Author: hsoi

2013-10-23 training log

/ hsoi

For the Wife

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 24, week 4

  • Work Set – Deadlift (working max: whatevs)
    • 135 x 5
    • 185 x 5
    • 225 x 5
    • 275 x 5
  • Work Set – Press (working max: whatevs)
    • 45 x 10 x 2 sets
    • 65 x 5
    • 85 x 5
    • 95 x 5
    • 95 x 5
  • Lat pulldowns
    • 90 x 12 x 4

Today was Wife’s second day in the gym. Following our quasi-Starting Strength routine, today she did goblet squats, press, and well… I don’t know what the formal name would be for them, but it’s bodyweight rows where you are almost parallel to the ground, feet on the ground, arms hanging from a bar, and you pull yourself up. Modifying slightly due to her strength levels, and other things. But all good stuff.

And so, I did a similar routine… deadlifts, pressing, and lat pulldowns. I didn’t really worry about the weight. Just put plates on the bar and move some.

A few things on my end.

First, I’ve added “walking” lunges in my warm up. So I’ll walk across the length of the gym doing lunges. Not too shallow, not too deep, the sort of structure where when I’m down everything’s at right angles. I’m finding this is helping me get a little more limber and functionally loose in a day. My knees don’t feel so weird just during the day if I kneel down and have to get back up. Weird that I can squat so much with a bar on my back, but kneel down and get up in the course of a day and my legs and knees hate me. The lunges seem to be helping.

Second, I think my arm/elbow pain may be due to weights and compression… i.e. things that are explicitly hitting my elbow. When I was pressing today, the compression of my forearm against my biceps when in the rack position really seemed to make that arm pain flare up. A few sets of pull-ups to demo to Wife didn’t help either. I am thinking when I start proper cycle up next week, I might change my back work to some things I’ve read in Wendler’s books. That during my 5 warm-up sets I’ll superset with something uber-light for up to maybe 20 reps, like face pulls. Skip work during my 3 work sets. Then during my first assistance set (e.g. incline bench, more pressing) I’ll superset with the heavier back work, like rows or lat pulldowns. I think pullups may have to go back on the shelf until this fades… maybe, maybe not, I’ll play it by ear because I’d rather do pull-ups. I also might give up on more pressing and do dips… that might not help things, but we’ll see. I kinda like doing dips… so we’ll see.

Just going to play it by ear, so I can get my arms and elbows not being in pain.

Detect, Defuse, Defend – do we need more emphasis on the first two?

/ hsoi / 6 Comments

Tony Blauer asks the question: “What would it cost you if you didn’t fight back?”

I’m referring to the emotional/psychological taxes. Most people never consider violence’s deeper impact. The noxious effects that create PTSD, the memories that stain our mind’s-eye and silently agitate our nervous system.

When bad shit happens close-up, everything can change.

So what would you pay to avoid some of this? What would you pay to feel safer?

His answer?

Pay attention.

Some days ago, a man on a San Francisco Muni train pulled out a gun and flashed it around. A lot. There was nothing covert, hidden, or non-obvious about what he was doing – he was quite obvious and blatant. However, everyone around him was oblivious, noses buried in their phones and tablets. No one saw what was going on until the guy shot someone.  Apparently it was a random encounter, thus anyone on that train could have been the victim, and they never would have known… they never would have had a chance to do anything.

Now, everyone is quick to blame mobile devices. We have to remember that books and newspapers and Walkman’s existed long ago, and people found themselves just as engrossed and oblivious with those. However, I cannot deny that we’ve changed and find ourselves with our noses buried on the glass screen a lot more these days. In fact, people tend to consider that device of primary importance, more so than driving or walking. I admit, I’ve watched people walking around with their eyes on their phone and not on where they were going, and I’ve been tempted to step in front of them or simply insert my hand between their eyes and their phone. It’d be to make a point that perhaps they should pay more attention to the world around them, alas, I’d just be seen as an asshole and no lesson would be learned. *sigh*

Mr. Blauer talks about the 3 D’s:

1) DETECT (to avoid)

2) DEFUSE (to de-escalate)

3) DEFEND (to protect).

Two-thirds of your personal safety takes place before you even step on the “X” (The “X” being symbolic for the time & place of an ambush).

The Three D’s is the basis of your ‘ Personal Defense OS’.

