I should have gone back to the gym this morning, but I didn’t.
Stupid daylight savings.
I’ll try again tomorrow.
I have decided to go back to 3x week, and I’m going to keep with a true BBB template and see how it goes for me. If I want to change up to something else, I’ll let things evolve back to that.
(h/t Mike Hill)
So this past week wasn’t just a deload week, it was a “do nothing” week.
If I did anything, it was keeping mind of my posture, and stretching, especially in the neck/shoulder region.
I don’t feel great about taking a whole week away, but my body is physically happier.
I did step back and looked at some things.
Going 4x week I think is really good — if you can handle it. I think my body could take 4x week and make really good gains. I think the timing of when you lift against the recovery and “super-compensation” cycle is perfect here. However, if you are going to do this, you need to be fully dedicated to the process. This means eating a lot, and sleeping a lot. Recovery and all the other support structures really need to be in place. Given my schedule and life, I can’t always get the rest needed. No, not good and speaks to greater life issues to remedy. But for now it is how it is. So, I think I’ll be falling back to 3x and seeing how things go. And really, I think I’m more curious if 4x vs 3x, if it was putting a larger physical strain and demand upon my body and thus contributing to some stress and pressure in life. In part, just the schedule impacts, but more so the energy and recovery demands — if lifting drains me then leaves me with less to deal with the rest of my day, that’s no good. If 3x allows me greater balance in life, great.
Now, when I went to 4x I also simplified back to a true BBB template. I think that made sense given the frequency. But now if I’m going 3x… do I ramp it back up? Or do I keep it the same? I don’t know. I’m a little torn because I also want the assistance parts of my gym sessions to burn some energy. I’m decently in the Carb Back-Loading groove, tho I think that probably needs a re-read of the book and reexamination of my routine. But I’d like more effort towards burning things off.
What I keep gravitating back to is “5/3/1 bodybuilding“. Even Jim admits that deep down inside that’s what we all are — bodybuilders. I don’t want to abandon strength building (that’s still primary goal), but I think some more dedicated mass building is in order. I read about the Cube Method, and that has some dedication to mass building. I have been watching too many CT Fletcher videos. And I can’t help but expect that the increased workload would lend better to CBL. But then, it’s a LOT more work, and will it be too much to recover from, given what I wrote above?
I don’t know.
So I’m presently sitting between 3x BBB template, or 3x bodybuilding template.
Still thinking it through.
Austin just put a plastic bag ban in place.
Seattle has a bag ban. Some laud the “positive environmental impact”. Others lament the high increase in shoplifting and the massive losses it’s causing.
I’ve spoken with numerous people in Austin, and many are going to stop shopping in Austin, instead shopping in surrounding communities. The City of Austin adds a 2% sales tax on top of the state’s sales tax. It might be interesting to see what sales tax revenue looks like in a few months.
Tourism revenue will be interesting to watch as well.
SXSW starts now, the first major event to happen post-ban. I’ll be curious what those visitors to the city think. Oh sure, they are likely a demographic that will applaud such a move… but then mutter or complain under their breath, lest they look “unhip” to everyone.
I understand the good intentions behind this latest brick in the road, but like most “bans”, they never really achieve the goals the originators expect but instead tend to have a lot of unintended and undesirable side-effects.
Tom Diaz at the Washington Post asks:
Why are the First, Fourth and Fifth amendments subject to erosion in the name of homeland security, but the Second Amendment is beyond compromise in the name of saving innocent lives?
and then he spends 2 pages railing about the need for gun control to save the lives of “won’t-someone-think-of-the-children”.
I’ll agree with him on one thing:
Our perception of the relative dangers of terrorism and gun violence is distorted. We don’t know it, and our leaders don’t bother to tell us.
And he’s right. Our perception of the relative dangers is vastly distorted, because when you have non-stop media coverage about a single event, it impresses strongly on your mind. But when you step back and look at the numbers, you find there haven’t been all that many people killed in mass shootings. Statistically speaking, more children die from accidental drownings and car accidents — but there’s no media outrage, no 24/7 coverage, and so yes perception is distorted.
So Mr. Diaz, are you saying “the media” is ‘our leader’? Because the mass media isn’t bothering to tell us either. They are taking no responsibility for providing a clear, logical, rational, and sound picture. Do they have to be so responsible? No, but then if you want such a proper picture, turn off the TV (and perhaps write for another newspaper).
I really think you mean ‘our leaders’ are our politicians.
