Author: hsoi

2017-09-04 training log

/ hsoi

I thought I had things dialed in, but it looks like there’s still some room to adjust. Not a bad thing, as I’d rather start light and slow and have a longer road of progression.

Incline pressing adds a little to the work up. Taking a cue from the squatting, to work up to a heavier weight so I can keep that progressing. I’m getting more used to the equipment at the new gym, and it’s really forcing me to improve my technique, which is a good thing. Much more tightness throughout my body. One thing I realized today is I have not been keeping my midsection tight, so I focused hard on being tight from toes to top-of-head today. What was cool was that often caused the bar to just rise out of the j-hooks like magic. Tightness is so key, and there’s always room for improvement. It’s probably the #1 cue I tell myself.

I will stick with these weights on inclines until I hit 6 on the 50% set. Any “high rep sets” that I’m doing for upper body I’m setting a ceiling of 12 reps before I drop back down. Not everything will go to 12, but certainly that’s the ceiling for upper body work.

DB benches were really cool today. First, I still think I can up the top weight because I’m aiming for 6 reps; I got 8 and only stopped at 8 because I was not trying to rep-out here (I could have done more). So this will probably get a 5# bump. I’ll probably also bump the 2nd set to 65’s, but the last set is about where I want it. For sure these are really good. I go down, hold, stretch, sink in, and press up. Descent is a little slow, ascent is explosive. Push to true failure. I really like how these go. I am also finding they are giving me one hell of a grip workout, which is an unexpected but welcome side-effect.

Flies are whatever they are. I need to up that weight because I pushed the last set to failure and got a LOT of reps here. In fact, even tho I added the drop set, I didn’t quite go to failure on the sets. It was almost failure, so it just means I need to bump up a hair.

As a result of pushing a bit harder on the front end, the back-end shoulder work of course lost a little ground. This is to be expected. Main comment here is on the last set each of lat raises and bent raises I would do some partial burns. No idea how many, just until I couldn’t do any more.

Afterwards I did 20 minutes elliptical, then a good session of stretching and rolling. In fact, one thing I spent some time on was just “standing” on a tennis ball and rolling it under my foot to massage and loosen up the muscles in my sole. Wow, that hurt, but afterwards is feeling so good. Yes, overall things are feeling better, and I really do need to keep this work on the recovery and just maintaining my body. It’s making my gym sessions long, but so far my body is thankful.

  • Incline Press
    • bar x 10
    • 115 x 5
    • 135 x 4
    • 155 x 3
    • 175 x 2
    • 195 x 1
    • 215 x 1
    • 225 x 1
    • 185 x 12 (AMRAP)
    • 185 x 4 (50%)
  • DB Bench Press (pause at bottom, get the stretch)
    • 40e x 10 (light warmup)
    • 55e x 8 (light warmup)
    • 85e x 8
    • 60e x 15
    • 40e x 21
  • DB Flat Flies
    • 20e x 12
    • 20e x 12
    • 20e x 20, 15e x 11, 12e x 10 (drop set)
  • Press
    • 115 x 10
    • 115 x 10
    • 115 x 6
  • Front Plate Raise (tri set)
    • 45 x 12
    • 45 x 9
    • 45 x 7
  • DB Lateral Raise (tri set)
    • 15e x 10
    • 15e x 9
    • 15e x 7 (followed by partial burns)
  • Rear Lateral Raise (tri set)
    • 12e x 10
    • 12e x 10
    • 12e x 10 (followed by partial burns)

Sep. 1, 2017 – New Laws in Texas

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

OK, I’m a day late, but as of September 1, 2017 a whole bunch of new laws go into effect in Texas.

I’m going to highlight a few, that would be particularly relevant to typical readers.

HB 1935 – knife changes

Knife Rights actually has the best summary and coverage of these changes.

