Author: hsoi

2013-10-04 training log

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It was a good day.

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 24, week 2

  • Work Set – Bench Press (working max: 225#)
    • 45 x 5 x 2 sets (warmup)
    • 95 x 5
    • 115 x 5
    • 135 x 3
    • 160 x 3 (work)
    • 180 x 3
    • 205 x 7
  • Assistance – Barbell Incline Press
    • 135 x 10/10/7/7/6 x 5 sets
  • Assistance – Pull-ups (superset between each pressing set)
    • BW (band-assisted) x 5/5/5/5/5/5/5/5/4/3/3 x 11 sets
  • Assistance – DB Rows
    • 60 x 10 x 2 sets
    • 60 x 15

Overall, it was a good day. I remembered to bring a second device with me so I could video myself, then proceeded to forget to video anything. 🙂 But I did remember to bench in the squat “rack” instead of on the proper bench because I want to get used to that positioning. Mainly, get used to it, so when I try some Joker Sets and push towards 1RM’s, I can better handle fail if it comes to that point. But when I did my inclines, I used the proper incline bench. I’m going to see doing that in the squat “rack” will be more beneficial because as it is now trying to unrack really comes from an awkward position and my shoulders….

Which for all their feeling good and stronger recently, just didn’t feel it today. Maybe it was all the pull-ups, because they certainly made everything feel like crap today. Just felt really irritated at my elbow, at my shoulder. Don’t know why, but the pull-ups seemed to be involved. *shrug*

Anyways, overall I felt good. If I can crank out 7 @ 205, I feel good about striving for an all-time PR during Joker Sets next session.

More stuff for learning to program

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

A few days ago I wrote about Scratch, a nifty way to help my kids learn how to program.

I forgot a couple other things I found.

Stencyl. This looks neat. It I haven’t used it, but from what I read it looks like it follows the same sort of drag and drop “block” programming structure and logic that Scratch does. But it can be used to actually make iOS and Android products that you can actually ship and sell. So maybe after Scratch, this would be something to try. It would take the knowledge they had before, but now they have to actually make something polished and ship. A good “bridge” between the two worlds, so to speak.

There’s also GameSalad, which is made right here in Austin.

I still would want them to learn “real” languages (e.g. Objective-C, C++, Python, Ruby, Java, JavaScript, and maybe even new funky languages like Scala). Who knows. I think tho it needs to start with a desire to do it, and to really gain a love for it. If things like Scratch or Stencyl take off for them, then we’ll go there.

Who knows. 🙂

 

2013-10-02 training log

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Tight waist! (rhymes with Ronnie Coleman saying “light weight!”) 🙂

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 24, week 2

  • Work Set – Squat (working max: 300#)
    • 45 x 5 x 2 sets (warmup)
    • 120 x 5
    • 150 x 5
    • 180 x 3
    • 215 x 3 (work)
    • 245 x 3
    • 275 x 4
  • Assistance – Front Squat
    • 135 x 5 x 3 sets
    • 95 x 6
  • Assistance – Crunches (superset with Farmer’s walk)
    • BW x 10 x 3 sets
  • Farmer’s Walk
    • 60# per hand
    • 3, 50 yard trips
    • 10 breath rest between trips
  • Foam Rolling

Today was awesome.

I’ve been so focused on having a tight upper back, pulling my chin/neck back into the bar (thus working to keep the back/torso upright), and pressing with the legs (instead of bending at the hips then levering the weight up with my back) that I lost one key thing — tight waist.

See, I would think about it. Get under the bar, unrack it, and while I walked out and then stood there to steady things, I would tighten up. But when I went down I would forget about the torso, focusing so much on my upper back and legs, that everything in between lost tightness. Well, I think that’s been a cause for my problems in the hole. I get almost all the way down, and of course your back will angle somewhat forward just due to the mechanics of things… but because I lost the tightness I would come more forward than I should… which would take the bar out of the groove, would change how the levers felt (and thus how heavy the weight felt due to leverage changes with the bar going further from my center), would cause the bar to go low but my hips to remain slightly above parallel… keeping me from hitting true depth and worry of dumping and not able to get up out of the hole… then to come back up I have to lever it back into the groove or it’s kept out there away from my center… and shit falls apart.

