Reichek, was and gave this informative write-up of the situation.

Interesting thing about it. The write-up is being shared far and wide in just a few hours it’s been up, and I’ve already seen the comments, the what-ifs, the armchair quarterbacking, the people who obviously know more and know better. Not earnest input and feedback, but “this would never happen to me because I’m hyper-dialed in” or other sorts of “superiority” types of commenting.

If there’s one thing I’ve had really reinforced to me in the past year it’s to be careful with armchair quarterbacking – you don’t know the full story, and even if you think you do, you don’t.

Some people are still wanting to argue negligence here. Why? Leave the semantics aside, stop strutting your ego around, and focus on what happened and what we can learn from it.

One that stood out to me?

Regular inspection of your firearms before and after each use is a really good idea!

True enough. We don’t do enough of this.

But even if we do it, is it enough? I mean, how many gun owners/users actually know their hardware well enough to be able to give it a proper inspection? Sure, we can give it a look over, but can we really tell what’s right and what’s wrong? How much do you know about how your car works (from top to bottom, end-to-end)? Will we always be able to detect finer issues? And even if we do this, there’s still no promise nor guarantee it will avoid all problems. I mean, even a mechanic’s car fails from time to time.

That reinforces in me:

  1.  We’re human. Things will always be imperfect. There’s always going to be things that break, things that fail. Including ourselves. Steps we can take to minimize negative consequences are good, but accept we can’t eliminate 100%.

  2. Continue to work to gain knowledge. Maybe taking an armorers course can help here. Take the guns you use regularly to a gunsmith for a “checkup” once a year. There’s all sorts of things you can do.

There are lessons to be learned, so learn from them.

2016-01-18 training log

/ hsoi

It’s deload time, so there’s not much to write about… but yet, there is, and it has nothing to do with deloading.

So deload-wise, the program has some guidance about what to do, but otherwise my general protocol is to keep doing what you’re doing, just halve it. Do the first half of what you’d normally do. The wording is important. Simply put, if you normally do 4 sets, do 2. But let’s say there’s a workup, do the first 2 sets, which yes will be the lightest weights. This isn’t supposed to be much stress and strain, just a little movement and aid in recovery, so behave accordingly. And so, that’s all today wound up being.

If I did anything interesting, it was playing with my hand positions when I squatted to see how it might affect my elbows. I even tried touching the collars, and while that was a little awkward to (un)rack (given the way this half-rack is set up), it was good on my elbows but bad on keeping the bar on my back. Still, it was kinda telling and interesting and I might play with it some more.

But what’s more relevant is my future thinking.

I’m really enjoing the Inception program, but it is going as I predicted — it’s beating me up.

When I did 5/3/1 a few years ago, that’s a 4x/week program, but it’s really like a 2-day upper/lower A/B type of split. That was too much for me. When I made it into 3x/week, it worked well for me. When I tried some other similar 2-day upper/lower A/B type of splits, I made great progress, but it wound up being too much for me. And so I feared Inception might be the same, and sure enough it is.

It’s not that 4x/week is too much, it’s what’s done. For example, if it was 1-body-part-per-session, that can work out ok. The last cycle I did had an arm day, and thing is, even the most brutal arm day is no where near like what a squat & deadlift day is, y’know? So it winds up being 4x/week, but it’s really like a very light recovery day. And why did I start doing 4x? Because The Defattening Project: the more I go to the gym, the more I can eat, and that really helped when the off-days were so depriving that it was driving me nuts.

But do I really need it right now?

And what do I need more of? More gym? More food? No… more sleep.

So I’m giving some serious thought to dropping back to 3x/week (I’ll go back to 4x eventually, since another cut cycle is coming and I’m sure I’ll want more food), and on my non-gym days just sleeping in. No alarm, no nothing. Just sleep. My body will probably still want to get up out of habit, but don’t… or if I do, even just stay in bed for another 30 minutes. It’s still rest.

What will I do? I don’t know. Still thinking. But something like Paul Carter’s “Lift Run Bang Template” (from his “Strength, Life, Legacy” eBook, or here and here may be fitting. 3x/week. Gets some heavy work in. Not too much volume, but enough. Rotates on an A/B heavy/light sort of approach. It may be what the doctor ordered.

