Author: hsoi

Survive or Prevail

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

I read a posting on Facebook about a man on death row for 33 years before being executed. Think about it from the victim’s family’s perspective — waiting 33 years for some sort of closure.

How old are you today? Think about your age 33 years before today, and your ages 33 years after today. That’s a mighty long time.

But it’s not so much his story that I want to focus on here. It’s something posted in the comments on the story.

They mentioned the writings of Dr. Alexis Artwohl. It was Chuck Haggard that wrote:

Her statment [sic] was to a class I was in, she was addressing mindset and training for cops. She thought that the “officer survival” idea was setting the bar too low. If you set the bar at “survive”, and you fall short, then where does that leave you? She thought officers should be training to prevail, to dominate a fight, not just survive, then if they fall short of the goal hopefully they will at least survive. Then she said; “And if you can’t survive then you need to take the motherfucker with you, do not make your family sit through a murder trial”.

Dr. Artwohl makes a good point when it comes to mindset: to survive? or to prevail?

You’ve heard people say things like “shoot for the moon, because if you miss at least you land amongst the stars” or other such sayings. The point is to aim high, strive for as much as you can. If you achieve it, life will be awesome. But if you fall short, you’ll still be in pretty good shape. There is also the implication that if you strive for anything less, life won’t be so good. It’s about “margin of error” allowing for the fact that life may not always come out like you want or plan it, so you need to aim high enough, far enough, so if things don’t work out precisely as planned, at least they’ll work out acceptably. Else, things could be pretty bad.

So if we consider this a reasonable procedure for the rest of life, be it our jobs, the people we marry, our hobbies, sports, whatever pursuits we have in life… why don’t we follow the same procedure for our very life itself?

Perhaps it’s because it sounds too aggressive to “win”. It’s more socially acceptable to be a survivor. It seems like you have to go on the offense to prevail, when we’re taught so much that it’s better to be defensive (never mind that the best defense is a good offense). Social conditioning at work? Perhaps to our detriment?

Consider your focus, consider how you frame things. Is it to just survive? or is it to prevail? If you fail to survive, you certainly did not prevail. But if you fail to prevail, you may still be able to survive.

Strive to prevail.

2013-12-09 training log

/ hsoi

Some you win, some you lose.

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 26, week 2

  • Work Set – Deadlift (working max: 410#)
    • 165 x 5
    • 210 x 5
    • 250 x 3
    • 290 x 3
    • 330 x 3
    • 375 x 5
    • 290 x 6
    • 290 x 6
    • 290 x 6
    • 225 x 5
  • Crunches
    • 11 x REP x 3
  • Standing Calf Raises
    • 10 x 80 x 3
  • Foam Rolling

The work-up went nicely. Felt good. Really focusing on glute activation and trying to make it more of a “leg press” than a “back/arm pull”. All went well, until the 375 set.

I’ve been reading about wearing your belt higher up for deadlifting. I tried it before and it didn’t work, but I recently saw a video about it that had some placement tips. So I thought I’d try again. I couldn’t get into position… just wasn’t working. Tried slightly lower, no dice. So I went back to where I always put it. But then, I was just not in the mental groove of things and didn’t really have things as they needed. I realized every one of thoe 5 reps had no air behind it… I mean, I was Valsalva and everything, but I recall no abdominal pressure against the belt. I was still tight and good, the reps actually went pretty well, but things just weren’t as tight and rigid as they should have been. I probably could have gotten another rep or 2, but meh… the 5 was pretty solid all things considered.

I went back to “first set last set”. The drop set stuff is actually working out kinda nice because it’s certainly working me well, but moreover it’s giving me a lot more reps and technique work. I can really focus on technique, which I guess in some respects is my “weak point” and so if assistance is to help bring up weak points, there we go. It’s not always about strengthening some muscle… this time, it’s about improving technique. It’s just all the “leg pressing” and “glute activation” stuff I need more work on. And to a small degree, things like flexing my triceps when in mixed grip so I don’t try to curl the weight and risk biceps problems, minding head and eye positioning to help drive upwards, and so on. All good.

But then as I worked my way down, my right knee started to feel really bad. I intended the last 2 sets to be a bunch of reps at 225, but I just had to stop short because the knee was giving me the “fuck you”. Even now a few hours later, my knee is feeling really stiff… a couple Advil, a little more fish oil, lots of protein and water today… we’ll see how she does.