All “illegal knives” (Penal Code Sec. 46.01(6)) that were previously prohibited to carry (Penal Code Sec. 46.02) will be removed from Texas statute:  This list includes: knives with blades longer than 5.5 inches, hand instrument designed to cut or stab another by being thrown, daggers, dirks, stilettos, poniards, swords, spears and Bowie knives. 

NOTE: Knives that incorporate “knuckles” as part of the handle (Penal Code Sec. 46.01(8)), such as the iconic Model 1918 WWI Trench Knife and similar, remain illegal to possess in Texas (Penal Code Sec. 46.05(2)). 

NOTE: Tomahawks remain classified as “clubs” (Penal Code Sec. 46.01(1)(D)) that are still illegal to carry (Penal Code Sec. 46.02) in Texas.

BOTTOM LINE Summary: Any adult can carry any knife legal to possess anywhere as long as it is not over five and a half (5.5) inches.  You can carry longer knives almost everywhere, except as noted below.  There is no separate rule for concealed carry, you may carry open or concealed, however you want.  There is no limit on the number of knives you can carry.

The interesting thing that happened was just as this bill was to be voted on, there was a horrific stabbing on the campus of the University of Texas. A compromise was added to the bill to create a new term: “location restricted knife” which is defined as a knife with a blade over 5.5″. The restricted locations mirror a lot of the concealed carried restricted locations like racetracks, polling places, 51% signs, etc..  There are some additional restrictions for people under the age of 18.

SB16 – Reduced LTC fees

That’s it – LTC fees are reduced. So long $140, hello $40.

SB263 – removal of LTC qualification caliber requirement

This removes the minimum .32 caliber requirement for the LTC qualification. Note: the law only ever pertained to the qualification/test – you could carry a .22, you just couldn’t qualify with it. But now you can.

Personal note: I hope people won’t use this as a way to make up for lack of skill. That was the whole reason for it: so someone couldn’t come in and pass with a .22 then think they could carry a .44 — gaming the system. And believe me, people would (I’ve even seen some embarrassing behavior during Instructor qualifications). But it was always a problem because there are just some people that cannot handle even a .32 but can a .22 (think handicapped, elderly, etc.). I am happy for the removal of this requirement, and I can only hope people will do right by it. Because if you “cheat the system” well… you’re truly only cheating yourself.

HB 435 helps out volunteer first responders.

HB 1819 updates Texas law should the Hearing Protection Act pass on the Federal level. As a nice side-effect, it fixes some weirdness in the law and yes the Mossberg 590 Shockwave is now legal in Texas. Yes, I want one of these.

HB 3784 allows for online LTC to become a thing. This has generated some controversy – or perhaps more accurately, resentment – amongst the LTC Instructor base. I can’t blame them, but on the same token welcome to the modern era. Perasonaly, I feel like this could become a better thing in the long run. It could allow for more uniform curriculum results with some better assurance that the citizenry was getting good information (I’ve heard horror stories about how some LTC Instructors behave). It could also bring an uptick in license-holders, because now they can take the course at their convenience (e.g. late night, after work). Also, there will still be a required range time, and now there’s requirement to actually spend some time working with the students on safety and proficiency (before, it was only really required to shoot the test). So I have hopes in the long run this will mean better things for the program. Time will tell.

HB 421 helps places of worship regarding voluntary security services. Note it didn’t pass, but did make it as an amendment to SB 2065.

HB 1692 permits the storage of a handgun in a school parking lot by an LTC holder. But it didn’t pass as-is, but made it as an amendment to SB 1566.

It may not have been the legislative year that a lot of people were hoping for, but while small changes, they were good changes.

Me? I’m happy about the knife changes, and eventually buying a Shockwave. 🙂

2017-09-01 training log

/ hsoi

I really do believe a proper arm day is helping with my arm pain.

My arms just feel better, probably better than any day of the week, both during and after my arm-session. I can’t point to why this is the case, but whatever helps me work to alleviate this pain I’m all for.

