Author: hsoi

Pocket carry sucks

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

I’ve carried my S&W 442 snub recently, dry firing with it too, so it was time to confirm a few things with live fire.

First, I hate pocket carry. It’s better than nothing, but it sucks on the draw. I think an important part of pocket carry is to create yourself time to get the gun out, because drawing from a pocket is painfully slow. This could be things like having your hand in your pocket already gripping the gun, because thrusting your hand in and grabbing is going to take time and be slow. It could be things like moving, distracting the attacker (e.g. throwing up an elbow), but these could be problematic because if say the gun is in your front pants pocket, now you move, you will bend, and this changes the geometry of your body and your pocket and you could foul your draw.

I’m still mulling over good solutions to this. I’m all ears to suggestions.

What’s a solution? Proper holster on your belt, positioned in an ideal position (e.g. between 1 o’clock and 4 o’clock). But still, there are times when pocket is the way you have to go, so having optimal procedures is important.

Also during the live practice I realized I haven’t been strict enough about my sight picture. The sights on a 442 are so horrible, and with the neon orange front sight ramp on mine, I found that in my dry practice I’ve been focused more on “seeing the orange” than ensuring textbook-correct sight alignment. Thus, my front sight was a little up out of the notch, and at 10+ yards I was going over the small steel targets. Shouldn’t be a problem at very close ranges (that whole “in a fight, front sight” meme), but I still need to tighten up.

But the big thing I got out of the live fire snub practice was more reinforcement that pocket carry sucks. But acknowledging that it’s a reality, so let’s seek some solutions to improve it. Comment below, if you’d like.

2014-08-13 training log

/ hsoi

Ho-lee-wow.

Today was tough.

Was it because of the protocol? The diet? the lack of sleep? The minimal rest between sets? Squats and deadlifts on the same day? I mean, who knows… probably a little of all things. But wow, this is pretty killer.

I forgot my belt, but meh — nothing here really requires it. I do want the belt to help with technique reinforcement (as that’s part of the intend behind Base Building), but not a make or break thing. Besides, I had other issues.

The squat overwarmups were fine. Tried to ensure those were also done with CAT, tho of course as the bar got heavier you just went slower but still you tried. The 175 of course felt really light, but man… 5×5 in about 8 minutes (do a set, rest 60 seconds, repeat four more times), with a goal of trying to make the next rep more powerful and explosive and with greater bar speed than the prior rep? Oh yeah, that builds up on you. I got all the work in, but no question I started to slow down. I also found a few times that form would slip because I’d find myself “hitching” with say my butt going up but the back staying down, then I’d get through a sticking point and good morning things up. So yeah… lots of things to take note of as indication of progress over the coming weeks.

Deadlifts? Wow. That was intense. I don’t know how much deficit I used, but it’s one of the gym’s 45# plates so maybe 1.5″? I got all the work in, but wow… that was a lot of work. No question I’ll need time to get the bar speed up.

By then end of the deadlifts, then all the bending over to put 405# of plates away, I was knocked on my ass. Again, I strove to take no more than 60 seconds rest between all sets, so that keeps you moving and you do NOT fully recover between sets. I did NOT want to leg press, but I did. I only put a 45# plate on each side of the sled, but that was a struggle. I took numerous pauses during the sets to get a slight reprieve before pressing on.

I’ll adjust, I’ll adapt to the workload. It will come in time. But man… wow. 🙂

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

  • Squats (model 1)
    • bar x 5
    • bar x 5
    • 145 x 5
    • 170 x 4
    • 200 x 3
    • 220 x 2
    • 250 x 1
    • 175 x 5
    • 175 x 5
    • 175 x 5
    • 175 x 5
    • 175 x 5
  • Deficit (45# plate) Deadlift (model 1)
    • 315 x 3
    • 315 x 3
    • 315 x 3
    • 315 x 3
    • 315 x 3
  • Leg Press
    • 135 x 20
    • 135 x 20

Lights and sleep

/ hsoi

I didn’t set out to read about light colors and sleep cycles, but as of late it seems my news feeds and newsletters are full of articles on the topic.

A big one going around is how light color – blue light – affects our sleep cycles in a negative way, due to our addiction to our mobile devices and doing things like Facebooking on our iPhone in bed before going to sleep.  Basically, light isn’t “white”, it does have color, or more specifically, a color temperature. Ever notice how some lights are more yellow-ish and some are more blue-ish? Choosing the right color temperature for your lighting matters. You’d probably want more blue-ish in places like an office or a kitchen, and more yellow-ish in your bedroom. Blue-ish corresponds more to natural daylight, and yellow-ish less-so (think sunset colors). So given that, can you see how blue-ish light is more associated with mid-day, being awake, doing things? And yellow-ish more associated with end of the day, going to sleep, and not doing things?