We’ll see. I’ll still take the rest of this week as an Inception Deload; stay the course until I’ve charted a new one.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Inception program

Week 7 (deload)

  • Squats
    • bar x 5
    • 95 x 5
    • 135 x 5
    • 135 x 5
    • 135 x 5
  • Leg Curls
    • 50 x 8
    • 50 x 8
  • Leg Extensions
    • 60 x 12
    • 70 x 12
    • 80 x 12
  • Seated Calf Raises
    • 35 x 20
    • 35 x 20

Sunday Metal – Kreator

/ hsoi

Been trying Apple Music (so far enjoying it). A playlist “Best of Thrash/Speed Metal” came up, and I thought it’d make for a good Sunday Metal series.

Kreator – Pleasure to Kill

 

ASP Street Defender – first impressions

/ hsoi

So I just gave the ASP Street Defender (pepper spray system) a try.

Slight history: thinking about pepper spray, ASP Key Defender – first impressions, ASP Key Defender – second impressions.

While my evaluation of the ASP Defenders got off to a rough start, I’m feeling more and more assured and willing to use this platform.

I don’t think I’ll use the ASP Palm Defender (small) because it’s just too small for me. The ASP Key Defender (medium) has been riding with me daily for about a month now. It carries just fine for me, and while the spray tests left me a little unsure, I still felt it was a fair choice. But I wanted to try out the ASP Street Defender (large), just because.

Ordered one, got some Heat and some Test inserts. Also ordered some grip tape (instead of skateboard tape) to try texturing the “safety” for better deployment. FWIW, I don’t like the grip tape as much — it’s a nice texture, certainly adds more grip without shredding your skin (unlike skateboard tape). But the skateboard tape is more “grippy” precisely because it’s more like sandpaper and thus a lot more friction and “grab”. The grip tape isn’t bad, but I’ll probably replace it with skateboard tape.

Then, time for spray tests.

The Test insert sprayed well, better than the Key Defender. First, it functioned. 🙂 Second, it certainly had more distance, more volume, more sprays. I mean, it stands to reason given the insert canister is larger — it’s not just longer, it’s a larger diameter. It’s advertised at 30 sprays vs. the Key’s 6.

That said, I also noticed that if you actually stuck to VERY short bursts, there was better performance. Long sprays of course work, but short blasts seem to work better. Not sure why, not an aerosol engineer. Just what I observed.

Then the Heat insert. This performed better than the Test insert, and WAY better than the Key insert. This is the sort of performance I was looking for. It’s one hell of a blast. It’s not some cloud, like a bear spray would be, but for the size and what it is, it’s sure a good dose. There’s a lot more oomph behind it, more “stream” (tho it’s still technically a cone/cloud). More reach.

I’m happy with this.

And again, the wind shifted and I got a good snoot full. So not fun.

I’m growing to like this platform. I’m going to swap out my Key Defender for the Street Defender and see how carrying it goes.

More later…

 

 

2016-01-15 training log

/ hsoi

More pain. 😦

I actually wanted to do a full day today as I was feeling a little better, more motivated. However, reality kicked in as the inclines got heavier. Those arm pains/weakness? It came back.

Yeah, the top set actually went well. Tho still the same reps as last week, it was much cleaner, so that’s progress. But the pain? Too much.

As I think about it, I think it’s an elbow issue, and then some biceps get involved. My guess? Squatting. Read this article from Paul Carter regarding low-bar squat and pain. It may not be that, but I remember this happening before and after some adjustments to my squat, my arms felt better.

Which brings me to another consideration — that this may be too much. I don’t think this load is too much for someone of my age and condition, but I think that I’m not able to give my body the recovery it needs. Could I correct that? I try to, but life is what it is and sometimes sleep isn’t as good as it needs to be. And as well, I’ve been down this road before with the 4x/week stuff.. touched on this yesterday.

So my consideration is that I may not complete Inception. I’m not sure… I really don’t WANT to stop, but I’m thinking about it. As well, next week is a deload… we’ll see how it goes and how I feel come the end of it. I also have toyed around with the notion of taking a second “deload” week. Would I go back to 3x/week? Maybe… or I may stick with 4x/week but change around the program and say have an arm day, which is effectively a “nothing” day. 😉

So I don’t know. Today I just did the main work and left. I’ll Advil it up all weekend long, see how things go next week, and just take it day by day.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Inception program

Week 6

  • Incline Press
    • bar x 8
    • 95 x 8
    • 115 x 8
    • 135 x 8
    • 165 x 8
    • 180 x 8
    • 145 x 10 (AMRAP)

2016-01-14 training log

/ hsoi

I haven’t done a “jack shit” day in a while, and today is that day.

