There’s just some realities of the world that political correctness and good intentions cannot overcome. “F = ma” is one of them.
In response to my “Little woman vs. big man“, Chuck Rives commented “Good stuff. There’s a reason why even UFC adopted weight classes.”. The above was my response to him, and I think the notion is one that too many people forget.
Only 2. 2 good ones, but still…. only 2.
Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 23, week 2
If I’m diagnosing things correctly, it’s my legs that suck. My back is strong(er) by comparison, so it’s easy for my body to want to keep the bar where it is, let the hips shoot up (and the back/hip angle closes), then basically “good morning” the weight up… ratchet it up. I can do that to move the weights, but that doesn’t make me stronger.
So my squats, I’m really trying to keep upright, press back, and drive drive drive with the legs.
On the 245 set, it was tough. I knew the 275 would be tough, even with the belt on. It was. Maybe I mentally set myself up for it (failure). I know that when the weight gets heavy, I want to ensure I get back up, so I’ll cut depth. No no no, that’s unacceptable. I would rather get 1 awesome rep than 3 shitty reps. I will go all the way down. And I did. Rep 1 went down, and it was hard coming up. Rep 2 went down, and mid-way up I stopped… I just couldn’t go any more. My body wanted to lean forward to let my hips shoot up and then good morning the weight up, but no no no, fought it because that’s not the point. Push with the legs. I just refused to dump the bar. I knew I was on the cusp of dumping it but figured if I was going to then let my body fail and dump, meantime keep fighting it until then. And I managed to get it up there, keeping as upright as I could, pushing as much as I could with my legs. I racked it after 2. I thought about resting 30-60 seconds and going for 1 more rep, but why? What purpose would that really serve? I left it alone.
I am not happy with only getting 2 and missing prescribed reps, but that I didn’t miss depth and that I fought through on form? I’ll take it. But still… we’ll see what next session brings. And this probably means next cycle I’ll keep the weight the same and go for more reps.
Front squats. Oye. I dropped the weight down because I want to ensure I’m getting form right. Feet are just a little inside of shoulder-width, toes mostly forward. Using the bodybuilder-style cross arm setup (anything else really hurts my elbows). Fight to keep upright. Slight pause at the bottom… not of any noticable count, but enough to avoid the stretch reflex. Push back as I go up… almost like I’m trying to lauch myself backwards in an arc. And holy crap…. my quads were killing me. Pumped like hell, and well, that’s what I’m after. 5×8 was good, the last few reps of the last few sets were hard. So it doesn’t feel all that impressive, but it sure knocked it out of me. 🙂 If this helps me out, great.
Someday, the 300# barrier will be broken. I struggled a lot at 230 and broke through that plateau, I’ll get through this one.
I’m trying to emerge from one of the worst burnouts that I can remember.
It happens. It’s the nature of the business I’m in… and I think it’s also the nature of me.
I try to live a balanced life, but by the time I figure out how to balance things, there’s something new in the mix that imbalances everything. And I have enough drive and dedication to things that sometimes I push too much, and it’s… well… too much.
I think to some extent I just have to accept that this is me and how I run. It does better sometimes to go with the flow instead of fighting the current.
It finally came to a head a couple weeks ago. I just cracked. Was really short-fused and couldn’t focus on anything. No motivation for work or other stuff. I made a long Labor Day weekend, taking 5 days to do nothing. And while I did some stuff, the main focus was on sleeping and eating. I slept a lot. Heck, I woke up on Sunday after about 9 hours of sleep, ate breakfast, then went back to bed for another 2 hours. I then took another nap later in the day. Yes, everything was shot. In fact, I think if I could take another week off of “life” I’d come out in really good shape.
As it is, I feel a lot better. And one thing that is most significant that I didn’t realize was an issue? I don’t feel stiff and creeky. I figured it was just being beat up from the weights. I do think it was that, but it was… silly. Trying to just kneel down then get back up? It was a chore. OK so squatting 295×2 isn’t huge numbers, but if I can squat more than my bodyweight, why is it difficult to kneel down and get back up? I guess because I was so shot. After all this time resting, I don’t feel stiff and creeky any more. I can just squat down, kneel down, get up, and it’s no problem.
