Author: hsoi

My answers to “3 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Buying a Concealed Carry Handgun”

/ hsoi

Via the TSRA Weekly NewsBrief I get this article, “3 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Buying a Concealed Carry Handgun“.

After finding myself screaming at my computer screen after reading the answer to question 1, yeah… I had to write my own responses.

Question 1:  Am I going to get a license to carry concealed or is the gun just for home defense?

The original author’s response:

If you are going to get a permit to carry (good for you) then you need a handgun. If not, then a shotgun is a far better choice for home defense for most people.

Shotguns have a much more threatening image when displayed and can take a greater variety of ammunition, which allows you to regulate the power and avoid over-penetration through walls, which is a risk inside the home.

*headdesk*

Now, the question is reasonable and certainly it could affect buying choices. If you are intending to have a weapon off your property (or whatever the laws of your locale dictate), if it’s going to somehow be carried, then yes a handgun is going to be it precisely because it’s easy to carry — that’s a main reason for a handgun. And then yes, that’s why a handgun isn’t always the best option for home defense, because they are underpowered (the trade-off for the ability to easily carry and conceal it). So yes, a long-gun is a better choice — on paper. But a shotgun? Well, maybe. I wrote about all of this a long time ago.

I will not deny a shotgun is a nasty piece of work. But it is not the best choice — and the reasons given are poor.

Threatening image? Who cares! This isn’t a fashion show. This isn’t about bluffing. You don’t pull a gun out until you are in fear of your life, and when it’s time to pull out a gun, it’s time to be using it. If you’re just bluffing, you’re risking a lot of legal problems for yourself. And if it’s time to bluff and put on a threatening show, then it’s not really time to pull out a shotgun.

Ammunition variety? Look, if you don’t have ammo that can penetrate sheet rock, they it won’t penetrate clothing and bad guys either. Yes we want to minimize collateral damage, but you also need to stop the threat.

And regulating power? Well, even low-recoil stuff was too much for Wife to handle — even out of a 20 gauge. Give her an AR-15? No problem. I mean, if our reasons for picking a gun is “threatening image”, then I think an AR wins over a shotgun — just ask Dianne Feinstein.

But for all the reasons I wrote before, an AR is a far better choice.

Really tho, choices of “what’s best” are very dependant upon the person and their specific situation. A pistol caliber carbine may be better for someone, or just a handgun may be right. There’s no one right answer. But the reasons given for this answer? Not even.

Question 2:  Am I going to regularly practice shooting with the gun I purchase?   (Be honest.)

The original answer:

If you are committed to becoming a hobby shooter, then a more complex firearm is acceptable. Otherwise simplicity of operation should be at the top of your “features” list. That means a revolver rather than a semi-auto pistol and—this may surprise you—a double barrel shotgun rather than a pump.

I’ve spent lots of range time teaching young cops both types of handguns. Based on that experience, revolvers are simply more reliable than semi-autos. With a revolver, you point … you pull the trigger and it goes “bang.”

A semi-auto requires regular practice (at least 50 rounds, twice a year) to maintain proficiency. A revolver can be learned once and, if necessary, put away in a safe place (I always recommend practice, practice, practice, however).

Pump shotguns are great if you practice with them or have a background in wingshooting. However, while under stress new pump operators can “short shuck” the action and jam the gun. A double barrel 12 ga. with a flashlight taped to the business end is an awesome home defense weapon and is very easy to manipulate under pressure. (Note: These handy and reliable firearms are sometimes called “coach guns”).

Simplicity of operation should be at the top of the features list, period. Granted yes, having a firearm for other purposes (hobby, collecting, etc.) could allow for more complex stuff, but in general simplicity is a better choice regardless. That’s the engineer in me talking.

And I won’t disagree about the complexity of a pump shotgun. For all the reliability a pump gives you, it is a more complex manual of arms and one unlike many other guns out there. Most guns are “point and click” (semi-autos, revolvers both are), but a pump shotgun is “point, click, rack” and yes, short-shucking happens to the best of us. But geez, to recommend a double-barrel over a semi-auto? Well, sure I guess and I do see the point behind the suggestion, but modern semi-auto shotguns are reliable — so long as you verified and paired it with the right ammo. In fact, many times a semi-auto ends up being a lot more comfortable to shoot because the gas and other energy from the shot ends up reducing the felt-recoil — again, we’re talking a 12 gauge here! it’s going to kick like a mule.  But again, let’s not go there with the shotgun.

