Author: hsoi

2014-11-18 training log

/ hsoi

Knee sleeves for warmth, right? And so, wearing them TO (and from) the gym while you walk there in 33Âș weather counts, right? 😉

I was surprised that squats went so well. I got to the end of the 5×5 and was like, “it’s over?” I did have to remind myself on set 2 to accelerate, but after that geez… it just kept coming. Debating if I should increase weight or not — last week was a -10% for sure, and it’s possible today was just a +10%. So, conservativeness tells me to stick with it another week and if it still flies up THEN increase.

Sumos continue to be interesting. I’m not sure how much C.A.T. I can do with them… you can’t rip it so quickly off the floor, but once I break the floor they just fly up. Certainly my back is MUCH stronger than my legs, certainly I’m better conventional than sumo. Sumo right now is an experiment and I’m thinking it may well be good assistance work for me. For sure I’m focused on breaking off the ground with my legs — keep the back upright and stable, don’t let the hips pop up, ensure I come off the ground because my legs are pushing. THAT for me is hard, both as a technique cue and simply strength-wise. So thus, the sumos seem to be good for me in that regard. I’m going to be curious how my conventional deadlift improves here, but even more so I’m wondering if the sumos are helping my squats. I think they may well be, and that’s A Good Thingℱ.

BTW, I opted to go back to beltless. The belt will come back out when I opt for testing maxes or doing a peaking cycle (e.g. Strong-15 last 6 weeks, or an entire Strong-15 short cycle). But otherwise it feels right to just be beltless — maybe just because I’ve done it so long it’s what’s “normal” and comfortable to me. So today was totally without belt.

Everything tho was going quite well, until lunges. Did the right leg, then about 10 reps into the left leg the knee (this is my problem knee) started to complain in the bad way. It wasn’t truly painful nor bad, but I could tell this was not a pain to “work through” or that there was anything to gain by keeping going. Sucks, but if my primary goal in all of this is improving my health, better to call it a day early. Bummer.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

  • Squats (model 1)
    • bar x 5
    • bar x 5
    • 155 x 5
    • 180 x 4
    • 215 x 3
    • 235 x 2
    • 265 x 1
    • 190 x 5
    • 190 x 5
    • 190 x 5
    • 190 x 5
    • 190 x 5
  • Sumo Deadlift (model 1)
    • 135 x 5
    • 225 x 5
    • 315 x 3
    • 315 x 3
    • 315 x 3
    • 315 x 3
    • 315 x 3
  • Lunges
    • BW x 17… then bad pain

2014-11-17 training log

/ hsoi

Woke up at OMG-stupid-:30 this morning… don’t know why, but no biggie.

The real biggie was walking to the gym. Winter has finally descended upon Central Texas, so the walk to the gym was in 32Âș weather with 15-20 MPH gusty cold winds. Yeah… it sucked, so you just walk faster. 🙂 And now that the gym has the thermostat under a lockbox, I don’t know how cold it was in there but the thermostat bottoms out at 60Âș and the needle was pinned down there. No space heaters… so, it’s sweats and beanie time. It’s all good — don’t even notice once you get started.

Pressing went well. My shoulder continue to argue with me, and because of that I thought about dips.

I like dips. This template is actually supposed to use dips, but when I switched to it dips just weren’t going to happen — triceps were spent. And while the Polquin Flies were interesting, I just never felt they were adequate here because they left out triceps — this is about getting the most bang for your buck and flies just aren’t there — compound movements are good. So I thought of a different approach. I would bench, THEN dip, then incline-350.

I also want to give dips a try because of the stretch position they put you into. When I get into that position, it’s tight, especially on the right, and I am interested to see if the dips will help me out.

I tried normal dips but it wasn’t to be — shoulder wasn’t too happy with me. So instead I opted for “Chest Dip (between benches)“. It’s fairly close to “proper” dips (exrx.net’s listings for proper “chest dip” and the “between benches” variation shows no difference), and my shoulder was a bit happier with it — I figure it’s simple: less weight and thus less stress on the shoulder area.

I only did 4 sets of 5, which was enough. The first set was difficult — just stiff and hard to get all the way down — but things got easier as I went along and I actually felt like doing more reps by the end of the 4th set! I reckon it’ll get better as I go along, and I’ll just slowly up the reps each week. I figure once I’m doing a lot of reps this way, I can try going to proper chest dips and see how it goes. Meantime, I’ll just use the dip apparatus to help me stretch afterwards.

