Author: hsoi

Random nutritional things

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

So I’m doing the Carb Back-Loading thing.

I’ve only begun so it’s going to be weeks or months before I can really say much about it. But here’s what I can say right now.

Caffeine

Wow. There’s a lot of caffeine on this program. I’m not anti-caffeine, but I also have tried to minimize it in my life just because I haven’t had reason to ingest it. Plus if I wanted the “alertness” affects to really take hold when I need them, better in my mind to not build up a tolerance so that if I’m driving late and need a “5 hour energy shot” to get me through, it’ll work out.

So I’m just taking some caffeine pills to help out, per Kiefer’s dosing. I should note part of my (extra) reasoning for this is because I train in the morning, and caffeine becomes a necessary part of that approach. But when I dose, well.. first few days I tried the higher-end of the range, and found that as the day wore on I got really… out of whack. So now I’m trying to lower-end of his suggested ranges and we’ll see how that goes. Perhaps over time I might have to increase the dose, but I can do that then because obviously I presently don’t have the tolerance for it (thought I did, I was wrong).

BTW, I have been using some caffeine pills/tablets that I bought at Walgreens. I just put in an order with TrueNutrition.com and am getting caffeine anhydrous in 200mg capsules. The powder should work better (given what Kiefer recommends) and this is FAR cheaper — Walgreens was 100 count 200mg tablets for about $10; TN is 120 count 200mg capsules for $3.50.

Morning Workouts

Because I work out in the morning, I have to change protocol a little bit. But it seems only a slight change, which is fine. I haven’t noticed a horrible feel or change in stuff in terms of going into workouts with an empty stomach. I’ve played with this on and off for many many months, trying to generally err on an empty(er) stomach. First, too much food and I’d just feel bad. So try something light, a little sugar, maybe a pre-workout like TN’s Buzz Saw. But now, it’s nothing… well, just some caffeine. Not feeling any adverse effects, but it seems to require that I do in fact ensure a good loading the night before, which is fine.

So far, so good.

Fish Oil

I ended up reading more on fish oil, because I knew not all was created equal. I ended up learning about Meg-3. Someone said that Meg-3 is to fish oil what CreaPure is to creatine.

The fish oil we get tends to vary depending where and when Wife grocery shops. I’m going to ask her to stop and buy only on Meg-3 based brands. Not too hard, given Meg-3 sources to folks like Wal-Mart/Sams, Costco, and so on.

But hey… I contacted TrueNutrition and asked, and their fish oil is Meg-3. Again, it’s a price issue. Their fish oil softgels are 1000 count for $25, whereas anything I buy in the store is a LOT less quantity for a lot more money. I think the Sams “Simply Right” runs like $20 for 150 or so. Again, TN wins on quality AND price.

Yeah I know… this is reading like a shill for TrueNutrition. I’m not on their payroll, just 1. satisfied customer, 2. it’s simple math, folks.

Coconut Oil

Medium-Chain Triglycerides are a part of CBL, so coconut oil it is. I had no idea coconut oil was solid at room temperature. 🙂

But it tastes really nice. Like a subtle buttery coconut. It’s kinda neat.

One thing I’m doing to help consume it is to use a metal measuring spoon. Run warm water over the spoon, then scoop the oil out of the jar – the warm spoon helps to scoop oil into and release oil out of the spoon. Since I’m not putting the oil into coffee, just mixing with my water and whey, I’ll heat it up in the microwave for 10-20 seconds to melt/liquefy it, then drink up. It’s really not bad at all. I know there are liquid MCT’s out there, but this is kinda fun for now.

I’d like to look into full-fat coconut milk too. But here I’m a bit at the mercy of Wife’s grocery shopping.

Lifestyle Impacts

I think one of the cool things about this is that it’s actually fitting into my general life better than any other plan I’ve worked with in the past. In my case, it’s a combination of just my personal life but more so my family life.