I may not be doing 5/3/1 any more, but Wendler’s notion of “jack shit days” rides on. I’ve just been feeling worn out, no motivation, and a little beat up too. Good that deload is next week, but man, I could use a little right now. And so I did. Just did my work sets and left.

One thing is that there’s pains starting to bother (concern?) me. The weak feeling in my arm from 2 days ago? That came back. Makes me wonder how much is wrist and/or elbow related here. And then my left hand has been feeling a bunch of pain lately too — my wrist hasn’t been “normal” feeling for a couple weeks, some months ago I did something while holding a 10# plate that caused some pain in my hand, and a few days ago I started feeling pains as I was typing (I’m an iOS developer, so I type all day). A lot of little bad things, but bad enough that it’s starting to concern me. So… if a little less physical stress can be had, I’ll take it.

It does make me revisit the 4x/week program. The only reason I went 4x/week was because of the diet — more gym time means more eating! Very useful when I was really on the extremes of my cutting diet. But a difference between how I did 4x then and 4x right now is that the 4x then was more of a bodypart split only once a week. So when you have an arm day… geez, that’s basically like a rest day. 🙂 But Inception here is pretty much a 2-day rotating upper/lower split, so it’s a LOT more stress on the body. Granted, that’s what helps you grow, but it seems to be taking a toll. It’s same as why when I was doing 5/3/1 I had to go on a 3x/week schedule because it was just too much.

I’ll finish out Inception, but I may well go back to 3x/week (doing say squat/bench/deadlift) when I start my cut cycle again and save going 4x until later in the diet cycle.

Anyways, that’s that.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Inception program

Week 6

  • Squats
    • bar x 5
    • 135 x 5
    • 175 x 3
    • 205 x 1
    • 225 x 5
    • 225 x 5
    • 225 x 5
    • 225 x 5
    • 225 x 5

Yes, they do want to take our guns away

/ hsoi / 8 Comments

In discussing “sensible gun control”, a common refrain is: “no one is wanting to take your guns”.

Bullshit.

From the Georgia General Assembly 2015-2016 Regular Session – HB 731

Bill summary/introduction:

To amend Article 4 of Chapter 11 of Title 16 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to dangerous instrumentalities and practices, so as to prohibit the possession, sale, transport, distribution, or use of certain assault weapons, large capacity magazines, armor-piercing bullets, and incendiary .50 caliber bullets; to provide for crimes involving the possession, sale, transport, distribution, or use of certain assault weapons, large capacity magazines, armor-piercing bullets, and incendiary .50 caliber bullets; to provide for criminal penalties; to designate certain weaponry and ammunition as contraband and to require seizure of such by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation; to provide for enhanced penalties for the possession and use of machine guns; to provide for definitions; to provide for exemptions; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

Emphasis added.

“Seizure” sure sounds like wanting to take my guns away. Maybe you use a different dictionary.

From the bill’s text:

210 16-11-119.1.
211  (a) Any assault weapon, large capacity magazine, armor-piercing bullet, or incendiary .50
212  caliber bullet possessed, sold, or transferred in violation of this part is contraband and shall
213  be seized and destroyed pursuant to subsection (b) of this Code section.
214  (b) Notwithstanding any other provision of the law, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation
215  shall seize and take possession of any assault weapon, large capacity magazine,
216  armor-piercing bullet, or incendiary .50 caliber bullet as provided for under Code Section
217  35-3-8. Any such assault weapon, large capacity magazine, armor-piercing bullet, or
218  incendiary .50 caliber bullet seized or taken by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation shall
219  be destroyed, and a record of such destruction shall be maintained by such bureau.