Or so I’m hypothesizing based upon some reflection.

But today, all I thought about was keeping my torso tight… like down around my belly-button. Sure, I get set up and tighten the upper back. But I realized if I was truly tight as hell with the torso? it radiates up through the lats into the upper back and all that shit stays tight as it is. And I really don’t need to worry about my legs then, because they’re going to push anyways. And lord, if this didn’t help. All the weights felt light as I worked my way up. And on the 275 set, belt on, really pressing into it and focusing purely on that (and then all my other “cues” fall into place, it seems), down, up, and boy I felt like I was in a greased groove! Recall, I’m doing the same weight as last cycle because I failed to get enough reps, so this is same weight with focus on more reps. Last cycle got 2 @ 275. I hit 2, felt easy, went for 3, no problem. Screw it, go for 4… and I knew that’d be a little hard and sure enough there was a little fall forward at the top, but I still got it. I know I hit depth. I felt like things were riding on rails… it was just great!

So yeah… tight waist! If I really truly work to have that, everything else seems to fall into place.

Front squats, I opted to just go for more weight and tho lower reps, fine. I’m working here too to keep as upright as possible, pause at the bottom for a couple seconds holding everything tight, then going again. Only about 90 seconds of rest between sets. I’ll slowly ramp up on this weight more so maybe it’s just like 3×5 sets (with one light AMRAP set at the end). Fine.

I’m stoked. It got me thinking about my goals again. After this cycle is over, I’ll probably only get 2 more cycles in (only about 10 weeks left in the year, after this cycle ends). I had set a goal to total 1000 before the end of the year, and that probably will not happen. But I know I’ve been progressing towards it, so I can live with that. And really, at this point my biggest win would be squatting 300#. If I can do that, I’ll be happy. I know I can do it before the end of the year. I will do it before the end of the year.

Orange Goblin, Red 7, Austin Texas 2013-09-28

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Orange Goblin was one of those bands I had long heard about but never moved on. A few years ago, due in large part to this blog and my Sunday Metal entries, I came across Orange Goblin again and started listening to them. I started with “Time Travelling Blues” and just love that song and that album. I picked up their entire catalog and it’s just so strong. No question TTB and their latest, “A Eulogy for the Damned” are my favorites of theirs, but it’s all good.

I had long been looking to see them live, but had no idea if that would be possible. They’re based out of the UK, so a US tour has to be worth the time and money for them. About a year ago I heard about US tour plans, but only a SXSW showcase show was happening. That wasn’t going to happen for me, and I was fearing it might be my only chance. Often bands play SXSW then consider that their “Austin area appearance” for “this go-round” and that’s that, which sucks because it’s not really indicative of a show given the nature of SXSW. When Orange Goblin announced official US headline tour plans, I was stoked to find out Austin was on the list. No way was I going to miss this show!

Pre-Show Coolness

Possible Complications

Austin is finally exiting summer. The concert was at Red 7, outdoor stage. Given the time of year, I figured it would be perfect weather: in the 70’s, gentle breeze, and just a perfect night for an outdoor show.

Alas, Mother Nature had other plans. 🙂

This past week was abnormally warm, upper 90’s most of the week. Then rain. Friday and Saturday both had bouts of sporadic and very heavy rainfall. So it was warm, extremely humid, and wet. And these thunderstorms were pretty bad, bad enough you could see an outdoor gig getting cancelled. Thankfully that didn’t happen, but the weather wasn’t cooperative as the night wore on.

The other thing that threw a wrench in the works was the Old Pecan Street Festival. Red 7 is located on the north side of Austin’s famous “6th Street District”. Austin, Saturday night, decent weather (in theory), we figured at least the normal 6th Street crowd from the University would be down there. There was no UT football game so that helped, but then there was the Festival. See, Old Pecan Street and the east-end of 6th Street are the same thing, so as soon as I realized the festival was going on, we headed downtown. I had no idea what closures would be like, what parking might be like, and just didn’t feel like wandering all over creation as the night wore on.

