Author: hsoi

Quote for the day

/ hsoi

“There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.” –James Madison, speech at the Virginia Ratifying Convention, 1788

Thanx, Lane.

2011-07-06 workout – 2 plates!

/ hsoi

Squats

  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x90
  • 1x3x135
  • 1x2x180
  • 3x5x225 (work)

Whoo hoo! 2 plates. 🙂 If you don’t know what that’s about, the bar weighs 45#, and then I have 2 45# plates on each side of the bar, for 225# total. 45# plates are the typical “large plate” you see (there are larger) in the gym, so it was kinda cool to be squatting 2 large plates (well, 4). 🙂

Used my belt for the first time too. I’ll comment more below.

Press

  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x50
  • 1x3x65
  • 1x2x80
  • 3x5x95 (work)

The more I press, the more I like the exercise. At first I didn’t care for it, but I am growing to enjoy it.

One thing I found myself thinking, since I hit a “plate milestone” on the squats was that here I was doing 2 25# plates, which is something in and of itself. I did the math on how long until I’d be pressing 135#… 40# increase, if I can keep up 5# per workout that’s 8 workouts, and if everything stays steady and good, that’s mid-August and I’ll be pressing 45# plates over my head. Kinda neat to think about because I never imagined I could or would be doing such a thing. But then I remembered something Jim Wendler said about goals:

It’s always been one of my goals to standing press 300 pounds. In the summer of 2008, I did just that. When someone asked me what my next goal was, my response was simple: “305 pounds.” If you bench press 225 pounds and want to get 275, you have to bench 230 first.

And so, I put my dreams of “1 plate” in the back of my head, and finished out my last set at 95# because I have to get through that set first. 🙂

One day at a time, one workout at a time, one set at a time, one rep at a time. You can so easily get caught up in where you want to be and the dreams of tomorrow, but to do this lift you have to be right here right now and in this moment and not caring about the next rep until the next rep is the current rep.

Deadlift

  • 2x5x95 (warmup)
  • 1x3x115
  • 1x2x165
  • 1x5x195 (work)

I wore my belt here, but I knew it would be a little different due to the body position so I figured to wear it on my warmup sets just to get the right feel. Well… as soon as I got into position over the bar a sharp pain shot up the left side of my back and into my left arm. I think I pinched something due to the belt and the fact I had to really bend over to get the bar (remember, it’s using 25# plates so the bar is much lower to the ground). I think it was just too much angle and so a nerve got pinched. I took off the belt and waited a few minutes, it died down, I lifted and used the belt only on the last 2 sets since those were indexed by 45# plates and thus created a better angle.

Commentary

Another strong workout. PR’s continue to happen, tho there’s no question I can feel the weights getting closer to limits and things are slowing down. That’s fine, that’s to be expected.

The belt will deserve a blog posting of its own, and I’ll get to that once I’ve got a few more workouts under my belt (pun intended). However, initial results are good. It feels strange tho… I’ve lifted with belts in the past but it was alway the “commercial” stuff where it’s 2″ in the front and 4″-ish in the back, which I now learn are kinda pointless because it’s your abs that need to push against something so why the little tiny 2″ wall up front… doesn’t give you much to push against. There’s no question there’s more wall here. The belt is mighty thick and doesn’t flex much, so it is a little uncomfortable, but as I found a groove it wasn’t bad. That will be what I have to do over the next some workouts is find the positions and tightnesses that work for me. I can already tell that the buckle position needs to be rather centered for my squat, but it needs to be a little to the right for the deadlift so the fold of the leather that holds the roller bar is more centered and doesn’t poke into my stomach when I bend over. Squats are tighter than deadlifts. Squat ends up with a fairly even positioning (tho I’ll play with getting it higher or lower, wherever there’s best abs push it seems), but deadlift wants a low in the front and high in the back position… and I really have to push it into that position (and the one-notch looser than squats helps).

All cool.

