Tony Iommi and Phil Anselmo, together on “Time Is Mine”
Author: hsoi
The Will to Prevail
KR Training Assistant Instructor and Houston Police Officer, Justin Galindo, posted the following videos and comments to his Facebook page:
Says Justin:
Interesting dramatized ad for body armor, but actually this a better ad for carrying a backup pistol. Watch the whole thing and you’ll see what I mean.
Then Justin posted this video:
Justin’s comment for the above video:
Contrast the difference between that last video and this one. Body armor is great, but I’d rather have a determined will to prevail and to win.
A good compare and contrast. In the former, she survived through equipment and luck. In the latter, he survived because of equipment, the will to live, the determination to fight and win.
Interesting coincidence. Prior to seeing Justin’s posts I was flipping channels on TV and “American Gladiators” was on. It was the woman’s Eliminator. Both contestants started about the same time, but one clearly was taking the lead and the other was struggling to keep up. The woman in the lead got to near the end where there’s that uphill reverse conveyor belt, and she tried, and tried, but kept failing to get over the top. Despite a huge gap between the two competitors, the other woman managed to catch up and go on to cross the finish line first — she wanted it more, she was determined to finish. Yes the first woman appeared to have physically run out of gas, but you could see in her eyes that she had just given up. Both women were physically spent, but the one that won had the will to prevail and win.
They need education, not ignorance
An 8-year-old boy was shot by his 12-year-old brother.
Burnet Police say the two boys were home alone at the time of the shooting. The 8-year-old reportedly located the weapon involved, a .22 pistol. Police say his 12-year-old brother was attempting to put the weapon away when he accidentally pulled the trigger, shooting the 8-year-old in the leg.
Two things.
First, there’s the question of safe storage, which wasn’t touched on so I can’t speculate.
Second, both children are old enough and capable enough to operate a firearm (obviously). If you are going to keep firearms in your home, you should not just keep them away from your children — it’s a forbidden fruit issue, it’s a safety issue. You need to teach your children safe handling. We teach our children safety issues with electrical outlets, with water/soap and slipping in the bathtub, and just like any safety issue our children do better to be taught how to deal with it than kept ignorant of it.
Very small children should get the Eddie Eagle treatment of “Stop. Don’t touch. Leave the area. Tell an adult.” But older children should receive at least basic safety lessons on storage and handling. Kathy Jackson has a collection of excellent articles on Kids and Guns that I highly recommend you read.
More veggies
OMG!!!11!1!
Just picked up our second box of veggies from Johnson’s Backyard Garden. Wonderful lot of stuff in there, but the better part? The farm is having a big tomato sale and we picked up 40# worth: 20# San Marzano roma’s, 10# large slicers, 10# heirloom. Why so much? Because we could, and they were running a 50% off sale. We’ll cook the roma’s down for sauce. Kiddos just like eating tomatoes straight up so the slicers are good there. And darn it… I’ve never had heirlooms and thought I’d try it.
Wow.
The moment we got home I pulled one of each out, washed, sliced, and ate. I wanted to see how they all tasted. First up, they of course all tasted so much better than store-bought given how fresh they were and how long they got to stay on the vine. But those heirlooms… I have no idea what exact variety I tried but it was large and had a purple-ish hue to it. Very nice flesh inside. Wow. The flavor was deep, robust, wonderful. You go back to the slicers, which were wonderful in and of themselves, and they just paled in comparison. It was delicious.
After that, Wife and I washed more veggies and made a salsa. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm. We will work on perfecting the recipe as we go along; wasn’t perfect, but was still good.
So… so… so… good.
We have 2 more boxes left to go. I’m pretty sure I’m going to renew. I think I’m growing curious to see what will come as the season changes… like in the winter.
Condolences
Matt Billingsley, owner of the Lone Star Gun Range, passed away today. From the LSGR Facebook page:
FOR THOSE WHO KNEW AND LOVED MATT BILLINGSLEY OWNER OF THE RANGE……HE PASSED AWAY TODAY IN A HEAVY EQUIPMENT ACCIDENT. WE WILL HAVE FUNERAL INFORMATION POSTED SOON. HE WILL BE MISSED SO MUCH.