But it worked out to be pretty cool.

Downtown Austin

Daughter was my concert buddy tonight. We got downtown and were able to park in the lot I wanted, so that was good. We then went and wandered the festival. Frankly, the festival was a little boring: just lots of vendors selling stuff, fair food, and so on. Meh. Every side street had bands playing tho, which was cool. We listened to a few of them, with one little blues band (with a ripping harmonica player) really catching our interest. But I was really hungry, so I thought I’d introduce Daughter to Hoek’s Death Metal Pizza! To my great disappointment, we got there and they were closed! Argh! (I later found out they had some sort of electrical failure earlier in the day and had to temporarily close until it could be repaired).

But that was OK. I actually wanted to check out this restaurant called Koriente. I heard about it a number of years ago when I was looking for more Korean restaurants in town. I’ll admit, the menu put me off at first because it really isn’t a Korean place… it’s… Korean-esque. No question it’s based upon Korean (and Japanese) food, but you can tell it’s reworked some to cater to possible target clientele. I mean, I’m half-Korean and grew up eating all sorts of Korean home-cooking, so this put me off a bit. But hey, I found out the place is right next door to Red 7 so why not give it a try and see? Glad I did! Food was really good. I can’t go in there thinking I’m having some of mom’s cooking, because it’s not. But if I take it for what it is, it’s pretty damn good. I had a seared Ahi Tuna (rare protein!); good stuff.

You Never Know Who You’ll Meet

Daughter wanted to eat out on the back patio. No problem, as we might as well adjust to the heat and humidity of the evening. The patio backs up to the alleyway that then leads to the outside entrance for Red 7. While finishing up dinner, we heard some soundcheck going on. We finished eating and thought to walk up the alley to see exactly where the entrance was. When we did, we were rewarded with hearing Orange Goblin doing their proper soundcheck! If I remember correctly, they checked with Scorpionica and Some You Win, Some You Lose, but as I write this I honestly don’t remember. Tho we didn’t see the band, it was cool to hear their soundcheck.

We still had an hour to go until the doors opened, so we went back to the Pecan St. Festival and wandered around some more, listened to some more bands, and just enjoyed the evening. Around 8:45 or so we sat down at a small band tent just at the exit to the Red 7 alleyway. One band was breaking down while the next was setting up, but we just wanted to sit for a bit since we’d be standing for a number of hours. Well, while we sat, who should we see emerge from the alley but Orange Goblin! Looks like they were going to get some food and check out the festival. I got right up, walked over to them, welcomed them to Austin and asked for a picture of them with Daughter. They were kind and obliged.

They were super nice guys, and it was kind of them to take a few minutes for the picture.

The Festival was breaking up, so we decided to head into the venue. As we were doing so, one of my co-workers showed up. We’ve been talking about the show on and off at work and I kept encouraging him to come out. I was glad he did! So into the venue we went.

We checked out merch. Daughter bought a Holy Grail yo-yo (they made 150 for each album, she got the “Ride the Void” one), and I was stoked to see they were good yo-yos (Duncan’s) not some cheap merch thing. Very cool!  I got an Orange Goblin t-shirt. Apparently it was a shirt from the last tour, but it was the only one I could get. The current tour shirt is not one I could wear – Wife wouldn’t approve, couldn’t wear it to work, etc.. That’s OK tho, as the shirt I did get was cool, and I was just happy they had it in 2XL. 🙂

The Bands

The Well

The show was opened by a local act called The Well (website, bandcamp). Never heard of them before, but why not, who knows.

I dug them. Heavy, sludgy, doomy, Sabbathy riffs and such. Decent stage presence too. Their vocal approach is different: it’s sung by both the male guitarist and female bassist at the same time. No harmony, just both singing at the same time, same melody lines. It’s unique, but I’m not sure how well it sits with me. I might have to listen to it more to see. Part of me wonders if they’d do better by both sharing vocal duties, but not always at the same time. He sings this song, she sings that song. Maybe some songs together.

Anyways, I thought they were alright and I’ll probably try to listen to more before I make a decision one way or another. But the fact my interest is perked is a good thing.