And so, with our mobile devices emitting more of a blue-ish light, that signals our brains to “be awake”, which isn’t the best thing to do right before bed. So more and more studies are coming out on this topic, and there’s a growing “best practice” that you should stop using the computer and your mobile devices at least an hour before bed. While color temperature is nothing new to me, I hadn’t thought about the effects from my mobile devices. For the past few weeks I’ve been working to keep my mobile device use to a minimum after supper, and if I really want to do something in bed, read a book (not an eBook).

I also found a really neat free app called f.lux. Basically, it knows your location, when sunrise and sunset will be, and automatically adjusts the color temperature of your monitor accordingly. As I write this article, it’s before sunrise and f.lux is giving my monitor a slightly yellow/orange/pink hue. As the day progresses, it will slowly change. I’m still getting used to it, still tweaking the settings, but so far I’m digging it.

Another thing you should consider? Monitor calibration. Two things here.

First, mind your brightness setting. Open any sort of window on your computer that allows you to have the full screen filled with a white window. You want to strike a brightness setting between the window still looking white (not a dull gray color) but not so bright that it winds up being a light source in your room.  I also use my Mac’s auto-adjustment of the brightness setting, but only after I’ve configured the base brightness setting.

Second, after setting the brightness, set the color calibration. If you have a Mac go to Apple Menu -> System Preferences -> Displays -> Color. Even tho Apple ships a default Display Profile, you should still click the “Calibrate” button to calibrate your monitor in your room lighting to your eyes. After calibrating, flip back and forth between the default calibration and your calibration. Chances are good things will look better with your custom calibration.

Don’t be afraid to readjust settings. Your eyes will need some time to adjust and get used to the new setup, and you may find after a few days of less eye strain that you can fine-tune your settings for even better effect.

Bottom line? Less eye strain, less wear and mental exhaustion by the end of the work day, and better sleep. Something we can all use, and it only takes a few minutes of adjusting that thing you stare at for hours on end every day. Little changes add up.

2014-08-11 training log

/ hsoi

Today starts a radically different approach. First, I’ve officially begun my Renaissance Periodization-based weight-loss diet. I started yesteday, actually. So far so good. A few comments on the diet.

First, the diet truly is nothing new in terms of information. If you’ve been paying attention to all the emerging research and much of the established research on weight loss, carb cycling, macro levels, nutrient timing, etc. it’s nothing new, just logically organized and laid out in a manner that’s easier to consume. I think for me that’s the big help here — having someone that knows to help me sift through the mountains of conflicting information out there. Someone that can show me what I need, not just generalized explanations and I can’t quiet dial it in for what I need. I mean, you can book learn and self-teach yourself tons of stuff, but there’s distinct advantages to having a teacher/mentor/coach, and that’s really what I see this as being for me.

Perhaps it’s like why I liked 5/3/1 so much. There are principles, but it starts out with Jim saying “here, just shut up and do Boring-But-Big for 6 months; don’t ask questions, don’t think too much, just shut up and follow this template as-written”. You do that, you get results, and you start to understand the principles. Happened in my martial arts past: just shut up, do these techniques, we’ll talk about principles, and you’ll come to better understand the principles as you do them. So I’ve gotten a lot of “principles” in my nutrition education, but now I just need someone to say “shut up and do this, and you’ll see how the principles work”.

As well, I can eat fruit. 🙂 That’s huge. Sure, there are things you just can’t eat, and other things you have only only eat at certain times in certain portions. But one contributor to past failure is being so restrictive that eventually I just crack. Being able to eat fruit and have some satisfaction of “sweet” on my palette is important to me.

Speaking of sweet…

So I’m to have peri-workout nutrition. Of the list of suggested carb sources, I opted to try Kool-Aid. I think the last time I drank Kool-Aid was as a kid, and I figured hey, this is a way to have a little fun, right? Oh dear lord… it was horrible. 🙂 I mean, it’s all really sugar and fructose, but it’s the flavoring — it’s designed for that “kid sweet” palette, and I’m so far away from that it was just horrible to choke down. 🙂 I’ll finish the small jug I bought, but I’m going to look for other options, maybe just settling on powdered Gatorade or occasionally fruit juices (since they’re expensive).

