Author: hsoi

2012-07-12 workout – Wendler 5/3/1 program, Deadlift/Press 1

/ hsoi

What was I thinking, increasing volume! 🙂

“Week 1”

  • 5 reps – Deadlift (working max: 345#)
    • 1x5x140 (warmup)
    • 1x5x175
    • 1x3x210
    • 1x5x225 (work)
    • 1x5x260
    • 1x8x295
  • 5 reps – Press (working max: 155#)
    • 2x5x45 (warmup)
    • 1x5x65
    • 1x5x80
    • 1x3x95
    • 1x5x100 (work)
    • 1x5x120
    • 1x7x135
  • Asst. #1 – DB Rows
    • 2 x 10 x 80
  • Asst. #2 – Pulldown Abs
    • 2 x 12 x 80
  • Asst. #3 – Dips
    • 2 x 8 x BW (around 235)
  • Asst. #4 – DB Hammer Curls
    • 2 x 10 x 30

I hit it pretty hard today, really went out on the deadlifts. I figure it’s a rep PR. I’ve been looking back over training logs and I see how many reps I did at X weight and I try to at least match tho prefer to exceed. I did that with deadlifts. I matched with Press. I wanted to exceed with press but it just wasn’t going to happen without blowing things out.

Then I hit assistance work and geez… after 2 sets my body said enough. I could have pushed through and done a third set, but it’s about being submaximal, about less is more, and geez… it’s assistance work. Not going to sweat it.

Going to 4 sets on assistance… what was I thinking? 🙂

Why lift?

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

The other day at work, a co-worker asked me if I worked out. It started a conversation about exercise and why we do what we do.

So why do I lift? What’s my goal?

Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general.

– Mark Rippetoe

There’s usefulness in being strong. I am still trying to find where it’s useful to be weak. Tho I’m sure there are situations, on the whole stronger is better. If nothing else, you can open jars. 🙂

Yes, being stronger is going to make it harder to kill me. Hopefully it makes me a less appealing target. Most predators want easy targets, and things that look big and strong generally aren’t going to make for an easy target. It doesn’t totally negate my chances, but if it helps sway things in my favor, great.

Plus having some level of fitness works well for things like oh… running away.

If I have to throw a punch, if force = mass x acceleration, being able to move faster and have more mass behind it means striking with greater force. How is that a bad thing?

But all this training just for something that may or may not happen? Well, it’s good to be prepared if it does happen, but I do like to do things that have a wider applicability. So for instance, when I was out hunting this past weekend, we finished the weekend by hauling about 500# of protein pellets around and putting them into feeders. It involved getting up on a ladder, throwing 50# bags from the ground up to the feeder, emptying them in, and so on. Yes, lots of muscling things around, hoisting and heaving. You need to be strong. You need to be in shape.

But it’s more than this.

Every day I’m getting older, and I’m not 18 any more.

I don’t want to live forever. I know that won’t happen. I also know that I don’t have much say in when or how I will check out of this world. There are people that smoke and drink and chase women until they’re 100 years old, and then there are those that do all the “healthy” things and die at age 27. You don’t know how much life you have, but you do have right now, so you should enjoy the life you have while you have it.

But that doesn’t mean to get reckless, because you could live to be 100. Being reckless now could bring a lot of pain and problems down the road.

Much of my exercise motivation has been because I don’t like not being able to move. I recall when Oldest was an infant and I couldn’t get up off the couch without grunting. I wasn’t fat, I just smoked cigarettes and was way out of shape. I stopped smoking and started exercising because I did NOT want to not be able to roll around with my kids. I started martial arts because I didn’t want to sit all day hunched over a computer. And when martial arts had to go by the wayside, I started lifting again. All because I don’t want to become decrepit.

That’s the thing for me.

I do NOT want to be a burden in my old age.

I do NOT want to struggle to just walk.

I do NOT want to have to rely upon others to get me around and to provide me basic care.

I do NOT want to fall and become crippled because of it.

I do NOT want to have to drag around an oxygen tank, or take tons of medications.