Before, anything I attempted would really impact the rest of the family. If we went out to dinner, Dad’s needs had to be taken into account. If Wife was cooking dinner, what did Dad need. When grocery shopping, what does Dad need? etc.. There was a lot of special-casing on Dad. And while I’d often tell Wife to just make whatever and I would make due since I was the exception, still, it wasn’t always enjoyable and often became difficult to manage. It’d just be another factor in the failure.

But with CBL, this looks like it could work out and blend better.

First, most of the “meals” from waking up until dinner aren’t that much of meals (at least, given my early morning workout approach). I do a lot of supplementation, whey and shakes, caffeine, simple snacks like almonds, and so on. My lunch? In a lot of respects, it’s not much different than what I’ve been taking to work already. Yeah sure, maybe not taking leftovers so much now, but it’s fairly straightforward: about 8 oz of “plain meat” and then a bunch of fibrous veggies. That’s really simple to make, to assemble when I’m trying to get out the door, and so on. In fact, one thing I can try to get better about might be something like grilling 3-4# of chicken breasts on Sunday and then I’ve got lunch meat for the week. Couple that with some bagged salads or whatever fun might come in our weekly CSA veggie box, maybe something different from time to time, but overall, there we go. Simple.

The better part comes with dinner. Now Dad doesn’t need to be special-cased so much. The other night Wife made home-made pizza (make the crust dough herself, etc.). Sure she piled on the meaty toppings special for me, but she was able to make pizza instead of me saying “no, can’t have it”. Dad can just eat with everyone else. It’s really wonderful and fits so much better into the household.

So CBL has this going for it. It isn’t so much “work” to make it go, and it fits better into the rhythm of the household. Chances are better.

Questions

I’ve got a bunch of questions about CBL. Biggest of which is the ratios. I mean, if I’m reading the “amount of carbs” to get table correctly, am I really supposed to take in 800g of carbs!?!? Holy crap that seems crazy. I hope I’m reading things wrong.  There’s a forum specifically for this stuff, and I’ve registered but am still waiting on activation.

Supplemental Details

There are numerous “shakes” that one is to take during CBL to make things go, since CBL is all about manipulation of insulin levels. So I’m working on my shopping list from TrueNutrition.com for things like leucine, hydrolysates, etc..  Right now I’m keeping it fairly simple, e.g. using whey isolate for all the protein needs. So we’ll see what difference things make once I can follow the formulas precisely.

Overall

I’ve only been doing CBL for a little while now, so the jury is still out.

So far, it’s alright. Yes, the mornings can be a little tough. I still need to experiment to see what I can do about improving on hunger. Even eating well at lunch and having some sort of afternoon snack… it’s hard to get through to evening. Every day gets a little better, but it’s still hard. I’ll get there tho. Really, this has a fair chance of success given how it does work pretty well into the lifestyle.

Time will tell.

2013-01-21 training log

/ hsoi

I had the energy, but not sure I had the strength.

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 16 (mark 2), week 2

  • Work Set – Deadlift (working max: 355#)
    • 1x5x145 (warmup)
    • 1x5x185
    • 1x3x215
    • 1x3x250 (work)
    • 1x3x290
    • 1x6x325
  • Assistance – Good Mornings
    • 2 x 12/9 x 105 * (see below)
  • Assistance – Pull throughs
    • 5 x 15 x 130
  • Assistance – Pulldown Abs (kneeling)
    • 5 x 15 x 130
  • sled drags
    • 10 runs, 75 yards each
    • 75# on the sled
    • 30 seconds rest every other run
    • attach sled around hips, walk forward with large, purposeful strides
  • Foam Rolling

I pretty much deprived myself of carbs all weekend, until last night. Went to a local Mexican place, ate lots of beef and chicken, onions, peppers, tomatoes, spanish rice, a little bit of refried beans (I’m not big into beans), a small basket of chips and salsa… then we went to the local frozen custard stand and I had a nice bowl of pistachio frozen custard. Yes, I enjoyed carbs. 🙂 Consequently, I felt pretty energized this morning. I didn’t feel flat at all, nor overly hyped or anything. By the end of the workout I didn’t feel drained either. I’ll take this all as a good sign.