So, about the lifting.

I’m starting Paul Carter’s Base Building. Why? Because I think it will be suitable for what I’m doing. I cannot go on a strength-building program because I’m working to lose fat. I need to focus on things to help build/preserve mass. BB I think will help me work at lower intensities, more reps, and mitigate the diet. Plus, Paul even says it’s good for a diet because you can better relgulate (e.g. just adjust the weights and keep going).

I kept the rest periods short, about 1 minute between every set. Keep things working, keep things pumping.

I am starting all things in the “phase 1” state of Base Building, and I’m sure I’ll be here a while, which is fine. I could tell by the 3rd work set that my bar speed was slowing and moving every rep explosively wasn’t quite happening. Then of course I started to lose reps. But that’s fine, Paul says it’s rare that someone will start out and be able to finish it; it comes in time.

On assistance movements, I’m trying to look at them more bodybuilding-style, trying to really think about the muscle, isolate and contract the muscle to move the weight, about a 2-1-2 type of tempo with a little squeeze at the peak and controlling and focus all the way up and down. Again, thinking about mass.

If BB doesn’t work out for me over time, I’ll switch to a more body-building-style approach. We’ll just take it as it comes.

One note on the curls. There was a Flex magazine at the gym a couple weeks ago and I forget who did this, some top Olympia bodybuilder (Kai Greene?), but he said he did DB curls in 5’s. So one arm for 5 reps, then the other arm for 5, then back to the first arm for 5, then the other for 5. That’s 1 set of 10. He said he did it this way because he got more focus on the one arm, but then a little longer rest (vs. alternating every rep). I thought I’d try it, and I dig it. So I’ll be doing my curls that way to see if it does anything useful… if nothing else, it cuts out the boredom.

All in all, I’m excited about where things are going.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

  • Bench Press (model 1)
    • bar x 5
    • bar x 5
    • 115 x 5
    • 130 x 4
    • 155 x 3
    • 170 x 2
    • 190 x 1
    • 170 x 8
    • 170 x 8
    • 170 x 8
    • 170 x 6
    • 170 x 4
  • Pec Deck
    • 70 x 10
    • 70 x 10
    • 70 x 10
    • 70 x 10
  • Behind the Neck Press
    • 75 x 10
    • 75 x 10
    • 75 x 10
    • 75 x 10
  • Hammer Curls
    • 25e x 10
    • 25e x 10
    • 25e x 10
    • 25e x 8

Sunday Metal – My Favorite Megadeth

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Another one that’s hard to pick a single favorite for is Megadeth.

“Rust in Peace” was a great album, but I think it also started an era of “too technical” that while a great piece of thrash metal history, I find it doesn’t move me so much. But I’m one of those guys that prefer a good blues song over a noodlely solo (yes, I’m not a huge Rush fan).

And while I like “Mechanix” more than “Four Horseman”, mostly because Dave plays it faster and more raw:

I am drawn to “Peace Sells”

It’s not so much the music, it’s the lyrics and Dave’s delivery. That “whaddayamean I don’t…” over and over.

 

Getting back on the losing train

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

The goal for 2014 was to be less fat. Check that, it still is to be less fat.

I’ve tried to go down this road numerous times, with varying degrees of success — but really, it’s all failure because I haven’t STAYED there. In fact, right now I’m the heaviest I’ve ever been: 265# (more or less). I don’t know my precise bodyfat measure, but if you Google around for body fat estimation pictures, I’m at least 30% body fat. Let’s do some math. That means I’m 185# at 0% body fat, which is unrealistic but it’s math good to know because assuming I maintain that lean body mass, then a 15% bodyfat would be about 215 pounds. 15% body fat is a good goal for me to start with and folks… that’s a 50# difference.

Put it this way. You go to the gym, and those big plates? The 45# plates? Lug one of those around for a while… I’m wanting to lose a little more than that. I have a little more than that just sitting on my body, weighing me down, stressing my body, my joints, and everything. And that, to me, just sucks. I also get stupid and think about how if I do decide to compete in powerlifting, that’s dropping down 2 weight classes (vs. being in the 275# class when I’m not a guy lugging around 275# worth of muscle). So yeah, I’m tired of it.