I will admit, some of those little motorized chair things look kinda fun, but I really don’t want to have to rely upon one.

I grant that life might throw me a curveball and something like this happens. I could have a massive stroke due to some congenital issue, and that clamps everything down for me.

I don’t exercise to try to extend my life. I know a lot of people are motivated by a desire to stave off death (tho they don’t admit that’s the reason, it’s the reason). Eat “right”,  exercise, don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t eat red meat, don’t eat fat, don’t eat well, most anything is apparently bad for you. And in the end, you still die. Death is inevitable for all living things.

What I accept is that I’m going to die, but in the meantime I’m going to ensure I can live my life fully. Hearing about some veteran powerlifters being in their 70’s and squatting 400#… yeah, I’d love to be one of those guys. You know he doesn’t need a walker to get around. You know he doesn’t struggle to sit down and stand up. I want to ensure that while I’m here, I can enjoy being here. That’s my goal.

If along that way maybe I try a powerlifting competition, great. I don’t expect to ever be up there with Andy Bolton or Bill Kazmaier or even Jim Wendler. But that’s not really my goal. I just want to be stronger than most, I just want to be useful… to myself, for myself, while I still have myself.

Random blathering

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

I’ve been getting more and more subscribers/followers to this blog lately, and I find it interesting that these new followers seem to be coming more for my weightlifting than my gun stuff… which seems different than I intended, but I’m happy with it all. It says that I write about whatever interests me, and maybe you. And it’s interesting to see what here interests people. Thank you.

I admit… I’ve been struggling to find gun stuff to write about because… what else is there to say? If there is something there is and I’ll write on it, but even when I look at other “gun bloggers” I see different topics and what appears like a struggle to find material. That is one reason I didn’t want to write some “one topic” blog, tho I suppose I could say the one topic here is “me” and whatever interests me.

Maybe it’s just the ebb and flow of things, given I’ve been writing every day for what? 4 years? Some 3000+ posts… yeah, eventually you might run a little dry or just find that some other topics come more naturally.

Or, maybe it’s just being lazy. I’ve got a bunch of different topics to write on, but they require a lot of work to get done. Lots of pictures to take, things to square up, and gee, I’m tired.

The new job affects things too, because I do know that’s changed enough and left me not as much time to write. I used to be able to write multiple articles in a day, and some days now I struggle just to get one written. Heck, sometimes I’m happy it’s a workout day and I can at least post my workout log. Since day 1 I made it a requirement that I post at least 1 thing every day, and I’m happy I’ve been able to do that. Heck, I’m thrilled I’m still coming up with stuff for Sunday Metal (and yes, it’s queued up through the end of 2012… sometimes the “Schedule” feature is welcome).

But in the end, I think it’s just interesting to see the journey. To look back on posts from a few years ago and see where things were then. And in a few years, it’ll be interesting to look back on this post and see where I was now in comparison to where I’ll be then.

I grew up thinking about the destination. So much of Dad being concerned about what I’ll be when I grow up, what I’ll do with my life. So much was geared towards destination. I’m glad I gave up on that and realized it’s the journey that’s the interesting thing. Oh sure, have milestones, have waypoints. You need to have some sort of direction in life, you need some sort of destination to aim for, but it shouldn’t be about the destination… just enjoy what it takes to get there. Live in the moment. Learn from the past. Let the future be with it will be.

And yes… sometimes recording it helps you remember what was interesting along that journey. 🙂

 

2012-07-09 workout – Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 12, Squat/Bench 1

/ hsoi

Sometimes you just gotta listen to your body.