Meantime, I’m assembling my order from TrueNutrition.com and will have a blog post of random thoughts on that later (probably tomorrow).

As for the lifting itself.

The deads were alright. I find my form is going to shit on my heaviest set, my legs straightening out more than they should before the bar even leaves the floor. But I am happy that all my lighter sets are having the stricter form. So this is alright. My current deadlift PR is 340# for 4 reps. Doing the math, 6×325 is on track to be on par with that. But I’ve done 330 for 7 reps in the not-too-distance past so… I dunno, feeling a little weak, but then so many changes in other areas of life be it diet or technique or whatever, so Daub, just deal with it. My goal is to get (at least) 5 reps at 340# — beat my PR. I will NOT let this weight crush me — I will crush this weight.

On the Good Mornings… I had to stop. My right knee has been nagging me. I don’t know what it is, but it does have me slightly concerned. Unstable? I’m not sure quite what it is, but I feel it all the time. Just simple things like walking around, up and down stairs, I think it’s “lateral” forces more than anything. On the GM’s I was feeling it, then noticed my toes pointed slightly out thus my knees went that way too. I pointed my toes straight forward and the pain went away. Pain was also only happening when I was all the way down. So…. yeah, lateral forces? I’m not sure what’s up, but I’m getting to a point where I may head to the doctor to get it looked at. I’m just afraid tho they’ll scan it, see nothing wrong, and send me home and the only thing I’ll have is a lighter wallet.

So I stopped the GM’s early and just did lighter pullthroughs and such. Everything else felt fine, if a little light. Even the sled drags weren’t as taxing as I expected them to be after all that deadlifting. *shrug* But again, I didn’t feel like overdoing it.

Armed robbery – just up the street

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

Driving to church this morning, I see the neighborhood McDonald’s taped off with Austin Police everywhere.

Looks like an armed robbery:

Posted on January 20, 2013 at 10:12 AM

Police are searching for two men, one of them armed, in connection with a robbery at the McDonald’s on Slaughter Lane and Manchaca Road.

The robbery happened around 7 a.m. Sunday morning.

The two men reportedly walked in the restaurant demanding money, threatning someone with a handgun.

Police say there were security cameras in the restaurant.

The investigation is still underway.

Another local station has more details, including a picture and description:

First man’s description:

White
Thin build
Late teens to early 20s
5’7” – 5’10” in height
Long sideburns along jaw
He was last seen wearing a white t-shirt and blue jeans.
Second man’s description:

Hispanic
Thin build
Late teens to early 20s
5’7” – 5’10” in height

Updated: The above “more details” with descriptions is from a prior robbery, last summer.

Update #2: Additional story from KVUE which doesn’t offer much more in the way of useful details, but updates that it was around 6 AM, a shot was fired but no one hit (unclear if it was a shot fired at the employee and missed, or just a “scare you” type of shot into the ceiling). So…. still not much to go on. They keep saying they have video, so I hope they will release more concrete details like descriptions and pictures.

It can happen anywhere, at any time. I live in a “safe” neighborhood… but no neighborhood is immune.

Keep your eyes open. Be mindful and aware.

Sunday Metal – Wendy O. Williams and the Plasmatics

/ hsoi

Decibel Magazine had a great post with some video gold from metal’s early years.

I thought they’d make for some good Sunday Metal.

The synchronized water drips are the best part… even better than riding around on top of a bus.

Illustration of the folly

/ hsoi

In New York’s knee-jerk rush to implement feel-good-do-something-for-the-children legislation, they also screwed their local law enforcement:

The ban on having high-capacity magazines, as it’s written, would also include law enforcement officers.

Magazines with more than seven rounds will be illegal under the new law when that part takes effect in March.

As the statute is currently written, it does not exempt law enforcement officers. Nearly every law enforcement agency in the state carries hand guns that have a 15 round capacity.