I’m tired of being fat. I’m tired of all the downsides it brings. I don’t want a flat stomach because “abz” aren’t a priority, but I do want the ability to carry things on the front of my belt, like AIWB. I want my clothing to not fit me because of muscle, not fat. Yeah, there’s vanity. But there’s also a desire to accept that my 40-something body is only getting older, going to fall apart more, and I have to change a lot of habits to help me manage this “over the hill” thing so I can still kick ass when I’m 70 years old, like Sonny:

The diet has always been my struggle. I eat to manage stress, to find comfort, escape, joy, whatever. All the things I’ve tried, I can manage somewhat, but there’s always some piece of the puzzle I’m missing. I’ve come to accept I cannot do this alone, and that having a coach, someone to direct me, to kick my ass when I need it, to be there to answer questions — well, I stress the value and importance of this in every other aspect of life, so why should it be any different here? It may not work, but at this point, it’s well worth trying.

As I’ve mentioned in some prior posts, I’m trying out the guys at Renaissance Periodization. At this point I’m doing a 6-month plan with them. I’ll talk more about this as I go along, because it’s going to be a journey. But so far, it seems like a lot of stuff I already knew, just well-structured and in a manner that I think should be more consumable with less information overload. We’ll see how it goes.

The other thing is how my lifting will go.

Since the primary goal is fat loss, I know that strength and muscle mass will be lost as well. I want to minimize this, so it seems the best recommended path for me to take is one that builds muscle mass. While a strict bodybuilder approach isn’t what I want right now, because strength is still more important to me, that philosophy is certainly there. So, I’m going to give Paul Carter’s Basebuilding a go. Philosophically it seems the right thing to do. I don’t know how well it will work on the restricted diet, but then I’m willing to adjust and adapt as I go along. I believe I read somewhere that Paul said BBing works out well in a diet phase since you can just adjust your weights (downward) and keep going. I just have to remind myself that the key isn’t to focus on the numeric value of the weight as much as it is ensuring I work to preserve strength and muscle mass. It’s the work I do, not the weight I lift.

The other thing? I have to do cardio. 3x a week I’m in the gym lifting. On my non-lifting days, I have to walk for an hour. That’s part of RP’s plan. Ugh…. not my favorite thing to do. But, I will say for a while there I kinda dealt with it because I listened to podcasts while I was walking and I kinda miss listening to them. So this will be useful. I may try just simple reading too as my reading list is backing up.

RP wants a semi-weekly weigh-in, so the plan is to weigh myself on Sunday and Wednesday. I will also take periodic pictures, probably just on Sunday. I debate posting the pictures. Part of me doesn’t want to because I’m sure you don’t want to see me half-naked, nor do I feel like sharing my half-naked self with the world. But I think about it — that’s in part because I do not like how I look. But 50# from now? Yeah, I’m sure I’ll like it more and be kinda happy to run around with my shirt off. So I dunno… part of me thinks that the public shaming and accountability it would create for myself would be good for me. Plus, look at a guy like John Stone and his pictures. If that’s not some level of inspiration…

So… here we go…. voyaging down this road again.

2014-08-08 training log – Strong-15 post-mortem

/ hsoi

No gym session today. I did my testing, so it’s time for a little break before I start into the next thing.

I figure it’s worthwhile to look back and think about how the cycle went.

At the end of 2013 I achieved my big goal of a 1000# total. It was a gym total (not a competition total), but whatever… I still finally got there. And so I started down a path of fat loss (again), and failed (again), then had my ankle injury which set me back. And I realized that I didn’t care as much about pure powerlifting as I did just getting bigger and stronger. So I opted to not follow the Cube Method (tho someday I probably will), and instead spent 2014 to date running Paul Carter‘s programs. I did his Big-15, which I enjoyed. And this past program was running his Strong-15 long cycle. I wanted to see how Strong-15 worked, see how it would work for me, and try to get my strength numbers back up.

For sure, it worked. At the start of the cycle, I hit a 305 squat, 430 deadlift, and 235 bench. This was below my end-of-2013 PR’s, so I had lost something due to the downtimes. Thus I opted to set modest goals of 325 squat, 445 deadlift, and 245 bench, figuring those amounts were reasonable for a 9-week cycle on a program I was unfamiliar with, and they would be true PR’s as well.

I hit my PR’s (in fact, I exceeded the bench goal due to miscalculation… PR’d at 250#)… and the thing is? I think I could have done just a bit more. Not 20# more, but maybe another 5#? 10#? Maybe. But Paul makes it clear to set reasonable goals, hit them, don’t ego it, but just keep moving making steady progress. Which certainly is the smart way to go.  What it tells me tho is that the program worked well for me. I picked up 20# squat, 15# deadlift, and 15# bench in about 9 weeks. Sweet! Plus, they are all-time PR’s for me.