Lazer/Wulf

Lazer/Wulf was another band I had never heard of. Checked them out online before the show. I did not like what I heard. Put it this way. Take improvisational jazz — not the music itself, but the style, the approach, the noodling, the mentality, and then make it metal. It’s not “jazz metal”, it’s just instrumental metal with this sort of free-form jazz approach. They call themselves an experimental metal band.

Well, I knew from past experience to give things a chance, because often a band’s live performance can win you over. Sure enough, they were impressive.

The music is still not my cup of tea. But the trio are some damn talented musicians. I mean, they were beasts! They worked hard, and are certainly masters of their instrument and craft. I have to give them tons of credit. The drummer was pounding the hell out of his drums. At one point his bass drum came loose and was probably going to walk off the edge of the stage, but someone from the audience went up and moved it back into place, holding it there for the rest of the song! Very cool. When the song ended, he helped them fix the drum so their set could continue (he told me afterwards a screw had come out of the stabilizer leg; he found it, put it back together and away they went).

The set ended abruptly. They were out of time! They said something earlier about improv, so I’m not sure how much of their set was as-recorded and then how much was just on-stage jamming. But they were out of time and just ended the song… apparently mid-stream, but I had no idea. 🙂  Still it was cool how they were so tight as a band.

Seriously. Check this band out. You will like them or you will hate them, and you will respect their talent and ability. But if you can, see them live. I still think their recorded stuff doesn’t really showcase them properly. Trying to stream some of their albums and I just can’t get into it, but I did like them live.

If you are going to see this tour, show up early enough to see these guys.

Holy Grail

Holy Grail is yet another band I hadn’t heard of, until I heard about this tour.

But they were easy for me to get into. Very old school 80’s style thrash/power metal stuff. I mean, check them out… all sorts of fun metal clichĂ©s, and their songs are really good too.

Both Daughter and I have become fans of this band. I think she digs them more; we’ll be in the car and I’ll ask what she wants to listen to, and Holy Grail has been her pick as of late. 🙂

We got to meet the guitarists too. Earlier in the night, they walked by us to get a beer at the bar. I asked Daughter if she wanted to go get a picture, so over we went. Super nice guys, very happy to talk to us, and happy to hear about a couple new fans.

Their set was short, but really good. Daughter wanted to be up front, and so there we were, right up against the stage. This is why I like smaller shows like this: you can get right up with the band, you can meet the bands, it’s so much more fun than arena shows.

Holy Grail ripped through their set, and I was quite impressed. I wish I had discovered this guys sooner, because just a few months ago they were headlining in Austin. That would have been fun to see, a longer show. But if all goes well, I’m sure there will be a third album and another tour. We’ll be there!

  • Bleeding Stone
  • Crosswinds
  • Ride the Void
  • Requiem
  • Dark Passenger
  • Call of Valhalla
  • My Last Attack

I can’t argue with the setlist. I would have loved it if they played Fight to Kill, but really, this was good for the time they had to play. I did like that they finished with My Last Attack. That song just rips. I love putting on Crisis in Utopia and just cranking up the first 5 songs on that album.

Anyways… Holy Grail finished and it was time for the headliners!

Orange Goblin

Remember when I mentioned the weather?

Well, the rain was starting to come down. Hard.

I expected the crowd to be thin in the beginning of the show, and while more people came as the night wore on, I don’t think the place ever got packed. And as the rain came down, I looked around and well, it looked like the crowd was thinning out. Red 7 didn’t have a cover over the entire area, so if you weren’t right up at the stage, you were getting soaked.

We kept our spot up at the front of the stage, just to the side of Ben Ward and Joe Hoare (who was in a leg brace when we ran into him on the street, but was brace-less during their set and seemed to be moving around well). And not just up front, but under what cover/roof there was.

