If we can’t have at least, a conversation with them, sit down, break bread– about where we are going and how we are going to get there, there is no hope at all.
– Anthony Bourdain
And while it might be in the context of guns, it holds for pretty much any and all conversations society seems to be having these days. Rather… they aren’t conversations at all, which is the problem.
That was a little painful, but not how you’d expect.
Today was the first real day on the new program. Again, I’m following a template based upon the “Mass Building” template out of Paul Carter’s Base Building manual. It’s slightly modified to deal with some issues (e.g. shoulder pain), and I want to add some stuff to boost intensities (e.g. drop sets, rest pause, etc.).
Thing was… I spent the weekend taking a rifle class (write-up on that later) and got a little beat up over the weekend. For example, my right wrist, from being canted at odd angles throughout the weekend, was a little hurting this morning. Nothing I noticed — until 100+ lb. was pressing down upon it. Not a huge deal, but present. My knees also got a beating from kneeling and prone positions, so we’ll see how tomorrow’s leg session goes.
But all in all, today went good. I estimated weights well. Things moved well. All in all it went as I wanted. I did fail in one thing, and that was adding some of those intensity techniques. 🙂 My brain just isn’t in that mode yet so I forgot to do them. But I did add a 100-rep set of front plate raises at the end. I actually did 100 reps straight, which is really a mental game. Paul Carter recommends it for traps, Jim Wendler for shoulder rehab — going all the way over your head (arms straight up) instead of just above parallel. If that helps with my shoulder, great.
Been trying Apple Music (so far enjoying it). A playlist “Best of Thrash/Speed Metal” came up, and I thought it’d make for a good Sunday Metal series.
Venom – Witching Hour
A few years ago I tried to sort out “The Farnam Drill“. It was actually a pretty fun bit of research.
A few days ago, Lynn Givens of Rangemaster posted on Facebook about a “Farnam Dance”. After a little back and forth, we now have…
The 3M Test isn’t a new test, per se. But rather it’s a test Tom Givens has run in his classes, and it appears has been refined over time. I had the good fortune to be exposed to the drill a number of years ago, and it’s one of my favorites because it’s a tough and comprehensive, but simple drill.
Try it out next time you’re at the range. Do it pass/fail.
Change up.
Taking yesterday off was good. I feel better. So I did go to the gym today, but I opted against doing a full shoulder/triceps workout. Again, I want to give my shoulder a break given what’s before me the next few days.
So what did I do?
Every bro’s favorite: arms…. no, not chest — it’s not Monday. 😉
Thing is, as I thought about how to change things up, I realize I do need to go with more moderate weights, higher reps, and just give my body and joints a break. Plus as the diet continues to cut, picking up more mass-building techniques is really where it’s at. So… here I am.
As I looked through my logs, I actually had set up a round of programming based upon the mass-building template in Paul Carter’s Base Building manual but I never executed it because I opted for the Strong-15 Short cycle instead. So since I’d never tried it, I figured why not — it seems about where I’ve been wanting to go anyways.
I did have to modify things slightly. For example, no chin-ups because the hanging creates too much shoulder pain. I won’t do lunges every week, changing it up with split squats or some other variation just to keep me from going nuts. As well, I plan on throwing in some things like drop sets or rest-pause, partials, whatever. What I do will all depend how I’m feeling and how things are going, and what logistically works (e.g. dumbbell exercises are prime for drop-sets).
So since the Friday session will be arms… why the heck not.
Some comments:
The 100’s. I find if the weight is such that I can do 100 reps nonstop, it’s too light to elicit anything useful other than the mental discipline of 100 reps. But if I follow another popular 100-rep protocol, I get something solid from it. That protocol is to pick a weight you can do for 40-70 reps, crank out as many reps as you can, then rest for the number of seconds equivalent to the number of reps remaining. Then keep going, repping and resting until you total 100 reps. So crank out 40 reps, rest 60 seconds; 20 more, rest 40 seconds; 15 more, 25 seconds; 13 more, rest 12; 12 more, done. That sort of protocol.
The dumbbell curls. While I love hammer curls, I really should spend more time on db curls. Hands start neutral at sides, then as you raise the dumbbell up, supinate the hand; unwind on the way back down. I do get much from this, so I really should do these more than hammers.
Close-grips. Given the pains and problems I had with the JM Presses, I took this light. I warmed up with the bar, and did a work-up to a single. Everything felt pretty light, and while there was a little stretch in the shoulder, it was ok — the work-up is good instead of just hitting work sets. Given the 12 reps (the goal is 8-15; and I didn’t push it to failure because I’m being conservative on my shoulder), yeah, the weights are a little on the light side, but generally still in the ballpark so I’ll stick with them for now; once I hit 15, I’ll up the weights. Still, the close-grips felt better than the JM’s (in terms of my shoulder) so there we go.
Anyways, all was generally good. Looking forward to the change up.
As for my shoulder… doing the “rehab” type warm-ups is good. Gets some rotation/cuff work in, some stretching, and things are feeling a lot better. Still not out of the woods, but every day it’s a tiny bit better. For sure stretching the anterior deltoid is the biggest help. It’s a hard stretch to do, and hurts like a bitch, but it’s helping.
If you’re in the greater Austin area and are curious to meet up with some Austin-area bloggers for a little range time followed by good eating, Lawrence Person and Dwight Brown are hosting an event!
Dwight Brown of Whipped Cream Difficulties and I are putting on a gunny/VRWC blog shooting meetup/Tweetup at the Eagle Peak Gun Range in Leander on Saturday, October 10, at 5 PM, to be followed by a group dinner at the Oasis at 7 PM. Bring ear and eye protection as well as any weapon you’d like to shoot (no full metal jacket ammo, as per range rules). You can come to the shoot and skip dinner, or vice versa.