What really gets me is the suggestion of a revolver.

They are more reliable? Oh please. Can someone please leave this myth buried in the grave? Revolvers certainly do malfunction, ask me how I know.

And you know what? With my semi-auto? I point, I press the trigger, and it goes “bang” too.

The person asking the question? A woman. I’ve taught hundreds upon hundreds of students and seen all kinds of things. One thing that tends to hold is that women have smaller and weaker hands. This is not sexist, this is biology, this is anatomy. Revolvers generally have long, heavy triggers. Many women (and men too) have trouble reaching the trigger with an acceptable grip, then have a hard time pressing the trigger because it’s so heavy. Tell me how this is conducive towards getting acceptable hits? And especially with the suggestion that you can “learn once and put it away”, good lord… that’s a recipe for disaster. I mean, the talk about shotgun ammo to avoid collateral damage, and then suggesting to undertake behaviors that lead towards that very thing? Cripes! OK sure… there’s the recommendation to practice, but come on — a revolver requires practice, a semi-auto requires practice, a double-barrel shotgun requires practice. It ALL requires practice.

Question 3: Can I afford lots of ammo for this particular gun for practice and long term storage?

Original answer:

I recommend you add the cost of 1,000 rounds of ammo to whatever gun you buy. Practice is more important than gun type or caliber and the fear (real or imagined) of government restrictions can empty shelves of ammunition for your gun overnight.

If you are truly “living ready” then you need to have ammo put away—in a cool and dry location, properly stored ammunition will last for decades.

A good question. It’s a question a lot of people don’t think about when they consider the cost of purchasing a gun. They think about the cost of the gun and that’s all. They really need to factor in the gun, cost of any modifications (usually at least better sights), accessories (e.g. holster), some additional magazines or other ammo holders (e.g. moon clips), then yes, a bunch of ammo (both practice and self-defense rounds).

And I’ll agree — practice is the more important than gun type or caliber and all that.

I’ll add to this: cost of training.

Please. Seek out some professional firearms training. It will serve you well, especially because you’ll learn a lot and learn how to practice the necessary skills. Factor that into your budget.

The article ends with:

Please remember, this is not legal advice (you should know your laws) every person has different needs and capacities and every gunfight is different. When making tactical decisions, always get a second opinion.

Indeed. This is not legal advice.

But it is a second opinion.

2014-02-07 training log

/ hsoi

That was different.

Based upon Paul Carter’s LRB-365 and Base Building – dealing with ankle injury

  • Chins
    • BW x 1
    • BW x 1
    • BW x 1
    • BW x almost 1
    • BW x almost 1 (yes, I suck)
  • Pendlay Rows
    • 115 x 8
    • 115 x 8
    • 115 x 8
    • 115 x 8
    • 115 x 8
  • Shrugs
    • 135 x 20
    • 135 x 20
    • 135 x 20
    • 135 x 20
  • Close-grip Pulldowns
    • 110 x 8
    • 120 x 8
    • 130 x 8
    • 130 x 8
  • BB Curls
    • 20 x 100
  • Kettlebell (well, dumbbell) swings
    • 40# db
    • swing for 30 seconds, rest for 30 seconds
    • 6 times
  • Foam Rolling

Today was interesting on a few levels.

First, doing just a “back/pull” workout was novel, as I’ve been so used to doing upper body work all on the same day. And in a weird way, it didn’t feel like I got enough volume. I suspect that’s in part because I suck at chin-ups. As you can see, I could get 1 good one, then could get my chin almost to the bar but not over it… yeah, I suck. I made the best of it tho, making sure to do very slow negatives (e.g. 10 count to lower myself). I will eventually not suck…. either because I got stronger, or because I’ve lost enough weight, or preferrably both. 🙂

So due to the lack of volume there, I’m not doing the template precisely as Paul laid out — added (and going to keep adding) extra sets on the other exercises just to get enough volume. A lot of this week wasn’t about being productive as much as figuring out the program.

Some weights were good, others were adjusted. I actually think the heavy pulldowns won’t happen, but not sure. My shoulders did not like them, but I’m not sure if it’s true dislike or just that I usually do pulldowns with lighter weight for more reps. I will play with this.

I might actually see about doing the rows less strict with more weight then the pulldowns stricter, lighter, more reps.

