Author: hsoi

Guest of Sunday Metal – W – Manowar

/ hsoi

When I write up the Sunday Metal posts, frequently I choose themes or take inspiration from somewhere. For a while I’ve thought about having some guest postings, and that continues.

The next some posts will be from my close friend, W. He’s flown the flag of metal for many years, including being a metal radio DJ around the same time I was (tho we didn’t meet until after). We’ve been friends for many years, been to numerous shows together, and share a love of the music. So I figured he’d make a good first guest to Sunday Metal. So with that, onwards!

As a young pup, delivering pizzas was the perfect job. I got to drive my car, in a hurry, bearing precious doughy cargo on a deadline. I discovered all of the short cuts. I learned where the good tippers were, and which apartment complexes I never, ever wanted to set foot near again.

The first place I ever experienced fear of physical harm whilst making a delivery was an upstairs apartment, the path to which was a concrete walkway sloping downward away from the building at a jaunty angle that clearly communicated “imminent collapse”. Steeling myself against certain doom with the knowledge of the importance of my pepperoni-laced duty, I ascended the rickety, not completely intact stairs, and stepped lightly down the treacherous path. Keeping as close to the building as possible, I completed my quest, collected my just rewards, and retraced my steps with care until I was once again on solid ground. I made it out alive, and the concrete deck remained tenuously (some would say impossibly) suspended as I drove away with Z-Rock blaring triumphantly from the speakers of my car stereo.

I don’t remember what song was playing at that moment, but if there is justice in the world, it was Manowar.

It was this job, and that radio station, that provided me the broadest expansion of my musical horizons I had yet experienced in my young life. Manowar was one of the bands that received a reasonable amount of airplay on Z-Rock, and this was the first song of theirs I ever heard. It has a brash, fiercely independent attitude, a powerful groove with a hook that just won’t let go, and Eric Adams’ vocals are simply inimitable. While it lacks the “Extra Cheese” typical of Manowar, this is still as good a gateway to the self-proclaimed “Kings Of Metal” as you could ask for.

Strap on your fur boots, grab your broadsword, “dec” your gear, and enjoy!

(The apartment complex of doom was condemned and demolished less than a year later.)

“Gluteal Sculpting” – dafuq?

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

TMI time: I had a flat butt.

I recall an old friend describing it like it was just a continuation of my back, with a crack in it.

Apparently this can now be cured by “gluteal sculpting”:

Dr. Mendieta performed liposuction on Mr. Vickers’s abdomen and love handles, then injected the fat into the buttocks.

“They take the fat where you don’t want it, and put it where you do want it,” Mr. Vickers said.

As men age, they tend to lose fat from their buttocks, faces and hands, while gaining it in stomachs and chests, Dr. Mendieta said. Weight lifting yields only modest results for the posterior.

“The only way to pump up your derrière,” he said, “is with your wallet.”

Spoken like someone with something to sell. 🙄

You know what else cures it?

Squats.

Seems to be working for me. Just ask Wife. :mrgreen:

Do you have ownership over yourself?

/ hsoi / 8 Comments

Do you own yourself? Do you have ultimate dominion over yourself, your body, your mind?

Or does someone else, like the state?

An interesting question put forth by Nico Perrino

Do you own yourself?

It seems like a simple question, doesn’t it? Not so, apparently. It has always been my belief that I own myself. That the individual is sovereign. That my body and mind is a ship that only I can captain, that only I can steer. This is one truism that I have always taken for granted. Call me naïve, but I didn’t think many people thought otherwise because to do so would be to admit to a state of enslavement.

Thinking about it, I guess I figured I always had ownership over myself. I cannot fathom it otherwise, that someone else could own me. I mean, ever since my childhood exposure to “Free to Be… You and Me” I thought we had that sort of freedom, right? OK, maybe my Mom has some right and dominion over me, but Mom’s get special dispensation here. 🙂  And even tho I take others into deep consideration, like Wife, ultimately I still own me, I still control me.

Right?

I mean, if it’s “my body, my choice”, doesn’t that imply one has ownership over themselves? That they do not want the State to interfere and control them? That you do not want the State to interfere with, control, dictate, harm, you?