If you’re interested in attending, drop me a line (lawrenceperson at gmail dot com) so I know how many people to expect at the range and for dinner).
Alas, I (Hsoi) won’t be able to attend this event due to a prior commitment.
But if you’re free this Saturday, it should be a good time to be had! Drop Lawrence a line to RSVP.
The log of no log.
Today is deadlift day, and instead of deadlifting I decided to sleep.
For whatever reason sleep has been lacking this week. It’s not been major, but I’ll wake up 30 minutes prior to normal, and it just creeps up. Obviously I’m not getting the recovery I need. My shoulders hurt, my left knee is just hateful… this is not a recipe for a productive deadlift and back session. I’ve got some things going on this coming weekend that I need to be up for, so I’d rather be rested and healed up so I can perform there.
This plus other things are making me think it’s time to ditch the Base Building for a bit. But what instead, I just don’t know yet. But it’d be “bodybuilding-style” stuff — moderate weights, higher reps, less emphasis on “the big 3” (e.g. maybe inclines or db presses instead of regular bench press; stiff-legs instead of conventional deadlifts). I’ll probably still avoid dips and chins as well for the sake of my shoulder.
Gah… this sucks. But better to find ways to work around it all.
Kristin Beck is a transgender woman running as an underdog for US Congress, Kurt Mausert is a Hare Krishna devotee and attorney and Chris Cheng is a professional marksman and former Google employee. Although they make up a clear minority in the states, progressive firearms owners are willing to consider new approaches to gun control
Kristin and Kurt’s words have some serious implications. Kristin says:
Groups of people like myself, transgender people, we’re being killed at 1 per week in America. There’s a huge amount of violence against LGBT people, and so I’d say you do need to protect yourself. And if it takes you carrying a weapon, because weapons are being used against you, then that’s what you have to do.
Note as well that Kristin is running for U.S. Congress — as a Democrat.
Kurt is a criminal defense attorney, so he’s seen a side of the world that most people do not get to see. His profession puts him in contact with the ugly realities of the world, and his own life was directly affected when his brother was killed at the hands of an attacker. Yet, he’s a Hare Krishna, as there is no contradiction (it’s about “unnecessary violence”). Kurt points out:
You know, surprisingly enough I find more acceptance among my conservative friends. They can be tolerant of my Democratic socialist views, and my veganism. My liberal friends: you own a gun, and you are a pariah; they just don’t get it.
I live in Austin, Texas. People seem to understand that Austin is a “liberal” city – a blue dot in a red state, if you will.
But do you know how many gun stores exist in the Austin city limits? The gun ranges? The gun clubs (including Austin Sure Shots and A Girl and A Gun, both women’s shooting leagues)? Heck, The Silencer Shop (largest retailer of silencers/suppressors in the nation) is here in Austin. And then there’s my favorite from about 5 years ago, when I walked out of one of the local shooting ranges and what do I see in the parking lot but a Volvo with a rainbow bumper sticker.
Plus, having been a firearms instructor in this area for about 7 years, we see all kinds come through our classes. In fact, the “stereotype” of a gun owner (white, male, middle-aged, uneducated, Republican, etc.) is quite the minority, and becomes more the minority every year.
What’s the take-home?
Gun owners are not who you think they are.
For those in the “traditional” gun owning community, be like Kurt’s friends: be more accepting. Welcome folks into the fold, because you have something in common so build upon those shared interests and forge stronger relationships.
For others, realize that oppressed groups usually remain oppressed if they are unable to rise up and rise above. You profess a belief in a right to choose, to live your life as you see fit, that it’s your body, so please extend those beliefs here to something as fundamental as one’s own life. The Pink Pistols understand this. Hopefully you can too.
Not good.
My shoulder was not happy with me…. and became unhappier as the session went on.
First, I dropped the weight during the benching. Upper body work is easy to get weaker on when you’re on a cut diet, and it’s kicking in hard. So after my work up I just shaved 10# off everything. That was good.
I also found myself trying to do things to be kind to my shoulder: I brought my grip in a bit (usually middle finger on the rings, now I put my ring finger on the rings), really watched my form, racked it before things got too much. But still… methinks it was too much.
I mean, I totally skipped dips. I got set up, my shoulder said “this would be unwise” and I completely skipped dips. I thought about doing something else to make up for it, but other than one more set of flies, I didn’t and my shoulder is happier for it.
Hrm.
What I actually started to think was I should just go ahead and switch up — to just work up (tho perhaps a little lighter), then do an AMRAP and a 50% set and call it good. Just lower the weight, up the reps, etc.. I did opt to do that a bit, but still stay in the vein — i.e. go for incremental change. After doing that, I think I may need more change.
I’m not sure what I’m going to do, but I do know I need to be mindful of things. I do think laying off the heavier weights for a while will be beneficial. or at least, worth a try to see if lighter/more-reps might be kinder, because for sure the heavier stuff starts to wear on me.
Grr.
Today was amusing.
Over the weekend, someone claimed to have set a world record in the squat. However upon watching video, the squat was higher than Snoop Dogg. Of course, much hilarity ensued… whatever. But I found myself apparently affected by this and was going ass-to-grass this morning. It wasn’t a conscious choice, but I realized on my work-up that I was going deeper than usual. 🙂 I didn’t care so much about C.A.T. as I did ensuring good form.
I think Brandon Lilly said it pretty simply: to leave no doubt.
Anyways, switching to Model 2 felt alright. I actually felt like it was less work, but I think it works better because it’s slightly higher weight and I can work my form more. Oddly tho, while it didn’t feel like more work, it did cause my assistance work to feel like more work. Again, my goal is to support Defattening, so work matters. All in all, I felt good about things.
Tho I still hate lunges. 🙂
Stuff From Hsoi 