Now, state officials are coming out saying this doesn’t affect the police, they are not in violation, but the simple fact is laws are specific and must spell out exemptions if they are to be any. Any time a law isn’t to apply to police, they spell it out. The fact they didn’t, means this applies to police as well. And so, they are working to “fix” the law.

What this demonstrates is the folly of such limitations.

“Why does anyone need one of those?” Well, this is why. If the police need them, first, that’s “somebody” needing one of those. Second, if no one ever needs more than X arbitrary number of rounds, shouldn’t that go for the police as well?

From Reason

DNAinfo.com calls the absence of a law-enforcement exemption a “loophole in the law,” but in fact it is the very opposite of a loophole: Cops are outraged at the possibility that they might be treated the same as “a regular citizen” under the law. One has to wonder: If, as Seabrook says, the new magazine limit will have no impact on criminals and if, as Seabrook and Palladino agree, more than seven rounds sometimes are necessary to “save lives,” what justification can there be for imposing this arbitrary restriction not just on “law-abiding retired cops” but on law-abiding citizens in general?

Indeed. Why should law-abiding citizens be restricted and the police not? What justifiable reasoning can be given? To say “they’re the police, they may need it” assumes the private citizen never needs it. I’ll keep thinking back to that one student of Tom Givens that needed 11 rounds in order to save his life. Obviously he needed more rounds than these laws would permit — are you going to look him in the eye and tell him nobody needs more than 7 rounds or 10 rounds? that his life wasn’t worth it? that saving “just 1 life” wasn’t worth it?

Whodathunkit

/ hsoi

(h/t Brian)

So what you’re saying is… criminals use criminal means to get their guns. They don’t go through channels that fill out 4473 forms, that get background checks. Really? You don’t say.

Furthermore, you’re saying that criminals are deterred by someone with a gun, because they don’t want to get shot. That concealed carry does deter them because criminals don’t know who has and who hasn’t a gun (so this means CC even improves the lives of anti-gun folks, security through obscurity).

That if a home is known to have armed residents, they’ll pick the home that is known to have unarmed residents.

Whodathunkit!

Now I’ll grant. This segment was produced by Fox News. You can see some bias crapola, like needing to point out “illegal immigrants” in the lead-in. Interesting choice of prisons too. And I’m sure of all the inmates they interviewed, they cherry picked the ones with the best sound-bites that served their purpose.

But for those that wish to dismiss this video segment, my challenge is to find refutation of what was presented. Go into a prison, talk with inmates and see how many are willing and prefer to victimize gun owners. I’m sure you too can cherry pick and find a gem here and there, but the fact remains that, on the whole, criminals are not stopped by laws, that adding more laws will not stop criminals from performing criminals acts, and that sometimes the only language a predator is willing and able to understand is seeing the teeth of a sheepdog.

Refresher – safe direction

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

Two men were rightfully arrested for their “target practice”. Basically, they were shooting at paper targets without a proper backstop, and the bullets were hitting homes over 500 yards away.

Seems like a good time to remind people what “safe direction” means.

Folks, when you’re engaged in target practice or just plinking because it’s fun, you MUST consider where your bullets will come to rest, to ensure they do so in a safe and complete manner, and that no unwanted destruction happens between the muzzle and that point of rest. This is paramount, else you are being unsafe with a gun.

2013-01-18 training log

/ hsoi

Carb Back-Loading is interesting, but playing games with my lifting!

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 16, week 2

  • Work Set – Bench Press (working max: 225#)
    • 2x5x45 (warmup)
    • 1x5x95
    • 1x5x115
    • 1x3x135
    • 1x3x160 (work)
    • 1x3x180
    • 1x5x205
  • Asst. #1 – Bench Press
    • 5 x 10/10/8/10/10 x 135/135/135/95/95
  • Asst. #2 – Pull-ups (band assisted)
    • 5 x 6/6/6/6/5 x BW
  • Asst. #3 – Stuff
    • Flat Bench DB Flies
    • JM Press
    • Hammer Cheat Curls
    • 3 sets, 8-15 reps, enough weight to make it hard; on 3rd set immediately drop weight and keep going to failure
  • sled drags
    • 10 runs, 75 yards each
    • 75# on the sled
    • 20 seconds rest every other run
    • attach sled around hips, walk forward with large, purposeful strides

Yeah, no question… my triceps are weaker and need help. This my technique change makes evident. But, it’s weak because of the technique change. So, we roll along.