From that, doesn’t it also flow that then you must take responsiblity for yourself? That you cannot, should not, and/or are unwilling to delegate ownership, control, and responsibility for yourself and your life to someone else, like the State?

The cognitive dissonance I’m experiencing here is saying it’s my body, it’s my choice, that on the one hand one doesn’t want the State involved in my life and controlling me, telling me what I can and cannot do. But then on the other hand, demanding the State control me and alleviate me of being responsible for myself, and telling me what I must do. Look around at the mainstream political issues going on right now, be it abortion, birth-control, self-defense, health care, whatever. Doesn’t matter what mainstream media, talking head, or politician we look at, because just about all are guilty of this behavior in some manner or other.

I don’t get it.

But this seems to be a common affliction these days, of wanting things that we perceive will achieve our desired end, even if the means conflict, even if the means are inconsistent, even if the means are hypocritical. But in many regards, it comes back to one issue:

A desire to alleviate the need to be responsible for yourself and your actions.

We want the good and not the bad. We want the benefits and not the cost. We want the glory but not the sacrifice. And if someone has to pay, you will pay for me.

And are you willing to give up your ownership over yourself to get there? I’m not, but apparently many are. Worse, they want to force me to do the same.

Wither society.

2013-07-26 training log

/ hsoi

Weaker but stronger…. I hope. 🙂

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 22, week 1

  • Work Set – Deadlift (working max: 370#)
    • 1x5x150 (warmup)
    • 1x5x185
    • 1x3x225
    • 1x5x245 (work)
    • 1x5x280
    • 1x5x320
  • Assistance – Deficit Deadlift (1.5″ deficit)
    • 3 x 8/7/5 x 185
  • Farmers Walk
    • 50 yards per trip
    • 6 trips, 2 trips, 10 breath rest, 2 trips, 10 breath rest, 1 trip, rest, 1 trip rest
    • 45# plate in each hand

I feel weaker… but I think it’s only in my head. Only 320#? Geez… feels like I should be doing more, right? But this is what a reset is all about. But then, I should be getting more reps, right? Nope. My continued focus on keeping my back up, pushing with my legs… it’s really coming into play. I certainly find myself stopping because my legs can’t do any more, tho my body says I could keep going just with my back.

The past few deadleft sessions, since the reset, since I’ve been focusing more on being upright, pushing with the legs (not pulling with the back). I swear my legs feel it more. I feel a pump, I feel exhaustion, in my quads, hams, and glutes. I get to that “last rep” and find my legs getting wobbly tho my back wants to keep going. And the deficits…. whoa, you can really feel it there. I certainly stop lifting if I even find a hint of wanting to bend over.

So I reckon that’s good.

My ego hates it. But I know my body loves it and in the long run, this is right and better.

I do enjoy doing the farmer’s walks, tho my grip is certainly the weak point there. I wanted to do 100 yards at a time, but after 2 trips of that (and all the deadlifting), my grip was tiring so I could only get 1 trip without a rest. And then after 6 total trips, my grip was done. I am finding posture really matters to do this right. You can’t let the weight sink you — you really have to be upright, good posture, tuck your chin in and head up. It’s cool. 🙂

Plastic pocket holster

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

How to make a plastic pocket holster…. out of a milk jug.

From Claude Werner (h/t to Greg Ellfritz)

I’m not saying this is the right and best way to do things, but it’s something to keep in mind, because certainly this could be useful.

(and please, don’t show up to class with one of these).

2013-07-24 training log

/ hsoi

Maybe it was short, but with a good, grass-fed reason.

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 22, week 1

  • Work Set – Bench Press (working max: 215#)
    • 2x5x45 (warmup)
    • 1x5x85
    • 1x5x110
    • 1x3x130
    • 1x5x140 (work)
    • 1x5x165
    • 1x8x185
  • Assistance – DB Incline Press
    • 5 x 10/10/10/8/7 x 50
  • Assistance – DB Rows
    • 3 x 10/10/25 x 50

Man… reset and the weights feel really light. So, focus on form, cranking as much volume as possible… so long as in the long-run we’re stronger, right?