Two-thirds of confrontation management relies on awareness, mental toughness and fear management strategies before any contact is made. Avoiding danger should be the primary directive.

Col. Jeff Cooper has his color codes of awareness. Insights Training has their street & vehicle tactics course. SouthNarc teaches about Managing Unknown Contacts (MUC). Karl Rehn has done much to further the utility and use of force-on-force training. Any good trainer in this area is going to stress the importance of such things. Granted, it’s #3 that sells the most because we all like to shoot guns, or practice kata and joint locks, or whatever. There’s not a lot of sexy appeal in #1 and #2, but it’s precisely those that will do the most to keep us alive and out of trouble.

Yes, this is where “force-on-force” training pays off. The thought of “FoF” scares a lot of people because it makes it sound like it’s going to be a UFC battle. Yes, there’s FoF classes (like SouthNarc’s ECQC) that are about going to some physical extremes. But a lot of FoF training is just scenarios, role playing, with little physicality (and a lot of people finding their inner thespian). What it does give you is a lot of understanding of how Detect and Defuse play a big role in your own personal safety. If the only training you’ve had is to “draw your gun” or “palm strike to the nose”, you only know how to do #3, and that’s not always going to be the right answer.

This sort of training helps you make a mental shift. It sinks in a lot of reality, and should enable you to give yourself permission to listen to yourself more. Blauer continues:

This strategically brings us into the next step in enhancing your personal safety: decide right now to respect and embrace your body’s survival signals. If an alarm goes off, respond to it. Got a bad feeling? Address it. Something nagging at you? Stop and look into it. Don’t ignore these signals. Don’t rationalize and mentally correct them. Don’t dismiss them without assessing them. Your body is built for survival and one of its hard-wired systems is designed to alert you to danger.

I know what some of you are thinking, “What if I mistake a feeling, body language, a gesture or movement and react to it.” And? What’s the downside? No one [important in your life] is going to be upset with you for facing fear. Don’t be shy or embarrassed about this. Accept that the human body will generally err on the side of survival. And so should you. There is no downside to being safe or safer. But there is a massive down side to ignoring these survival signals.

And don’t let peer pressure; socialization, fear of fear or other distractions mess with your survival instincts. We are physiological survival organisms, designed to adapt & survive. (FYI, in my courses I’ve re-named us #humanweapons, because that’s the mindset you need when the shit hits the fan, right? I’d rather remind myself “I’m a human-weapon”, and charge forward than scream, “I’m a Survival organism!” self-talk is key. Also, I can use the # on Twitter).

So make a contract with yourself right now that the moment your instincts & intuition raise an alarm that you will take steps to move to safety as soon as possible. Got a bad feeling? Address it now. Get off the “X” ASAP. Start moving when time and space are allies and options.

What’s the cost of learning the most the most important and practical part of self-defense? Zip. Just pay attention. Getting off the “X” is FREE.

2013-10-21 training log

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Taking it easy… because I’ve got a training partner now (sorta).

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 24, week 4

  • Work Set – Squat (working max: 300#)
    • 45 x 5 x 2 sets (warmup)
    • 135 x 5
    • 185 x 5
    • 225 x 5
  • Work Set – Bench Press (working max: 225#)
    • 45 x 5 x 2 sets (warmup)
    • 95 x 5
    • 120 x 5
    • 135 x 10
    • 185 x 5
  • Assistance – Pull-ups
    • BW (band-assisted) x 8/6/5 x 3 sets

It’s deload week so I am taking it easy, and I didn’t really do much. I just wanted to get under the weights, move some, and that’s all.

But the big thing is…. Wife is joining me in the gym! She has expressed interest in building up strength. There’s lots of reasons that are her own as for why she’s doing this, but the key thing here is a desire for a strength-building-oriented program. That is, no 5# dumbbells on the Bosu ball, no 60 minutes on the treadmill. No, build some strength.

So what better way to start than Starting Strength!

We’ll do it slightly modified. She can’t go up in weights every workout like the program says… she’s not a 16-25 year old male. But we will progress, just at a different rate. We’re also not going to do power cleans, but I’ll have her do pull-ups instead. Otherwise, we’ll do a SS-style workout.