Crazy.
But it taught me a lot, and gave me a lot of signs to look for in the future. Catch it before it gets bad, because a lot of these signs are new signs.
Sleep is key. I need more of it.
But food is another.
Trying to diet down, seeing how it hurt me, running counter to my true goals. I also believe the restriction on food contributed to things because I didn’t have what I needed to build myself back up. I’ve learned over the years to listen to my body. Sometimes I’ll get a massive craving for something, like fruit. Listen to it. Eat until body says that’s enough. and it’s never really a want to pig out and gorge. There’s a limit and eventually the body says it’s good.
As much as I hate to keep the belly flab, I think I need to just keep eating more. It makes sense. But I do think along with listening to my body more, I can do things to be cleaner and, if I stick to things more long-term, it should work out alright for me. I’ll get there, but it will take time.. perhaps a lot of time.
I’m going to eat well, 250g of protein a day I think is minimal, don’t sweat the fat (tho don’t be stupid about it), and moderate the carbs. For example, if I have a piece of whole fruit with breakfast, fine. But that’s probably all I need. If I can have a carbless lunch, great. Then if Wife makes something for dinner that has some carbs in it (e.g. rice), just roll with it. If I have a scoop of ice cream before bed, fine, just don’t do it every night. I think all the “artificial” program following I’ve done has been good because it’s taught me a lot and shown me a lot; learned a lot about my body. I’m finding my groove, and right now, it’s a shit-ton of protein and moderate everything else… where my body is nourished to the level it needs, and it will tell me.
So, to anyone I’ve ignored or snapped at in the past some weeks (or months), I apologize. I let a lot fall by the wayside because I was burned out but had to keep chugging on key things (e.g. day job). I was tapped out and didn’t see the signs, because a lot of them are new ones. There are no excuses, just asking your forgiveness and thanking you for your patience.
Here’s something I learned from lifting that I’m working to apply to shooting.
When lifting, we look at sets and reps. We think of 3 sets of 10 reps, or 5 sets of 5 reps,. When we perform them, we count. When we count, we think about the string we’re performing, and we’ll often think about them in a relative way, like instead of “7, 8, 9, 10” we might think “3 more, 2 more, 1 more, done”. Whatever we’re doing, we’re doing a couple things:
Somewhere in all the reading I do about lifting, someone said to think about each rep as a single rep. So instead of thinking about doing 1 set of 5 reps, think about doing 5 sets of 1 rep, consecutively. The difference? You don’t think about the reps. You don’t count the reps. You don’t allow any part of your lifting to be focused on not-lifting, so all your energy can be focused on performing the lift itself. Yeah, if you’re lifting the 5# dumbbells it probably doesn’t matter, but when you’re truly pushing your limits, every ounce of energy and focus matters. Furthermore, when we lift with counting, we will start that first rep all tight and ready, then things degrade. If you always think about it being “1 rep, first rep”, you take a moment to reset every time, to ensure this rep is a “first rep” in every and all regards. It increases the quality of the reps.
But for me, it’s often about the mental distraction. I get too focused on where I am in the rep scheme and where that is relative to my goal reps. That loss of focus is bad and something I continue to work on.
And so, it comes to shooting.
When we shoot, we will shoot in a “set and rep” scheme. Look at the “3 Seconds or Less” drill. We’re going to lift (shoot) 20 reps (rounds) total. We’ll start with 1 set (string) of 3 reps (shots), then a 2nd set of 2 reps, and you see where I’m going? it’s the same sort of setup and scheme here, and it allows us to fall into the same sort of counting and mental distraction.
At the A-Zone Range, Karl has a steel “hostage” target (not sure if this is the exact model, but it’s close enough for discussion purposes). The target is set up on “the small range”, and depending where we put the firing line, it’s generally a 25 yard shot. Karl says the flapper is 6″ diameter with probably 75% exposed. So it’s a small target, but hittable. I’ve long had a goal of being able to step up to the line with my carry gun (M&P 9), shoot a full magazine of ammo at the flapper (16+1 rounds), and have 100% hits on the flapper.
I have yet to do this.
