Author: hsoi

2012-03-16 workout – Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 7, deadlift 2

/ hsoi

Heavy weights are heavy.

“Week 2” – BBB 3 Month Challenge

  • 3 reps – Deadlift (working max: 325#)
    • 1x5x135 (warmup)
    • 1x5x165
    • 1x3x195
    • 1x3x230 (work)
    • 1x3x265
    • 1x3x295
  • Asst. #1 – Squat
    • 5 x 10 x 135
  • Asst. #2 – Ab Wheel
    • 5 x 6 x BW (from the knees)
  • Foam Rolling

Yeah, things are just feeling heavier, but I was kinda happy with how I dealt with it.

On the deadlifting, I usually use double overhand grip for all sets save the last (heaviest) set, which I’ll do mixed grip. Today, since I knew I wasn’t going to do more than 3 reps I just did it double overhand. Worked great! I was happy about that. If I had to do more reps I know I wouldn’t have lasted with the double overhand, but that’s alright.

Squatting was kinda cool today. For some reason I picked a better spot for my eyes to stare at and that made a huge difference in my form, in keeping my chest up, not letting things fall forward. Very cool. I was very happy with how squatting went.

The ab wheel… geez. Deceptively hard. Last time I did them it killed my knees, so I needed padding. The gym has one of those quarter/half sphere things that aerobics people can stand on to help with balance. It’s soft enough, not too high off the ground, perfect padding. It also made the rolling a little tougher since there’s a littl more balance involved and a slightly steeper angle. I only did 6 reps across because I’m still learning the movement and how to do it best. Get all the way down, body parallel to the floor, arms up by the ears, nose almost touching the ground, then really be sure to use the abdominals to crunch back up, not the lats to pull myself back up. I’ll slowly add reps while I get the form right.

Not a bad workout. Looking forward to next deadlift tho… I’ll PR at 315# and 3 plates on a side. That’ll be cool. 🙂

But when we’re doing the hating, it’s acceptable.

/ hsoi / 5 Comments

A friend posted a picture on Facebook. Some of the comments made me shake my head and against my better judgement I commented. The replies were as I expected them to be. I opted to move this to my blog because I didn’t want his Wall/Comments to become a big battleground.

So here’s a screenshot, with names and profile pictures removed/blurred.

My comment is in the middle, “So free speech…”

First, my personal reaction to the bumper sticker. Wow… that’s pretty blatant. Takes a lot of guts to put it on your car too for the whole world to see. Racist? Yes it is. Does the person have a right to say it? Yes they do. Yeah, it shocked me a bit to see it, because it takes a lot of balls to do such a thing. But it doesn’t totally surprise me because I know humans are humans and will always have strong preferences. We’re a country that’s growing very divided, very angry. This is just manifestation of that.

And I’d say, the comments are also manifestation of that.

As you can see, my first reaction was surprise to hear the call for violent response. OK, kinda passive-aggressive violent response, but still a violent response. Destruction of property. A call for criminal behavior, but (apparently) it’s justified because the car owner was being hateful first, amiright? Hrm. So violence is OK if someone is being hateful, but me possibly using violence (i.e. carrying a gun) so I could stop someone from manifesting their hate all over me is not and must be banned. *sigh*

I brought up “free speech” because that’s one they always love to parade about. Well, “free speech” and 1A is all about protecting unpopular speech. If that bumper sticker is anything, it’s unpopular speech. Is it racist? Yes it is. But the car owner still has every right to say it. Just like you have every right to voice your opinion that the sticker is revolting. One difference is the car owner isn’t advocating violence.

Then my favorite comment was the second to the last. The commenter starts off by looking down on a group of people. But I thought we were all equal? Why this air of superiority? It’s almost as if you believe you possess characteristics or abilities that distinguish you as superior (and them as inferior), and that your discrimination and hate is justified — you know, racism but without the skin tone. And if these people are not acceptable, what are you suggesting be done with them, because they exist… so what to do? Round them up? Extinguish them? Why no effort to help them? Where’s the compassion for those of lesser-brain than you? No effort to educate them? No effort to lift them up and help them become better? No… they’re just “asking for it”, apparently… and I guess by “it” you mean violent response? That’s what the other commenters were calling for.

And we cap it off with stereotyping. I reckon this person wasn’t from California, right?

I’m not defending what the car owner is saying; I find it tasteless and hateful. But what I find more disappointing is how these “progressives” can’t see the log in their own eye.