That said, while I’ve generally been happy with my new programming, I still don’t feel like I quite have arm day dialed in. For example, supersetting the AMRAP/50% gets… weird. Do I superset the AMRAP, then superset the 50%? But then that puts a lot more rest in between. So I dunno. Part of me is thinking to ditch supersetting. Hit triceps first (because close-grips), do all the triceps work, then hit biceps.

I even tried swapping out the incline bang curls. I first thought about doing concentration curls off the back of the incline bench, but 1 set showed me that wasn’t going to work well — I’m wanting a very-high-rep set, and even with 15# I couldn’t crank out a lot (pure muscular contraction to bring the weight up, upper arm remains straight, hard supination, hold/squeeze-hard for 3 seconds, then slow eccentric — you don’t need a lot of weight). Dropping down the weight wouldn’t get me anywhere, so after 1 set of that I opted to grab the EZ bar and do narrow-grip spider curls off the back of the incline (no dedicated preacher bench at the new gym). That worked out ok — higher reps were hit, painful squeezing. Still, I dunno.

I kinda wonder about doing something like a cable curl. Straight bar, cable curl.

I really don’t know. I will think about it. The goal is to have 1 movement that’s heavy weight low rep, one mid weight mid rep, one light weight high rep. That seems to be making my arms feel good, and gives a nice pump (go Arnold).

Anyways, I’m generally good with how things are, just needs a little fine-tuning still.

BTW, I don’t note this in my logs but I’m working to have 2 things to end my sessions.

First, spending at least 20 minutes doing light cardio. These days it’s just on the elliptical, working to keep my heart rate in that “target zone”. But I may work to vary it up with some bike work — there’s an Air Dyne but it’s out of order. While I don’t like cardio, I cannot deny it’s helpful at keeping my work capacity up and my calories/bodyweight in check.

Second, time stretching and rolling. This is primarily to help my lower back towards that goal of using the reverse hyper. But it’s overall helping me feel a lot better. Stretch, and proper stretching like finding a stretch and holding for at least 30 seconds and continuing to sink into it. Foam rolling my back, especially my lower back, erectors, glutes, hamstrings, and even my calves. I will expand this in time to stretch and roll more of my body, but right now I’m focusing on where I’m really hurting, tight, sore, whatever.

  • BB Curls (elbows in, wider grip), (superset)
    • 55 x 8
    • 65 x 7
    • 75 x 6
    • 85 x 5
    • 95 x 4
    • 105 x 3
    • 80 x 12 (AMRAP)
    • 80 x 6 (50%)
  • Close-Grip Bench
    • 95 x 8
    • 115 x 7
    • 135 x 6
    • 175 x 5
    • 195 x 4
    • 215 x 3
    • 185 x 12 (AMRAP)
    • 185 x 6 (50%)
  • Incline Hammer Curls into standing DB curls (with supination), (superset)
    • 25e x 12
    • 25e x 12
    • 25e x 9
  • Standing French Press
    • 75 x 15
    • 75 x 15
    • 75 x 13
  • Incline Concentration Curls
    • 15e x 15
  • Incline Spider Curls (EZ bar, narrow grip)
    • 25 x 23
    • 25 x 22
  • Rope Pressdowns (twist out hands at bottom, then after failure just straight to eek out some more)
    • 60 x 40
    • 60 x 40
    • 60 x 33

2017-08-31 training log

/ hsoi

I still feel like back day needs more. I just don’t know what yet. I mean, it’s a back. There’s a LOT of things to hit, and it’s a group that can take a lot of work. It may be that my work-up on the rows needs a little more work. That is, a few sets to warm-up sure, but the later work-up sets may need a boost in weight or reps to get a little more out of them. I dunno.

