Author: hsoi

How burglars break into homes (and how you can avoid being burglarized)

/ hsoi

Continuing our theme of “ask the criminals how they commit their crimes, because that might give you a clue on how to not be a victim”, there’s a new article going around where “We asked 86 burglars how they broke into homes” (h/t Brian Brown).

Since people don’t like to click through, here’s a summary:

  • How do they typically break in? Through unlocked doors and windows.
    • If something had to be forced, kicking a door was preferred to breaking glass due to noise and risk of injury.
  • Targets? Jewelry, electronics, cash, credit cards, guns.
    • NRA Bumper Sticker = Lots of guns to steal.
  • Where? Master bedroom, then almost anywhere and everywhere else.
  • When? Mid-day, often just after lunch.
    • A time when people are unlikely to be home.
  • Pets? Big, loud dogs deter.
  • Knock first? Typically yes, again to check if anyone’s home.
    • If someone was, give an excuse and move on.
  • Home alarms? If they go off, they will leave.
  • Security cameras? Generally deter, but could also be a signal to valuables.
  • Lights on inside? Mixed. Some saw “lights on, blinds closed” as an invitation because it’s often a signal no one is home and no one will see you.
  • Radio/TV on? Can deter, but not a deal break breaker.
  • Car in the driveway? Good deterrent.
  • Ideal target? Anything that helps them not be seen.
    • Big fences, overgrown hedges, homes isolated from other homes, blind spots, older window frames, cheap doors.
    • Nice home, nice car = person with money
  • Did they ever conduct surveillance? Sometimes.
    • If they did, it was often to determine the best time to break in.
  • What suggestions do they offer to avoid burglary?
    • Visible property. Good lighting. Trimmed trees and bushes.
    • Know your neighbors. Keep your eyes open. Report suspicious activity to the police.

If you look at this, there’s a few common messages.

They want easy targets that have a good chance of a payoff, and will not have resistance.

Minimize advertising of what you have. Bumper stickers, leaving your garage door open, all those boxes you put out on trash day.

Make your home unappealing by keeping things visible.

Make it seem like someone is home. And if someone is home, make it clear that someone is home. Answer your door – that doesn’t mean you have to unlock/open your door, but at least answer it (your voice carries through the door, or get one of those new video/audio doorbells).

And the biggest and easiest thing you can do?

Lock your doors and windows. And if you have an alarm system, use it.

I encounter this frequently: people leave things unlocked, and have alarm systems but don’t use them.

We can’t eliminate things 100%, but we can reduce our chances of being a victim. Learning how burglars work can teach us a lot on how to not be victimized by them.

2016-11-01 training log

/ hsoi

New sleeves, and I think they’ll be better for me.

I picked up some elbow sleeves and new knee sleeves from HowMuchYaBench – Mark Bell/SuperTraining. Why from here? They seem well-regarded, Mark provides a lot of useful content, it’s a way of supporting/thanking for that content and information, and at least the sleeves seem to be approved gear in most all powerlifting feds so when I do compete I won’t have to buy yet another set of gear.

Why sleeves? I’ve worn knee sleeves (EliteFTS brand) for a while and they do seem to help my knees remain happy. I’ve read a bunch saying elbow sleeves can help with my tendonitis problems — both recovering and ensuring it doesn’t happen again, so why not.

They came in yesterday’s mail. Cool thing? I ordered direct from Mark Bell. Order was filled within 1-2 hours, shipped out the next day, here quickly. That’s some great service. Tried them on. They were quite comfortable. I don’t know what the EliteFTS knee sleeves are made from, but the feel here is different — the ST stuff is “fluffy”, neoprene. The knee sleeves are quite comfortable, fit well (size XL), never rode up or down, stayed in place. Even tho today was benching, I wanted to wear the knee sleeves to get the feel for them. I like.

The elbow sleeves were a little more snug (size XL), and the seam irritates me a bit. I’m not going to call the seam a problem really, because I tend to be rather sensitive to things like seams, tags, and so on. Note that it’s just the feeling/sensation, I saw no marks or other issues on my skin. Otherwise they feel pretty good, stay in place, a slight restriction of my range of motion but I don’t really notice it under load.

The biggest thing? Warmth.

Oh my my. A couple minutes after putting them on I felt warmer around my knees and elbows. I wore them from the house to the gym to get used to them. Then a couple minutes into lifting, whoa! Things started to feel HOT under the sleeves. Not painful or anything, but enough that at times my brain was like “can we please take them off to relieve some of this heat?” Crazy. But I actually dug it because yeah, for sure warmth — never felt this level of warmth from the EliteFTS sleeves. After taking them off my skin was red — not from irritation, just from the increased blood flow. Plus massively sweaty under there. 🙂 I wore them the entire lifting session and everything was pretty groovy.