To help with all of this, I have opted to limit my AMRAP set to 20 — just keep trying to push like hell through it (C.A.T. and all that). And I did drop the incline-350 set down to a guess weight, which worked out fine.

So… modifying things a wee bit, but with the proper goals in mind.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

  • Bench Press (model 2)
    • bar x 5
    • bar x 5
    • 115 x 5
    • 135 x 4
    • 155 x 3
    • 175 x 2
    • 195 x 1
    • 205 x 1
    • 195 x 5
    • 195 x 5
    • 195 x 5
    • 175 x 5
    • 175 x 5
    • 175 x 5
    • 140 x 20 (AMRAP)
  • Chest dip (between benches)
    • BW x 5
    • BW x 5
    • BW x 5
    • BW x 5
  • Incline Press (350 Method)
    • 75 x 25
    • 75 x 18
    • 75 x 17

Sunday Metal – My Favorite King Diamond

/ hsoi

Given King Diamond’s stuff is more about concept albums than songs. I think it’s easier for me to pick out a favorite album than a song.

I mean, if I have to pick a song, maybe “Abigail”, just because of the song structure, the constant lyrical revisiting of “Abigail”.

But album? “Conspiracy”. The whole “Them” concept, chapter 2. “At the Graves” is such a strong start and of course sets everything up for the story and album. I actually like singing the opening part… so operatic.

Intellectual Honesty

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

I am a public health professional.

And I like guns.

This make me a heretic in American public health, where embracing firearms and the rights of gun owners is a gross violation of orthodoxy.

Vik Khanna is “public health professional, educated at the vaunted Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Hygiene and Public Health”. And, as stated above, he likes guns. He writes about it in “Why Public Health Needs a New Gun Doctrine”.

It’s rarely a good thing when everyone is lock-step and unquestioning of doctrine. He takes his field to task on their regard for firearms.

In 2013, the Institute of Medicine, at the behest of the Centers for Disease Control, produced a report on firearms violence that has been ignored by the mainstream media. The upshot: defensive use of firearms occurs much more frequently than is recognized, “can be an important crime deterrent,” and unauthorized possession (read: by someone other than the lawful owner) of a firearm is a crucial driver of firearms violence.

That report went away for political reasons. Translation. Nobody wanted to talk about it because it raised more questions than it answered.

They didn’t get the answer they wanted, so they suppressed it. Is that science? Is that really doing a service to the world?

But even more key is the fundamental assumption:

My public health approach to the problem of gun violence starts with the assumption that every gun owner is not a raving, irresponsible nut, but in fact a person of some seriousness who has a legal right to choose to own a firearm.

What assumptions do you start with? Have you stepped back and honestly examined your own assumptions? Have you questioned and determined where your assumptions came from? What is their founding? Is it based upon biased news reporting (which we should all come to expect is the unfortunate norm of today’s “news” reporting)? Is it based upon Hollywood? Is it based upon a couple interactions you’ve had, and you’ve extrapolated a couple exceptions to apply to everyone?

Or even worse:

As for the claim that gun rights proponents oppose the conduct of legitimate research, consider this. Many years ago, I asked a very powerful anti-gun academic the following questions: What proportion of gun crimes are committed by the lawful owner of a legally purchased firearm, and what percentage of lawful gun owners use their firearm in commission of a crime?  He said that he did not know, and that he would oppose conduct of the research to answer both questions.

If we’re going to have honest discussion towards finding real solutions to our problems, we must step back and examine our assumptions. We must be intellectually honest and not cherry picking what suits us or furthers our own blind agenda.

How to Intimidate People

/ hsoi

VICE has an interesting article titled “How to Intimidate People: Pro Tips from Drug Dealers, Hostage Negotiators, Bouncers, and Drag Queens“.

It’s a useful read for anyone, but readers of my blog tend to be those interested in topics like self-protection. While intimidation isn’t always considered a positive action to undertake, sometimes it can be a useful skill for self-preservation. I mean, the article frames itself as a bully response:

It started in the playground, where that sweaty bully dished out bad insults and made you feel like a putz. Years later, you’re still being intimidated: on the street at night, in job interviews, at pickup basketball games, when someone says something nasty to you in the bar—in all these situations you’re stuck being the victim rather than the aggressor, the one who has to back down while your tormentor makes that shit-eating grin at you. Don’t you wish there was a way to shut him or her up, to force that clown into a humiliating retreat? Not by throwing a punch, of course, since that could end with you in a jail cell or badly beaten or both. You’re going to win this fight without it ever becoming a fight.