In terms of how the bill defines “assault weapon”, there’s a lot, but here’s a relevant portion (there’s MUCH more to the definition):

(C) Any of the following semiautomatic center-fire rifles: the AK-47; AK-74; AKM; AKS-74U; ARM; MAADI AK47; MAK90; MISR; NHM90; NHM91; Norinco 56,56S, 84S, and 86S; Poly Technologies AKS and AK47; SA 85; SA 93; VEPR; W ASR-10; WUM; Rock River Arms LAR-47; Vector Arms AK-47; AR-10; AR-15; Bushmaster Carbon 15; Bushmaster XM15; Bushmaster ACR Rifles; Bushmaster MOE Rifles; Colt Match Target Rifles; Armalite M15; Olympic Arms AR-15, A1, CAR, PCR, K3B, K30R, K16, K48, K8, and K9 Rifles; DPMS Tactical Rifles; Smith & Wesson M&P15 Rifles; Rock River Arms LAR-15; Doublestar AR Rifles; Barrett REC7; Beretta Storm; Calico Liberty 50, 50 Tactical, 100, 100 Tactical, I, I Tactical, II, and II Tactical Rifles; Hi-Point Carbine Rifles; HK-PSG-1; Kel-Tec Sub-2000, SU Rifles, and RFB; Remington Tactical Rifle Model 7615; SAR-8; SAR-4800; SR9; SLG 95; SLR 95 and 96; TNW M230 and M2HB; Vector Arms UZI; Galil and Galil Sporter; Daewoo AR 100 and AR 110C; Fabrique Nationale/FN 308 Match and L1A1 Sporter; HK USC; IZHMASH Saiga AK; SIG Sauer 551-A1, 556, 516, 716, and M400 Rifles; Valmet M62S, M71S, and M78S; Wilkinson Arms Linda Carbine; and Barrett M107A1;

Those aren’t “assault weapons”. Those are common, popular, semi-automatic rifles.

But they look scary.

Millions of US citizens own them, and many other firearms that would fall under the bill’s definitions.

Read the bill’s text.

It’s flat-out confiscation. Seizure.

Yes, they are wanting to take our guns.

Of course, that’s always been the goal, but finally they’ve stopped lying about it.

And now you should stop lying – or at least being ignorant – about it as well. They certainly do want to take our guns away.

Even more, I see no reason for me to open carry

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

Since Texas enabled licensed individuals to openly carry handguns about 2 weeks ago, I have public openly carried twice.

And honestly, I don’t see myself doing it again.

Why?

Well, first, I should explain why I open carried in the first place.

It’s because as a firearms instructor in Texas, I should be able to speak with some first-hand experience about such matters. Having to actually do something, having to actually go through it and being forced to consider things you hadn’t considered before, it’s enlightening.

And so, I carried twice in particular environments for the learning.

The first was on my way to/from the first KR Training Open Carry Concepts class. I figured given the nature of the day, it was appropriate.

The second was when I attended the 2016 Paul T. Martin Preparedness Conference. One of the topics was covering open carry, and Karl, Paul, and I figured it would be good for a few of us to open carry to demonstrate what we believe good, responsible open carry is and should look like — because we don’t want “that guy”. We were dressed in business casual clothing, carried ourselves professionally, and worked to give the impression of someone “with their act together”, not the “derp” that the media wishes to see and portray.

So each time I carried, it was because there was purpose, because there was reason.

And so, that’s where it’s going for me.

What advantage does Open Carry give (me)?

And the conclusion I’m coming to is: none.

Now, that’s a blanket statement, made for some poetic impact. In reality, it’s “almost none”.

When Karl gave his presentation on Open Carry, he listed the following advantages:

  • Faster access to your pistol
  • Potential deterrent
  • Easier to carry a larger pistol
  • More comfortable in warmer weather
  • “Normalization” of right to keep and bear arms

As blanket statements go, they are advantages. But at least for me? I don’t find them to be advantages. (and for the record, Karl’s pretty much in the same boat as I am — you had to view his PowerPoint slide within the context of his presentation).

Faster access to your pistol. Yes, technically an open carry draw is faster than a concealed carry draw. If concealed carry was faster, then the fastest competition pistol shooters in the world would be shooting from concealment – but they don’t; they all use open carry holsters. There’s no clothing to get out of the way, to foul the draw, to slow things down. But on the flip side, if you’re openly carrying you should be carrying in a retention holster, and having to deactivate that retention mechanism will cost you time. The more retention mechanisms to deactivate, the slower things get. And believe me, you can fail to deactivate the mechanism and totally foul your draw. So while certainly an open carry draw is faster than a concealed draw, a retention draw is going to be slower than an open draw. Advantage lost.