All in all, I’m kinda digging it. I’ll get a better feel for the sleeves as I go along — I’ll wear knee when squatting and deadlifting, and the elbow for almost everything except deadlifting. But initial impressions are positive.

As for the session itself….

Again, deloading, so it was a good time for playing with the sleeves. I did change things up a little bit to try to avoid arm pain. When I play around a bit, it does feel like my forearms are a larger part of my problem, so I changed to do exercises that focus on other things, e.g. I did underhand pulldowns instead of overhead, I did DB curls instead of hammer curls. There was a little biceps annoyance when I’d start a movement, but then it would go away and things felt pretty good.

I am happy to be adding in some additional warmup and stretching exercises for my shoulders and arms, trying to really get muscles in my forearms, my biceps, my pecs, delts, whatever I can throughout that area to stretch. Something that I just have to work on every day.

But all in all, things went well. I don’t feel any aggravation of the area, and I am hoping that with some improved blood flow, massage, drinking lots of water, stretching, modification of exercises, etc. that things will be alright.

My own massing template, based upon 5/3/1 SST and some Paul Carter principles

  • Bench Press
    • bar x whatever
    • 100 x 5 (warmup sets superset with band pull-aparts)
    • 100 x 5
    • 125 x 5
    • 125 x 5 (work sets superset with band pull-aparts)
    • 155 x 5
    • 155 x 5
  • Incline Press
    • 135 x 10 (sets superset with curl-grip pulldowns)
    • 135 x 10
  • Cable Rows
    • 120 x 12
    • 120 x 12
  • Shrugs
    • 195 x 12
    • 195 x 12
  • Rope-handle pressdowns (superset with curls)
    • 60 x 12
    • 60 x 12
  • DB Curls Curls
    • 35e x 10
    • 35e x 10

2016-10-31 training log

/ hsoi

Yes, a change in technique seems to be helping my tendonitis.

This week is a deload week, so it’s a perfect time to explore some technique changes towards dealing with this biceps/forearms/elbow tendonitis issue. Videos I referenced from before, from Paul Carter and Alan Thrall, take different approaches to ultimately the same issue. What I tried this time was using the false-grip Alan suggested (and Paul alludes to) and really working to keep a low-bar yet my wrists straight. I do have good shoulder mobility, but it’s still a little bit of work to get into that position. Still, I spent each set today (and did a few extras with the empty bar) just to work on a good setup and getting into position. It wasn’t too hard to find the right way for me to work in there, but it was a little bit of work to achieve it. 🙂 I just have to be patient and allow myself a little “wiggle time” to get up in there AND ensure I keep my hands/wrists where they need to be.

That said, it’s a little odd-feeling for me, because it’s really just my pinkys touching the bar. But it’s a LOT more comfortable than “eagle claw” grip, because there it just added bar pressure across my fingers which just makes the problem worse.

While I squatted I focused on the arms and upper body. I found that I would regress to a VERY slight wrist bend, but no more than a good false-grip would be. It provided just enough speed bump with my palm heel to keep the bar stable on my back but not really transferring pressure down into my arm. For sure by the end of the squats I felt no more or less pain in my upper arm, which is great! I did feel a little in my elbows, but I could tell that was coming from the contortion job of getting into position. 😉 It’s really not bad, and I know that will fade in time.

I also am expanding my warm-up to include some arm/shoulder stretches. Yes, you can stretch your biceps, and apparently I need to. That should help with everything.

One thing I tried was using wrist wraps to see if that would help with my wrist position. My feeling? They actually took my focus and feel away, so I actually couldn’t keep track of how my wrists were doing. Right now, I won’t use them as I work on learning the technique. But I certainly could see using them when the weights get heavier to help reinforce and support the wrists.

All in all, I’m pleased with the technique change. I will have to see how it pans out with proper weights, and I’ll also keep working on improving mobilty and stretching in that area. Again, I’m not bad, but there’s unquestionably room to improve to help everything.

As for the rest, was just deload – cut the work in half, don’t sweat things too much.

I did throw in a couple sets of 20 reps of straight barbell curls, just to get a little blood flow into that area. I’m starting to look at supinated grip-based work for arms and back as an alternative while I work through this. Trying to see if it might be a little less inflammatory (vs. pronated or neutral, which both involve more forearm), but also if it might be good for rehabbing it given the mechanics of things. Experimenting.