“Week 1”

  • 5 reps – Squat (working max: 280#)
    • 2x5x45 (warmup)
    • 1x5x115
    • 1x5x140
    • 1x3x170
    • 1x5x185 (work)
    • 1x5x215
    • 1x7x240
  • 5 reps – Bench Press (working max: 225#)
    • 2x5x45 (warmup)
    • 1x5x95
    • 1x5x115
    • 1x3x135
    • 1x5x150 (work)
    • 1x5x170
    • 1x9x195
  • Asst. #1 – Lat pulldowns (pronated grip, hands just wider than shoulder-width apart)
    • 3 x 10 x 130
  • Asst. #2 – Back Raises (hands behind head)
    • 3 x 15 x BW
  • Asst. #3 – DB Bench Press
    • 3 x 10 x 120
  • Asst. #4 – Face Pulls
    • 3 x 12 x 80/70/70

Today was pretty good. I realized that my head wasn’t in it… but it wasn’t somewhere else either. I was just “there” and that lack of too much thinking one way or the other was good. 🙂

While squatting I found myself still falling forward out of the hole. I was trying to get back to thinking about driving my head into the bar but trying not to forget about the big belly breath and pushing hard into my belt, and well… trying to do both I ended up half-assing both. I need to pick one, and I think it needs to be the belly breath since that really tightens up the torso and should have residual help with the head. But still, felt alright with how things went. I wanted to do 7 and got 7. Basically, I wanted improvement over whatever I had done before with 240, and I did that.

Bench was good too. Working on my placement of my body on the bench, for better leg drive. Wasn’t as stable today as I was last week, but I’ll keep experimenting until I find my spot. I set a goal of 8 reps with 195 and got 9, so I’m happy.

Then… I called an audible.

Whatever I did in my shoulder/upper back last week, it’s mostly gone but I can still wake up in the morning and feel something. While I’ve been working on it, it’s still there and I opted to not push it. So I decided to do lat pulldowns instead of chins. But I also opted to vary it and try pronated grip. I took a grip that was natural — drop your arms at your side, then just bend at the elbow. I find my thumbs end up spaced just on the outside of my shoulders. So that’s the grip I took. Just natural grip. I had no idea what weight to use, just picked 130, but that was good enough for my needs today.

I also had been thinking about doing 4 sets, but after the first set thought no, just stick with 3. I think it was a combination of things. First, I could feel it and knew 3 would be enough and 4 would probably be too much. Well, Wendler is about working submaximally so you can have continual gains for a longer period of time. I was also reading a bunch of DoggCrapp stuff this past weekend and you can tell Dante is about doing more with less. Granted, I’m not doing DC stuff at all, but I am seeing fair gains the past few weeks. So what if I don’t feel pumped to the max when I leave the gym? I’m apparently getting good results, so why screw with it? Why risk working myself too much, screwing up recovery, and stalling or regressing? Screw it. Stick with 3.

But I did also opt to NOT do chins while I squat. The only reason I did that was for volume since I can’t do many chins, but again, if I can keep doing what I’m doing, with the assistance work being a “circuit” and really pushing that fast and hard? eh…. the lat pulldowns will make up for it for a bit.

I am thinking after this cycle I might take a week off as as “Jack shit deload”. But we’ll see at the end of the cycle. 🙂 Yes, feeling a little bit beat up. Tossed around the idea before I left for the gym this morning, but no… now is not the time nor proper motivational reason. It should be calculated, not just because I’m dragging.

Which whey to go?

/ hsoi / 41 Comments

Ah whey protein. What would we do without you? Eat a lot more food for sure, but sometimes that’s not always possible or practical. So drinking “shakes” with whey is what we do.

Some many years ago I started consuming whey in large quantities, but alas… that did not sit well with my digestive system. 😥

I was going for inexpensive. Alas, inexpensive also leads to such things. Generally because what you get is whey protein concentrate. Some have suggested to help with this, consume digestive enzymes. I mean, when you buy that “lactose free” milk, it’s not lactose free but rather contains digestive enzymes to help with the digestion of it.

This is then why for years I’ve used Optimum Nutrition’s 100% Whey Gold Standard. It’s a little more expensive, but it contains lactase enzymes to help with digestion. And I’ve been happy.

Alas, price of whey has been climbing pretty fast recently, with a 10# bag of Optimum going for almost $100 now. *sigh*  In the past I’ve looked at other options and due to cost it just wasn’t worth it, especially trying other types of whey, like isolate. Well, prices are what they are now, competition is growing, and so I’m going to sample another vendor.