My ankle was fine with all of this, which was relevant. I mean, holding that 135# for the shrugs was no problem (tho I picked the bar off a rack, not the floor, just to be safe). Hopefully this means I can do a little more work and my ankle be happy.

And with that, by welcome timing T-Nation posted an article yesterday about “maximal fat loss, minimal equipment“. In short, kettlebell swings with some other work. See, I can’t really do much for cardio because it all involves things that my ankle can’t really handle right now (e.g. sprints aren’t going to happen, farmers walks neither, jumping, running, etc..). But this? This I can do. There’s no movement, and frankly if I can’t do these for some ankle or other physical reason, then I can’t deadlift nor squat either, y’know? While the gym doesn’t have any kettlebells, I just held a dumbbbell and did the same motion. I opted to start simple today and just swing: 30 seconds of swing, 30 seconds of rest. I was aiming for 10 minutes, but after 6 rounds enough things in my body said “stop, else you risk hurting something”. I’ll work up to it. I figure if I can work up to 10 minutes of this, then I can up the weight, then I can up the intensity with other things.

This I can do.

I may wind up hating it. But you know, I’m getting enough stuff put in front of my face that are saying “suck it up, man”. By chance I reread something from Dave Tate where he spoke about how he couldn’t squat… back could squat a grand, but the rest of him couldn’t, beause his abs sucked. He hates sled drags, he hates ab work, but he did it because he knew he had to — and he was happy with the end results. And so yeah, that’s what I need. My end results are leaning out, and if shit like KB swings or other cardio will get me there? Suck it up. And if KB swings can be intensive enough cardio that I can do it for 10-15 minutes 3x week (end of each gym session) and be done? fine… better than 60 boring minutes on a treadmill.

Gonna give it a try.

How’s it going, Amazon?

/ hsoi / 6 Comments

About a month ago we said goodbye to Sprouts and hello to Amazon. I’ve been an Amazon customer for many years, but the change was starting to use Prime.

So, how’s it going?

Quite well, actually.

There’s no question, we buy more from Amazon than before. I mean, shipping cost (both money and time) is no longer an issue. I feel no reserves when it comes to ordering something — just click click click and done. Of course, this is precisely what Amazon wants. So, mission accomplished.

However, it’s not without a few gripes.

A key selling point of Prime is 2-day shipping. We don’t always get that. Now, I’m going to cut some slack here because I’m not sure where fault lies. There’s been all sorts of bad weather across the US this past month, and that’s certainly thrown off the shippers. So I’m willing to bet it’s mostly due to weather and things outside Amazon’s control. But a few things haven’t shipped in a manner such that would lead to two-day shipping. That is within their control. But it goes both ways, because I have gotten some things that shipped a day late, but then shipped in one day, so in the end it worked out to two days. Overall, this is fine, but the key thing is when you start getting enough things that don’t meet the promise, you start to get skeptical (make a promise? keep the promise, y’know?). However, I’ll reserve getting fully irritated because I’m guessing a majority is weather-related. So we’ll see how things fare come summer.

It’s true that Amazon cannot control how poorly UPS handles your boxes. But they should be able to control how well they pack the items in the boxes.

We’ve had more than enough times of receiving damaged goods. One situation had a larger box filled with light bulky items, like cereal boxes, but then also a box of canned goods. And things weren’t tightly packed in the box such that things would avoid shifting. Why would you do that? So all the cereal boxes had burst open, and numerous cans were dented (yes, some along the seals). I’d reckon things would be OK to eat, but how can I be sure? How can I know where the damage occurred? And regardless, I’m not paying for used/damaged goods, I’m paying for new ones. We’ve called, complained, they have taken the complaint. I’m not expecting much to change.

I’ll say this tho. If the merchandise is damaged in the warehouse, it should never ship.

Then, pack things to minimize shipping damage. We expect the shipping box to get banged up, but the box and packing materials are there to be destroyed so that our purchased goods won’t be.

Normally I don’t have this problem with Amazon. It’s groceries that have been the issue.

All in all tho, Wife and I are happy. It’s going to take time before I can assess the financial impact. Right now, it’s costing more, but it’s because we’re buying just about everything in bulk. I would assume, over time, it will save us money because 1. bulk is usually cheaper, 2. there’s less impulse buying.

But we’ll see. Need more time. So far, mostly good.

Ankle Mobility

/ hsoi

Wow. Talk about good timing.