While I’m sure I’ll be on this novice-style program for many more months, I find myself starting to think about intermediate programs: Texas Method? Starr Method? Greyskull LP? Madcow 5×5? Wendler 5/3/1? Something custom to my needs? I’m not sure and certainly not making any decisions just yet, but I want to be read on the topic so when it’s time I can make a decision and just keep rolling along. I will say that I’m wanting to keep my strength but I will want to try dropping some body fat. Everything else…. we’ll see when I get there.

Just lower your standards… how, modern American

/ hsoi

They say 150 minutes a week of moderate exercise to stay healthy.

But if you can’t do that? Hey, this is America! We don’t expect people to rise up to the bar, we just lower our standards!

*sigh*

I will agree that something is better than nothing, but you get out of life what you put into it. You put shit in, you get shit out.

Why no SERPA holsters?

/ hsoi / 9 Comments

This is why NOT the SERPA holster.

Some will say it’s not the fault of the holster. To an extent that’s true, but there have been more than enough incidents of people wearing SERPA’s and shooting themselves in the leg. The nature of the holster’s lock and thus the resulting draw just allow for such things to happen.

It’s also demonstration that “one round from a .45 ACP” doesn’t guarantee any sort of stop. Caliber is a minimal concern: being able to place the shots where they need to go matters so much more.

A question for people who wish to ban guns

/ hsoi

We have thousands of years of recorded history that didn’t involve guns but certainly involved violence. How can you think banning guns will end violence?

Banning bad/evil people might be a better step, but by definition they won’t adhere to your ban so what good will it be?

Facts and data support the notion that allowing a citizenry to be armed, to have force equalizers, does far more good — especially towards crime and violence prevention. (as a start on data, see Howard Nemerov’s book 400 Years of Gun Control – Why Isn’t It Working)

Sighting In, with Tom Hogel

/ hsoi

KR Training Assistant Instructor, Tom Hogel has penned a good article about the importance of sighting in your handgun.

 

With the tremendous amount of new interest in shooting, there seems to be a piece of old gunny knowledge that somehow has not been passed along to the current crop of new shooters – the necessity to “zero” a new pistol or revolver and then to recheck it from time to time.  There seems to be this mistaken assumption that a new gun is going to be able to shoot groups and that the sights are going to be adjusted correctly right from the box.

 

 

Read the whole article, as it contains much wisdom from a seasoned instructor.

 

Independence Day

/ hsoi

Crown thy good with brotherhood

Confirm thy soul in self-control

Til selfish gain no longer stain the banner of the free

From sea to shining sea

(full lyrics… and there’s a lot more than you think)

2011-07-03 workout

/ hsoi

The gym will be closed tomorrow for Independence Day, so I had to get my workout in today. No worries… just throws things off in a minor way, shouldn’t affect anything of consequence I would imagine.

One cool thing tho… I should get my 4″ powerlifting belt on Tuesday and I’ll use it on Wednesday, just in time for deadlifts. 🙂

Squat

  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x85
  • 1x3x130
  • 1x2x175
  • 3x5x220 (work)

There’s no question about the mental game here. I wasn’t into it. There was a time when lifting got really boring to me because there was no mental stimulation. And well, there still isn’t, but I’m realizing it’s quite a different mental game. I really have to get focused and be in a zone, even the slightest thing can throw things off. For instance, being a non-normal gym day, the owner wasn’t there and I think in the back of my head I’ve kept him as a bit of a security blanket — that if the weight got too heavy and I had to yell for help or a spot, I know he’d be there and be strong enough to manage. Well, today he wasn’t there and that sowed a little “oh shit” trepidation in my head… which of course isn’t good because it totally runs counter to what I need! I mean, if I think I’m going to fail, damnit I’m going to fail. I have to think that I will push that weight around like it’s nothing and then I will! Now, I still pounded out the 3×5, but there’s no question it was hard and my form went all to shit. So, the mental game is dawning on me, and it’s different from any mental game I’ve dealt with before. It’s kinda cool. 🙂

Bench Press

  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x70
  • 1x3x100
  • 1x2x130
  • 3x5x145

This felt good, almost. I’m trying to remember the Dave Tate advice, planting my feet and really pushing with them too… a whole body pressing motion. But I noticed half-way through my second set that my legs were limp. I firmed them up and the rest of the set wobbled.  Third set I realized that I’m planting my feet at a position fine for resting on the floor but not pushing back: I need to plant my feet closer to my head so when I start pushing into it, everything slides and I end up in a “normal” position.