The band was tight and they kicked our ass. They put together a great set with a little from every album in their catalog. There were so many possible songs one could pick, it had to be tough to create a setlist, but I think they did a great job of representing every album and “era” of the band. I did not feel disappointed. Hell, they played “Time Travelling Blues”, so I was stoked. 🙂

The audience really came alive for OG’s set. Alas, the rain seemed to drive everyone into one of two places. Either people left, or they crammed forward under what little cover their was. I felt bad for the band, looking out and seeing a somewhat empty venue. But it was certainly due to the rain. They sounded understanding, and I can’t blame people for not wanting to be soaked (the rain was coming down hard and heavy). Still…. the die hards stuck it out and that moved what mosh pit there was under what cover their was. So I got banged around a lot, but that’s OK. My job was to “cage” Daughter so she didn’t get crushed or banged up. 🙂

And those of us that remained got a hell of a show. The band was professional and kept playing like they were playing to a house packed with dry fans. 🙂

  1. Made of Rats
  2. The Filthy & the Feew
  3. Acid Trial
  4. Time Travelling Blues
  5. Saruman’s Wish
  6. Some You Win, Some You Lose
  7. The Fog
  8. The Man Who Invented Time
  9. Round Up the Horses
  10. Cities of Frost
  11. Your World Will Hate This
  12. The Come Back (Harvest of Skulls)
  13. Scorpionica
  14. Quincy the Pigboy (encore)
  15. Red Tide Rising (encore)

As you can see, great set. More songs of Eulogy, which makes sense. It did tell me I need to listen to Coup de Grace more.

Thank you, Orange Goblin, for coming and playing. Sorry about the weather (and turnout), but thank you for kicking our asses and making for a great night!

2013-09-30 training log

/ hsoi

Where was my head at?

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 5 (work)
    • 120 x 5
    • 140 x 5
  • Assistance – Press
    • 100 x 10/10/9/7/6 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 went to the gym fairly unencumbered mentally, which is unusual. So while I was pressing, my head was…. just there. I was focused on getting my setup and breathing and tightness going that I lost track of what I was doing otherwise! I got to the 5th rep of the 140 and felt that was good…. because I thought it was 3 week and that I just went 2 over the prescribed reps. Then I racked it, entered it into my log, and found myself disoriented wondering what just happened. No, it’s 5 week and I should have gone for more… but I didn’t. In fact, pressing up that 140 wasn’t hard on the upper body, but my lower body was very shakey. I’m trying that “screw my legs into the ground” stuff to get my lower body tight, but I don’t know if it’s working or is feeding the wobbly because it’s not actually stable. I’ve never been wobbly like this, until I tried the ‘screwing’ approach, so…. jury is still out.

Still, I did what I could and the session was what it was.

I also wonder if the back work took a little out of me. I bumped up to 85# and while that’s still not enough to really drain me, I am really focusing on full range of motion, squeezing the shoulder blades together at the peak, and making it a movement about the back (not the arms, etc.). From what I felt, I do wonder if it took a little out of my traps so I couldn’t get lock out well enough. Not sure, but curious. I’m generally OK with that. I don’t want the back work to detract from the main lift, but I really do want the extra back work. So if it’s a cut back in the short term but leads to longer term gains, bigger and stronger back, fine.

Ended off the session as I’ve been doing. Press day sometimes turns into “arm day” too. That after I’m done, I’ll just rip through some light sets of something for a pump. Today I did some front plate raises immediately followed by some db lateral raises immediately followed by some ez-bar tricep pressdowns (full lockout) immediately followed by some barbell curls. All light weight, trying to go for like 8-15 reps. Lift up with no momentum, really go slow on the negative, rest a moment at the bottom to lose momentum, go again. Two quick rounds of that, just for a pump. Nothing worth recording, but it’s there.

I have to admit… I’m thinking more and more about a change up. I don’t know. Is it me? am I not working hard enough? smart enough? Something? Could I be stale? Could something like Cube Method be a kick in the pants after 2 years of Wendler? I poked around at the gym to see what I could do for something like block pulls. There’s really nothing block-wise I could use but…. I MIGHT try the Smith Machine. I tried it and well, no it’s not ideal but it might be better than nothing using what I have available to me. I think the only thing keeping me from jumping on the Cube right now is wanting more information about Cube Extreme just due to the approach that takes towards gym time. I’m thinking about just emailing Corey Hayes and asking….

Sunday Metal – Best Thrash Bands of All Time – #6 Testament

/ 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.