I’m now going to try TrueProtien/TrueNutrition. Founded by Dante Trudel (DoggCrapp), so this is someone who knows, cares, and has been around. I appreciate the wide variety of things they offer. And there’s no question, the ability to make your own custom mix is really cool.

I’m starting off with their “38 flavor sample pack”. Might as well see what their flavors are like and what I like. Plus, this is based upon whey protein isolate cold-filtration, which in theory digests better and should be nicer on my system. But… we’ll see. That’s part of the experiment. I mean, Optimum mixes in whey concentrate, so no question the enzymes are necessary. I never did a pure isolate because of cost, but the way prices are now, why not try it.

Just ordered the pack. I’ll give periodic reports on flavors.

A bad day hunting…

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

… is just a good day. 🙂

Went out for a 24-hour hunt with Charles of TacticalGunReview.com.

Feral hogs were the target.

We headed out to his place after work Friday afternoon. Headed out to the field and sat over a stock tank for a while. Lots of deer, turkey, and cows moving and feeding, but no hogs. Charles headed off to another location. I sat and continued to watch, hopeful for hogs, but alas never saw any. I did however see lots of calves running around, charging towards the stock tank at full speed… just like any child. Even thankful for a moment that I did not decide to climb down from the stand and sit behind this one fallen stand. It would have been a better vantage point, but at one point a calf ran up to it and started bashing it with his head. If I had been down there, I would have gotten bonked pretty bad. 🙂

Just before it was totally dark, I heard a shot ring out… and squealing. Charles got something. I was hoping if there was a good sized sounder that they’d come running my way, but nothing. Went and picked Charles and his hog up. About 80#, which makes for good eating.

Cleaned the pig, relaxed with a couple cold ones, and hit the sack around midnight. Went back out around 5 AM but didn’t see much of anything. The most excitement I got was playing “will he bust me?” with a spike, and “what’s that rustling in the leaves? oh just an armadillo…”.

I didn’t “bring home the bacon”, tho Charles was kind and gave me half his pig. Thank you, my friend.

I did realize tho…. this was just what I needed. I was able to get my brain thinking about something else. Something other than computers, programming, iPhones, marketing, sales, business, teaching, whatever, anything and everything that makes up my usual go around. I got to think about the woods. I got to think about the wind. About movement patterns. Looking for signs. The hunt. Pursuit. The sounds of birds. The beauty of nature. It was just a wonderful break for my head to think about something else.

But now, I shall think about something else again: cooking. Specifically, throwing the pig in the smoker tomorrow. 🙂

Various things from the June and July 2012 Rangemaster Newsletters

/ hsoi

I totally forgot to read the June and July 2012 Rangemaster newsletters.

June 2012

Tom talks about The Drawstroke. What I really appreciate isn’t just the talk about the 4-count drawstroke, but also talking about putting the gun back in the holster. I emphasize this all the time, that you should put the gun back in the holster with the same motion (tho in reverse) and discipline as the drawstroke. The gun goes slowly back into the holster in a 4-3-2-1 direction. When we slack off is the time when Bad Things™ can happen (e.g. finger gets left on the trigger or in the trigger guard), so having discipline on both the draw and reholster are important.

Tom also writes a short piece about Barnes Bullets. I’ve been a fan of Barnes Bullets for many years, but I haven’t considered it for handgun carry ammo because of the lack of availability. But Tom and Lynn use CORBON DPX, and they give some performance data of their carry loads. What was most interesting to me was Tom shooting some of the DPX 110 grain .38 Special. It compared well to the Gold Dot 135 grain:

Another .38 Special load we tried was the Speer Gold Dot 135 grain .38 Special load, designed expressly for snubby revolvers. This load pretty much duplicated the performance of the .38 DPX load, but at the price of sharply increased recoil and blast. To me, the .38 DPX load is much more controllable in an aluminum framed snub-nose and it shoots very accurately in all three Cobra’s I have tried it in.

