Vixen founder and guitarist, Jan Kuehnemund passed away a few day ago from cancer; she was 51.
R.I.P. Jan. Thanx for all you gave.
Author: hsoi
Sunday Metal – Best Thrash Bands of All Time – #4 Anthrax
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.
While I might debate the other bands on this list, their existence on the list, their placing on the list, you know the top 4 are going to be “the big 4”. And frankly, I cannot debate the ordering here… at least, the ordering relative to each other.
#4 Anthrax
Often forgotten, their first album “Fistful of Metal”. Arguably one of their better albums.
Oaths and blame
That’s what most of these signatures and oaths are: ways to evade and place blame. You accept responsibility for something based on what you think you know, or what someone thinks you are supposed to know, at the time. When they ask you to sign, they want you to take the blame if something goes wrong.
Really, that’s all they want is for you to accept blame. Not that you assume responsibility, that they have someone to pin blame on. It may look the same on the surface, but the intent is wholly different.
I’m watching the current hot political issue, and that’s all they want to do: pin blame on someone else. No one wants to accept responsibility. No one is willing to look at themselves in the mirror to say what did I do wrong, what could I have done better.
But of course, why would they? That’s not what this is about. This is about doing all they can to make “the other side” look like cruel uncaring assholes, so “our side” can look good and win power. If you step back and detach yourself from your political affiliations, you’ll see they’re all acting like selfish, childish assholes.
Maybe if instead of pointing blame we assumed responsibility. If there were consequences for our wrong actions. And perhaps if when people took their oaths, they took them seriously.
Or at least, made better oaths:
“On the honor of my ancestors, I do solemnly swear that I have picked this frozen fruit puree and these frozen mushrooms. – Jack Donovan”
2013-10-11 – training log
Achievement unlocked – 300# squat.
Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle X, week X
- Work Set – Squat (working max: 300#)
- 45 x 5 x 2 sets (warmup)
- 120 x 5
- 150 x 5
- 180 x 3
- 230 x 5 (work)
- 260 x 3
- 290 x 1
- 300 x 1 (Joker Set) — PR
- Assistance – Crunches
- BW x 12 x 3 sets
I squatted 300#.
Never done that before.
I had made up my mind. Because this was the 2nd of the 2-cycle approah, because next up is deload, because I decided to do Joker Sets on these days (the 2nd of the 2 cycles) well… I knew I could work up to 300, at least. And I told myself, just hit 300. No need to do more, and just put all into it… jack shit day, no saving energy for later or whatever.
Previous best was 295 for 3 reps, but I know that was some shitty form. And last cycle was 290 for 1 and I struggled. Well, after making the recent discovery about the torso tightness that made a HUGE difference (see my last squat session), I knew this was going to happen.
I hit 260 without the belt and it was a little sloppy, but I was probably at the limit of my torso tightness without a belt to press against. Plus I was just fired up.
Belt on, 290 was “easy”. I could have done more, but I wanted to save up energy to ensure I could hit the 300. Yes, I cannot deny some fear, some uncertainty, some doubt. But I knew that I could not let this fear conquer me. I knew I could do it. I had to focus on tight tight tight torso and everything would come together. Just move. And if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t. That’s another part of overcoming the fear and all — so what if you miss? Yeah, dumping onto the half-rack at the gym would hurt because it’s not adjustable and the bars are low and so it actually is painful to dump it, but meh… just let it happen.
And so I did.
Down. Up. Fuck yes!
I actually felt like I could have done 305, even thought about trying again at 315 (3 wheels). But I didn’t want to get greedy. I did what I set out to accomplish. Let’s leave on a high note!
I didn’t video it tho! I had it set up, but I was so focused on the squat I just didn’t bother. I found myself getting under the bar and going “Oh, video!” then just skipping it because I was so motivated, so in the zone, that to break would just deflate too much. Not worth it… I’ll be squatting more than 300 soon enough, so there will be more milestones. I will try better to get 315 on video tho 🙂
Anyways, I figured I did my thing… did some crunches, then bailed.
This is good.
It shows the power of two things:
1. tight torso. I mean, really damn tight.
2. the power of the mind. I was NOT going to miss this. I was going to conquer this weight. I was going to dominate. I was going to do it. I was going to be there, standing above the weight, having vanquished it. I mean, thing big and stupid, but visualize success on a massive scale because… yes you can.
If they stand down, can you stand up?
Take a step back for a moment and ask yourself a question – and honestly answer it.
When it gets down to it, who is responsible for you?
Or perhaps instead ask, who is best able to take care of you? Who are you best able to count on? Or when everything else goes south, who is there, able to do things for you?