#6 Testament

Y’all know my love for Testament. “Over the Wall”

 

Learning to program

/ hsoi / 12 Comments

Youngest walks up to me about a month ago and asks how you program (write software for computers).

Oh joy! 🙂

Now I’ve talked about learning to program before and even a second time. I always come back to Karel the Robot as a great way to learn how to program. Why? Because you get to learn the constructs of programming without being burden by the constructs of programming. You can learn about loops and conditionals and variables and logic and flow, but you don’t have to spend 3 hours debugging a problem to find out it was because you misplaced a comma. And it doesn’t matter if you really do anything useful or not at this stage, in terms of gaining some employable skill (no job listings for Karel knowledge); once you learn how to program, then languages are just languages and toolsets are just toolsets.

Back when I looked at the LEGO Heavy Weapons book, No Starch Press offered other books to me to review. I asked about the Python for Kids book because it looked like it might be a great way to start the kids into programming. They sent me a copy, but I have yet to go through it. Mostly inertia on my part. Daughter asked me about it, but just a passing interest. And I must admit, while I think the book is well done for what it is, I still think it’s not a perfect start because there’s issues of language that get in the way. You have to get bogged down by syntax of Python. It’s not horrible of course, but I know things can be simpler. I think this book would make a good “phase 2”.

When Youngest asked me again, I went looking around. I found Scratch from MIT.

I think I’ve found what I’ve been looking for.

Youngest and I played around with this for a bit, doing the tutorial. I saw how Scratch gave you all the language, all the logic, even some advanced things like variables, lists, and inter-object messaging. It’s actually pretty cool. I liked the way you just drag and drop to make logic go. It also is able to give you direct feedback, which I think is good for capturing a child’s interest in the topic. I encouraged Youngest to “just try it”. What would happen if? Just try it and see! The environment is very forgiving, but even still, you can make mistakes and have to learn to debug.

I also really dig that all Scratch projects are “open source”. You can look at what others have done, and then you can look at the “source code” to see how they did it. I was able to find a simple game on the site, then show everyone how they made it happen and how neat that was.

So I’m working on this with Youngest. I told him a simple project he could start with would be reinventing comics. We all love Pearls Before Swine and I told him he could start by taking a simple Pearls comic (maybe just Pig and Rat talking to each other) and recreating it in Scratch. It’s a simple project, simple goals, but challenging enough to get your feet wet with.

And we joke… with Youngest programming… Daughter creating artwork and music… Oldest creating artwork, music, and overall design work… they all like to make movies, do voice work. Oh geez… I’ve got an in-house dev shop now!

Man, I wonder how far this ball will roll. 🙂

2013-09-27 training log

/ hsoi

Ooof.

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

  • Work Set – Deadlift (working max: 390#)
    • 45 x 5 x 2 sets (warmup)
    • 160 x 5
    • 195 x 5
    • 235 x 3
    • 255 x 5 (work)
    • 295 x 5
    • 335 x 6
  • Assistance – Deficit Deadlift (1.5″ deficit)
    • 205 x 5 x 2 sets
    • 205 x 3 x 3 sets
  • Assistance – Crunches
    • BW x 15 x 3 sets
  • Foam Rolling

Today was killer. Again, really focusing on keeping my spine “straight” and unmoved as the bar breaks off the ground, drive with my heels. That’s certainly my weak point (not lock-out, by far). And it just took a lot out of me today. My lower back was feeling it pretty hard. As I was doing my deficits, 3rd set? body just said “that’s it”… no way was I going to get that 4th rep without totally breaking down in form. Ah well, I just ensured I did a few more sets to make up for it. But man, that took a lot out of me. I really wanted to do some farmer’s walks, but my lower back and posterior just said “no… you’ve worked me enough”. Better to do a little less and recover well, eh?

I will say, I feel so wussy because it feels like I’m lifting light weights for few reps… I’m coming up off a reset (cycle 21 was the start of a reset… cycle 20 had a working max of 395, and cycle 21 reset to 360). So this cycle somewhat is back on track (working max of 390). I felt off, but looking back at my under pre-reset? I’m doing about the same in terms of weight and reps. So… I’ll actually take this as getting stronger because I KNOW my form is better now than it was then.