They are not “our leaders”. They are our servants, only they forget it, never learned it, or because people keep referring to them as “our leaders” instead of the proper label of “our servants” they keep believing they are in charge of us and are supposed to tell us what to do and we’re supposed to blindly follow them.
Are they supposed to present us with a clear and proper picture? I’d say they have a greater responsibility to do so, and it seems Mr. Diaz thinks so as well. But I am constantly amazed at people that shocked at the corruption of politicians, then turn to the same corrupt politicians expecting them to help and have their best interests at heart.
What bothers me more, however, is I think Mr. Diaz has it backwards.
He is right that there’s something wrong with allowing the 1st, 4th, and 5th Amendments to degrade in the name of “security”. What bothers me most about his article is he is calling for the 2nd to be just as or more degraded. All in the name of “leveling the playing field” of “equality”.
You know how you can also achieve this same end?
By upgrading (or rather, restoring) the 1st, 4th, and 5th Amendments.
I too think it’s horrible that we’re destroying our Constitution in the name of (false) security. But instead of calling for further destruction, we should be working towards restoration… else we just continue down the path we’re already going down.
They aren’t public schools, they are government schools.
And they are not places of learning.
If life was nothing but standardized testing, which the budget depended upon, then maybe we’d be accomplishing something useful. But alas, life isn’t that… so what exactly are children being prepared for? Other than learning to sit still, conform, suffer, deny yourself, that you’re stupid, creativity has no place, and the list goes on and on….
There’s a new movement – Take a Newbie Shooting Day
It happens this Saturday, March 9, 2013.
What’s the purpose? From their website:
My goal is to first organize a nation-wide “take a newbie shooting” day where new shooters can feel welcome to come learn about guns and how to safely enjoy the shooting sports as much as us current gun owners, and then provide a framework where those interested in becoming a firearms owner can connect with someone in their local area for an introductory range trip.
A laudable goal for sure.
All the details can be found on their website.
A friend passed along a website collecting a series of animated GIF’s that chronicle the life of a developer.
Apparently the GIF’s originally came from TheCodingLove and les_joies_du_code()
It’s like my life… in animated GIF format. 🙂
Well, still no gym for me today.
My shoulder/upper back/neck pain is still present and limiting movement. It’s a LOT better than yesterday due to sitting in what feels like exaggerated good posture and doing lots of stretching, but I’m not there yet.
I’ve been here before tho. It just takes time and stretching throughout the day.
This past Saturday was another fine day at KR Training. This time we held Basic Pistol 1 and Defensive Pistol Skills 1. It’s a bit of an unusual combination for a single day, but demand for classes has been high, especially these two classes.
Karl was at the 2013 Rangemaster Tactical Conference and Polite Society Match along with some others, but John, Tom, Greg, and I stayed behind to hold down the fort.
The hard part about both classes? The current run on ammo makes it hard to do things. We had to restrict BP1 students to fewer rounds, merely to ensure we had enough to go around. It’s a hard time to be getting into guns. 😦
Apart from that, Basic 1 went over as it usually does. I ran a station with “small guns” like a Kahr CM9 and an M&P Shield. I also had a full-sized M&P. In the end, it seems the point was made clear: small guns have a point, purpose, and place, but they are not a beginner gun. At this point you are trying to learn how to shoot, so why learn on something that’s harder to shoot? why fight the gun while you learn the fundamentals? Get a full-sized gun, learn to shoot. Once you can shoot, then you can learn a more difficult platform.
Otherwise, BP1 ran pretty smooth.
DPS1 had a few hiccups… the biggest of which was as soon as we got on the line and started shooting, one student’s gun broke. I’m not 100% sure what went wrong, but he couldn’t seat the magazine into his Bersa Thunder. Upon inspection, there were springs inside the mag well, one side grip panel had become detached from the side of the frame. It was gunsmith time. Not sure how it happened, it was nothing obvious, but it was total failure. Honestly, I’ve not been all that impressed with the Bersa’s we’ve seen in class, and that trend continues. I admit I’m seeing a small sample, but I also see small samples of other guns like H&K’s and Sigs and large samples of guns like XD’s, M&P’s, and Glock’s, and just don’t see the same track record as I have with Bersa’s.
At least he found out about it here, instead of when his life mattered.
We offered to let him borrow our M&P Shield (the most similar gun we had), but he said he didn’t feel comfortable making the switch and such, instead opting to reschedule for another time. Fair enough.
Otherwise, class was class. Eyes were opened, old habits died hard, and people got an introduction to what it’s really like and what skills are really needed.
Weather was great. Life is good.
Stuff From Hsoi 