So today, started her on the basics of squatting form and doing some squats. Then the basics of bench pressing form and worked up. Tried deadlifting but that didn’t get very far. 🙂 Still, it was good for a first session. And we’ll just keep going on this program for as long as it’s applicable. After that, well… we’ll see.

And so, my workout was done in between her sets, and was just me lifting something to lift something, to show her form, to help her see what to do and so on. Not that I’m any expert here, but I’m what she has so we go from there.

It was kinda cool. Different for me… not used to having eyes upon me, but this should be cool. 🙂

Sunday Metal – Best Thrash Bands of All Time – #3 Megadeth

/ hsoi

Loudwire came up with a list of the top 10 thrash bands of all time. Like all “top X lists” it’s some fact and a lot of opinion. Still, I thought it’d make for a good Sunday Metal theme.

#3 Megadeth

“Mechanix”. really old live footage from 1984… and look at who is playing guitar. Kerry King.

 

More carry options for women

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Let’s face it.

The world of carry options, of holsters and such, is geared heavily towards men. I don’t think the bias is intentional, I think it’s a combination of a few factors.

First, men and women are, thankfully, built differently. Generally speaking, the hip area of women tends to have more curves than men. Putting an inside-the-waistband holster on a curvy woman is going to direct the grip of the gun right into her side, which won’t be comfortable nor accessible. Plus, that makes the muzzle jut out, and that’s not very flattering nor practical. So you try to work with something like a “drop and offset” holster, and while that works, it does not conceal very well.

Second, women, thankfully, have different fashion sense than men. They do want things to work with their clothing, with their sense of fashion and style. I’ve spoken with numerous women that like their clothing to flatter their figure, thus wearing loose baggy clothing to conceal stuff really doesn’t jive with their goals. And of course, wearing their figure-flattering clothing isn’t good for concealment either.

Consequently, many women turn to off-body carry.

Alas, the options there aren’t great. Like Galco’s purses? Maybe they are functional, but they are ugly. Coronado Leather seems to have improved their offerings since the last time I checked.

Thankfully, with the rapid growth of women getting concealed handgun licenses, so to has the market grown for carry options.

A little over a year ago I mentioned the Lucky Squashbuckler. Gun Supply Store seems to have expanded their selection. Woolstenhulme Designer Bags has also expanded their line.

Looking around now I’ve found even more options.

I just found It’s in the Bag Boutique. They may not be your style, but it’s great to see various options.

GTM (Gun Tote’n Mams) has a line of purpose-built purses.

Urban Moxy

There’s a wide variety of what’s offered, in terms of both form and function.

But what prompted me to write this wasn’t any purse or handbag. It was something else entirely.

See, while the purse is alright, the disadvantage (amongst others) is drawing it from the purse. When I became certified to teach the NRA Personal Protection Outside the Home course, I had to work a good portion of the class drawing from a purse. Heck, I carry a Maxpedition Jumbo Versipack quite regularly, and it’s effectively a purse/shoulder bag. It’s not really an ideal way to carry and draw. But, better than nothing.

That’s why these belt packs from Warrior-Creek caught my eye.

I saw them posted to the Austin Sure Shots Facebook page, and Niki Jones reviewed them in Issue 3 of their magazine.

They kinda reminded me of the Sneaky Pete holster.

Nothing leads me to believe these are purpose-made for concealed carry. I haven’t seen any in person, only going off what I see on the above web pages and Niki’s review. But it does seem like they can be easily adapted for that purpose, perhaps with an after-market holster added to ensure proper positioning of the gun so it doesn’t shift around and is always where you want it. Then, just practice a lot. If it’s how you’re going to carry, it’s how you should practice. And drawing from a holster like this is certainly something you can do in dry practice at home.

This? It’s just an OWB belt holster. But it’s also drop-and-offset, and far better suited to a woman’s body shape. And maybe your fashion sense (or maybe not, they’ve certainly got a particular style). Me? I also like options like this because hooking everything on your belt, leaving hands free, it’s always more functional just going around in a day. I wore a fanny pack for many many years, and it’s quite handy to have free-hands yet still have close control and retention over your belongings.

I really dig these Warrior Creek packs. It’s quite evident that there’s a demand, and it’s awesome to see such creative answers to these problems.

2013-10-18 training log

/ hsoi

3 out of 4 PR’s ain’t bad.