Calf work… just slowing easing into it. Let’s go light, get that stretch at the bottom, squeeze at the top, but avoid calf cramping problems. I’ll get there… slow but sure, ramp it up.

A shopping list for the new shooter

/ hsoi / 8 Comments

A few weeks ago, a mutual friend emailed Karl, myself, and a couple other guys asking for guidance in helping a friend choose his first handgun. Our friend’s friend was bent on getting this expensive 1911-style gun, and we did our best to put the kibosh on that choice. Numerous reasons, but one I thought was worthy of its own mention was a breakdown of cost.

See, instead of spending $1200 on some expensive gun that really won’t work well and will only lead to unhappiness and frustration (and a much lighter wallet), Karl gave an improved shopping list. This is mostly copy/paste from what Karl wrote, just slightly edited for reprinting:

My [Karl’s] recommendation, as it always is, is the following:

1) Check the student’s hand size to confirm that a Glock 19 or Smith & Wesson M&P would fit properly without the trigger finger rubbing on the frame.

2) If yes, have the student purchase a G19 or an 4″ M&P. Replace the sights with solid black Dawson Precision Charger rear and narrow fiber optic front. Install either the Apex Tactical Specialties sear (M&P) or the 3.5 lb connector (Glock) as appropriate. That will eat up around $600-650 of the $1200 cost of the expensive gun.

If no, look at the M&P Shield or Springfield XD-S pistols, the Springfield EMP, or Kahr CW9 pistols as narrower alternatives — but do NOT immediately jump to those choices because the new shooter is obsessed with needing a small gun out of paranoia about printing and belief that it will be “too hard” to carry. The G19/M&P are much easier to learn to shoot and train with.

3) Spend the remaining $550 as follows:
a) $200 for a high quality 1.5″ wide gun belt; and Comp-Tac CTAC, Crossbreed SuperTuck, or similar IWB holster; OR a pancake style OWB like the Blade-Tech Eclipse or Raven Concealment Phantom.
b) $100 for 2-3 additional factory magazines. Then number each magazine so they can be identified.
c) $100 for a decent quality range bag
d) $100 for a set of electronic ears (Howard Leight has a new 33 dB electronic set out), and a double handful of foam plugs.
e) $50 for gun cleaning supplies, a bore snake, some D-Lead wipes, and ANSI-rated eye protection

Spending $1200 on that expensive gun would a terrible waste of money.

Especially when you consider much of the above you’ll have to buy anyways, so that $1200 gun winds up being $1500 or more.

To this shopping list I would also add ammo (which is going to be cheaper in 9mm than .45 ACP), and allocating some funds for the new shooter to come to some Basic Pistol shooting classes to learn how to safety and effectively handle their new purchase.

Now you know what to put under the tree for Christmas. 🙂

2013-12-06 training log

/ hsoi

Strangely good.

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 26, week 2

  • Work Set – Bench Press (working max: 235#)
    • 45 x 5
    • 45 x 5
    • 95 x 5
    • 120 x 5
    • 145 x 3
    • 165 x 3
    • 190 x 3
    • 215 x 6
  • Face Pulls (superset with the bench press warm-up sets)
    • 35 x 15 x 5
  • Close-grip Bench Press
    • 125 x 10 x 5
  • T-Bar Rows (superset with the close-grip bench press)
    • 95 X 12 X 5
  • Seated cable rows
    • 95 x 10 x 3
  • A bunch of light rope-handle pressdowns, and bb curls
  • Foam Rolling

Today was oddly good.

Working up and everything felt solid and light. I’m still working on foot placement, tucking my feet behind me. I’m working to fine-tune the placement: a lot of tuck and while very tight I don’t feel much heel drive, less tuck and I get better heel drive but also the butt comes up. So I’m sure there’s a middle ground that I just have to find THEN find a way to index it so it’s repeatable every time. But I can tell it makes me tighter, better path, and with the “clench” queue for my grip yeah… everything’s tight and tight == strong.

So when I did 215, 3 felt… like nothing. On the 5th I felt strange, in a good way. It was like everything was so light that I could have done a million reps, at least, something felt that way. But yet, something also was saying “no, don’t do it, because you do have fatiguing muscles… either you’ll miss or you’ll hurt yourself”. So I put up a 6th rep and still had the same feeling that I could have done a million, but I could at least tell for sure yeah, the triceps are wearing out, rack it. So I did. I can’t really explain the feeling, but it was quite powerful. Maybe that means technique is starting to gel?