Interesting. I’ve shot some DPX before but I can’t recall how the recoil compares to the GoldDot. I may have to try again and see. The Gold Dot 135 is my current carry load in my S&W 442.

July 2012

This issue contains a few articles that you just have to read. This is a newsletter worth showing to people either new to guns, or maybe thinking about getting their concealed carry permit but just aren’t sure if they need it. It talks not only about various mindset issues, but has a pretty good primer on carry issues like choosing a gun and carry equipment.

Tom also presents some crime data. One that stood out to me was from the US Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics from 2006. It dispels the myth that violent crime takes place in the wee hours after midnight.

6 am-6 pm 52.4%
6 pm-midnight 32.8%
midnight-6 am 10.9%

I knew this, but it’s nice to see hard numbers backing it up… for the doubters.

And for people that think we live in a safe world:

Total Violent Crime Incidents for 2006 = 5,685,620 (1 for every 54 people)

Yes on the whole we live in a safer world, but we are not immune.

2012-07-05 workout – Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 11, Deadlift/Press 3

/ hsoi

Feels so good to set personal records.

“Week 3”

  • 5/3/1 – Deadlift (working max: 335#)
    • 1x5x135 (warmup)
    • 1x5x170
    • 1x3x205
    • 1x5x255 (work)
    • 1x3x290
    • 1x7x320 (PR)
  • 5/3/1 – Press (working max: 150#)
    • 2x5x45 (warmup)
    • 1x5x60
    • 1x5x75
    • 1x3x90
    • 1x5x115 (work)
    • 1x3x130
    • 1x5x145 (PR)
  • Asst. #1 – DB Rows
    • 3 x 10 x 75
  • Asst. #2 – Pulldown Abs
    • 3 x 12 x 70
  • Asst. #3 – Dips
    • 3 x 7 x BW
  • Asst. #4 – DB Hammer Curls
    • 3 x 10/10/6 x 30

They might only be rep PR’s, but they are PR’s nonetheless. On deadlift, 320 is the most weight I’ve lifted period, but I did it for 3 reps back in cycle 8, so today’s PR is pretty good. In fact, what makes it really awesome is last week I could only muster 7 reps at 305… today 15# more and same reps, and I felt like I had a couple left in the tank. What’s the difference? I’m not really sure. I got a lot of rest yesterday (tho last night’s sleep wasn’t too good because of people shooting off fireworks until the wee hours). I’m also putting some more of Andy Bolton’s suggestions into play, the biggest of which is take that deep belly breath then push your abs like hell into your belt… really really push, not just “tighten up”. That seemed to help and the pulls felt really light. That first rep felt like air and I knew I’d be able to zoom along. I’m thrilled, and next cycle it’ll be pure PR’s.

Press was alright, and I’m happy with the performance today, but I continue to have weird issues with getting dizzy. I get under the bar, I get ready to lift it off, I inhale, lift off, step back, and then my head gets all swimmy and vision “blacks out” if you will. It goes away as soon as I stop holding my breath, but it’s scary when you have all this weight in your hands or on your back. But I started trying what I do when I squat, which is get fully ready to lift off, then breathe, quickly lift off (don’t rush, but don’t waste any time), step back, then stay tense and take another breath, then start the movement. That helps, but it’s hard to keep tight during that breath… something to work on.

On assistance work, I think 12 reps is my groove for pulldown abs. It seems to work stuff because I finally felt some ab work today, but it’s not so much that my elbows get ugly with me. I also moved my hand position to have my palms basically facing my shoulders (hands are essentially as supinated as I can get them, on the rope) and that seems to help a bit too. I also changed up the hammer curls. Until today I did them alternating: right arm up and down, then left arm up and down, etc.. Now I’ll do them simultaneously. Just takes too long the other way and breathing is always funky.

Really nice way to end this cycle.

And yes, it also confirmed my desire to go to 4 sets of assistance work because 3 just gets me there. I may regret it, but I won’t know until I try.