Improvised weapons

/ hsoi / 5 Comments

A tape dispenser as an improvised weapon

Man comes in to store, pulls knife, clerk attempts to foil the robbery but doesn’t quite get it, but when the robber comes close enough, he gets whacked in the head with the closest object — a tape dispenser. And runs away.

A few things to learn:

  • It’s not about the tool, it’s about the person in the fight. The clerk wasn’t willing to just roll over and “give him what he wanted”. He was willing to fight and protect that which was important to him.
  • Large objects applied to the head hurt. 🙂
  • Granted I’d rather have a better tool than a tape dispenser, but he made do with what he had available. Far lot better than an empty hand. So while it’s not about the tool, the tool sure helps give you a leg up. The better the tool, the better the leg.
  • Stay cool. Notice how cool and collected the clerk was the entire time?
  • Watch their hands. Hands kill.
/ hsoi

(let’s try this reblog thing…)
We’ve homeschooled our kids their entire lives. When she talks about:

“I didn’t realize the pressure we were under until we were set free of the educational “mess” of which they were part: The prepackaged curriculum, the one-size-fits-all model, the bullying and the negative socialization. Homeschooling allowed us to discover and experience pure, superior learning and a customized learning environment.”

I know what she means. And she’s right when she says “we, as parents, must exert a powerful influence in determining the quality of life we want for our children.” It shouldn’t be left up to the whims of some budget crisis, or politics, or really, what some else wants to indoctrinate into our children’s heads. We don’t shelter our children — we know they have to enter the real world someday and we want to ensure they are best prepared for it, not just to survive, but to excel. It requires a lot of sacrifice of our time, our money, our quality of life in some ways… but in so many others, it leads to a far greater increase in quality that it’s well worth it.

Ain’t it funny how that money rots your brain?

/ hsoi

First I read James Whittaker’s posting on why he left Google. In short?

The Google I was passionate about was a technology company that empowered its employees to innovate. The Google I left was an advertising company with a single corporate-mandated focus.

That’s sad. I remember when every geek wanted to work at Google because there was such a passion to innovate. The 20% time to develop projects. We saw so many neat things that came from Google Labs, and sure some were failures but that’s how it goes. It seemed like a great place to work. Now? Not so much. If this is what the Google culture is like, it’s the first sign of a failing company. A giant that has lost its way and now will only struggle to maintain its relevance.

The following day, Greg Smith publishes a similar missive in the New York Times about why he’s leaving Goldman Sachs.

To put the problem in the simplest terms, the interests of the client continue to be sidelined in the way the firm operates and thinks about making money. Goldman Sachs is one of the world’s largest and most important investment banks and it is too integral to global finance to continue to act this way. The firm has veered so far from the place I joined right out of college that I can no longer in good conscience say that I identify with what it stands for.

It might sound surprising to a skeptical public, but culture was always a vital part of Goldman Sachs’s success. It revolved around teamwork, integrity, a spirit of humility, and always doing right by our clients. The culture was the secret sauce that made this place great and allowed us to earn our clients’ trust for 143 years. It wasn’t just about making money; this alone will not sustain a firm for so long. It had something to do with pride and belief in the organization. I am sad to say that I look around today and see virtually no trace of the culture that made me love working for this firm for many years. I no longer have the pride, or the belief.

Again, a case of losing sight of doing good things in the world, putting people first, caring about the customer… all in the name of money.

I have no problems with money. I really like it, and would love to have more of it. But money cannot be the goal, for this is what it does.

Two quotes come to mind:

Virtue does not come from money, but rather from virtue comes money, and all other things good to man.

– Socrates

and

Ain’t it funny how that money rots your brain?

– Corrosion of Conformity, “Señor Limpio”

Something to think about.

Congratulations Randi!

/ hsoi

Saw a few days ago on her Facebook page that Randi Rogers was leaving Glock, both as a team shooter and an employee.

Of couse you wonder where she was going to end up…

And the wait is over.

According to today’s The Shooting Wire, she’s joining Comp-Tac!

Awesome!

Congratulations, Randi!

Boy… the competition shooting world has been seeing a lot of changes lately. Keeps things interesting for sure.

2012-03-14 workout – Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 7, press 2

/ hsoi

“Week 2” – BBB 3 Month Challenge

  • 3 reps – Press (working max: 155#)
    • 2x5x45 (warmup)
    • 1x5x65
    • 1x5x80
    • 1x3x95
    • 1x3x110 (work)
    • 1x3x125
    • 1x3x140
  • Asst. #1A – Bench Press
    • 5 x 10 x 115
  • Asst. #1B – Chinups (supersetted with Bench Press)
    • 3 x 3 x BW
    • 1 x 2/1neg x BW
    • 1 x 1/2neg x BW
  • Asst. #2 – Face Pulls
    • 1 x 10 x 50
    • 2 x 10 x 60
  • Asst. #3 – DB Hammer Curls
    • 3 x 10 x 30
  • Foam Rolling

Chugging along. Today went alright. Still feels weird to not rep out. I did rush today’s workout some, not resting much between sets because 1. I need to be somewhere this morning, so I left to get to the gym early but 2. the gym opened late. Ugh. Oh well. So I moved pretty quick through the workout.