25 yards is a humbler for me, and something I’ve long needed to work on. Alas, there’s always something more important to work on, so it always gets bumped down the priority ladder.
The other day I started shooting this and realized what I was doing. I was going along, making hits, doing well. Then I got too mentally excited about things and thinking “hey, I might actually do it this time…. nope… damnit!” I was distracted. I was thinking too much about my count… hey, I got through 6 without a miss, 7 without… 8!! 9… nope. I could see myself getting closer to the finish line, then falling because I was thinking more about the end goal than doing the work required to get there.
I was not in the present moment. I was distracted by a potential future, one that wouldn’t happen if I didn’t live in the present moment and do what the present required of me.
And I thought to myself, this is just like heavy squats. I shouldn’t be trying to do 1 string of 17 shots, I should be doing 17 single shots.
I also thought I should be more progressive and work up to it. You know, start light (huzzah, Jim Wendler). So I moved up to 15 yards and 10 rounds. I did that. Great! It was getting too hot so I called it an afternoon, but there’s where I will resume: 15 yards, full magazine, one shot at a time. When I can clean that on-demand, I’ll back up to 20 yards, and go for 5 rounds, and “work up” (there’s a lifting term again).
Crazy how world’s overlap, eh?
My neck… ugh.
Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 23, week 1
For the past couple weeks there’s been some pain in my neck, truly a pain, not metaphoric. 🙂 Pinched nerve? I don’t know. Swallowing can hurt, and can cause the pain to radiate down the top edge of my left trap. Probably would be remedied with a trip to the chiropractor for a quick neck movement, but I think ultimately it’s due to a lot of muscle tightness which then pulls my neck into funky positions and causes this. I think it’s why my left-hand grip isn’t so good (it’s been slipping on deadlifts), and it really got in the way of things today. But still, press on (pun intended).
I do like supersetting the rowing in here. Went way too light today, but better to start too light than too heavy. Affords me the ability to go strict, letting shoulders pull forward, then pinch the shoulder blades together at the top of the movement. Focus on pulling from the elbows, with the pinkies. This is not a max effort movement, this is a bodybuilding movement. Still, I will go heavier. I do think running my supersets with a movement in the perpendicular plane is keeping my shoulders happier.
I opted to drop power cleans. They just aren’t what I’m looking to do right now, not consistent with the goals I have.
Would you like to know some things about me?
I just did some paperwork for renewing my Texas Concealed Handgun License Instructor credentials. Yes, I hold a valid Texas Concealed Handgun License, and I am also certified by the State of Texas as a CHL Instructor. So, there are a lot of rules, laws, fees, and paperwork I have to abide by.
Here’s some of them:
Eligibility Statement
I, JOHN C DAUB , hereby swear or affirm the following:
I satisfy all the eligibility requirements listed under 37 TAC Chapter 6, and Chapter 411, Texas Government Code.
This includes:
- I have established legal residence in the state of Texas for the preceding six months (resident license only) or I am eligible for a license as a non-resident under Section 411.173(a);
- I am at least 21 years of age; or I am 18 to 20 years of age and am eligible under Section 411.172(g) (military exception);
- I have not been convicted of a felony (as ‘convicted’ is defined in Section 411.171(4);
- I am not currently charged in any jurisdiction with the commission of a Class A or Class B misdemeanor or equivalent level offense, or an offense under Section 42.01 (Disorderly Conduct), Texas Penal Code, or of a felony under an information or indictment;
- I am not a fugitive from justice for a felony or Class A or Class B misdemeanor or equivalent offense in any jurisdiction;
- I am not chemically dependent (as defined in Section 411.171(2);
- I am not incapable of exercising sound judgment with respect to the proper use and storage of a handgun;
- I have not been convicted in any jurisdiction of a Class A or Class B misdemeanor or equivalent offense, or an offense under Section 42.01 (Disorderly Conduct), Texas Penal Code (as ‘convicted’ is defined in Section 411.171(4), in the past five years;
- I am fully qualified under applicable federal and state laws to purchase a handgun. (refer to 18 U.S.C. § 922 (g))
- I have not been finally determined to be delinquent in making child support payments administered or collected by the attorney general;
- I have not been finally determined to be delinquent in the payment of taxes or other money collected by the comptroller, state treasurer, or tax collector of any agency or political subdivision of this state (or state of residence for non-resident applicants);
- I am not currently restricted under a court protective order or subject to a restraining order affecting the spousal relationship, not including a restraining order affecting property;
- I have not in the past 10 years been adjudicated as having engaged in delinquent conduct violating a penal law of the grade of felony; and
- I have not made any material misrepresentation, or failed to disclose any material fact, on my application.