On assistance work, I really need to drop my weights down more than I think, because I need the reps. I’m picking a weight and then not getting enough reps. Not what I want. So like today, normally I might have dropped to 185, but that would have probably gotten 6 reps if I was lucky? But then, going to 135 was perhaps a little overcompensation… maybe 165 to start? But whatever, I need the reps. Just gotta think to go lighter.

And this Carb Back-Loading. I dunno. Still too early to really say. I’m hoping it’ll play out well for me, but so far it feels just weird and well.. the jury is still out. I certainly am not liking the heavy dependence upon caffeine.

Sometimes violence is the answer

/ hsoi / 6 Comments

I already see people reading the title of this article and shaking their head in disagreement. Hopefully they’ll be willing to set their bias aside and read with an open mind.

We are way more ‘civilized’ than we’ve ever been. Enough so that you can say there is a bias against physical violence in this society.

We’ve developed systems were the need for physical violence is greatly reduced. We rely on professionals to do our violence for us and enforce the rules. This is really an amazing development in human history. Realistically, we’ve never had it so good

The problem with this is people take it for granted. They assume this system is the ‘way life is.’ And you get some seriously fucked up and out-to-lunch assumptions about life in general and violence in specific.

The biggest one is that there is some ‘divine right’ about how violence is never supposed to happen to them. (Or that oh-mah-gawd-it’s-some-kind-of-life-long-trauma if it does.) Once someone takes this attitude, they’ve slipped an anchor to reality. Worse, they start making up their own version of reality to fit that imagined ‘right.’

A point that scares me is when they start saying ‘well because I don’t use physical violence, nobody else should either.’

I like to point out that people who say ‘Violence never solved anything’ are both liars and extremists. To begin with, in order for that statement to be proven true, you’re going to have to ask every person on the planet, “Hey, did violence never work for you?” Then you’re going to have to build a time machine and ask every person who has EVER lived, did violence not work for you?” Even without the time machine, you’re going to run into some folks who it worked pretty well for.

The use of the word ‘never’ is an extremist position. But people don’t think of it that way. So they don’t stand up and challenge that stupid statement. Most folks understand that sometimes physical violence is necessary. As a society, we need to have one hell of an argument about when that is. And yes, I like the fact that the bar is held up to a high standard with most folks. But we also need to understand there are folks out there who are rabidly against any kind of physical violence. And they’re willing to let you die to prove they’re right.

When you encounter someone like that you need to know how to point out that they’re position is a barking moonbat one — otherwise they’ll bully everyone who’s trying to find a reasonable compromise or understand WHY violence was necessary.

Because face it, sometimes you gotta use force to solve a situation. The challenge then becomes how to explain to people that it was the right decision given the circumstances and that you didn’t over react. This especially to the cops.

– Marc MacYoung

I used to be that way, to say that “violence is never the answer”.

Eventually I came to realize that sometimes violence is the answer.

First, you must accept that, for the most part, we all condone violence as an answer; we just delegate undertaking that violence to someone else – the police, the military, etc.. That’s what enables a lot of people to take the stance of “violence is never the answer” because of this delegation. But note it’s precisely because someone else is willing and able to do violence on their behalf, that they are enabled this “privilege” of being non-violent and espousing non-violence as some sort of ideal to strive for.

Would it be nice if we could eliminate senseless violence from the world? Sure. But it won’t happen, Jack. Violence is a part of life and being throughout history; it’s just part of the human condition. The trick is how you look at that violence.