Everything else went alright. I do think I need to make t-bar rows for about 10 reps… go heavier, 6-10 reps but still full range of motion and ensure the upper back and lats are engaged (i.e. it’s about the muscles, not the movement; it’s not a max-effort movement). Then let the cable rows go a bit lighter and higher reps because the cable puts different tension on.

I really do need some biceps-specific work and will be focusing on that because they are lagging, in size and strength. I’m going to take a cue from Larry Scott too and work to remember to put a forearm curl in there too. So at the bottom, let the wrists extend, then as you start curling, curl/flex the wrists too to get some extra forearm work. If anyone knows how to build forearms and biceps, it’s Larry Scott. This should help my grip… and of course, we all love biceps.

A question

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

If a woman carries pepper spray, is she paranoid?

She’ll have it on her keychain or in her purse, and she has it with her every time she leaves the house.

So, is she paranoid for doing so?

If she carried a gun instead of pepper spray, does that change your answer?

2013-12-04 training log

/ hsoi

Some days you just have to press on, and at the end, you’re thankful for having done so.

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 26, week 2

  • Work Set – Squat (working max: 320#)
    • 45 x 5
    • 45 x 5
    • 135 x 5
    • 160 x 5
    • 195 x 3
    • 225 x 3
    • 260 x 3
    • 290 x 3
  • Leg Press
    • 135 x 10
    • 225 x 10
    • 315 x 10
    • 365 x 10
    • 135 x 15
  • Leg Curls
    • 50 x 12 x 4
  • Seated Calf Raises
    • 25 x 12 x 3
  • Foam Rolling

Past couple nights I didn’t sleep enough (just woke up too early and my brain refused to shut up and let me go back to sleep). So I guess my body decided to make up for it last night. Either being tired, or my body knew it was squat day and I better be ready for it. But I fell asleep early, woke up with the alarm, and just didn’t want to get out of bed. I didn’t want to go in, but you do it. The whole time I worked up I kept trying to find ways to stop: oh was that a pain in my knee? damn this is getting heavy… maybe I’ll just “jack shit” it today. Whatever I could think of.

And I admit… the thought of 290 intimidated me.

It wasn’t very long ago I did 290 for a single and PR’d. Then just a bit ago I managed to get 2 reps. So I’m telling myself “come on, Daub… you’ve done this for 2, this isn’t impossible, you can hit 3 maybe 4 today”.

Tight. Clench. In fact, the clench wasn’t just my hands on the bar (tho there was that), but also my glutes. Make sure I break first at the hips (not the knees), tight tight tight, really ensure breath is tight and making as rigid a torso as I can get, get down in the hole, press my neck back, tight tight tight, and be sure to activate the glutes through at the end. And I swear, the 290 didn’t feel all that bad. One thing I’ve found is if you just get under the bar, it’s heavy… but if you are tight as you can be, head to toe, every part of your body, the weight doesn’t feel as heavy. And just down, all the way down, ensure to get that stretch reflex, and power back up.

And 3 wasn’t much problem, tho the 3rd slowed down a bit with some falling forward. I probably could have muscled through a 4th rep, but I’d rather leave it in the tank. The fact I did 3 easier and with better form than I did 2 just a few weeks ago tells me I’m getting stronger. That’s all that matters.

After that, I just finished the session. No big deal. I just had to get over the hump.

I did forget to do crunches.

But I am trying to work calf raises into my routine: standing and seated, one on squat day the other on deadlift day. I’m doing them VERY light for slightly higher reps right now. I can have calf cramping problems and I’d rather work right now on getting a deep stretch at the bottom, a good squeeze at the top, full range of motion, and find what works because the amount of weight doesn’t really matter so long as I’m getting worked. I’d rather start light and get my calves used to things than risk problems.

I’m feeling good about attempting 3 wheels next squat session.

This is not the checklist you’re looking for

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

Mark Keefe wrote an article “20-Questions for a First Pistol Checklist“. The subheading was “Providing sound advice for purchasing a firearm requires knowledge of the purpose, which means you have to ask the right questions.”