As of this writing, word is that when the shooting started at the Navy Yard, the police were told to stand down:
Four heavily-armed members of the Containment and Emergency Response Team (CERT) [of the US Capitol Police] were nearby when the initial report of an active shooter was announced, sources told BBC.
An officer with the Metropolitan Police Department told the tactical officers, who were wearing full tactical gear and armed with HK-416 weapons, that they were the only officers on the scene with long guns and their help was needed to stop Aaron Alexis.
When the CERT team radioed their superiors, they were told to leave the scene, according to the report.
Again, it’s still under investigation if this happened, and if so why.
But think about it.
With all the heightened sensitivity to “active shooter” situations, when there’s not just police but a special team equiped and trained for such events right there and able to respond… and they don’t.
Yeah, that’s not good.
Who knows. It may have been an honest, but tragic, mistake on the part of the police supervisors to not respond. They are human too.
But here’s the thing.
It really doesn’t matter if they were there or not. It really doesn’t matter if they were there, why they were told to stand down. Or even if they were there and started an immediate response, how much impact they could have had; I’m sure it would have been some improvement, but there would still be innocent lives lost.
What matters is, they didn’t come.
What this shows is that, in the end, you cannot count on someone to come and save you. Yes, there will be people who will try, but it may not always happen. It may not always work out. They may not come at all, or if they do, it may be too late.
You have no control over someone coming to save you or not.
And it’s not just good people with guns showing up to save the day. Consider medics. Medics will not be permitted into the scene until it is considered safe. What happens if you’re bleeding? Can you stop your own bleeding? Look how long it takes to consider a scene safe: hours. Do you know how quickly you can die from blood loss? Can you really bleed for hours? can you really wait? Can you really count on medics arriving in time? Again, this isn’t to say they won’t try, but there are circumstances beyond their control which forces delays in getting you care; and if they don’t have control, you really don’t have control.
Step back even further. Do you have any control over bad things happening in a day? Do you have any control over if “that guy” at the office chooses today to be the day he decides to share his disgruntledness with you?
Think about it folks. You don’t have a lot of control over things (a fact of life, applying to far more areas than just the above topics). This includes the ability for others to take care of you. The ability for others to be there when you need them. The ability for others to respond quickly when you need them at your side. This isn’t to say there aren’t good people out there, that these people are unwilling to respond, but rather there are realities of time, geography, physics, and other matters of the world that you just cannot control, change, nor bend.
But what you can do is control yourself.
When you need someone, you are there.
When you have to count on someone, you can count on yourself.
Who is on the scene right now? You are.
Why are we encouraging a system, lifestyles, and choices, that require a dependence upon others? Yes sometimes dependencies happen, but step back and think about how you can often fare better when you have the capabilities to handle things yourself. That doesn’t mean you always have to, but then at least you have options. Then at least if you must, you can.
If no one can stand up for you, can you stand up for yourself?
2013-10-09 training log
Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 24, week 2
- Work Set – Press (working max: 160#)
- 45 x 5 x 2 sets (warmup)
- 65 x 5
- 80 x 5
- 95 x 3
- 105 x 3 (work)
- 130 x 3
- 145 x 6
- Assistance – Press
- 100 x 10/10/8/8/7 x 5 sets
- Assistance – Seated Rows (superset with all pressing)
- 85 x 10 x 11 sets
- Assistance – Wide-grip lat pulldowns
- 100 x 10 x 5 sets
I don’t know why, but today was just great. No mental reservations, just charge ahead.
Maybe taking video of myself made me think to really be on on form — want to look good on video, right? Even tho it’s only for my eyes. Still… mental tricks on yourself.
I also found myself more in a proper groove. I’ve settled on breathing at the bottom. Yes, there’s more setup involved, but it’s turning into a more solid performance. I mean, last session I did 5 with 140, and today I did 6 with 145. I feel good about breaking my all-time PR next pressing session. Finally.
But everything else really felt good and I could really crank today. Weights felt light, almost like I didn’t work myself enough. I’ll just take it as it comes, and rest more. 🙂 I mean, Friday will be 5/3/1 squat day, and I’m looking forward to kicking some ass.
AAR – KR Training, 2013-10-05 – Basic Pistol 1
The last Basic Pistol 1 of 2013. Things “go dark” for KR Training next month due to deer hunting season. Well, not totally dark — still stuff on the schedule, just stuff that’s not as loud that would scare the deer. 🙂
Weather was typical. Forecasts of rain, doom, and gloom, then when class time comes around, it’s gorgeous. A cold front was on its way, so there were clouds in the sky and the pressure was towards cooling. So it really made for a great day to be outside. We did worry tho a little about the rain. We’ve been getting some heavy rains here in Central Texas, and stock tanks have been filling up. Then last weekend was when the dam broke — literally. The tanks at the A-Zone Range couldn’t hold any more due to the 7.5″ of rain that fell that weekend. Where the tanks flow out, they then flow through 3 large pipes that go under the road — the road that leads to the range. Well, it couldn’t take it and the road partially collapsed! Some pictures posted to the KR Training Facebook page. Thankfully the county responded fairly quickly and got things patched up. This is just a temporary fix, but it makes the road passable. Hopefully it won’t be too long before the county has a proper fix in place.