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 24, week 3

  • Work Set – Press (working max: 160#)
    • 45 x 5 x 2 sets (warmup)
    • 65 x 5
    • 80 x 5
    • 95 x 3
    • 120 x 5 (work)
    • 140 x 3
    • 155 x 4 (rep PR)
    • 165 x 1 (Joker Set) (PR)
  • Assistance – Seated Rows (superset with all pressing)
    • 85 x 10 x 7 sets
  • Foam Rolling

Despite my shoulder pain — which is improving — I was not going to miss Pressing. Main reason was it’s the one movement I knew, going into the cycles, that was going to be a breakthrough PR opportunity. My prior best was 155×3. The schedule was for 155 so, get 4 and I’m on my way. But with the shoulder pain, I opted to take it as it came.

And it went better than expected.

My shoulder still hurts, but I can at least now move through a full range of motion with only minor pain. Lots of rest, food, and Advil. I figure after deload week I ought to be good.

I did do the rows during my warm-up sets, and did after the 120, but after that opted to stop to not risk aggravating things. The 140 went up easy and I knew 155 would be fine. Sure enough it was. Got 4 with just a hint of struggle on the 4th rep lockout, but I got there. Good enough, PR set, rack it.

Felt so good, I said screw it and hit 165 for 1. That’s a true PR. Left it there. Did 3×10 of the rows and called it a day.

I gotta say, this cycle surpassed my expectations. I PR’d on everything but bench, and I’m sure that would have been a PR too if not for the weird shoulder/arm injury. If I look at the pure total on squat, bench, and deadlift, I’m at 950. Yeah I know, it’s not a real total cause it’s not at a meet on the platform, but shit… for just improving my life? it’s a start. 50 away from that goal of 1000… I can taste it.

I even thought it was cool how I’m 20 away from pressing 185. That’s been a goal too because it seemed so far away that I didn’t even consider it, but now, it’s within reach. How cool. Squatting 315 doesn’t seem far away either. I broke 4 wheels on deadlift, and I should be on track to be benching over 2 wheels normally. Really folks, while it may be nothing monumental in the world of powerlifting, damn it’s the best I’ve ever done and I’m happy for how far I’ve progressed down this road.

Looking ahead, I was “this close” to a Cube switch, but I think I’ll finish out the year on 5/3/1 then consider my options. I’ll do another “6 week cycle”, which should take me through the end of the year. Overall the approach will remain the same. And eating a lot, resting a lot, and being “tight tight tight” when I lift… making a lot of difference.

After that will I Cube? I really think I should. I just need to get off my duff and contact Corey Hayes about Cube Extreme. I think that’s going to be the only way I can manage Cube (1 hour, 3x week).

Mandated training?

/ hsoi / 17 Comments

Back when I wrote my series on “Minimum Competency for Defensive Pistol“, the notion of legality kept swimming in my head.

Not if things are legal or not, but rather how minimums should be defined by law, if at all. I mean, here in Texas we have the CHL shooting test, which is what the State considers as acceptable minimum. But as I discussed, is it really a minimum? Or of course, we have to ask the question “minimum for what?”. And if I have a discussion and say it’s not an acceptable minimum (for whatever), does that open the door for changing the minimum? Could someone try to set the bar so high that it puts it out of reach of most or all people, and thus denies the right?

It’s a tricky and sticky subject.

Todd Louis-Green recently wrote about this. Like most, he’s not a fan of legislatively mandated training. And yes, it sounds funny to hear that coming from him, who is a trainer. And me, who is a trainer (that stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night).

Do we advocate more education? Of course! Name me any facet of life where you are not better served by more knowledge and education! The more you know, the better life can generally be. Why would that be any different here?

But again, should it be mandated?

How many CNN talking heads would be OK with a state-designed, state-mandated English test that had to be passed before you could become a news reporter? Who would support a mandatory Constitutional law exam before you could exercise your 4th & 5th Amendment rights?

Self-defense is a natural right that was recognized by the U.S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights and reiterated by two recent Supreme Court cases (Heller and McDonald). Period. Full stop.

I would have used MSNBC instead of CNN, but either way.