My own massing template, based upon 5/3/1 SST and some Paul Carter principles

  • Squats
    • bar x whatever
    • 120 x 5
    • 120 x 5
    • 160 x 5
    • 160 x 5
    • 190 x 5
    • 190 x 5
  • Straight-leg Deadlift
    • 185 x 10
    • 185 x 10
  • Leg Curls
    • 40 x 12
    • 40 x 12
  • Hyperextensions
    • BW x 12
    • BW x 12
  • Crunches
    • BW x 15
    • BW x 15
  • Standing Calf Raises
    • 65 x 12
    • 65 x 12

Regarding the events of January 5, 2015 – an interview with Massad Ayoob

/ hsoi

Noted trainer and legal expert, Massad Ayoob, interviewed me regarding my event from January 5, 2015.

You can read his interview here.

For the record, here’s my original recounting of the events (the interview contains new information, based upon the questions Mas asked me).

Disclosure: Mas and I know each other, and I have taken and passed his MAG-20 Range and MAG-20 Classroom (thus MAG-40 equivalency, just taken at separate times). Because he knew me and because of my unique situation and context, he wanted to interview me about the incident.

The Ugly Truth

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

If you listen to politicians and the mainstream media, where do criminals get their guns? The “gun show loophole”? The Internet?

And of course, the way to “stop gun violence” is through more background checks (e.g. “no fly, no buy”), assault weapons bans, etc.. Right?

The truth is of course something completely different.

ABC 13 out of Houston, Texas investigated.  (h/t Phil Wong)

To get our data, we sent surveys to every killer who used a gun to murder someone in Harris County since 2014. We wanted to know how they got their gun, what they paid, and how often, if ever, they went through a background check.

It may not be the most scientific of surveys, but it’s a pretty good way to go. I mean, why not actually ask the people who committed the crime what the crime was they committed! Nothing like getting the information direct from the source.

Here’s a relevant finding:

Nearly 90 percent of our survey respondents got their weapons outside the legal regulated gun market. None shopped at a gun show – and most traded for their weapons or got them from a friend for free.

Another finding? The overwhelming majority used handguns.

Basically this means things like expanding background checks (heck, ANY background checks) and assault weapons bans (heck, ANY sort of ban) will stop virtually NOTHING. Well correction: it will stop the law-abiding citizenry, who are the so-called “good people” of society. The criminals? The “bad-people”? the ones that are murdering and killing? It won’t stop them one bit.

You know what will stop them?

In the article is a video of an interview with Cedric Jones, a murderer serving time for his crime.

There ain’t gonna be no law to stop you from carrying a gun. It’s not. There’s been laws, they didn’t stop me from carrying a gun. It’s all about me staying alive. A law ain’t gonna stop me. I ain’t worry about no law. I’m worried about this dude come and shoot me.

Let his words sink in.

He knows about the laws. He doesn’t care about the laws.

What does he care about?

Not getting himself shot and killed.

So you tell me.

What do you think a criminal fears?

What do you think will actually stop a criminal?

You might find the answer repugnant, but Truth isn’t always pretty. That’s why it’s called the Ugly Truth.

2016-10-28 training log

/ hsoi

NEW LIFETIME BEST! And I didn’t just set a new PR, I blew it away!

And my elbow/biceps pain was pretty minimal. So quite an interesting day.

First the PR.

I knew from last week’s Press session that the PR would fall today. I also knew I’d blow it away. Best I’ve ever Pressed was 165#. In RepCount (the iPhone app I use) it lists 165×1 as my best, but in my spreadsheet (my official records) I have 165×2 listed somewhere. So either way it’s 165, and 1 or 2 reps, I knew so long as I hit 3 I’d be good, but I knew I was good for more – provided nothing stupid, like tendonitis, got in my way.

So to hit 165 for 5 reps today was pretty awesome. Which means next 1+ week should be good for an even better PR, because I should be pressing 170

Interesting thing is that in terms of Paul Carter’s 80%/+10%/-10% grading of days, today really should just be a 80% day. Today should be nothing special, as it’s really just solid progress in the progression of the program. Today was what it was supposed to be. The only reason today is cool is because it happened to also include a lifetime PR. But the thing is, I can’t really rate it at an 80% day – it’s really a -10% day because of injury.

So able that elbow/biceps pain.

It really wasn’t bad. I attribute this to a bunch of things.

First, I stopped taking NSAIDs. There’s growing evidence these can help with the immediate aftermath of pain, but in terms of being a “therapy” to help with tendonitis, the evidence is starting to show it does nothing; in fact, it could be detrimental towards the body actually healing itself. I stopped a couple days ago and honestly I can’t tell any difference in terms of managing the pain. So, unless I find I need them for some reason, not going to do them.

