Me

AAR – DPS-BUG @ KR Training 28 July 2012

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

Today was pretty cool.

I took part in the first offering of KR Training’s new “Defensive Pistol Skills – Back-up Gun” class. I participated as a student, tho I certainly assisted where and when necessary. I’ve been looking forward to this class, because I think it’s an important offering.

You see, like all things made by humans, guns aren’t perfect. Like all mechanical things, guns can break. There are many reasons for carrying a Back-Up Gun (BUG), and mechanical failure of your primary gun is one reason — hence, “back-up”. But because BUG’s tend to be small guns, like Glock 26’s, snub-nose revolvers, Ruger LCP, Kel-Tec’s, the smaller Kahr’s, and the like, a lot of people choose to carry these “little guns” as their primary guns. Whether you carry one of these guns as a primary or a secondary, taking a class like DPS-BUG is highly recommended.

I recommend taking such a class because shooting these guns is not like shooting a full-sized gun. Basically, it’s harder to shoot them and shoot them well. They have low-capacity, so every shot matters. Some of them shoot weaker rounds, like .38o Auto, so again every shot matters. Then because they are small, the sight radius is short thus a small change in alignment can mean a big difference in the ability to hit the target. It’s hard to get a good grip on them. Many are intentionally designed to be “double-action-only” with long and heavy triggers; that’s hard enough to shoot with as it is, then coupled with such a lightweight gun makes it even harder to shoot. Carry modes, like in a pocket (holster) are harder to draw from. I know these sorts of guns are very popular with folks that carry concealed, so if you opt to carry such a gun you should get some training in the use of that gun.

The class curriculum is based upon the Defensive Pistol Skills 1 course, but it is NOT the same course. If anything, consider DPS1 a prerequisite to this class. DPS-BUG starts out with some fundamentals work using the little gun, because that is important. All the “high speed low drag” stuff means nothing if you can’t basically hit what you need to hit. And yes, you will be working on one-handed shooting… you can hate it all you want, but you won’t stop sucking at 1H shooting unless you keep shooting 1H. There’s group shooting, shooting against a timer, shooting the “3 Seconds or Less Drill” (in fact, we shot that both with our BUG’s and our full-sized guns, to compare and contrast). We shot from a chair, to allow experimentation with drawing a BUG, since they might be carried in an ankle rig or a pocket holster.

That was one cool thing about the class: experimentation. Whereas a lot of other classes have to be straightforward in the gear and what’s done in class, here part of the point was to allow you to see and figure things out. Normally carry in a pocket holster? Maybe try an ankle rig, or using off-body carry like a fanny pack or a daytimer. It’s a great opportunity to try things out and figure out how things are going to actually roll and work for you.

As for how the class went for me….

I shot my S&W 442 with the DeSantis Clip Grip the entire class. For much of the class I actually opted to use the clip grip and draw from the appendix position. That actually worked quite nice, tho it’s still a little difficult to get a solid draw (gotta get your stomach out of the way). I’m also happy that my hand held up after 150-200 rounds of abuse. 🙂

The big take home for me? I need to work on getting on that long, heavy trigger press a lot faster. My problem is because of that long heavy trigger  to overcome, I will smash it thus yank the hell out of the gun. To avoid that, I press a lot slower than I should. I scored suboptimally on the “3 Seconds or Less Drill” with the snub because on the last string (7 yards, 3 shots WHO, 3 seconds) I only got 1 shot off. I was determined to only get good hits even if it meant I didn’t get all the shots off, but totally lacking 2 shots killed my score. *sigh*  So I need to work on getting on the trigger sooner and faster yet ensuring an acceptable hit.

I’ll also say, when we switch to our normal carry guns at the end, it felt weird. Not just because I had a large gun in my hand, but when I shot it I could feel the springs vibrating and shaking. It was weird. 🙂  In fact, I felt like I couldn’t shoot as well… just spent 3 hours shooting this little hammer, then switching guns and shooting the full-sized M&P9 felt totally foreign in my hands. Just more things to practice and work on.

And I remembered to put on sunscreen this time. 😉

A good day. I hope we can offer this course more often… and I hope more people will be willing to take it. If you carry a small gun, you owe it to yourself to take this class. You’ll learn a lot.