But in general it goes well. I’ve been happy with the new program. The next 3 weeks will be more telling, as I’ve basically worked out the kinks, found my groove, and my body is acclimated to the new approach. I will start adding some intensity techniques in, like here I will probably add in drop sets at the end of the pulldowns — and that’s all. I don’t need to go crazy adding in a ton of stuff at once. Add in something, the body will be stressed, will adapt, and then when it does that’s when I’ll add in something else.

On the drive home from the gym I was thinking that I spend a good 3 weeks acclimating. Now I want to spend at least 3 and probably 6 weeks cranking hard on this. After that, I’d probably take a deload week, then do something like a Strong-15 Short Cycle. After that, I don’t know. I’ll just say that with all the toys at the new gym — tires, farmer’s walk handles, Prowler, etc. I might see about doing something to add those in (especially as the weather grows cooler). But that’s a long ways off. Right now this program is fun, my body feels good, and I do feel like it’s progressing me forward. We’ll see how the next 3-6 weeks go.

  • Face Pulls
    • 70 x 25
    • 70 x 25
    • 70 x 25
  • Pull-Ups
    • BW x 4
    • BW x 4
    • BW x 3
  • Barbell Rows
    • 95 x 8
    • 115 x 7
    • 135 x 6
    • 165 x 5
    • 195 x 4
    • 205 x 3
    • 155 x 13 (AMRAP)
    • 155 x 7 (50%)
  • BB Shrugs
    • 275 x 8
    • 275 x 8
    • 185 x 20
    • 185 x 20
  • Close-grip Pulldowns
    • 125 x 12
    • 125 x 12
    • 125 x 12
    • 125 x 8

More Perspectives on Minimum Competency

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

Four years ago I wrote about Minimum Competency for Defensive Pistol. Since then, I’ve had additional writings on the topic. I’m not the only one that cares about this topic. A couple of days ago I saw a summary of a presentation from John Corriea of Active Self Protection and was going to write on it, but Mark Luell over at Growing up Guns beat me to it!

In fact, Mark’s write-up is even better, so I’ll just link to his article: Meta: Critical Skills and Goals for Personal Protection.

In his meta-article, Mark examines the findings from various trainers:

What’s good to see is the overlap. People who study and research this area, and what their conclusions are – and while we do different work, how we tend to reach the same conclusions.

As Tom Givens would say, “That’s what we call a clue.”

Much of this data isn’t new to me, but sometimes seeing the same data presented in a new manner helps you view the data in a new light. Mark’s post did that for me.

Reading Claude’s findings really helps to hit home what is and isn’t important in the context of self-defense firearms skills. For example, retrieving the handgun is a pretty important skill, so however you carry/store your firearm, you better be able to retrieve it successfully. Reloading? Not so much (it’s arguable since you have to load, reload, and unload a firearm just to use it, so long as you do that in a disciplined manner that’s all you really need).

I always love watching John’s videos and analysis. It’s one thing the magic of CCTV, security cameras, camera phones, and YouTube (DailyMotion, Worldstar, etc.) has brought to us: real fights, real incidents, and we can see how they work, how they unfold, how brutal they can be, the realities of what happens, and what we can learn from it. I think John’s collection has done a lot to dispel false notions and beliefs about what goes on, and really give people a good dose of reality.

I regret missing an opportunity to train with Darryl and look forward to that opportunity. There’s a lot of good and unique stuff in Darryl’s notes, but one that stood out to me is the split times. I’ve wondered about doing a long block of training forcing myself to shoot to that standard and seeing what it did for me. I think it would be quite insightful.

John Hearne is becoming the E.F. Hutton of the firearms training community: when he talks, you should listen. His examination and study of human performance is a higher-order topic, but a vital one towards really understanding and working to maximize performance. It helps steer training, both as instructors with curriculum and individuals determining what skills to focus on. I especially like the last point about training emotional control.

Give a read to Mark’s meta-post. Seek these people out. Read what they write. Take classes from them if you can. You will be better for it.