I would agree with that statement. Certainly knowledge of purpose is the right way to start, because a firearm is like any tool: there are many types, and you will do your job better if you have the right tool for the job.

And the article does start off that way:

1. First things first, what do you want it for?
Personal protection and recreational target shooting.

2. Do you understand that there are serious considerations regarding using a firearm for personal protection?
Yes, I understand and have thought it through; really that is why I am at this point.

3. Do you want it as a carry gun?
No. I may later, but not right now.

4. How and where do you plan to store it?
I will keep it loaded in a lock box in my bedroom

Question #1 is good, and questions 2-4 fall naturally from the answer given to question #1. So far, so good.

5. What cartridge do you want it to chamber?

Aaaannndd… we’re done.

Questions 5-11 ask about caliber, type of gun, capacity, frame type (steel vs. polymer), action type, mechanical safeties, external hammers. Question 12 asks about price (good question). Question 13-16 ask about accessories, sights, adjustability. Question 17 is about geography, which matters to some folks (but IMHO shouldn’t be a primary consideration). Question 18 on barrel length. Question 19 is about new vs. used (possibly relevant).

Well, while these can be meaningful questions — and perhaps they were meaningful and appropriate for the person Mark was questioning — this is not a good general line of questions for the first-time buyer. In fact, most first time buyers will have no idea about these things, what they mean, what their significance is — so how could they answer these questions? In fact, question #20 “Are you willing to take an NRA Basic Pistol Course if I help you out?” seems like a prerequisite to being able to answer many of these questions! Certainly all of those mechanical features would be defined, discussed, and made relevant to the newbie.

I’ve gotten to a point where any “buying a gun” checklist that puts “caliber” near the top of the list automatically gets nixed; caliber matters, but not as much as the Internet makes you think. If you still think steel guns are better than polymer-framed guns, Glock would like a word with you. If you’re new to shooting and your goal is concealed carry, checklists that push you to small guns as first guns are checklists to ignore.

Checklists to pay attention to? Ones that are made by people that actually shoot and understand shooting. That understand beginners and their needs. That it’s more important to find a gun you can shoot right and shoot well (e.g. gun fit is a primary concern), because shooting the gun is enjoyable and you see success in your shooting (that’s what gets you to return to the range and to training classes).

Here’s one such checklist.

2013-12-02 training log

/ hsoi

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 26, week 1

  • Work Set – Press (working max: 170#)
    • 45 x 5
    • 45 x 5
    • 70 x 5
    • 85 x 5
    • 105 x 3
    • 110 x 5
    • 130 x 5
    • 145 x 6
  • Close-grip pulldowns (neutral grip, superset with warm-up pressing sets)
    • 75 x 15 x 5
  • Press
    • 105 x 10
    • 105 x 8
    • 105 x 6
    • 105 x 6
    • 105 x 6
  • Wide, pronated grip pulldowns (superset with additional pressing sets)
    • 105 x 12 x 5
  • Cable EZ-Bar pressdowns (pin the elbows to the side)
    • 45 x 12 x 3
  • Hammer Curls (superset with pressdowns)
    • 30 x 10 x 3
  • Foam Rolling

I guess after a long Thanksgiving weekend, my body wasn’t ready to get back to the gym. I didn’t gorge myself, but certainly more carbs ingested than I should have. I feel massive bloat, and not liking it. Tho I’m not going to start my fat-loss stuff in earnest until after I hit 1000#, I am going to start paring back on my carbs a bit to try to help manage my bloat. My own fault… been consuming too much, not sure why. Could be stress and the comfort of food is always there for me. *sigh*

Anyways.

Overall the session was fine. Things did feel a little heavy, but probably from my drag-ass this morning. Only thing of note is ditching the rotating curls and going back to good old hammer curls. If “clench” is my cue — and I worked on that throughout the session — hammers are going to take me further, especially since I can lift relatively heavier on them than other curl types.

Another thing I noticed was I was holding my breath a lot today. Unrack the bar, step back, ensure tightness, then start pressing… didn’t take a breath until maybe rep 3? Then subsequent sets might work the same, with multiple reps per breath. I didn’t feel bad, and in fact it was kinda nice because it helped me keep tightness. But the lack of oxygen may have come into play for the lower rep output. I dunno. I didn’t plan on doing this, it just happened. Curious.