Richard Hawthorne on Deadlifting

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Until I saw this video I had no idea who Richard Hawthorne was. Now I’m happy to know. Pound-for-pound he’s obviously one of the strongest men out there, deadlifting nearly 5x his bodyweight. 😯

Just awesome.

Here’s the video:

And yes, while it’s got “iPhone portrait” going on, I think that’s fine given the vertical nature of the subject matter.

What struck me the most from this? The lock out. That it’s not a hinge, it’s a thrust. That’s interesting. I stood up and tried it. Lacking a bar and weights I can’t get a full feel of it, but there’s certainly a big mechanical difference. I think I shall experiment with it.

2012-07-27 dry fire practice

/ hsoi

Following TLG’s sample dry fire routine.

Week 2, Day 4 (basic routine) and Day 5 (malfunction clearances)

  1. 20 reps of wall drill from extension 2H
  2. 5 reps of wall drill from extension SHO
  3. 5 reps of wall drill from extension WHO
  4. 20 reps of wall drill from press-out 2H
  5. 5 reps of wall drill from press-out SHO
  6. 5 reps of wall drill from press-out WHO
  7. 10 reps of TRB, 3/4 speed, 2H
  8. 5 reps of LRW 3/4 speed 2H
  9. 10 reps of wall drill from press out, 2H

I just realized that I didn’t dry fire yesterday. Oops. That’s what I get for being in a hurry to get to work. I also didn’t get it done this morning… work’s been engulfing this week. So, let’s just combine the two sessions and get things done.

2012-07-26 workout – Wendler 5/3/1 program, Cycle 12, Deadlift/Press 1 (again)

/ hsoi

And now day 2 of starting cycle 12 over again.

“Week 1”

  • 5 reps – Deadlift (working max: 345#)
    • 1x5x140 (warmup)
    • 1x5x175
    • 1x3x210
    • 1x5x225 (work)
    • 1x5x260
    • 1x8x295
  • 5 reps – Press (working max: 155#)
    • 2x5x45 (warmup)
    • 1x5x65
    • 1x5x80
    • 1x3x95
    • 1x5x100 (work)
    • 1x5x120
    • 1x7x135
  • Asst. #1 – DB Rows
    • 3 x 10 x 80
  • Asst. #2 – Pulldown Abs
    • 3 x 12 x 80
  • Asst. #3 – Dips
    • 3 x 8/6/6 x BW (around 235)
  • Asst. #4 – DB Hammer Curls
    • 3 x 10/6/6 x 30

For some reason today I was all about speed and explosive power. When I was doing my deadlifts, and especially when I was doing my Presses, I was just going fast… just exploding and moving the weight with as much speed as I could. Not sure why I did that, but I did. I think with Press it hit because the music blaring on the stereo was awesome. 🙂 But I cranked it hard and really dug it. I’m fine-tuning my Press technique, especially that whole issue with how I get a little dizzy when unracking and setting up for the first press.

On the pulldown abs… while I like the exercise, I don’t like the side-effects. The rope handles kill my hands and neck. Gym owner and I were talking and he had me try another variation… the type where you kneel on the floor, and using a single handle (like you would for cable crossovers) grabbing it like it’s a horn coming out of your unicorn forehead. I did it for one set, but the weight was too light, but I’m going to give it a try. It seems it’ll have its own suck, but hey… no harm in trying it and seeing.

And you can see my assistance reps dropped. Not sure why. My guesses are either 1. how I tore up the palm heel of my right hand some days ago, and the bruising and scabbing over really hurt when I put pressure on it, 2. from all the explosive main lifts, I was just pooped. No matter. I still worked hard, regardless of the actual numbers.

OH, and on deadlift. While it seems to make some more sense to pronate my left and supinate my right, that just is NOT working for me. I’m getting some sort of deposit on the inside palm “knuckle” of my right middle finger, and this just puts pressure on it. Plus I notice much more desire to “curl” the bar in this position. When I got to rep 5 on the last set I switched my grip and it felt a lot better… I lost my groove, but I think supinating my left and pronating my right is the better way. It was good to experiment, now I know for certain.

2012-07-25 dry fire practice

/ hsoi

Following TLG’s sample dry fire routine.