What I thought was interesting about Todd’s piece was his suggestion:

Rather than mandatory training, what I would like to see is a two-tiered system. Simply carrying concealed should be legal without a permit (or training). But because it is legitimately in the government’s interest (and the community’s interest) to encourage training, instead create benefits — incentives — for gun owners who get serious training

Incentives. I think that’s an interesting take on things. And wouldn’t it be nice if we could see more of that in our country? Instead of basing everything upon lowest common denominators and penalties for doing wrong, why don’t we do more to incentivize doing right? reward people for doing better and going above and beyond? Help raise people up, help people truly become better. Granted, this happens in certain areas, but gee wouldn’t it be nice to see it more widespread?

Alas, I doubt we’ll see it regarding gun laws, because offering incentives would be seen as legitimizing and accepting, instead of stigmatizing and divisive. It seems all the mainstream folks want these days is the latter… because for all their talk of the joys of “unity” and “diversity” and “acceptance”, they don’t practice it very much.

2013-10-16 training log

/ hsoi / 7 Comments

420# – a PR Austin can be proud of.

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 24, week 3

  • Work Set – Deadlift (working max: 390#)
    • 160 x 5 (warmup)
    • 195 x 5
    • 235 x 3
    • 295 x 5 (work)
    • 335 x 3
    • 375 x 1
    • 390 x 1 (Joker)
    • 405 x 1
    • 420 x 1 (PR)
  • Foam Rolling

Today was a mix of awesome and uncertainty.

First the awesome.

Lifetime PR of 420#. I recall last cycle I worked up to 405 and was happy about that, because 4 wheels. I felt at the time I could have done more, but was willing to just be happy at 4 wheels and stopped. I still have my shoulder/arm issues (more below), so I opted to be conservative here. My 375 set should have been for reps but I opted to just do a single because I really wanted the PR but not at the expense of my shoulder and arms. So singles it was, 15# jumps. 405 felt good, so I figured what the hey and went 420. Got it. Shut things down.

I’m happy with the PR, especially after Monday’s bench press failure.

So to that issue, my shoulder felt alright. Yes there was some pain, but as today didn’t involve lifing my arms up or moving them much, I think that helped. In fact, I felt kinda good afterwards because I could move through full range of motion with almost no pain. I have found it’s good to keep lifting — keep the body and blood moving, as it seems to help.

But my biceps are another story.

I’m finding my issues seem to be more with them. Something with the entire muscle itself (I think just the biceps brachii) seems to ache and hurt, especially where it attaches at the elbow. Last night I came home, gave Daughter a bear hug, and afterwards my biceps and tendon there really hurt. They ached all night. That concerns me.

Was this due to the rescue carry work we were doing? Was it stuff like the pull-ups hurting me? I’ve battled with bodyweight “hanging” exercises in the past, affecting my shoulders, arms, etc.. Could this be coming back again? I just don’t know at this time. But I can say my shoulder is still an issue, but doesn’t concern me. The biceps tho is a mystery and concerns me.

So Friday’s Press session? Just going to take it as it comes. I plan on going forward as usual. If things suck, I’ll stop or maybe turn it into a very light “pump” session to try to get more blood in the area; do more prehab work; etc.. Just going to take it as it comes.

Later thoughts on the M&P Shield

/ hsoi / 13 Comments

The Smith & Wesson M&P Shield. Oh hotness of hotness for the perfect concealed carry gun, right?

I dunno.

If you search my blog about the Shield, you’ll find thoughts here and there about shooting it and carrying it. Back in June 2012 I carried it for a little while. Well, I ended up carrying it again for the past couple months.

Did my opinion change?

I opted to do it again because of an interesting combination of factors.

First, it was Texas summer. Hot. That means you want to wear less clothing, or lighter/thinner (material) clothing. Consequently, concealment is more difficult. The Shield does conceal quite well, at least on a body of my size.

Second, my clothing doesn’t fit the same any more. All this weight lifting that I’m doing, and I’m a bigger guy than I was before. Some shirts, some pants… there’s just not as much spare and loose cloth any more. 🙂  And so, that makes things harder to conceal. I don’t like tight clothing, but it just takes time to update the wardrobe.

Third, I just wanted to give the thing another try. I’m exploring AIWB more, and I’ve wondered if this might make a fair AIWB gun.

Well….

I maintain that this gun is comfortable, but not comforting. No question there’s great comfort in wearing it. There’s no butt sticking out, knocking into the backs of chairs, making it uncomfortable or awkward to sit and lean back. The slimmer size means there’s less waistband consumed by the thickness of the gun. The general lack of bulk and corners jutting out just makes it more comfortable on a daily basis, even with things like your arms dangling or swinging at your side as you walk — nothing bumps.