And that’s just the beginning.
But look at that and roll that around in your head a bit.
By the mere fact I hold a TX CHL, you can tell I’m what society would generally term a “good person”.
So why would you want to abridge me? What have I done to harm you? Why do you think more laws that will only serve to restrict my behavior are a solution? Shouldn’t we be promoting good people doing good things? enabling good people to freely live their lives? Why are you behaving contrary to this?
Feeling better, more directed.
Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 23, week 1
I felt a lot better today. Cleared the air at the day job, took yesterday and today off work, so I felt no pressure nor rush to do anything. Got to the gym a little later, took my time a little more with things. Felt a lot better.
When I pulled 325, I made every effort to ensure my upper body was straight, that I broke the weight off the ground with my legs and pushed that first third or so strictly with my legs. It was a struggle, but I did it and it felt good. That’s really where I need my focus. I opted to do a sixth rep however it worked out, merely because I didn’t want to stop at just the prescribed reps.
I’ve had that bug to do dynamic work, get more explosive, see what it does for me. And after the last session (my angry bench pressing), I thought I’d give things a try today just to see about scratching the itch. The angry session wasn’t good from an anger perspective, but it did make me attack the weights more, a little more aggressive, a little more explosive. I thought it was good and useful. Well… I could tell this is not what I need right now. Yeah, it was cool, but it was quickly evident it is not what I need to contribute to overcoming my weak points. The deficit deadlifts are still what I need. So, this was a good itch scratcher and I think gets it out of my system and enables me to refocus on what I need. So all good. But that said, I also think I can take from the past 2 sessions that I could stand to be a little more explosive and have a little more mental aggression.
Watch this video from Clint Darden about speed deadlifts and attitude:
Like that. 🙂
Not that I have to get all vocal and such, but it’s a mindset thing.
Anyways, all good. I can take something home from this.
And speaking of home…. when I got home, again because I was in no great rush, I spent a long time foam rolling, rolling the lacrosse ball (finally got one), stretching stuff, and some massage (thanx, Wife!). I’m really sore, really beat up from numerous things… the worst is my left calf due to the mega-cramp I got 2 days ago. But that, my thighs, leg adductors, my neck (due to sleeping wrong), you name it… everything sucks. So I spent a good long while this morning stretching and rolling, a long hot shower… and I feel really good. Still not out of the woods, but better.
I’m burned out. Taking a couple days off work for a long weekend to help me recoup a bit.
Working on my backlog of things to do, and one is some online shopping.
Ordered some 7-round magazines for my M&P Shield from Botach Tactical. I’m fine with the smaller mags, since that’s the whole point of such a gun.
Ordered various Fox Labs OC sprays from CopsPlus. Wife needs to replace hers, and I’ve been wanting to have a can for my gym walks — had a couple potential 4-legged interactions during my gym walks where OC would have been welcome. Never used Fox Labs’ stuff before, but Tom Givens commented they’re the best, so let’s give it a try.
Ordered a lot of fish oil (Meg-3) and some caffeine capsules from TrueNutrition.com.
Wife wanted 30# of einkorn flour from JovialFoods. If you haven’t tried einkorn flour, and you’re not in a dietary mode that would prohibit it (e.g. celiac’s, paleo, etc.) give it a try. Wife reports the switch to it has helped her feel better (vs. “traditional” wheat flours you buy at the store), and I’ll vouch that it tastes really awesome. I’m still waiting for her to make that beer bread with the Moose Drool Brown Ale. The beer bread with that ale was awesome, and I imagine it will be even more awesome with the einkorn.