Hurricane Harvey – How to Help

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

The effects of Hurricane Harvey… it’s bad. I can’t find the words to describe how hard and heavy it hit and has directly affected millions of lives. And yes, it’s going to affect your life too. Maybe you know people directly affected, or if nothing else you better expect the price of gasoline and other petroleum-based products to rise. Houston’s a major city, and it being out of commission for weeks, for months, it’s going to be felt around the world.

The sooner we all pull together as Americans (and a world) to help our brothers and sisters get back on their feet, the better off we all will be.

So how can you help?

I put out a call, and friends, friends of friends, responded with a listing. This list is by no means comprehensive, it’s just a place to start. I cannot vouch for any entry on this list. The list is in no particular order. Please do your homework to ensure the group is one you want your money to go to. You can use a website like Charity Navigator to help you vet a group. Note that while Houston has been grabbing the headlines (and rightly so), coastal cities like Rockport and Port Aransas are devastated. Many smaller towns throughout south and east Texas have been hit hard by flooding. And many places in Texas that weren’t so harshly affected, like Austin, are receiving those escaping the flooding (including many pets and animals).

If you’re wondering what to give?

Money.

I know that feels impersonal, but it’s really the best option. Here’s a CBS News article that explains exactly why donating goods doesn’t always help, but money does. Yes, sometimes donating stuff helps. For example, when buses of evacuees arrived in Austin at the Toney Burger Center, it was suddenly hundreds of men, women, and children with nothing. Upon their arrival, donations of stuff like books, diapers, playing cards, clothing, toothbrushes, soap, towels, etc. can be useful. But after that, it can turn into a glut of supplies that cannot be used.

The donation of money allows those on the front-lines to provide for what’s best and actually needed. They know what they need, let them make the decisions. It’s the wisest way to help.

And remember: we’re all going to help in this immediate aftermath. But the pains and needs will go on for weeks, even months. Consider what you can do to provide ongoing help.

Finally, thank you for doing whatever you can do to help.

 

2017-08-29 training log

/ hsoi

One thing I really like about the new gym is how I find myself improving in my squat form.

To have a good platform to stand on. To have a rack where I can set the bar height exactly where it’s right for me, and then to be able to have spotter/catch pins/bars where it’s proper. And yes, even the full-length mirror in front of me is good to ensure I am hitting depth. That said, I have to stop looking at the mirror and worrying about depth because I find myself focusing too much on it and not squatting itself.

Still, I’m finding the equipment setup good. I continue to enjoy working up with some heavier singles as it is helping my technique. I am getting whole-body tight on the descent, and it makes for a slower descent, but that’s better for me. It enables me to ensure I’m staying in control, in the groove, and well… given all my little age and “beat-up-body” issues, I can manage those on the way down, especially through whole-body tightness. Getting the weights back will come.

That said, cranking 15 reps on the AMRAP was a bitch. 😉 But an interesting thing. I had put 235 in RepCount, and I THOUGHT it was a mistake. That is, I wanted the squat AMRAP to work up to 15 before I added weight. So I did 225 today. Looking back in my records, I’m not really sure. Two weeks ago I did 225 for 12, then last week apparently 235 for 13. So I don’t know. 🙂 But 225 for 15 today was fine. I will probably go 245 now, especially if in fact last week was 235 for 132. That should drop the AMRAP back down to probably the 8-10 range, which is where I’d want it to be. I don’t think I’ll bump anything on the workup — let that 320 be faster. It’s solid, but I can make it faster. I will probably bump the 3-rep down-set to 290/295. I even thought about adding a 50% set but remembered that I really am not interested in failure on squats right now. That I’m trying to use this time to help me with technique and continuing to build confidence with heavier weights. So going to failure isn’t the right thing to do (other than just the 1 AMRAP set, which I strive to make every rep solid).