Second, in reading I learned about curcumin. I’m trying it. It may or may not help, but I figure 1 bottle and a couple weeks of taking it, sure can’t hurt anything but my wallet. I’m not expecting much here.

Third, I pulled out my lacrosse ball and during any downtimes at work yesterday I would roll the ball around my arm. Interesting was finding a lot of pain in my brachioradialis, more than anywhere else. I wasn’t really digging in, just enough pressure to feel something. I hope this helped, and I will continue to do this massage work every day.

Fourth, the things I did to modify my session today.

I’ve been reading about using elbow sleeves to help with such issues. I don’t have elbow sleeves (yet), so I put on my knee sleeves. They were a little loose, but I wore them the whole session. When I took them off there was sweat and some redness from improved blood flow, so I reckon they may have helped a bit in terms of warmth. The more interesting thing was how they made a small reduction in my range of motion — I wonder if that helped, because it kept the angle of flexion of my elbow a little open and may have avoided some compression from flexion. I did order some elbow sleeves from Mark Bell, so we’ll see how proper sleeves go.

I wrapped my wrists pretty tight. I do believe the full extension of my wrists is part of the problem, so wrapping to help minimize extension and also provide some support I reckon would help. I wrapped for every set, even warmups.

I continue to find my new setup approach really good at keeping the dizzy/light-headed feeling at bay. Very happy about this.

I did not superset lat pulldowns during pressing, just band pull-aparts. I figured using my biceps would of course flare things up, and I didn’t want to get in the way of PR’ing. Sure enough, this played into things because I did do a few sets of pulldowns after pressing and sure enough I started to feel the ache increase.

So then with that I made the call to minimize my assistance work. I didn’t close-grip bench at all. I only did a few high-rep sets of lat pulldowns, then some face pulls, some lat raises, and then switch up the arm work to simple pressdowns and DB curls for light weight and higher reps just to get a little bit of pump and increase blood flow to the arms. On the curls, interesting thing. I didn’t do hammers but instead did “normal” DB curls, starting with neutral grip and supinating as I curled up (and unwinding as I went back down). My arms really liked that — and maybe make sense given the brachioradialis issues. I actually felt BETTER from it. So I may put hammers on the side and do straight DB curls with supination. I might even throw in incline DB curls on the other day, for that stretch.

Point being – I’m going to be taking all this collected data and seeing how I can change up my sessions to help me work with this pain issue: letting it heal, not doing it again. From exercise selection to technique changes, etc.

So, good day. Good day.

Oh, and the new Crowbar album is awesome.

My own massing template, based upon 5/3/1 SST and some Paul Carter principles

  • Press
    • bar x whatever
    • 70 x 5 (warmup sets superset with band pull-aparts)
    • 85 x 5
    • 105 x 3
    • 130 x 5 (work sets superset with band pull-aparts)
    • 150 x 3
    • 165 x 5 (new lifetime PR)
  • Some light pulldowns
  • Face Pulls
    • 90 x 15
    • 90 x 15
    • 90 x 15
  • Lateral Raises
    • 20e x 12
    • 20e x 12
    • 20e x 12
    • 20e x 10
  • Pushdowns
    • 50 x 20
    • 50 x 20
    • 50 x 20
  • DB Curls
    • 20e x 15
    • 20e x 15
    • 20e x 15

2016-10-27 training log

/ hsoi

Today was good, and good data collection about my arm injury.

First deadlifting. That went well. 350 for 7 is a 7RM, and I had a couple left in the tank, so I feel progress is good. I actually ditched hook grip. Well, double-overhead for warmups, hook for the first 2 work sets, then went mixed for the top set. Hook is alright, but it honestly doesn’t feel as solid to me. Maybe I’m still doing it wrong and need more practice. But in light of my biceps issue, I dunno… mixed felt better (and I worked well to flex my triceps so there wasn’t the typical biceps tension from mixed). All in all, went well.

As for my arms.

So the pain levels are low… there’s pain, I feel ache, but nothing felt worse. In a way tho I felt better. When I was resting between crunch sets, the way I sat back basically stretched my biceps — think the position your arms are in with fully supinated hands and incline DB curls. There’s a stretch there, and that actually seemed to help. I’ve also pulled out my lacrosse ball and been rolling it over my biceps & forearms during the work day here.

One interesting thing was on a FB group I’m a part of, someone posted about this very same problem — with the very same problem. So reading into that and exploring a few things, like this Alan Thrall video:

was helpful.

I played around with squat position on an empty bar in between deadlift sets. For 100% sure, my wrists get bent over and the bar is in that “press position” (just like Paul Carter refers to in his video I posted a couple days ago). And from having this happen in the past, I’m 99% sure this is the cause of my problems — or if not the cause, for sure it’s a heavy contributor.