I even thought this morning about how PR’s are still cool, but I don’t mind not hitting them every 3-4 weeks. If it’s every 2-cycles… if it’s every 10 weeks, whatever.. I’m actually growing cool with that because I’m feeling a lot more like long-term progress is where I’m at now. It’s of course nice to hit PR’s and see daily and weekly progress, but it doesn’t have to be PR’s as much now as it used to have to be. I can see longer, I can get more satisfaction out of seeing like now… that my numbers aren’t much different on paper, but I know my form is much better so that’s progress, y’know?

Deconstructing the argument

/ hsoi

Trends. We look for them, we see them, we read a lot into them. We put a lot of stock in trends, whether it’s hairstyles, clothing, music, the stock market, the business world, or just how people behave.

When you see that pattern emerge, then when you see the pattern repeated again and again, you can gain some insight into the pattern-maker.

I think it was Kathy Jackson that posted this article by Chris Hernandez about Everything that’s wrong with the argument against protecting schools with guns

It’s a good read that deconstructs the common arguments given as to why we shouldn’t use people armed with guns to protect our schools, or why we shouldn’t have lawful concealed carry, or other such topics. I think what’s most insightful is Chris’ examination of where these patterns come from: their assumptions, their bias. He works to go to the root of the matter and address those and how, because of those misconceptions, any argument built on top of them just doesn’t hold. It’s tough to build upon a false foundation.

“Killing a human crosses a line that most people can’t do.”

Standing there and doing nothing before someone kills you crosses a line. Taking no action at all as a murder massacres children crosses a line. You think the resistance to killing another human is so great, people would literally rather watch someone murder dozens of children than take action to stop them?

It’s a good read. Gave me a different perspective. Go read.

2013-09-25 training log

/ hsoi

Killer

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

  • Work Set – Bench Press (working max: 225#)
    • 45 x 5 x 2 sets (warmup)
    • 95 x 5
    • 115 x 5
    • 135 x 3
    • 150 x 5 (work)
    • 170 x 5
    • 195 x 8
  • Assistance – Barbell Incline Press
    • 135 x 10/9/7/6/6
  • Assistance – Pull-ups (superset between each pressing set)
    • BW (band-assisted) x 5/5/5/5/5/5/5/4/4/4/3
  • Assistance – DB Rows
    • 55 x 10 x 2 sets
    • 55 x 15

I like how today went.

Benching was good. In talking with allthewaydoc, I mentioned how I was going to try something with my foot positioning to help me anchor down. In short, curl my toes up. It’s something I took from deadlifting as a way to get the weight off the balls of your feet and onto the middle of the foot and/or heel. If this bench position is to be about pressing the heels in to get the leg drive, why not try it.

I need to do it a few more times, but so far it seems promising. I found myself getting more leg drive and feeling more stable. I felt like I was actually able to push in the right direction.. .that is, like trying to scoot my head off the end of the bench, instead of driving my hips into the air. I still need a good arch to get things locked and positioned right, which then also is needing me to find a better starting point for my feet so they’re in a good position to push. I’ll have to work to find the groove, but so far this is promising.

The weight felt light. Cranking out 8 reps with 195 wasn’t too bad at all. I hope this means I’m going to break some PR’s here soon and be back on track with my benching.

I am liking incline barbell presses more. It puts me in a different path, and a different range of motion. I feel a lot of work in my chest and triceps — my arms were like jelly towards the end of the session. I think the heavier work is good too

Pullups… went to 5 reps. It kicked my butt and was a contributing factor towards the jelly-arms. I made a decision that once I hit 5 reps across for the 11 sets, I’m going to reduce the band-assistance. The strap contraption thingy uses 3 tubes right now. I’ll try dropping it down to only 2 tubes and see how things go.

I also muffed up… should have done 60# on the rows instead of 55, but gee… that was fine with the jelly arms.

Another mess up was not benching in the squat “rack”. I need to find my place there so when I try to 1RM with Joker Sets at the end of this cycle, I can have some sort of failsafe.