This article on Ankle Mobility was just published by Juggernaut Training Systems. After feeling how things went at the gym this morning, it was evident I have dorsiflexion issues. I just couldn’t get things down and forward far enough.

So trying the little “are you flexible enough?” test outlined in the article? Right foot is fine. Left foot… ha ha ha, not even. But I can’t tell how much of that might be how things are (i.e. if I tried this 2 months ago, how would I have been) or how much is because of the injury. My guess is much of it is from the injury because I didn’t feel these issues when squatting prior to the injury.

Anyways, some good exercises in here, many of which are stretches. I was already thinking that would need to be a bigger part of my rehab, given my experiences this morning, well… more fuel for the fire.

 

2014-02-05 training log

/ hsoi

Man… this sucks. 🙂

Based upon Paul Carter’s LRB-365 and Base Building – dealing with ankle injury

  • Squat
    • BW x 10
    • BW x 10
    • Bar x 10
    • Bar x 10
    • Bar x 10
  • Deadlift
    • 65 (bar + 10# bumpers) x 10
    • 65 x 10
    • 65 x 10
  • Leg Extensions
    • 50 x 15
    • 50 x 15
    • 50 x 15
    • 50 x 15
    • 50 x 15
  • Leg Curls
    • 50 x 15
    • 50 x 12
    • 40 x 12
    • 40 x 12
    • 40 x 12
  • Hyperextensions
    • BW x 10
    • BW x 10
    • BW x 10
  • Standing Calf Raises
    • 20 x 10
    • 20 x 10
  • 10 minutes on the elliptical

Ugh. 🙂

I knew today would be no fun. But I have to tell myself if I want to get back to lifting heavier weights, I need to ensure the ankle heals well.

Squats — they actually didn’t feel too good. It’s a few things. First, the extent of flexion the foot goes into when you’re in the hole? That was a lot. It felt odd, it hurt a bit, and I found myself wanting to lean right to relieve the pressure — maybe not a real need to, maybe more mental fear of reinjury. When I forced myself to be fully relaxed and just go up and down, weight on my heels, it wasn’t so bad. I’ve been doing lots of circles and rotational type stuff, and static “stands” on my ankle, but not enough stretching and bending with resistance. While at the gym I ordered a set of surgical tubing of varying “weight” (hooray for mobile phones and Amazon!). I’ll add more stretches and such band resistance work into my at-home rehab work. Talking with a friend of mine that has plantar fasciitis, he says calf stretches help him a lot, so that might have double benefit for me.

Second, I felt lots of lateral stress on the ankle, throughout all things I did today… mostly squats and the hypers. Playing with foot position helped, but it does tell me I’m not ready to put a couple hundred pounds on my back just yet. 🙂

Deadlifting went well. No pains, no problems. I hated only moving 65#, but again, today was about finding where I am and what I can and cannot do. I really want to up the weight here, but I know of course that will put stress on the ankle. I might start a slow creep tho, like put the bumpers on with a 25# plate or something. I do need some level of stress to force the body to adapt, just can’t be too much. Must be slow, must restrain, even if it’s so damn boring and un-fun.

Doing extensions and curls were just an attempt to get SOME sort of actual leg work in. Do them slow, squeeze at the top, etc.. Made sure the bar/pad was at the top of my high-tops, not actually hooked into the ankle area.

I wanted hypers to be AMRAP, but again that lateral stress feeling wasn’t too great so I just did 10 and stopped. Again, these were very slow controlled movements. Which is good, I think. Gets me in the mode of feeling the muscle, not the movement.

Calf raises tho. The intent here was NOT to move much weight at all — to get the stretch, to work the range of motion. I planned on 3 sets, but after 2 well… something said stop, so I did. It’s not worth pushing it (because I even have a mild wondering if seated calf raises contributed to my problem in the first place).

Heck, I even spent 10 of the longest minutes of my life on the elliptical. Mild incline, mild resistance, mostly to give some extra work to the ankle. Steady pace, like 130 BPM heart rate, got some 1200 strides in. Again, nothing major, just trying to add some help to the ankle rehab.

I’ll get there… eventually. 🙂

Don’t deny the less capable

/ hsoi / 6 Comments

“Just run away.”

“Just kick him (in the crotch).”

“You’re a young/strong/big guy, who would mess with you?”

These suggestions tend to be predicated by either your current situation or my current situation.