Terrible news. I used to go out to LSGR in its earlier days, and I really liked how things worked there, especially the 25 yard range close to the office where you could shoot, move, use carbines and handguns to work on movement, transitions, etc.. It was pretty nice. I did stop going because some time ago Matt had to put a policy in place where you couldn’t collect brass — I understand why he did it tho, because it was just after Obama came into office, components were in short supply, so some people were picking up every piece of brass they could find instead of just picking up their own, which cut into the range’s ability to harvest brass to resell to help keep range costs lower. I didn’t blame Matt and probably would have done something similar if I was in his shoes. But between that and the fact the range was growing in popularity so I couldn’t practice there the way I liked to (i.e. I needed a range to myself so I could shoot and move, etc.) well… I stopped going. Never was an issue on Matt’s part tho. He always came across as a good, stand-up guy, working hard to build a business, a successful range, and by all indicators he was doing a heck of a job. He was always nice to my kids when we were out there too. Nothing but respect for the guy.
My condolences to his family, friends, and associates.
2011-06-17 workout
Remember how I mentioned a mental shift? Just more evident today as I put 10# more on my squat.
Squat
- 2x5x45 (warmup)
- 1x5x60
- 1x3x90
- 1x2x120
- 3x5x155 (work)
These felt heavy, heavier than ever before and I felt it. But, instead of the brain going “oh shit, this is heavy! what the hell are you doing?! you’re going to kill yourself” the brain was going “Oh shit, this is heavy! That’s awesome! You’re going to pound out those reps and when you rack that bar you’ll have set a new PR (personal record). Hell yeah!”. It starts the same, but finishes in a much better state of mind. I came. I saw. I lifted more weight than last time. 🙂
The bar moved a little slower than the last workout, but not much that I’m going to care (I slept a little crappy last night); I’ll still bump up 10# next workout. It was a little more challenging for sure, but it really forced me to mind form — especially the hip drive, lifting the butt up first, keeping chest up, and so on. It also forced me to think about exploding and driving harder. All good things.
Press
- 2x5x45 (warmup)
- 1x5x45
- 1x3x50
- 1x2x60
- 3x5x75 (work)
These work sets didn’t get much rest between them. I know I’m far from my “potential” in the press, but I think that’s good. I can feel that while I have the gross idea of the movement down, it’s just not wired well into my body yet, but that stands to reason since I haven’t done a lot of presses in this workout yet and furthermore I haven’t done presses in this style well… ever. So my neural pathways are still adapting and adjusting, and frankly, using moderate weights at this stage is good because I’m seeing how it becomes more critical as the weight gets heavier (relative to what I can lift, see my squats). So, slow and steady progress here is fine.
Pull-ups
- 1x9xbodyweight
- 1x8xbodyweight
- 1x6xbodyweight
Someone else was using the Smith machine so I just put a bar on the lower pegs of the squat rack at about the same height as I’d use on the Smith machine (i.e. the lowest I can go that still allows me to hang from the bar and not have my back touch the ground). Not sure if that made any difference in things, but there we go.
Felt good, more explosive on these. I did realize I was exploding up and just “coming down”… forgot to focus on the negative reps. Dang it. Oh well.
Commentary
The workout felt good. Things are getting heavier, but not too heavy. I’m still progressing at what appears to be a good rate. I’m still learning the motions. I’d like to make some time this weekend to watch through the Starting Strength DVD again to catch any form details and refresh myself on some things, especially regarding the press. Hopefully I’ll be able to make some time to do this, but it’s a busy weekend ahead.
I do like my mental paradigm shift. It’ll play well into everything in life.
I like my diet too. Heck, Wife bought me a bunch of steaks, not rib eyes or other top top cuts, but still good sirloin and such. Just a simple seasoning, then cook it, and cut it into about 6-8 oz portions and into the fridge it goes. Won’t last me long, but it’s sure a nice break from shoveling down cans of tuna. 🙂 I’m also wondering if I have lost a little fat weight. I see my weight dropped a bit on the scale, but more importantly my waistband feels a little looser than it was feeling. This is a tough line to walk, where I’m trying to ensure I build muscle and strength but letting my flab be fuel so it gets burned off. I also am needing to find a new multivitamin. I was just taking the store brands, like the Costco general multi and right now Centrum… reason is that before, that’s all that was needed and geez, the Costco bottle is 500 tablets so it lasts you a while. As well, we were trying to find adult vitamins for the kids to take (i.e. beyond Flintstones, something more complete) but they were hard on their stomachs so that’s why the Centrum was lying around. I’m too cheap to discard them, but coming to the end of it. And I know working like this, I need something more than just your “100% RDA” junk. So I’m trying Universal Nutrition’s Animal Pak (1 packet a day). Yeah yeah, don’t give me any shit over it. The composition is reasonable and the price really isn’t all that bad. I’ve been curious to try their products and so let’s see how this does for me (took first pack this morning). If it doesn’t pan out, I’ll probably switch over to AST 32x or even Beverly’s Super Pak (which is actually kinda expensive). I want vitamins, minerals in doses more appropriate for the workload, I don’t want lots of herbal whatnot gimmicky stuff (e.g. lots of GNC stuff, Opti-Men). We’ll see. No harm in experimenting and finding what works for me. If it all winds up being 6 of 1 and half-dozen of the other, I’ll go with what’s cheapest.