This sort of approach is really putting it to my triceps. I can feel them being the first to peed out during inclines. All good.

I did cut this a little short today because I had to get on the road to pick up our beef. We recently purchased another young beef from Sand Creek Farm and it just finished processing at Taylor Meat Company. Had to go pick it up this morning, and now the chest freezer is full of wonderful grass-fed hormone-free “rose” beef.

It was well worth the trade-off for my lifting session. 🙂 Especially after yesterday. Had to go out of town for a funeral, and while I did my best to plan meals, plans don’t always work out and I had to eat on the road… at a Dairy Queen. *sigh* Alas, my choice of steak fingers wound up being rather horrible — I question how much “steak” was actually in there. Don’t look at the nutrition info, because it’s just horrible. But that ended up counting as my carbs for the day. I also got to learn that DQ’s in Texas are apparently handled differently than DQ’s everywhere else in the world.

I’m thinking I need to adjust to eat less carbs on my carb days (if such a thing is possible without driving me nuts) and also drop my fat consumption down… probably sticking to less than 100g of fat a day every day. Ugh. In a sense, I’m feeling “too good” with these dietary changes, like I’ve still got more than enough energy, so I may well not be trimming off what I need instead of fat getting burned. We shall see.

It’s OK to make mistakes

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

I spend time in a classroom, as a teacher. It’s not any sort of classroom, but a classroom full of intensity and pressure. It’s a pressure where people understand they are learning life-saving skills, and failure to master those skills could lead to their own death or the death of others, and mastery could save lives. Consequently, students tend to get pretty hard on themselves when they make mistakes.

Please stop.

You are human.

You will make mistakes.

You will fail, perhaps many times, before you succeed.

You are a student. You are in class. You are admitting you don’t know something, that you aren’t good at something. But by paying the money and spending the time, you are demonstrating your willingness to overcome, to fill that void, to improve yourself.

Don’t be so hard on yourself.

Some months ago while participating as a student in a class, I watched a gentleman fail and make mistakes. This guy is smart, very capable, and a master of certain realms in his own right. But here he was, admitting his lack of knowledge, remedying his void, and being humble in his learning. He didn’t cuss himself out when he failed. He didn’t get angry about his inability. He chalked it up, learned from it, and moved on. He’s traveled the road to success, and he knows that mistakes and failure is just part of the process. Just be willing to ultimately learn and grow from those mistakes.

Every so often I see students getting so hard on themselves when they don’t do something right. While it is understandable, it begins a descent into a hole that’s hard to emerge from. If it isn’t stopped, it makes the problem worse because now the student gets so focused on the mistakes and the act of “not making mistakes” when instead they should be focused on the class material. Where you focus is where you will improve; if your brain is thinking “don’t screw up”, then your brain is focused on “screwing up” and that’s what you will do. And things will snowball downward.

Acknowledge it’s OK to make mistakes. Acknowledge it’s acceptable to not grasp the concept quite yet or at the same rate as the other students. If you’re struggling, tell an instructor and ask for help. You may even find an extreme remedy is necessary like dropping out of the class and stepping back to another class that might focus more on what you need; build the stronger foundation. That’s OK, if ultimately it gets you where you need to be. That’s the thing to focus on: where you want to be. Focusing on your mistakes won’t take you to where you want to be. Learn from the mistake, and move on — that will get you there.

2013-07-22 training log

/ hsoi

I miscalculated! It hasn’t been a month yet.

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 22, week 1

  • Work Set – Squat (working max: 290#)
    • 2x5x45 (warmup)
    • 1x5x115
    • 1x5x145
    • 1x3x175
    • 1x5x190 (work)
    • 1x5x220
    • 1x5x250
  • Assistance – Pause Squat
    • 3 x 5 x 190

The weights felt heavy this morning. I’m just not into it. There are some matters in my personal life that are taking emotional and mental predecence right now. Nothing to worry about, tho.

So I was only so into the session. Still, the big focus was hitting depth as the weight got heavier. No belt until the final set. Ensure tightness in every rep. Ensure I keep my back as straight as possible, or mainly ensuring I don’t fall forward at the hips.