When you think about ways people might defend themselves if attacked, you think what you could do, like run away or kick him or being able to put up a physical fight — because YOU (or I) can do those things. There often lacks consideration for others that may not be as able as you.

When my ankle problem came up a couple weeks ago and rendered me essentially cripple, I went from capable to incapable in the unexpected blink of an eye.

Run? I couldn’t even stand up, let alone walk or run.

Kick? If I can’t stand up, how can I kick someone?

Big and strong mean nothing. If I could get around it was with a cane and then heavily leaning on it; my gait made it evident I was crippled.

You’ve seen the shows on Discovery Channel. Who do the predators go for? The young, the old, the sick, the injured. I’ve become prey.

For all those who seem to know better about how we are to keep ourselves safe, please tell me what I’m supposed to do? Am I supposed to keep a cell phone programmed with 911? so while I’m crumpled on the ground getting my head stomped in I can try to call for help? Oh wait, that’s right — I’m supposed to pee on my attacker.

Don’t just consider someone with a temporary injury. Consider those with permanent disadvantage: smaller, weaker, older, younger, frail, crippled, wheelchair bound, other disabilities. Even consider some of us may not have the resources you have, like money, gated-communities, or personal bodyguards and security detail. We’re not all as (potentially) capable as you.

Thus, your solutions may not work for me.

Being human, we are tool users. We have limits, and we use tools to overcome them. That’s why most of us use hammers to drive nails, and phones to communicate beyond shouting distance. We use tools to overcome our limits. And when some of us have greater limits, we may need better tools.

Do not deny us the use of better tools. You may someday suddenly find yourself in a new and less-capable context. You’ll want those tools.

Or at least, when you start suggesting solutions, and want those solutions to be applied to everyone, make sure you take everyone into consideration, because we aren’t all like you.

2014-02-03 training log

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

Trying a new program

Based upon Paul Carter’s LRB-365 and Base Building – dealing with ankle injury

  • Incline Press
    • 45 x 10
    • 45 x 10
    • 75 x 5
    • 95 x 4
    • 115 x 3
    • 145 x 2
    • 165 x 1
    • 135 x 15
    • 135 x 8
  • DB Bench Press
    • 50 x 10
    • 50 x 10
    • 40 x 10
    • 40 x 10
    • 40 x 10
  • Behind the Neck Press
    • 45 x 8
    • 65 x 8
    • 70 x 8
  • Seated DB Press
    • 20 x 10
    • 25 x 10
    • 30 x 10
    • 30 x 10
    • 30 x 10
  • Rope Pushdowns
    • 15 x 100

So we start new.

I detailed the general plan for my next (well, this) phase of lifting. And today went well, all things considered.

I had no idea what weights would be optimal, so I just picked some numbers. Some things were a little heavy, some were a little light. While the intent of this program, following Paul Carter’s suggestions, is to go for reps before upping weight, you do have to ensure the weight is in the right spot to get the reps right. So, this week I expected to be somewhat going through the motions, finding my place, and next week will be a bit more on track (tho that too may have some slight refinements).

All in all, it felt good. For the longest time I’ve wanted to get more volume. It’s the closet bodybuilder, natch. Love working things further, deeper, more; love the pump; etc. So this felt good. Well, it also felt weird because I’ve worked chest and back together for so long, I’m used to feeling a pump all around my arms (biceps, triceps, forearms). Today? Just my triceps, and it felt strange to be “inflated” in one place but “deflated” in the other. 🙂

The BtNP was something I was unsure about, but it went alright. I did use the Smith Machine for it, because I have no spotter and wasn’t sure with equipment on hand how else I could manage the mechanics of it. I started very light (bar-only) and worked up a little bit. It actually went a lot better than expected. I am bummed with the Smith machine tho, mostly because the parts that hold the bar take up so much room that I can’t get quite wide enough grip. Oh well.

Anyways, all in all things were alright. Especially happy to have put little stress on my ankle.

We’ll just keep at this and see how it goes.

Training rambling – Next phase

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

If you don’t like reading about my lifting, stop now. 🙂

This is me thinking out loud. This is my present line of thinking, and it may change. But with Monday almost upon me, I need some sort of plan. And who knows, I may change it after I try it — maybe a refinement, maybe starting over again. Who knows.

See, there are two key issues at play right now.

  1. Fat loss (leaning out)
  2. Ankle injury

Ok, there’s a third. I want to explore Paul Carter‘s stuff. Yeah, Cube is still interesting to me, but there’s no question Cube is strictly about powerlifting. Neither of my two key issues right now are conducive to powerlifting. I haven’t abandoned desire to explore Cube, but I need to be in a position where I can try it.