Strong is useful.
Mental Toughness
An article by Jackson Yee on Mental Toughness.
Fear is a needed quality to develop mental strength. By facing fear, you learn courage. Being fearless is a misconceived trait. As admirable as being fearless can be, it isn’t realistic nor does it provide any benefit to being a mentally tough beast. Being threatened by fear is the catalyst for you to strike! Confronting fear with brave actions is how you get tough.
Fear is an emotional response. At times, fear is irrational and blown out of perspective. It is not easy getting over any shattering experiences, but with guts and determination, you can get over any painful ordeal. Life is full of disappointments and letdowns. When we don’t get what we want, the consolation is that we gain experience. This doesn’t seem like a worthwhile prize, but see how the adversity can enlighten you. If may not be obvious, but look hard at any opportunity for personal growth. Take in the life lesson and move on.
A lot of wisdom in the article, applicable no matter what the context in life.
Perspectives on competition vs. combat
Tim passed along this article on the similarities and differences of civilian competition vs. combat shooting. The author talks about how the two compare in terms of stress reaction, realities of context, and gear.
Tim commented on the article and offered another article with a different perspective. Both give you something to think about.
The take-away for me is you have to know what your reasons and goals are for shooting. Is it competition? is it self-defense? is it part of your job (e.g. military, police)? What are your reasons? All shooting has stuff in common and so most any sort of education and training will help you out (e.g. a novice needs fundamentals of trigger control, trigger control being critical to getting accurate, acceptable hits, which matter no matter your goal/context). But as you get further along you need to train more specific to your context. Non-specific training can be useful (e.g. shooting IPSC still gives you trigger time), but you have to keep it in perspective and ensure you’re still getting specific training.
Funny… I’m reading Practical Programming by Mark Rippetoe right now and the parallels to this discussion are interesting.
Jury Duty
A couple months ago I was summoned for jury duty and today was my day to appear.
I headed down to Austin municipal court, went to the room, signed in, sat down, read a book, and then was sent home. There were 21 cases, and all decided against trial by jury (plead no contest, plea bargain, whatever). So, no one was needed and after about 2 hours total I was home.
Interesting that all of my jury duty experiences have been the same in that regard.
I will say, upon entrance to the courthouse there’s a full screening process, like at the airport only without the abject humiliation. I was surprised it was handled by a private security firm and not Austin Police Department. I of course set off the metal detector. I was wearing a pair of 5.11 covert pants, so more zippers than normal; belt with buckle; steel shanks in the soles of my cowboy boots, and I figure all that just was too much for the detector. Wand me down, off I went. Oh and once again, the spare battery for my MacBook Pro confounds the x-ray operator; happens quite frequently.
Here’s the thing.
I had to fully disarm to go to the courthouse: no gun, no knives, no Leatherman, no nothing. Something felt wrong about being forced to do a civic duty while being stripped of my basic rights.
2011-06-15 workout
Today’s workout was kinda fun because it was comprised solely of “the big 3 lifts”: squat, bench press, deadlift.
Squats
- 2x5x45 (warmup)
- 1x5x55
- 1x3x85
- 1x2x115
- 3x5x145 (work)
The bar felt heavy today. Not in a bad way, just in a “wow, never squatted this much weight before” way. I’ll discuss this more at the end.