One thing that’s quite clear is submaximal training leads to better, long-term gains. Strong-15 really works towards this end, with those first 3 weeks being really light, lots of volume. The program works like many peaking programs do, where the intensity goes up over the weeks and the volume goes down. There’s a very logical progression of sets/reps/weight schemes along with the work done, exercises chosen, etc.. I never felt killed, I never missed a weight, I never pushed myself to the point of death, because that’s not the point. Go in, do the work, get out, then be patient.

I do miss the more rapid feedback cycles of 5/3/1. That is, in 5/3/1 you can get feedback every gym session because you can set a rep PR. Or you get feedback then at least every 4 weeks (every cycle) because on the 5/3/1 week you are to go for it and try to set a new PR. So the program structure allows you to set PR’s fairly often. As opposed to Strong-15, where you’re not really going to set a new PR until the true end of the cycle and then only if you compete or test. But in the end, the results worked out pretty well. If I try to compare 3 cycles of 5/3/1 to 1 cycle of Strong-15 (which is a rough equivalent), I think one generally gets about the same out of them. I do think one has potential to get a little more out of 5/3/1 (if we’re talking pure numbers), but chances are if you were doing that it was just normal “off season” work, whereas Strong-15 is more geared towards a meet peak. But as well, I think I was conservative in my Strong-15 goals; I’m sure I could have put more into Strong-15, and now that I know more about it, I reckon next time I use it I will set my goals a little more aggressively.

I feel a lot less beat up from Strong-15 than 5/3/1. Was it perhaps due to the slightly lower weights? Perhaps. But I still think Strong-15 puts overall less stress on the body because you aren’t killing yourself every gym session, like 5/3/1 does by virtue of having you set rep PR’s on each main movement each time you’re in the gym. So to me, if I can get the same results and it costs me less to get there, why not do it? But that said, Strong-15 is meant to be a peaking cycle, not a year-round thing, like 5/3/1 is intended to be. Paul’s got other approaches to the whole year.

I am liking Paul’s programming. For sure you have to trust it, and be patient. Again, the feedback loop is longer, so that’s where the trust and patience comes in. But it does seem that, in the end, it works out well.

I don’t think I’ll follow Strong-15 as a normal template. But if I knew I was going to be 3-months out from a meet (yes, I think after the fat loss I’m going to get myself in shape towards doing a meet), I would like to give it a shot as the program for meet-prep. Tho depending what I was doing prior to (e.g. basebuilding), I might try the Strong-15 short cycle.

Because yes… what’s next? Basebuilding. Again, I’m enjoying exploring Paul’s approaches to things. It’s different, but not too different, and so far it seems to be reaping positive results for me. You just have to be patient.

Snubbie practice

/ hsoi

I’ve been reading a lot of Claude Werner’s stuff lately. It’s been a good refresher on a few things.

Recently, Claude posted the curriculum to his Introduction to “J” frame revolver class. I spent a weekend with Claude a few years back, and many of the things in his posted intro curriculum ring bells of familiarity. While reading the curriculum is no substitute for taking the class, there are some things you can glean.

First, Claude emphasizes fundamentals. If you’ve ever played a sport, you should understand this. No matter how good you get, the only way to get good is to master the fundamentals.

Second, Claude puts a lot of emphasis on the draw and first shot. Why? Because it’s critically important.

Third, did you notice Claude put a “Methodology” section? Everything is done for an articulable reason, and class is kept to a focused scope. Sign of a good teacher.

Fourth, one entry in the Methodology lists a wonderful thing about revolvers: the built-in ability to do the ball-and-dummy drill by simply spinning the cylinder between shots.

• Ball and dummy is achieved by opening the cylinder after a few shots, spinning it, and then closing it without looking where the fired case(s) end up. Do this once or twice per cylinder.

Try that next time you’re at the range. Draw and fire one. After the string is over, spin the cylinder and reholster. Draw and fire one; if it goes click, keep firing until it doesn’t go click, and make sure your front sight never dips. The fun part is, after you fire a couple shots, you get more dummies than balls, so the “when will it fire?” could be 1 trigger press away or could be 4 away, and you have to keep going and keep the sights steady and trigger press smooth. It’s a good drill.

Fifth, reloading from loose ammo. One thing Claude emphasized in class was scanning the scene around you while you reload – something I still do every time I reload my snub.