Fat loss remains my key focus right now. I will do this. I want to be lean.

If not for ankle injury, I’d probably follow the “conditioning” template right out of “Lift-Run-Bang 365”. It’s all about high reps, conditioning, fat loss. It’s precisely what I could use. However, the problem with so many things conditioning is — they require your legs and feet, and ankles. *sigh* Things like “walking like a gorilla” or a weighted vest? That’s more stress than I care to put on the injury. That isn’t to say I won’t eventually go here, I just can’t right now.

In fact, I can’t even really squat or deadlift. *double sigh*

When I look at the various ways to lift, actually there isn’t a lot I can do. But when I see what I can do and how it might work? Well, here we go.

The basic idea will come directly out of Paul’s Basebuilding book, the “mass building” phase. No, I’m not necessarily trying to build mass right now, because it’s hard (difficult? impossible?) to build mass without carb intake. However, in mass building you use lots of reps. That’s going to be less stress on my joints, less stress on my body, getting more blood flowing into areas. Plus, since I don’t typically work in those rep ranges, it’s going to help my body and mind get used to that (because I do want mass building to be my focus after I’m leaned out). Plus I am finding higher rep sessions are really tapping me out. If that can lead to more fat burning, great. I’m basically figuring this is going to be a help to me in all ways with my 2 key issues right now.

But I will evaluate as I go along.

Here’s the basic idea. Again, this is based upon the “mass phase” of Basebuilding, with some adjustments for 3 days instead of 4, and my injury.

Monday

Incline Press – 5,4,3,2,1, 1×8-15 + 50%

DB Bench Press – 5×10

Press Behind Neck – 2×8

Seated DB Press – 5×10

Pushdowns – either 5×20 or 100 reps, not sure which

The main purpose of Monday is “push”, so chest, shoulders, triceps. Small volume on the heavy stuff, then lots of volume on the other stuff. I do want the sets to be heavy, for those reps. I don’t want to do 5×10 and that 50th rep feel easy.

The behind the neck presses I’ll try. Paul speaks highly of them, and I’m willing to give it a shot and work my way up. I’m guessing they may be very light for a while, while I get used to the notion and find my groove.

Wednesday

This is going to be a leg day, but with my ankle, I can only do so much. I will however use this as a day to work my way into things, doing things I can’t do at home. So I’ll probably do things like empty-bar squats or maybe 95# on the bar — very light. I’ll put the light bumper plates on and do deadlifts. Things that make my body go through the motions, the full range of motion, but don’t offer lots of stress. Do it for something like 5×20 or whatever my ankle will tolerate.

Then do lots of extensions and curls for high reps. Some hyperextensions would be another way to hit some of those needed muscle groups, but this… since there’s some stress on the ankle for bracing, well, we’ll see.

And probably seated and/or standing calf raises. Very light to no weight here… thinking more rehab than actual building.

As I see what I can do, I’d love to add in some of the stuff Paul talks about on his conditioning program, like lunges or single-leg split squats.

I just want to do something, just very slow and conservative.

Friday

Chins – 5 sets of however many I can do. No bands. If I can’t do one, work on holds at the top and negatives.

Rows – 4×8 – some sort of row. BB rows would be best, but my ankle will dictate. Could be cable rows or db rows… whatever keeps my ankle happy.

Shrugs – 4×20 – again, whatever I have to do to keep my ankle happy (e.g. sit on the end of the bench and hold dumbbells off to the side)

Close-grip pulldowns – 3×8

BB curls – 5×20 or perhaps 100 reps

Supplemental

I plan on walking to/from the gym each time, and walking with more purpose.

I will do my specific ankle rehab exercises on the off days.

And… we’ll see how it goes.

Sunday Metal – Top Metal Albums 1990-2000 – #26 Pantera

/ hsoi

When Metal-Rules.com posted their Top 30 Metal Albums 1990-2000, I thought it’d make a fun list for Sunday Metal.

#26 – Pantera – Vulgar Display of Power

My first dispute of this list. While CFH broke Pantera onto the scene, this was the album that solidified their place in metal. I think this album, due to it’s place in history, should chart higher (higher than CFH). It established their blusey groove metal sound, with a fist full of power. No song embodied that better, than “Walk”.