Form continues to improve, and that stands to reason given I squat every workout so it just gets more reps, more time to condition that muscle memory. I did also play around with stepping back from the rack. The gym doesn’t have a full power rack, it’s one of those “half rack” sort of incline peg things. It’s certainly sufficient for the task, but because of the incline and that I have to start with the bar pretty high I have to step back a little further to ensure when I’m in the hole I don’t bang the bar into the rack. But I found I don’t need to step back as far as I thought I did, which is good, especially as the weight gets bigger. Plus, I’m trying to work on minimizing my steps, just step one foot back and plant it, then step the other back and plant it and that’s that… no step back, another couple steps, shuffle, etc. because that’s a waste of energy and only gets more difficult as the weight gets heavier.
Bench Press
- 2x5x45 (warmup)
- 1x5x60
- 1x3x85
- 1x2x120 (should have been 110# but sometimes I suck at “plate math”)
- 3x5x125 (work)
Remember how I mentioned that I was having a rough time with waiting for 4-5 minutes between sets? Well, that’s getting easier to manage with the squats. Here on the bench I didn’t wait so long, maybe 3 minutes at most between my work sets. Basically tells me that I have a lot of strength still to go, a lot of room to improve. So that’s all good.
Gripped the bar hard, but my right wrist still feels the pressure. We’ll see how this pans out for my wrist. A little discomfort is one thing, but sheer pain is another. I can’t afford hand injury due to my line of work.
Deadlift
- 2x5x95 (supposed to be 60#)
- 1x3x95 (supposed to be 90#)
- 1x2x125
- 1x5x150
The initial warmup sets are supposed to be at a calculated low weight, but it’s just not practical to do since I lack the bumper plates or very high blocks on which to stack things. So, 95# (i.e. a 25# plate on each side) is going to be my minimum until I of course improve beyond that weight.
I really felt like I could do more here, but I’m going to be patient. Rip talks about how 1 set is enough since deadlifts take a lot out of you so better to get some work then rest rest rest. Furthermore, I do the math and if I progress on the route I’m on…. well, back up. In theory, your weights should be deadlift > squat > bench press > press in terms of weight you can move. Presently that’s the case for me, however at my rate of progression that’s going to change with my squat overtaking. But, that’s only based upon simple math predictions, not reality. I know that eventually I won’t be going up 10# per squat session but I betcha I’ll continue to do 15# deadlift jumps for a little while longer. I figure the stats will be all wonky while my body comes to terms with everything, but it’ll all even out at the end. What matters more isn’t what I have now, but what things will be like when I’m done with this SS/PP-based program months from now.
Commentary
This was the first workout where I started to feel like gosh, everything feels heavier. So I know I’m getting closer to what I can actually lift. It’s all pretty cool, but it’s creating an interesting internal dialogue.
I’ve never done this before. I’ve never lifted heavy like this. Oh sure, it’s not heavy compared to the big boys, but for me it’s heavy and heavier than I ever did. And what’s more, the nature of the program makes me always lift heavier. I am constantly having to push myself. This starts to create massive internal “fear” dialogue. From the fears of overprotective mother not wanting me to get hurt, to Wife not wanting me to get hurt, to me just growing older and getting more conservative and not wanting to get hurt… all that sort of “holy shit that’s heavy! what the hell are you doing!” that enters my head. So there’s that whole thing… and I reckon it’ll still come. But what’s cool is that it’s starting to change, or at least to give way to another dialogue. One that says “holy shit, that’s heavy! but damn, that’s awesome!” because I know I’m going to move it, because I know I’m going to set another Personal Record (PR) this workout. That’s a neat thing about this sort of program because you get tangible results constantly. You get constant feedback (and ego gratification, let’s be honest) that you are better than you were just 2 days ago… you are stronger, you are more capable, you are able to break through barriers, you are tougher, you are more disciplined, whatever and everything. It really feeds and makes for a positive experience. I swear, I want to go to the gym more! Of course I know that’s NOT useful, nor is it useful to stick around and fiddlefart in the gym — get in, do your work, get out, eat and rest. But geez if it isn’t an interesting mental and internal change of mindset.
I was telling Wife about this and she thought it was pretty cool. She asked me how long I’m going to be doing this and I said that I don’t know… but I’ll deal with it when I get there. Yes, part of me thinks joining the 1000# club would be cool, but I’m not sure how much I care. I’m not doing this to be a lifter, I’m doing this to be healthy, strong, and useful. So where I end up? We’ll see. It’s just a fun journey and it’s starting to wander a path that I didn’t expect but am quite enjoying.