But with no rain and a patched up road, class went ahead.
All in all, a fairly typical Basic Pistol 1 class. Seems everyone had a lot of fun, and had a fair introduction to the world of shooting sports.
I did want to use this opportunity to point out a few things to one gentleman that was having issues with trigger yank. We spoke about it briefly in class, but I wanted to give him some reference materials.
Again, there is no magic pill to cure this. I wish there was, because I’d be taking the pill too. 😉 But things we discussed in class should help.
First, that magical “trigger reset”? Work on that. So that your trigger presses aren’t one large motion of putting the finger on the trigger, slapping it, then removing the finger. If you learn to “ride” the trigger, that can help work towards a smoother motion, instead of the “slap” that can come by always putting your finger on the trigger and then taking it off, and then slapping it back down again because you’re trying to get that second shot off quickly.
Second, dry practice. The Wall Drill helps a lot in terms of training your fingers and your brain. Start slow, then work up towards your “normal” speed. It helps everything learn how to press properly, without having to combat recoil, noise, and so on.
Third, a live fire drill is Ball & Dummy. While the linked-to explanation talks about random distribution of the dummy rounds, sometimes try known distribution, like live/dummy/live/dummy/live/dummy/etc. So yes, you KNOW this shot will be live and this shot will be dummy. It works your brain differently due to knowledge and expectation. Both can be useful approaches.
And it just takes time and practice and patience. One thing to be sure of when you practice is to not chastise yourself when you do yank it. This isn’t to say to not be critical nor correct your mistakes. But rather, I’ve often found when people chastise themselves for their mistakes, they phrase things negatively: “Don’t do that” or “Don’t yank the trigger”. Or the simple fact they get mad at themselves. This doesn’t put you in a mindset for success. If you’re angry, that won’t serve you well to improve yourself. If you think about “Don’t yank the trigger”, you’re telling your body… yank the trigger. Phrase things in terms of what you should do: “Slow, smooth press”. “Slow down”. “Press the trigger”. “Even pressure”. Or whatever you find you need to do. Be relaxed, take a couple breaths, smile, then tell yourself what you should do.
You’ll get there. 🙂
2013-10-07 training log
Oh… it hurts. 🙂
Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 24, week 2
- Work Set – Deadlift (working max: 390#)
- 160 x 5
- 195 x 5
- 235 x 3
- 275 x 3 (work)
- 315 x 3
- 355 x 4
- Assistance – Deficit Deadlift (1.5″ deficit)
- 205 x 6 x 4 sets
- Assistance – Crunches
- BW x 10 x 3 sets
- Farmer’s Walk – didn’t really happen (see below)
- Foam Rolling
I can tell… I need to eat carbs, but too many carbs does bloat me up. Gets away from me on the weekends. *sigh* Gotta watch that. And so, was a little sluggish today.
But at least I remembered to bring a camera! I brought a second iDevice and was able to find a way to video myself from the side. It’s not perfect, propped in a bench, so there’s a little angle and it’s not perfect, but it’s better than nothing.
Maybe because the camera was watching me, I was really on about form. Lifts generally went well. I felt good with the 4 @ 355, and opted against 5 because it would have been bowling shoe ugly. Leave some in the tank, right?
Deficits kicked my butt, literally. Oh, it hurt. My lower back, glutes, hams… just dying. A 5th set wasn’t going to happen.
Then I tried some Farmer’s Walks, but slightly different. I pulled out my Fat Gripz, put them on the 60# dumbbell and started walking, but got 25 yards and stopped. The Gripz had me take an awkward position and there was bad pain in my wrists. I had to stop. If I’m going to keep using the Gripz I probably should start with a much lower weight, find my grip, then work back up. Took the Gripz off, did another 25 yards, but that was it… I had destroyed my posterior chain, so I just wasn’t going to have any more of it. You know… submaximal, never miss, leave some in the tank, so in the spirit of that I just stopped. Even tried the elliptical for a bit, but it just wasn’t going to have it. Heck, even now as I write this a couple hours later, I can still feel it.
But overall, I felt alright. I’m looking forward to next “week”, 5/3/1 week, and some Joker Sets on stuff. Let’s see where I can push myself!