FWIW for me, my retention draw is slower than my concealed draw, from a level-2 Safariland ALS holster. I’m sure I could get faster in time, but my thumb is going to hate me. But even tho I am can get faster, it’s still going to be slower.

Potential Deterrent. Maybe. I covered this before. There are stories of crime being deterred, but there are also stories of open carriers being attacked for their gun — flat out inviting crime. So does the potential for deterrence provide a compelling enough advantage to me? Not really. I think it’s more of an advantage to leave ’em wondering and let my gun be a surprise, not an invitation.

Easier to carry a larger pistol. This is certainly a fair point to reason. It’s easier to carry outside the waistband than inside, and when you don’t have to consider the need to hide bumps and bulges under clothing, that matters too. Granted, while some Texas residents were always concerned about getting in trouble for printing or concealment issues, it was never a legal problem. And certainly now, it’s even less of a legal problem. Still, strictly speaking, open carry can permit the carry of a larger gun. Thing is, I carry a full-sized S&W M&P9 on my hip, inside my waistband, every day for the past many years. Works out just fine. But I know this doesn’t work for everyone because body shapes and styles are different. And interestingly? I find it more of a pain to carry in my Safariland 7377 ALS because it sits the gun out so far from my body, it balances weird, and my arm keeps banging into it all day. As well, because it doesn’t hug my body, it’s this big lump of steel sitting in an awkward place, and no, sitting in a desk chair all day just is not as comfortable. So, I’ll say to this point, it’s a personal issue, but for me, it’s not any advantage.

More comfortable in warmer weather. Hard to call since OC went legal in Texas in the coldest month of the year. 😉  But for sure, not having the gun pressed up against your body will probably be nice when it comes to sweating. Thing is, clothing choices start to matter more here too, and the clothing choices necessitated by OC may negate any summer advantages. However… I was joking with a friend that OC requires you to tuck in your shirt… unless you had no shirt, or even better – a belly shirt. Please, no, don’t do this. 🙂

“Normalization”. This is a political matter, not a practical one. While I certainly involve myself in gun rights matters and politics, I don’t carry a gun for political reasons. I might carry from time to time because of this or some other similar reason (e.g. the two times I’ve OC’d so far; not political, but for a reason other than practical, self-defense), but as for offering me some sort of advantage, there is none.

Other reasons. Having to put myself in a position of a responsible open carrier, I had to think about some things and make some changes that I didn’t like.

For example, I have to tuck in my shirt. I don’t like tucking in my shirts, because of body shape, comfort, preference, and so on.

But another important reason for an untucked shirt? I conceal a lot more than a gun. I wear a lot of things on my belt, and if my shirt is tucked in, I cannot conceal them. I lose a lot of useful tools, or I have to cram them into my pockets (and I may not be wearing pants that can support that extra load; and it’s uncomfortable). This is a loss of functionality for me, and that’s certainly not an advantage.

Another is I don’t need the attention. While at the conference I spent some time just walking around the Cabela’s. Now if any place should be friendly to OC it’d be such a store with such a clientele, and for the most part there it was a mundane issue. But for sure I saw a few looks, heard a few passing comments (nothing bad, just evident people noticed because Joe commented on it to Fred as they walked by), but otherwise uneventful. But even that small bit of attention wasn’t something I wanted. I prefer to keep to myself, to go about my business, and frankly drawing attention to myself just gets in the way and wastes my time. My time is precious, and if I’m going to spend it on OC-topics then I want it to be because I chose to engage in it, not because someone else drew me into it and interrupts my day.

And now with the proliferation of 30.07 signs, that’s certainly going to be an interruption of my day to have to weave in and out of contending with that. But if I’m just always concealed, I can just go about my business and have one less hassle to deal with.

Are there reasons to openly carry? Certainly. There can be times when it will be an advantage to do so. And I am thankful that, as a law-abiding citizen, I am enabled with options. In general, for me, open carry causes me more hassle than gain, from a practical, every-day standpoint. I may do it from time to time, and I appreciate that I can. But in general?

I’m going back to untucking my shirt.