This was quite evident during pause squats. Boy, I can really feel those, especially in my (lower) quads. It’s hard work to keep things upright, to stay tight the whole time, to hit depth and a little more. But I do hope these will pay off in bringing up my squat (and even my deadlift).

But this is all I did. It was a matter of time today, so I dropped the rest of the work. I wasn’t even sure I was going to do the pause squats… thought I’d just do 1 set AMRAP, but it panned out into 3 sets.

The other thing I noticed was, I had scrolled back in my logs on my phone and realized that it was only last cycle after the “squat 1” session that I did my reset. I didn’t realize that. I had been thinking it was a LOT further back… like closer to 6-7 weeks ago than only about 4. I don’t feel so bad about my fat loss progress now. I also feel alright about hitting the 250 I did because I certainly hit depth. It was tough getting out of the hole, but that’s the whole point of my focus.

So, onwards.

Guest of Sunday Metal – W – MetallicA, the Pinball Machine

/ hsoi

When I write up the Sunday Metal posts, frequently I choose themes or take inspiration from somewhere. For a while I’ve thought about having some guest postings, and that continues.

The next some posts will be from my close friend, W. He’s flown the flag of metal for many years, including being a metal radio DJ around the same time I was (tho we didn’t meet until after). We’ve been friends for many years, been to numerous shows together, and share a love of the music. So I figured he’d make a good first guest to Sunday Metal. So with that, onwards!

Remember last week when I said Metallica is a “top-five most influential and important” metal bands of all time? This is true; But I argue that their sphere of influence ended in the early 90s. Since then, even though they are an indisputable, unstoppable monster in the music business, and they put on a great show, Metallica have become more or less musically irrelevant. Not only that, but we (the band included) all know it.

Case in point: The forthcoming MetallicA pinball machine. According to the trailer, the machine is meant to represent “Over 30 Years Of Iconic Metal.” What song did they choose for the video? Master of Puppets! This being their best song ever, I won’t dispute the choice. Absolutely iconic.

Now take a look at the 12 songs listed in the trailer. One presumes that these are the songs that Stern and the band chose to represent these 30+ years of iconic metal…But only two of these 12 songs were created in the past 24 years! The rest are from the first 8 years of their career.

I know “8 Years Of Iconic Metal And 24 Years Of Mediocre Hard Rock Barely Worth Mentioning” isn’t a good tag line for a pinball machine, so we won’t see it in words. But we see it in deeds – In the songs chosen to represent what we think of when we think of “MetallicA.” We know it. Stern knows it; And RocknRollicA knows it.

Framing the debate

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

There is no question that how one frames and presents things affects the tone and tenor of any debate or discussion. But sometimes we must step back and decide if the choice of words properly reflects and is guiding the debate in the desired direction.

“Gun control”. This tends to be the phrase bandied about, and there’s no question the use of those 2 words sets the tone of the discussion.

Some months ago I came across this article. The author writes:

Calling the debate “gun control” presupposes that there will be control — i.e., that government control over guns is the end, rather than the means. The only question remaining in such a debate is how much control the government will ultimately exert over citizens’ guns.

Most people, though, if they thought about it, would say that what they’re really aiming for is “violence minimization.” If one properly identifies minimizing violence as the goal, the debate changes dramatically. It forces those participating in the debate to ask, not “how many guns can we take away or how many magazines can we limit?” but, instead, “what approach results in the fewest number of gun deaths or overall violence?”.

When I speak with most people on these issues, I dig a little into their true intentions and most in fact are desiring to minimize violence and “senseless death”. Of course, they still tend to believe that banning guns would help achieve that end, but there’s data to support otherwise. The discussion continues.

But really, if the discussion is going to continue, we should strive to continue it towards the truly desired end. I mean, if what you’re truly interested in is minimization of violence, then let’s frame the discussion as such. There’s so much talk about “finding common ground”, I dare say you’ll find more on this discussion.

Of course, if you choose to keep the discussion about “gun control”, then perhaps that’s really what you are after. If so that’s fine, just be honest about it and stop hiding behind the children.