Chin-ups

  • 1x11xbw
  • 1x8xbw
  • 1x6xbw

Dang. That’s a lot more than I did last Monday. Not sure what gives, but I’ll take it. 🙂

Commentary

The mental game here is very interesting, and until I started to lift heavy — heavy relative to me, where my body and brain thinks “oh gawd what the hell are you doing??!!” — I never really knew it. I can’t say I totally understand it yet, that will come in time. But it’s really an interesting thing.

I’m looking forward to getting my belt and seeing how it pans out. Plus I admit, it’ll be kinda cool to be squatting 225# — 2 plates! 😉

You know one reason I like my gym? Well, one thing I don’t like is that there’s just no way I can do power cleans (yeah whatever Rip… I’m a pussy for not doing them, fine). But apart from that, the gym is really good… especially since most people are there for “modern fitness” so they’re all using the elliptical, treadmill, or machines. Never a problem to use the freeweights. 🙂 Plus it’s always got people but never ridiculously busy. Good music too. It’s nice to get in, work, get out.

Two things from dry fire

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Doing some dry fire work with my handgun and two things hit me… both taken from the Rangemaster Defensive Shotgun class I took a couple of months ago. My head, and how to make Rolling Thunder a better drill.

First, my head.

When I get into a shooting position, I always end up pushing my head out and down… sticking it out/forward and down. Why? I don’t know, but I do it and I know lots of other people do it too. Givens worked to get us to stop doing that: bring the shotgun up to your cheek. You ended up in a far better shooting position when you did. As well, it’s less movement, and less things to have to get in line to get a good sight picture and then a fast shot off.

I need to remember to stop doing that when I draw my handgun… any firearm really, but right now I’m working handgun and need to just not move my head… bring the gun up to my line of sight, not bring the gun up and my head down and try to have them meet somewhere.

To experiment, I did a bunch of dry press-outs, some with my head held normally, some with my head going out and down. No wonder I’ve had a dog of a time lately with getting my index… there’s just too much movement and things going on when the head also moves. With my head still my index and front-sight acquisition was exponentially better. *sigh*  Live and learn.

Second, the Rolling Thunder drill.

I realized that we didn’t run that drill as well as we could have. The goal of the class was fundamental manipulations and keeping the gun running. Everyone was focused on being able to get their required number of shots off when it was their turn to go. If it came to someone’s turn and they weren’t ready to go, the person would continue to work to load the shotgun until they had all the shells in and then went. It shouldn’t have been that way. If it’s your turn to go, you should go in whatever state your shotgun is in, and if there weren’t enough shells at the time, then you just keep doing the speed reloads until you get there. So for instance, you are to do 4 shots but your turn comes and you’ve only got 2 in the gun (one in the chamber, one in the magazine). GO! Shoot the two you have, then load one through the ejection port, chamber and shoot, load another through the ejection port, chamber and shoot.

Why do it this way? IMHO, this would be an improved way to run the drill because it won’t just be about going when YOU want to go, it’ll be about going when you HAVE to go, which is more likely how a gunfight would go — you really don’t get to choose. That said, I would say the drill should first just be run without discussing this approach and see how people do it, likely they’re will be a long pause between shooters while “next shooter” finishes a complete reload before shooting. After everyone goes, bring up the topic about having to go when it’s time to go no matter what the state of things, but continuing to finish the fight, if you will. Both approaches to the drill are legit and both end up working a slightly different set of skills. I think what’s key is to raise the issue and sow the seed in people’s minds so they work to practice both ways and get the pressure of both approaches.