See, violence in and of itself is neither good nor bad. It just is. The evaluation of good or bad depends upon the people involved and the context. If my daughter is being raped, that violent act is bad (in my book). If my daughter draws a gun and stops the rapist, that violent act is good (in my book). And yes, right there violence is an answer. In fact, it’s likely the only effective answer because begging and pleading, negotiation, curling up in a ball, praying, hoping for someone to come along… those are highly unlikely to stop the bad violence happening now. In fact, if someone else comes along, chances are they will and the victim will want them to undertake a violent act to stop the rape, else we’re back to begging and pleading.

Or consider, as Marc also discusses in his interview, that we all tend to look at violence in some very cut and dry way. That it’s going to be some dude getting up in your face, or that mugger, or a carjacking, or just like you’ve seen on TV and the movies. There are different levels, different contexts of violence. If you’re out somewhere, someone gets drunk, starts acting stupid, and just needs to be sat on until they sober up and stop running their mouth… well, you might have to use some violence on them to get them to shut up. But that doesn’t mean breaking their arm or shooting them; it may just mean a little restraining joint lock to get them to come along with you to another room where they can sober up in private. Was this bad violence? Well, the drunk might think so at the time, but most everyone else will probably be happy to be rid of him so they can go back to enjoying the party.

As Marc alludes to, the discussion to have is WHEN violence is the right and necessary answer. And yes, the bar should be held to a very high standard. Our trouble is we’ve become “too civilized” and it’s not politically desirable to talk about violence in a frank and honest way. We think we’re above it, so we’d rather deny it. Or that we’ve move so far away from it, so many people are detached and inexperienced/ignorant of the concept, they don’t even know how to begin to discuss it. This causes our problems because violence is very real, very much exists, and while chances of you being in a bad violent encounter may be slim, when it does happen it’s going to suck, especially if you’re not prepared for it.

Consider as well that when people think about “discussing violence”, most think about physical techniques. They think the discussion is only around how to throw and take a punch, how to shoot a gun, how to use pepper spray, how to knee him in the crotch and yell “NO!” and other such techniques. This is only part of it. Another part of it is how to see that violence is coming, because there are pre-fight cues. How to avoid violence in the first place (e.g. don’t go to stupid places; don’t associate with stupid people; don’t do stupid things). How to manage the aftermath of violence. To learn “emotional self-control” (which would be good for life in general) to keep you out of trouble. “Always Be Cool“. These are topics that are very much part of the discussion of violence, and to know when it’s the right answer… and perhaps how to keep it from needing to be the answer.

To say “violence is never the answer” is either ignorant or disingenuous. I was ignorant. I became educated. I prefer violence to not be the answer, but I accept that sometimes it is the answer. Hopefully we can have open and honest discussions on this topic, as that will serve humanity far more than denial will.

Hypocrite

/ hsoi / 7 Comments

And these are our kids. This is what they’re thinking about.

And so what we should be thinking about is our responsibility to care for them and shield them from harm and give them the tools they need to grow up and do everything that they’re capable of doing, not just to pursue their own dreams but to help build this country. This is our first task as a society, keeping our children safe.

This is how we will be judged. And their voices should compel us to change.

– President Barack Obama

So…. how about the 3000+ children killed by abortions (census.gov) each day in the US? According to that census.gov data, that’s 1.2 million abortions per year. Compare that to the 543 people that have been killed in mass shootings over the past 20 years. So about 27 people killed in mass shootings per year versus 1.2 million abortions per year. This isn’t minimizing, it’s perspective on the killing of innocent lives (children or otherwise) and what is truly a culprit.

Where is your outrage?

Where is your responsibility to care for them, to shield them from harm, to give them not just the tools to grow up but even the chance to be born to they can pursue dreams to help build this country.

Why is this not your first task?

And yes… this IS how you will be judged.

If you want to talk about how “if it saves just one life then it’s worth it”, then I reckon banning abortion ought to be pretty damn worth it, eh?