Sunday Metal – Best Thrash Bands of All Time – #5 Exodus
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.
#5 Exodus
“Verbal Razors”. This song always cracked me up.
Training log supplemental
I feel like Jean-Luc Picard there… “captain’s log, supplemental”. 🙂
I wanted to fill in some blanks about my gym sessions that happens every time but doesn’t get covered in the logs because it’s minutia.
I go to the gym in the morning. It works best for my schedule. I’m a morning person, so it works.
It’s about an hour between when I rise and when I start lifting. I found that I need about an hour, at least, for everything to wake up and be firing well enough to lift.
I don’t eat before I go to the gym. Just drink some water. I have tried pre-workout supps, but I think it’s just wasted money. Still, I have some (bought in bulk, still going through it) and am consuming it because I paid for it, might as well. Once it’s gone, I might switch to just taking a 200mg caffeine capsule and like 20-25g of whey isolate.
I walk to the gym. I live close enough that driving would really be silly, since the whole point of this is for my good health. That said, I will drive on occasion of the weather is bad or time is tight. But if I do, I do a little more warm up since the walk is technically part of my warm up and cool down. I just walk. No power walking, no fast walking or anything. Just walk. It’s also a time when on the way there I think about my day ahead and get anything off my brain I need to (so it doesn’t distract me in the gym); on the way home I use it to review the training session.
When I get to the gym, I start my warm up by just loosening up. I move through all my joints, rolling my wrists, some deep-knee bends, twisting, turning. Just get everything moving. I’ll hang from the pull-up bar for a little stretch. I don’t do any static stretching because that actually can make you weaker (go read Thomas Kurz’s books); if I really need it, I’ll dynamic stretch. Recently I picked up doing some rotator cuff work from Clint Smith:
It’s really simple, just 3 movements, 5# plate in each hand, 10 reps each movement. But I can say this has done a lot to help my shoulders. I do this every session, not just pressing days.
After that, I’ll start lifting. Since first thing is always a main lift, I start out doing 2 sets with the empty bar. The first set is never too serious, but mostly helps me get into the groove, so I take it as needed. For example, if I’m going to squat, I might find that first rep doesn’t get me down all the way, so I’ll keep working on getting deeper, maybe staying in the hole for a bit and letting things loosen up. I’ll generally do 5 reps, but if I need more I’ll take it. That first empty-bar set is just to get me prepped. The second empty-bar set is as strict as one can with an empty bar, really getting to work. Then into the lifts.
When I’m doing the main lift, the first few sets are warm ups. I’ll lift, then change weight, and lift again. I work through my warm up sets with only as much rest time as it takes to change plates. When I’m doing the work sets, I’ll take about 5 minutes between sets, but I’ll vary this depending how I feel.
The first assistance work tends to push me too, but there I’ll only rest about 90 seconds between sets.
Any additional assistance work gets about 60 seconds of rest, and these days I’m trying to remember to lift this stuff like a bodybuilder. Work the muscle, feel the muscle, this isn’t about moving the weight but rather working the muscle. Squeeze at the top, don’t slack on the negative. All that good stuff.
Yes, I use a timer to watch my rest periods. It keeps me honest and keeps things consistent and measurable between sessions. I also have to stay on track because I do have to get to work eventually. Plus, it’s one less thing to think about… let the timer on my phone do the work, while I think about other things.
Afterwards, I try to foam roll. Some days more than others, but at least a few back and forths on my spine because it feels good.
Then walk home, shower, eat, and off to work. I don’t necessarily worry about a post-workout shake or anything. I just eat a good breakfast with a lot of protein and the other things I need.
I only consume water during the gym time. No peri-workout nutrition.
These days I try to avoid using the belt, save for the last (heaviest) set. I don’t use any other supportive equipment, like knee or elbow sleeves or wraps. I did use wrist wraps when benching, but I stopped. I used them since I had some wrist pain, but that’s long gone and I don’t use them. Sometimes I pull them out on like the 5/3/1 week heaviest set, but meh.
My stance and form strives to replicate what Mark Rippetoe describes in Starting Strength. I’m not out to be a competitive powerlifter looking to maximize my leverages and squeeze every ounce out. I just want to be generally stronger, bigger, and have better health. I have to remember this is all about improving my health. About making sure that my body is strong and capable as I’m getting older. So my decisions tend to be conservative and not always push myself to death because… why? Injury is not what I need, wearing myself out is not what I need. I will err on improving my health, not destroying it.
So, that’s what fills in the gaps of my gym time. Tends to be this way every session, and plays into the greater picture.
And now you know.
Stuff From Hsoi 