Week 2, Day 3, reloads

  1. 10 reps of wall drill from press-out 2H
  2. 20 reps reload from slidelock, slow, 2H
  3. 20 reps reload from slidelock, 3/4 speed, 2H
  4. 10 reps reload from slidelock, slow, 2H
  5. 10 reps of wall drill form press-out, 2H

While the session calls for different speeds, I did all my reloads fairly slow or even slower. I wanted to ensure the entire orchestration of movements was correct and solid.

I also did some Burkett Reloads and played around with where my eyes look. Do they look at the top edge of the magwell? the bottom edge? or somewhere “in” the magwell? Results inconclusive, but you do need to focus somewhere, not just have nebulous eyesight in the area. I think having a point “in” the magwell works best because that’s where you want things to go… aiming with your eyes, and if you aim to an edge, you’ll hit the edge. I’ll want to play with this more. To this point I’ve just “looked”, but I’m playing with a refinement of the look.

2012-07-24 dry fire practice

/ hsoi

Following TLG’s sample dry fire routine.

Week 1, Day 2, draws.

  1. 10 reps of wall drill from press-out 2H
  2. 20 reps of wall drill from holster 2H
  3. 5 reps of wall drill from holster, SHO
  4. 5 reps of wall drill from holster, WHO
  5. 10 reps draw & fire at 3/4 speed, 2H
  6. 10 reps draw & fire slow 2H

I’m trying to make the strings that don’t specify speed be at “full speed”. Granted, they aren’t as good as they could be, but I am seeing the sights and able to call my shots, which is still of use. But it just means on the 3/4 speed and slow speed to make them all perfect. From that will come the correctness.

2012-07-24 workout – sled drags

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

The workout of no workout.

I’m not dragging the sled today. As mentioned in yesterday’s workout post, an old ankle injury is flaring up. I don’t need to inflict more damage on it. 😦

Press

/ hsoi

This morning as I got into the shower after my workout, I looked in the mirror and realized my ass has gotten bigger.

All hail the mighty squat. 🙂

And I thought about how much I actually hate to squat. It’s always been the movement I liked the least. And I reckon it still is, relatively speaking. But I did realize that I don’t hate it as much as I used to. How to get good at what you hate? Keep doing it until you don’t hate it any more. You probably hate it because you suck at it, so keep doing it because that’s the only way you’ll stop sucking at it. It’s like shooting weak-hand-only… I still suck at it, but I don’t hate it so much because I practice it more and have gotten a lot better at it. And same with squats.

But then I started to think what my favorite lift is. I still think it’s deadlift, because there’s just something so basic about picking up heavy things. It’s probably also because it’s the lift I can move the most absolute weight with, but I really think it’s the visceral primitiveness of it all that appeals to me somewhere deep down inside.

So on that note, I was surprised to find that what came in a very close second was the Press.

Yes, Bench Press is relegated to 3rd place.

While The Almighty Bench is such a hallmark of weightroom manliness, I like the Press even more, probably because no one does it. And probably because it’s also got this visceral primitiveness… because once you pick something up, what’s a logical thing to do with it? Lift it over your head! (or maybe throw it). It’s hard to do. It’s a little scary. It’s intimidating. And you just can’t move a big number… it takes a while to work up to being able to put 45’s on and press it up for reps. It’s even more work to get to pressing your bodyweight. And so, it’s not as ego gratifying, and people are going to stay away from it because it’s hard.

And maybe that’s why I like it so much.

So by wonderful coincidence, this morning Mark Rippetoe publishes an article all about the Press.

Yes, this video is awesome:

And Mark is awesome:

But if the real reason you don’t want to press is the fact that you don’t want to confront a hole – likely a gaping-ass hole – in your strength, then the bar is right: you’re a pussy.

Lifting is hard. Lifting heavy weights is harder. Swallowing your ego and making yourself better is hardest.

2012-07-23 Dry Fire Practice

/ hsoi

Following the TLG 4-week sample dry fire routine.

Week 2, Day 1

Basic routine

  1. 20 reps of Wall Drill, from extension 2H
  2. 5 reps of Wall Drill from extension, SHO
  3. 5 reps of Wall Drill from extension, WHO
  4. 20 reps of Wall Drill from press-out, 2H
  5. 5 reps of Wall Drill from press-out, SHO
  6. 5 reps of Wall Drill from press-out, WHO

Today felt like a bit of regression for some reason. I was in a hurry for sure. Was not a quality session. My own fault.