I remembered to use a deficit on the stiff-legs today. 😉

Then I thought about trying the reverse hyper again. I found some more YouTube videos — done by Louie Simmons — on using it, so I feel better about approach and technique. Still, I don’t think my lower back is quite ready. I’m adding additional stretches before, after (and even a little during) all my workouts. I’m also spending a bunch of time in the “stretching area” before I leave the gym. I’m stretching and spending a bunch of time with the foam roller and a tennis ball, working on back stuff. I think I need a little more of that before I try the reverse hyper again.

  • Squat
    • bar x 10
    • 135 x 5
    • 165 x 4
    • 195 x 3
    • 245 x 2
    • 275 x 1
    • 305 x 1
    • 320 x 1
    • 285 x 3
    • 225 x 15 (AMRAP)
  • 1″ Deficit Stiff-Leg Deadlift
    • 235 x 8
    • 235 x 8
    • 235 x 8
  • Split Squats
    • BW x 15e
    • BW x 15e
    • BW x 15e
    • BW x 5e

2017-08-28 training log

/ hsoi

Hurricane Harvey cannot stop International Chest Day. 😉

Austin actually fared pretty well through Harvey. Driving to the gym this morning I saw more damage, but all in all Austin seems to have weathered the storm pretty well. We are lucky. South/East Texas is not so lucky. Please consider doing what you can to help with relief efforts. It’s going to be months before things return to normal.

Today’s session certainly had my brain in other places. I mis-loaded the bar a couple times. At my old gym, all the plates were the same — same brand, same sizes. At the new gym, there’s a mishmash of plates, so you HAVE to look and check. Well, I got complacent and misloaded a couple times. Some 10’s were on the rack where 5’s normally are, and just the differences, well… that’s what I get. Oddly, I didn’t notice much difference while lifting — a slight tilt, but it didn’t feel too off. Part of that I think comes from getting used to these bars still. They spin MUCH more freely than the old gym’s bars, and I’ve even noticed as I’ve loaded these bars that I’ll see how things spin and settle. So I’m still getting used to unracking the bar and things having to settle. To having to find a better hand position so I don’t risk dropping it on myself. For sure, crush-gripping the bar is helping — and if “not dropping the bar on my face” has to be my cue to remember to crush-grip the bar, so be it.

Given that, I opted to do a bit more single work, so I can continue to get used to heavier but not too heavy weights. Things to help with the equipment issues. All in all, things went fine.

I think I’m finding the weights to use on the DB presses, striving for 6-8 first set, 8-15 second set, 12-25 third set.

Then all the pressing/delt work I’m so digging. It’s tough, it’s pushing to failure as much as possible.

I’m looking forward to next week, when I start throwing in intensity techniques on things.

  • Incline Press
    • bar x 5
    • 95 x 5
    • 120 x 4
    • 140 x 3
    • 175 x 2
    • 200 x 1 (mis-load, should have been 195)
    • 215 x 1
    • 182.5 x 12 (AMRAP) (mis-load, should have been 180)
    • 182.5 x 4 (50%)
  • DB Bench Press
    • 40e x 10
    • 55e x 8
    • 80e x 8
    • 60e x 13
    • 40e x 20
  • DB Flat Flies
    • 20e x 12
    • 20e x 12
    • 20e x 12
  • Press
    • 115 x 10
    • 115 x 10
    • 115 x 9
  • Front Plate Raise (tri set)
    • 45 x 12
    • 45 x 8
    • 45 x 8
  • DB Lateral Raise (tri set)
    • 15e X 10
    • 15e X 8
    • 15e X 8
  • Rear Lateral Raise (tri set)
    • 12e X 10
    • 12e X 8
    • 12e X 8

Sunday Metal – Satyricon

/ hsoi

Satyricon is another band I don’t follow much, but I was listening to Jamey Jasta’s podcast and he was saying how awesome their song “King” was. So when the YouTube rabbit-hole presented me Satyricon’s 2016 Bloodstock performance (which closed with “King”), I gave it a listen.