I was happy to get 1 more chin. 🙂

On face pulls, 60 seems like a good weight to work with now. It’s giving enough resistence that it affects form, but it’s not really all that hard. Still, I’ll stay here a bit, tighten things up, then progress up from there.

Not too bad a day.

KR Training March 2012 Newsletter

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

The KR Training March 2012 Newsletter is up!

The 3 classes (Defensive Pistol Skills 2, AT-2 and Low Light Shooting) scheduled for March 10 were rained out and rescheduled to this Saturday, March 17th. We have slots available in these classes!

Advanced Training 6, rained out in February, is back on the calendar April 7, 1-4 pm.

Lots more in the newsletter. Go read!

Don’t be like them

/ hsoi / 5 Comments

As Daughter progresses in her drumming, she gets exposed to more bands, more dummers.

And more opportunities to talk to her about drug and alcohol abuse.

John Bonham? Don’t be like him.

Steven Adler? Don’t be like him (still alive, but still…).

Jeff Porcaro? Don’t be like him.

John Panozzo? Don’t be like him.

Keith Moon? Don’t be like him.

Jimmy Sullivan? Don’t be like him.

Stuart Cable? Don’t be like him.

Sure, play drums like these guys — especially Bonham — but that’s where you should stop emulating them.

She gets it. I hope she will never forget it.

I guess it’s working

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

I hate to say it, but the scale doesn’t lie.

Both scales.

I’ve been weighing my food before I eat it, to ensure I’m getting the right amount of macronutrients. That I get as much protein as I need in a day, but no more. That I don’t take in much carbohydrates, but some. I strive for about 50 grams of protein per “meal” (eating 5x day). The carbs are harder since by weight there’s a much larger variety of “carbs per ounce” depending what food you’re eating. But I’ll still try to keep things reasonable, maybe just 4 ounces or so? I don’t really weigh it THAT strictly due to the wide variance, just try to keep it small and reasonable. Then all the green leafies I can stomach. Heck, at dinner last night the kids were floored that about 3/4 of my plate was covered in a large mound of raw spinach leaves.

But it does seem to be working. I’m at about 228# now, down from my high of 240-ish. I struggled for a LONG time around 235, so the 7-ish pound drop is just from the past few weeks. You can see from this recent picture (scroll down towards the end, I’m the tall guy with the blue hat) that I’m far from fat/obese, just very tall and gaining muscle. I just have a muffin top, and I hate it. Interferes with my desire to try AIWB carry. 🙂

Kiddos and Wife have noticed that I don’t have as much muffin hanging over my belt as I used to. And the bathroom scale (scale #2) doesn’t lie. But, it’s only telling part of the story: pure weight. With the lifting I’m doing, there’s gain of muscle. So weight doesn’t really tell the whole story. I need to do some body fat measurement, and while I have a pair of calipers it’s tough to get consistent measurement.

But it doesn’t matter much, so long as I can tell fat is shedding and eventually I’ll have a slim enough stomach for AIWB.

One thing that I’ve heard a lot about is carb back-loading. Supposedly it really works. I’m not ready to buy into it just yet, but I have noticed that I have already been following a rough notion of it, in that almost all the carb intake I have been getting, since I’ve been measuring, has been in the morning after workouts, tapering off as the day goes on. I want to keep reading on this topic. It’s interesting.

And ZMA I’m sure contributes here some, because after supper there’s ZERO eating. So last meal is maybe 6 PM? nothing again until I wake up around 4-5 AM. And yes, ZMA gives me some wicked strange dreams. Kinda cool.

I have wondered if this is affecting my strength work, and it probably is. While my current lifting routine doesn’t have me work for new rep-maxes, I don’t even know if I could. I’ve noticed this past week when I hit the 5th rep I feel that’s it, or maybe I could perhaps get 1 more if I really pushed it. Not ideal, but it’s OK. I know I’m walking a fine line here in what I’m doing and mixing things that probably shouldn’t. But if it means I can’t get full reps, then that’s alright. If it gets bad enough, I’ll reset and continue forward on this same basic path. No big deal.