I admit, I’ve been carrying my snub more this summer. Not so much because it’s hot, but because of my weight gain and clothing fit issues (sigh but resolve to this issue is forthcoming). So I’ve been practicing and dry firing with the snub a lot. It still sucks to draw from a pocket holster. Plus, I’m finding some flaws in pocket holsters… enough to make me wonder about fabrication. But, another discussion for another time.

 

2014-08-06 training log

/ hsoi

Bench Press: 250# PR

When I set up this Strong-15 cycle, I had benched 235#. I wanted to go conservative, I THOUGHT my prior PR was 240#, so I figured 245# was a reasonble target. Again, I was just wanting to get my strength back post-injury to where it was pre-injury, and if I could go a little further, awesome. So, if the previous PR was 240, go for 245.

Well, a few days ago I was looking through my logs and discovered I was wrong: my prior PR was 245! I didn’t want to meet an old PR, I wanted to set a new PR. All through this cycle I would take my AMRAP set and plug it into a 1RM calculator, not so much to figure a 1RM but as a way to compare this week’s AMRAP to last week’s. I know these calculators aren’t true tellers, but they are reasonable and I kept calculating out at like 260-262 or thereabouts. So I figured I would easily smash 245. When I realized 245 was already set, I figured what they hey… the training up until now has been solid so let’s try a little more.

And 250 was done.

I didn’t want to get too crazy, just follow the same strategy I originally set, which was to exceed the prior PR by 5#.

The 250 went up pretty nicely. I probably could have done 255 ok, and 260…. well, probably not. So 250 was a solid enough thing and I’m happy with it.

I’m taking Friday off and the plan is to focus on lots of sleep, napping, and other rest this week because next week I start 1. my RP-based diet, 2. basebuilding. I did think that I MIGHT not jump into basebuilding immediately… maybe take next week as like a 50% deload week or something. I need the exercise for the diet so I don’t want to take a full week off, but I might want a break… it’ll just depend how I feel come Monday morning. I’m eager to get going for sure.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Strong-15 (LRB365)

  • Bench Press – cycle goal: 245
    • bar x 5
    • bar x 5
    • 135 x 5
    • 165 x 3
    • 185 x 1
    • 210 x 1
    • 230 x 1
    • 250 x 1 (PR)

It takes time to process and react

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

It’s common when people hear about (police) shootings to wonder why the person kept shooting — because obviously the attacker was no longer a threat (in the eyes of the armchair examiner). This often comes up in the context of “being shot in the back”.

In Force Science Institute #260, there was a presentation titled “Can cops really avoid ‘extra’ shots? A realistic research review.” The premise:

A flashpoint of controversy in some officer-involved shootings is when officers do not immediately cease fire the moment a deadly threat ends and they are no longer in mortal danger.

An officer’s ability to instantly stop pulling the trigger once a “stop shooting” signal becomes evident is not always considered. Instead, the officer behind the gun may face harsh media criticism and daunting legal action alleging deliberate excessive force for firing “unnecessary” extra rounds.

While it may be understandable to cry out in this manner, it tends to ignore the reality of the fact we are human and things take time.

Numerous tests were run to look at things like reaction times. A simple reaction time test? Ranged from 0.17 to 0.5 seconds to react to a stimulus, averaging about 0.25. While that doesn’t seem like much time, it’s still time.

Another test had officers shooting as fast as possible and when given a signal were to stop shooting. How many rounds were fired after the signal? from 0 to 6, with an average of about 2 rounds.

A third test changed the signal from a simple stimulus to one that required perceiving the stimulus, deciphering it, making a decision, then proceeding if the signal was the proper one. This increased complexity caused average reaction time to increase to 0.56 seconds. Remember: that’s average, which means some people were faster and some were slower.

In the end, what is demonstrated by these and other performed tests was that time is involved. A stimulus happens, you must perceive it, process it, decide what to do, then react to it (OODA loop), and that takes time. Think about what we (should have) learned in driving school about maintaining a safe stopping distance.  Part of why we maintain a safe driving distance is to account for the time it takes to run through the OODA loop. Something external happens, and what we do in regard to that external thing does not happen immediately: it will take time for us to react, and during that time things continue to happen be it your car continues to hurtle forward or a person continues to shoot.

For further reading on this topic, here’s an article from Greg Ellifritz about how it can happen that someone can be shot in the back.

This is not to say people WANT to shoot more than they need to, that people WANT to shoot someone in the back, that “extra shots” are always excusible under the above logic, or any such thing. It just must be understood that there are legitimate and explainable reasons why things like this CAN happen.