The problem is, not everybody has a natural knack for intimidation. Practice makes perfect, but since firsthand research in this field can be slightly hazardous, I thought I’d get some pointers from a group of individuals who are skilled in getting the bullies of life to back the fuck off.

Indeed. If you can avoid a fight with a little “verbal judo”, that’s certainly a preferrable way to go. Yes, the article framing does seem to have a bit of assholeness to it, a bit perhaps of “revenge”, but ignore the author’s hyperbole and give the article a read.

The information here? It may be useful for your own use. It may be also useful so you can recognize it so perhaps you won’t become a victim of such intimidation. In the end, it’s knowledge.

In self defense, bad language can be pretty fucking relevant

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Seems Greg Ellifritz got some people wound up over some salty language:

Last week I posted a book review on the site. In the review, I quoted the author. The author said the words “shit” and “fuck.” That apparently spun quite a few of you up. I received several email complaints, a few negative comments, and had the largest mass exodus from my email subscription list that I’ve seen in the entire existence of the website.

I get it. A lot of you don’t like foul language.

But have you ever truly thought how your conscious avoidance of swear words might create some unintended negative consequences when it comes to a self defense situation?

Indeed. Because criminals still speak The King’s English, right?

I would postulate that if reading such language in a book (or hearing it on TV or in movies) makes you uncomfortable, you will have serious difficulties when the criminal you face uses the same language against you in a threatening manner. Harsh language is a teaching tool. It adds emphasis in a manner that more moderate words cannot convey. Besides that, it desensitizes the people exposed to it. Such desensitization is an absolute necessity in order to successfully avoid being intimidated by the criminals who WILL use harsh language when they attack you.

You don’t have to use or like foul language in your personal life, but language you find objectionable and that you would never utter is still language that is out there and in use by people – especially people willing to do harm unto you. You need to accept it and not flinch in the face of it.

“Street talk” is the language of criminals. They will use it, even if they aren’t wielding it, and if hearing “fuck” or “shit” causes you to flinch in some way, that allows them to get into your head. This becomes detrimental to you regarding your ability to defend yourself.

Really, hearing “fuck” or “shit” or “goddamncocksuckingmotherfuckercunt” should just go in one ear and out the other.

Realize as well that such language can be used by you as well. You don’t need to use it, but again, if this is their language, speaking to them “on their terms” may allow your attacker to understand you a bit better.

Suppose you start with a polite “Hey man, can you back up?”. They don’t back up so you escalate to a loud and firm “Back up!”. They still don’t back up so you really crank it up with a “BACK THE FUCK UP!”. Now tell me that doesn’t add emphasis. Sure you could just say “BACK UP!”, but the reality is the “FUCK” adds an emphasis that people understand. Even those offended by the word understand the added weight in that message.

But you must be mindful in the use of such language, because saying something like “BACK UP, MOTHERFUCKER!” is quite different. Now you’ve insulted him, and it’s taken things to quite a different level — it may even incite him and the situation gets worse. Worse is not what we want.

Foul language is a fact of life. To use it yourself is a personal choice; if you do choose to use it, use it wisely. Realize you will hear it, and the best thing you can do with it is let it go in one ear and out the other.

I’ll leave you with Greg’s closing comments:

Criminals use language as a tool to manipulate their victims.  They KNOW their language will make “good” people uncomfortable.  They count on the shock factor to give them an advantage.  It’s your job to ensure that the criminals don’t win.  You cannot allow language of ANY type to phase you in the least bit if you want to win a street confrontation.

You can start your practice by refusing to be “offended” when adults use adult language in books and on the internet.

2014-11-11 training log

/ hsoi

No mas.

Technically I’m 14 weeks straight of Base Building, and pretty much started that right out a Strong-15 run.

So… y’know… I’m tired.

I’ve considered a deload here and there but never took one. First, I really didn’t FEEL it — maybe an off day here or there, but I just didn’t feel like a need for a true deload. Plus, all this time has been working on the “defattening project” and I really did NOT want to take time off because the diet protocol was based around getting into the gym (burning fat off); heck, I started going to the gym 4x week instead of 3x just because of this! I really didn’t want to interrupt that momentum.

But it’s all catching up to me. Plus the past few weeks have been a very intensive and stressful one work-wise (nothing bad, just loads of pressure for a product release). And on top of that, right now the diet is in maintenance mode for a month to give my body a break from the “OCD” of the diet protocol.