What I dug about Alan’s video was the solution of how to still stay in low bar, but well, I can avoid the “eagle claw” grip and just use a false grip and let my index fingers come off the bar. It might only be the outer edge of my pinky in contact with the bar, but fine — just keep a straight wrist. This is actually very hard for me to get into. My shoulder mobility is pretty good, but obviously it needs to be better to make this happen more easily. I can work into it alright, but it’s just that — I have to do a little work to get in there. I’m sure if I spend time with a broomstick and work into that position, in time I’ll get loose for it. Not far from it, just need a little more stretch.

Anyways, this was a good exploration — deadlifting didn’t bother my arms (that I could tell), and I think I’m finding better technique (because I really don’t want the eagle claw, which now that I think about it, was probably hated because I still had the flexed wrists and now the bar pressure was coming down on top of my pinky!).

So, we shall see.

Tomorrow’s Pressing should be interesting. Yes I’m still going to Press, but I’m going to be mindful and change some things up, because well…. while I could lifetime PR tomorrow, I’d rather stay healthy and gather more information. I’ll break the PR soon enough, and I’d rather be healthy.

My own massing template, based upon 5/3/1 SST and some Paul Carter principles

  • Deadlift
    • 150 x 5
    • 185 x 5
    • 220 x 3
    • 275 x 5
    • 315 x 3
    • 350 x 7 (7RM PR)
  • Walking Lunges
    • BW x 12e
    • BW x 12e
    • BW x 12e
    • BW x 12e
    • BW x 10e
  • Twisting Crunches
    • BW x 14
    • BW x 16
    • BW x 16
    • BW x 10
  • Seated Calf Raises
    • 55 x 12
    • 55 x 12
    • 55 x 12
    • 55 x 12

Pressure

/ hsoi

A few days ago I taught a private lesson to some new(ish) shooters.

I ran the students through the KR Training Basic Pistol 2 curriculum. At the end, the students shot a version of the Texas Handgun License test. I say a version because we have them shoot on a better (tougher) target. But one thing we don’t change? The use of time limits.

One thing we do at the end of all KR Training classes is go around the room and ask the students for something they learned. One of the students told me how the use of the timer added some pressure and that really changed things for them. This student has prior knowledge and understanding in the realities of self-defense – that it’s not an open-ended situation, that it’s quick, and time is a significant factor. This was the first time they ever shot against a timer, and it really added stress and pressure.

It was hard, it was stressful, but they appreciated it. They walked away with a deeper understanding of realities, and themselves.

But you know… some people still want to say that using timers is a bad thing. They’re welcome to their opinion. I’m glad my students want to improve.

2016-10-25 training log

/ hsoi

The pain was worse.

Truly, the arm pain from yesterday was worse today. Stands to reason, given this work directly utilized the arms.

I started bench pressing, things were OK. As the warm-ups went on, I started to feel it in the brachialis, especially when the bar was on my chest – a point where the arm muscles are really working to stabilize. After each work set the ache was tremendous and got worse each set.

Last night? I looked at my last 1+ week and did 240 for 6 reps – I wanted 7 today. As the pain grew, I told myself to just do what I could. What could I do?

One.

I put 240 on the bar, did one rep, the pain was too much, the bar was shaking, and all I could think was more reps will not end well, so I racked it.

Not only did I rack it, I stopped the whole session. I mean, it’s chest and back and arms – what good would be served by doing more work?

I’m disappointed because I didn’t hit my numbers, but it’s what it is. I am going to work hard the next few days to help bring this down in hopes of still PR’ing with my Press on Friday. But even there, if it’s still some pain and I can only muster 1 rep, then so be it. For sure, next cycle will set a new PR. 🙂

And yes, next week is deload.

It’s what it is.

Interesting thing. I was talking about the problem with my wife this morning, giving her an “air” demonstration of my squat grip: normal vs. eagle claw. It was interesting that just canting my wrist (normal grip) stimulated the pain in my arms, but when I went to a straight/neutral wrist (as I would with eagle claw), the pain went away.

I was surprised it happened that way during my little demo, but it’s certainly telling.

Anyways, today was what it was. Just going to work to fix the issues and keep moving forward.

My own massing template, based upon 5/3/1 SST and some Paul Carter principles

  • Bench Press
    • bar x whatever
    • 100 x 5 (warmup sets superset with band pull-aparts)
    • 125 x 5
    • 155 x 3
    • 190 x 5 (work sets superset with neutral-grip pulldowns)
    • 215 x 3
    • 240 x 1