I found myself doing more dry work with the Shield, and found myself constantly frustrated with it. I just can’t get a really tight grip on the gun. I cannot get my hand to tuck itself up hard and close under the beavertail. There’s always some small gap. It’s just the nature of my hand vs. the shape/size of this grip. It’s not very comforting.

I still have only the Apex hard sear in there. I did purchase the full Shield trigger kit, but I have still yet to install it. Low priority.

So I don’t know. There’s a part of me that really wants to love this gun, but I just keep finding it doesn’t measure up. If I can’t get a good grip on the draw, if capacity will be so limited, if it provides more wearable comfort than “gee this is the reason I carry a gun” comfort… well….

Again, this is me. We all have different circumstances, and the Shield may be right for you. I’m begrudgingly coming to terms with it not being right for me.

That said, I’ve been throwing around the notion of an M&P9c. Again, I really would prefer a full-sized gun. But with my exploration into AIWB, I’d like to see if a compact might work. Heck, I’ve even wondered about a Glock 19, but I’m more reluctant to go there just because it would be a larger cost (gun, holster, mag pouches, lots of magazines, better sights, better trigger, etc..). But the 9c and 19 have similar enough dimensions that trying out a 9c may cure me of some Glock desires. 🙂

Continuing to explore….

2013-10-14 training log

/ hsoi

Not good… in the bad way, not good.

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 24, week 3

  • Work Set – Bench Press (working max: 225#)
    • 45 x 5 x 2 sets (warmup)
    • 95 x 5
    • 115 x 5
    • 135 x 3
    • 170 x 5 (work)
    • 195 x 3
    • 215 x 3
    • 225 x 1 (Joker)
    • 235 x 0
  • Assistance – Pull-ups (superset between each pressing set)
    • BW (band-assisted) x 5 x 5 sets

Today was not good.

On Saturday, Wife and I were talking about training, first aid, and came around to rescue carries. Wife tried some carries on me, and things weren’t working out. She was pulling hard on my arms, and that did something to my shoulders. In the bad way.

Saturday afternoon I started to feel the pain. Sunday was better, but still problematic. It’s true pain in my shoulder, at the rotator joint. And something radiates down my arm along the biceps, from end to end, muscle and tendon. It feels like a joint issue, that something got strained (tendons?), and maybe some nerve pinching or something? It’s hard to say. But I’m taking Advil to help with inflammation and that seems to help, but I think time is the only remedy.

I could start to feel the pain as I pressed. I stopped doing pull-ups because I was aiming to PR today (235 would have been a PR) and just didn’t want to aggravate the shoulder any further.

Intentionally only did 215 for a triple. It felt good, at least weight-wise. I knew 225 would be no problem, and that was in case. In fact, I was so in the zone that I had no idea I pressed the thing — I was done before I started. It was mentally kinda cool to just rip through it like that. I knew 235 was going to be easy, and even thought I might try 245 if all went well.

I put 235 on the bar, unrack, bar came down, and my body shut down. It was not muscular failure… there was something else. Like my nervous system just didn’t fire. I was suddenly very weak, no ability in my arms, nothing. And yes, this is why I started benching in the half-rack. I was able to set the bar on the arms no problem, tho it was over my neck, no contact, and I was able to slide out from under things.

I couldn’t lift my arms. If I did, my arms/hands were shaking. I could barely take the plates off the bar, I had to wear my belt home because I couldn’t hold it. In fact, after I was done lifting, I sat on the bench with my arms — especially my biceps — in pain for about 5 minutes. Yes, this sucks, and concerns me a bit.

Even now, a few hours later as I type, things suck. Trying to lift my left arm above my head and there’s a lot of pain in the shoulder joint. Something feels weak throughought my arms and hands. At this point, I think we just strained something too much, and Advil and time is all I can do. I’m not sure how the rest of the week is going to go, with deadlift and pressing still to come. I’m just going to wing it. And for sure, my deload week is going to be light and easy. I just have to take this as it comes and see how it goes day to day.

BTW, I’m not mad at Wife nor anyone nor anything. It’s just one of those things. Life goes on.