I’ve been a bit drag-ass in getting to the gym the past some sessions, and today? The body said “enough”. I was losing it during deadlifts, and when I went for the 2nd set of 315 the bar didn’t even come off the floor.

So, called it, and going to take the rest of the week off as a “no deload deload”. Just sleep.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

  • Squats (model 1)
    • bar x 5
    • bar x 5
    • 155 x 5
    • 180 x 4
    • 215 x 3
    • 235 x 2
    • 265 x 1
    • 190 x 5
    • 190 x 5
    • 190 x 5
    • 190 x 5
    • 190 x 5
  • Deadlift (model 1)
    • 135 x 5
    • 225 x 5
    • 315 x 3

It’s not a Red vs. Blue thing

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

In the latest US Elections, the Republican party made some sweeping gains in terms of seats held, from the Federal level down to local levels. Naturally, in the days after there’s much posing and posturing about winning and losing, but before the election and after the election – and something that seems to exist regardless of election season – is how “gun rights” are positioned.

It seems people want to cut “gun rights” as a “red vs. blue” thing. That if you’re a Republican/conservative you are “pro-gun” and if you are a Democrat/liberal you are “anti-gun” (let’s leave us 3rd party folks out of this discussion for now). Granted, you do tend to find that the “reds” are pro and the “blues” are anti, but we really need to get away from such division and classification because “gun rights” are not directly correlated to “political party affiliation”.

Dr. Ben Carson, labeled a “Conservative Hero” seems to want to put restrictions on gun ownership. GOP candidate Mark Greenberg got an F-rating from the NRA-PVF.

Congressman Nick Rahall (disclosure: I’ve been friends with one of his daughters since high school), is a Democrat, but is a Life Member of the NRA and A-Rated by the NRA-PVF.

I’ve seen it in classes over the years. Many, if not most, of the KR Training study body, comes out of Austin – you know, that little “dot of blue in the sea of Texas red”. While you certainly get students of the “right-leaning” persuasion, we certainly see more than enough people who aren’t.

And let’s not forget the stereotype-busting I saw at one of the local indoor ranges back in 2010.

I know it’s clichĂ©, but there’s truth in “united we stand, divided we fall”. If you care about “gun rights” then care about that and don’t let other labels that claim affiliation cloud the issue and your judgment, or divide you along colored lines. If anything, see it as a way to bridge the gap, to help us find something in common, to bring us together with a little better understanding.

2014-11-10 training log

/ hsoi

Today was good.

By accident I did 195 instead of 190 on my work sets. Not a big difference, but a difference enough. It was no problem, and informative. This past weekend I thought about bumping up my weights, but today told me that while I could I’m not going to — I should spend a little more time where I am and get that bar speed even faster and really milk things a little longer. So, couple more weeks at least. I mean, the AMRAP set is getting silly so I don’t see much reason to stay here that much longer, but I do think there’s at least another 1-2 weeks of milking it before I bump up.

Otherwise, I just hope this all brings up my triceps more too. The AMRAP set plus the inclines are just triceps hell for me. 🙂

The Polquin flies continue to feel interesting… I’m still not 100% sold on them because well… I don’t feel much “work” after they are done. Maybe I need more reps? experiment with it more? I do feel a great isolation from them, that’s for sure. But maybe my limiting factor is my right shoulder right now. Hard to say… but going to keep playing with them for a while.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

  • Bench Press (model 2)
    • bar x 5
    • bar x 5
    • 115 x 5
    • 135 x 4
    • 155 x 3
    • 175 x 2
    • 195 x 1
    • 205 x 1
    • 195 x 5
    • 195 x 5
    • 195 x 5
    • 170 x 5
    • 170 x 5
    • 170 x 5
    • 140 x 20 (AMRAP)
  • Incline Press (350 Method)
    • 85 x 21
    • 85 x 13
    • 85 x 12
  • Polquin Flies
    • 12e x 10
    • 12e x 10
    • 12e x 10
    • 12e x 10

Sunday Metal – My Favorite Holy Grail

/ hsoi

This will sound weird, but while I think there are “better” songs by Holy Grail, I find “Call of Valhalla” to be a favorite of mine. It’s just this mid-tempo track, but I think it’s got a good groove, and yes I love the lyrics. All the Viking imagery is just fun, and the way James sings it is just powerful. Yes… you feel like you’re sailing in your longship to battle, and this is your battle hymn. 🙂