Wife is also out hitting the H.E.B. grocery store, and the Sprouts. I finally got to visit Sprouts a couple weeks ago; neat store, I like.
Just a little peek into life… and I’m sure the NSA is minding all my credit card transactions and wondering something. 🙂
Suck.
Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 23, week 1
Yesterday, after returning home from the day job office, something job-wise came down that ticked me off. It was pretty bad. I only slept about 3 hours. It’s still on my mind, bothering me greatly. Needless to say, my gym time was affected. It gave me a lot of drive… tho it was an angry drive. Some level of aggression is good, but not this sort. I did hit the weights hard, very powerful, very explosive, but I worked myself up… in the bad way. My rest periods weren’t their usual length… and then, during the 4th set of DB presses, when I used my legs/toes to “pop” the DB’s up to my shoulders, my left calf cramped up BAD. This happens to me every now and again, but this was pretty bad. Usually they fade quickly, so I kept going, but after the 5th rep it was just too painful. I threw the DB’s down and just sat there for a few minutes in pain while I tried to get my calf muscles to relax. When they finally did, I started walking around a little bit, trying to relax and stretch them out, then got dizzy and nauseous. This wasn’t good, and I just ended the session. My body is telling me to stop before I really hurt myself.
I can feel it. My shoulders do hurt because I wasn’t using any form… just powering through everything, trying to release some of my anger. My calf is still tight and sore as I type this.
So, it was what it was.
On the good side tho I can say that there’s something to take from the aggressiveness and being more explosive. Yeah, who knows… maybe part-2 of this “6 week cycle” will try adding in the more dynamic work. I guess if I can take something positive from this shit-tacular start to my day, then not all is lost.
Another fine day at KR Training. Being as we’re in the worst of the Texas summer heat, we’re limiting ourselves to morning classes. So we held just a Basic Pistol 1 class. I was lead instructor for the class, and I had two assistants in Greg Howard and a special guest of Tina Maldonado, one of the co-Facilitators for the A Girl and A Gun Women’s Shooting League. Tina’s building up her instruction skills, so she was out to help and “intern”.
It was quite cool to have Tina there because the class was an all-ladies class. We had 8 ladies of varying ranges: 3 were teenagers (and family-related), 2 were a mother and daughter, and 3 were friends working towards their CHL together. There was no planning of having such a grouping like this – truly serendipitous coincidence – but it was really neat to have Tina there for this class.
Class ran smooth. Since I’ve been handling the BP1’s lately, I’ve been trying to stay true to the goal of the class and ensuring all the important points are made, but streamlining the presentation and ensuring focus and delivery are good. We love what we do and we just have so much to give, that sometimes we want to give it all… and it’s too much. At this level, most students are excited or afraid or unsure or simply overwhelmed. So it’s up to us to temper our delivery so we don’t overwhelm with too much information; that stuff can come later. I mean, isn’t that the right thing to do? always leave them wanting more? 🙂 I also want to ensure we hit all the important stuff and don’t skimp on the shooting time because that’s the fun part!
All in all things went well. I received some good feedback from the class participants and auditors (read: dads/husbands/chauffeurs), and am honored and humbled by your choice to come to us for your training. You’re starting down a road, and I know the first steps of the journey can set the tone for the rest of the trip. I do my best to ensure a successful start, and if there’s anything I can do better, please let me know.
I know some of the students will be back in a few weeks for Basic 2, and I look forward to seeing you then!
In other news…
After class was over I went out and did some of my own shooting. Since Karl made “version 4” of the “3 Seconds or Less” drill, I wanted to shoot it. I also wanted to shoot it with my snub, since I’ve been carrying it AIWB for a while now and should do some more live fire with it (not just dry).
Biggest take home is I need to be faster on the trigger, but not what you think. It’s not my press, it’s the release! I think it’s actually a symptom of too much dry fire, because it’s just not the same as live. I need to press then get off that long, heavy trigger faster, then get back on it faster. I’m focusing too much on keeping the crappy J-frame sights on target that I’m moving the trigger WAY too slow. I can’t buzz it as fast as my M&P, but I can have a better cadence than I’m shooting.
Stuff From Hsoi 